"He Is Not Here: For He is risen!!"

 

   “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.’” (Matthew 28:1-6 NKJV)

 

   Wow! What a magnificent day we celebrate today! Mary Magdalene and the other Mary witnessed an angel descend from heaven, roll the stone away from the tomb where Jesus had been placed Friday afternoon, and now he declared that “He is risen as He said!"And how about that picture in your mind of those tough Roman soldiers knocked down and looking like dead men? All four Gospel accounts of the resurrection paint us a little more of the picture of that glorious day that proved once and for all that Jesus was who He claimed to be. He had risen from the dead and shown without doubt that He, and He alone, has power over death! Yes, He had raised Lazarus and others from the dead previously, but now He has raised Himself also!

 

    Do you really believe that? If you do believe that Christ died on the cross for your sins, was raised from the dead, and confess with your mouth this truth, the Bible says you will be saved. (Romans 10:9-11) If you have made that change to your life, you are now a child of God and you have been born again into the family of God.

 

   Today we can marvel and rejoice over the Good News that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, He has risen indeed! What He predicted He would do, He did. He has proven that He has power over death and the grave and that all who “call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21) Let us live for Him today, and for every other day He gives us to serve on this earth.

 

 

PRAY

 

1.    Lord, help me to take time today to rejoice over what Christ has done for me on the cross by taking all my sins (past, present, and future) and nailing  them to that tree. 

2.    Help me never to forget that Jesus bought me and paid for me at a tremendous cost, and that my is desire to live my life to serve and please Him.

3.    Lord, help me to learn to love those around me that are hard to love. Help me to see them as You see them and love them because You have told me to do it with joy and thanksgiving in my heart.

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus, our Messiah!

  

   “The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! The King of Israel!’ Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.’” (John 12:12-15, NKJV) (Verse 15 