The 23rd Psalm

David was an amazing writer.  His psalms capture the personality of God, as Father, provider, and guide through all creation and nature.  None so much as the 23rd Psalm.

Psalm 23 – A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

This beautiful writing is one of the most read passage in the Bible.  Can you see why?  I ask you to read this in prayer five times in a row.  Each time really think about the words.  Really pray and meditate on the words.  This was an exercise that I did while working out of Maxie Dunnam’s The Workbook of Living Prayer (It’s a fantastic study regardless of where you are in your prayer life).  I will be honest that the first time I did this, I ended the exercise with uncontrollable tears flowing down my face.

David had a way of praying that made one thing clear.  Prayer is a privilege not a duty.  We don’t have an obligation to pray to God.  We have the privilege of praying to God.  It is the way we keep in relationship with God.

I know on the third day of the fast you feel as if you are walking through the darkest valley.  It is by far the most difficult day of the fast.  Know that it is temporary just as every dark valley in your life is temporary.  God will get you through it.  Being in the dark valley is not something that is permanent.  Keep walking.  Keep focusing on God.  Consider yourself privileged to pray.  Keep praying.  Walk THROUGH with His guidance.  There is light at the end of the dark valley.  God is waiting for your prayers to deepen your relationship with Him.  Draw closer to Him in the next 18 days.  Put all of your focus on God.  Forget about darkness.  It is temporary.  Focus on light.  It is everlasting.

Never Stop Seeking!!!!!

Day 21/21

Day 21, January 24

Focus:  Continue to Seek God and Put Him FIRST!

Psalm 9:10: Those who know your name trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.

Jeremiah 29:13: You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

1 Chronicles 29:13: Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God.

Colossians 3:2: Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Do you remember when you first met your significant other and was interested in him/her?  Did you look for opportunities to run into him or her?  I can imagine that you deliberately sought out ways to run into or have a conversation with him/her.

For the last 21 days, we have been chasing after God as we pray and fast. We have deliberately chosen to focus on Him and seek His presence. We have deliberately chosen to take time to read His Word and listen to His voice. For some of us, we can honestly say we didn’t really ‘hear’ from God in a profound way during this time. For others, this has been an amazing time of growth, and we have felt His guidance and direction about something we were seeking. Regardless of what we have learned through this time or if we have ‘cheated’ on something we were going to fast from, these past 21 days have been crucial to us because we have obeyed God’s command to seek His presence. It is always a beautiful thing when we chase after God and we put Him first because we desire to know Him more. And He promises us that when we seek Him, He will be found.

As we conclude our 21 days of prayer and fasting, it is important to ask, “Now what?” How can you remain committed to seeking Him? Very simply, decide to love God and seek Him. That’s right, decide. Look for opportunities to spend time with Him and to learn from Him. Daily. Decide to chase after Him and not the things of this life that quickly distract us from Him. Daily. Give Him your whole heart. Daily. Look for Him in each day, through people, circumstances, the Bible, and creation. Daily. It will take intention, effort, desire, and time. But it will be so worth it as your relationship with Him grows, develops, and you fall more and more in love with Him. Hebrews 11:6 says that God will reward those who earnestly seek Him. Will you continue to earnestly seek after the God of this universe who loves you completely and desires to walk with you daily? The reward will be great because God is great!

Reflection:

• How will you continue to pray daily and seek God through Scripture now that our 21 days of prayer and fasting are ending?
• Will you pray daily for a hunger and a thirst to chase after God and seek His presence?
• What will you commit to intentionally doing so that you are seeking God daily?

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for these last 21 days of focusing on You. Thank You for the promise that You will be found when I seek You. Thank you that You don’t hide from me but that You constantly draw me near to You. Please put a hunger and a thirst in my life for You Lord. You are so beautiful. So amazing. So forgiving. So good. And I am deciding to chase after You with all of my heart from this day on. Daily. Lord, may I put You first and seek Your face. Daily. I love you, Lord and I want to love and know You more. Amen.

YAY!  WE DID IT!!!!!!!

Daily Quote Day 20

“Because the face of God is so lovely, my brothers and sisters, so beautiful, once you have seen it, nothing else can give you pleasure. It will give insatiable satisfaction of which we will never tire. We shall always be hungry and always have our fill.”

– Augustine

Great I Am! Always Powerful, Always Present!

Daily Quote Day 19

“We should fix ourselves firmly in the presence of God by conversing all the time with Him…we should feed our soul with a lofty conception of God and from that derive great joy in being his. We should put life in our faith. We should give ourselves utterly to God in pure abandonment, in temporal and spiritual matters alike, and find contentment in the doing of His will,whether he takes us through sufferings or consolations.”

― Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

Daily Quote Day 16

“There is no more confused message that you and I could give to a lost and dying world than to live in sin and at the same time to tell people about the transforming power of Jesus Christ. There isn’t a more confusing thing we can do to our kids and the generation behind us, to this world.  God will not use a compromised life to reach a compromised world. God will use a life that is given over to Him, that is a demonstration of the message that through the power of Jesus Christ and His love He can transform our lives and set us free.”

― Joe Focht

Day 15/21

Day 15, January 18th

Focus:  We Must Value Our Integrity

1 Samuel 16:7b: The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Proverbs 4:23: Above all else, guard your heart. For EVERYTHING you do flows from it.

Matthew 5:8: Blessed are the PURE in heart, for they will see God.

Integrity is action.  Proverbs tells us to guard our heart because EVERYTHING we DO flows from it.  This means that integrity is doing the right thing whether people are watching or not.  Integrity is just doing the right thing.   Period.  God looks at our hearts.  Hiding anything from Him is impossible because that is how He sees us.  He sees our actions from the inside out whereas people may see our actions just at that outer level.

The thing is, if we choose to have poor integrity, or no integrity at all, we probably think that no one is watching.  Because we are Christians, someone is always watching us.  We proclaim God’s goodness.  We claim that our bodies are the temple with God’s Holy Spirit living inside.  What does it look like to others if we have a lack of integrity?  Our words mean absolutely nothing if our heart does not align with them.  Absolutely nothing.  If you are going to witness to your community and you have a lack of integrity, then you may as well never have witnessed.  It does more damage than if you had never witnessed at all.

We have an obligation to God, to ourselves and to the people around us to do the right thing, all of the time.  That is what makes us who we are.  We are good from the inside out because God lives in us.  We are to shine His goodness to everyone around us so that they can see God’s glory through us.

Having good integrity is not being a perfect human being. It is being humble, repentant, and obedient to God at all times whether people are watching or not.  But as we’ve already established, someone is always watching.  They are waiting for us to stumble.  Don’t give anyone a reason to want to see you stumble.  Amaze them with God’s goodness all of the time so that they cannot help but to want some of what you have.

Reflection:

• Do you value integrity?
• Why do you think that God chooses to look into the heart?
• How can God use your integrity to impact the people around you in your daily life?

Prayer:

Father, I know you can see my thoughts and know them completely. I want to be obedient to you. Allow others to see that you change me from the inside out.  Let them see You through me in all that I do.  Do not let me stumble and keep me pure in heart so that I may witness without words in my daily life!  Amen.

Day 14/21

Day 14, January 17^th

Our Church to be Somewhere that God Presents Himself within the Community

Psalm 100:3: Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Psalm 95:7-8: For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care. Today, if only you would hear His voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness.”

1 Timothy 2:8: Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

Matthew 13:58: And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Matthew 13:58 is heartbreaking! God must be active in our church, in our community, but only if we have faith. Several times in scripture we see God looking for a person who will stand in the gap for a people, a nation, or the land. He desires to come with blessing, healing, and salvation and is looking for someone, or a group of someones, to agree with Him by paving the way for His coming in prayer.

The Biblical record reveals the Lord descended with His presence on Nineveh, Antioch, Ephesus, and Jerusalem as well as other cities. Today, we have documented reports of the same kind of Divine activity in over 1,000 communities in the past several years.

The thought resounds: why not here; why not now? It is possible because our heavenly Father wants to exalt His Son over our community. There is not a formula to accomplish this, but there are some things we should give ourselves to as we invite Him to come. Christian researchers have discovered all 1,000 communities that are experiencing God’s abiding presence have five things in common.

• Persevering spiritual leadership
• United efforts of prayer
• Social justice and reconciliation, compassion evangelism
• Public Power Encounters
• Spiritual Mapping/Diagnostic Research: what’s going on in your community, what are the desperate needs?

So, let’s get to it! Find out who the spiritual leaders of our community are and pray for them regularly. Attend community-wide prayer events where Christians gather to pray for the community. Pray for social justice and compassion efforts to rise up and be successful. Join in public displays of your faith with other believers. Don’t have events like this in your community? Well it sounds like a missional opportunity for a church! Lastly, ask God to give wisdom about transforming the underlying issues in our community where powers and principalities derive their power.

Reflection:

• How will you play a role in bringing God’s presence to our community?
• In what areas can you play a leadership role in providing united efforts of prayer with Christ followers, fighting for social justice, or showing Christ’s compassion to our community?

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I lift up my neighbors before You Lord, asking for Your presence to fill the atmosphere so that they will hear You speak and see You work in their lives. Right now I pray for all of my neighbors by name and I ask, God, that You will reveal Yourself to each one of them. I pray that my church can lead the charge in a community-wide effort to show Your presence to the community. I pray that multiple churches come together as the one church body that we are for You, showing leadership, prayer, unity and compassion for the community. Amen.

 

Day 04/21

Day 4, January 7th:

Focus:  What Does My Heart Really Want?

Psalm 27:4: One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 37:4: Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Jesus taught in Matthew 6:25-34 about worry, or better yet, the way to be worry-free.  He not only tells us that He doesn’t want us to worry, but he gives us action steps to take in order to achieve a worry-free lifestyle.  We are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.  In order to set our hearts desires to where God wants them, we must turn to God for help and fill our hearts with His desires, not our own.

Jesus says that worry can be damage our health,  consume our thoughts, make us unproductive, give us a negative attitude toward others and affect our trust in God.  Do any of these symptoms of worry sound familiar to you?  If so, it’s time to evaluate what make up the real desires of our heart.  Do people, objects, goals and other desires compete with God for your heart space?  If so it’s time to take action!

Two things to take away.  Planning for tomorrow is good but worrying is wasted time.  Also worrying incapacitates you, but concern will move you into action to work toward a Godly solution to any problem.  Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt. 6:34 NIV).

So what’s the point of this?  If you remove the worry from your heart there is so much more room to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness.  Our hearts can be cleaned out by throwing away the worry and concerning ourselves with God’s desires for ourselves and for others.

Reflection:

• How often do you worry about what you will wear or what you will eat?  Do you worry about things in which you have absolutely zero control?
• What does it mean to you when Jesus instructs to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness?

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I want You and only You to be the top priority in my heart. Help me to fill my heart space with You and Your desires more than I ever have before. Help me to be at peace and throw away the worry. I want to trust You to take care of these things for me.  I want You to fill my heart so that everyone can see Your love and grace through my words, thoughts and actions.  Let me never show a worrisome attitude to others.  Let all see your peace through me!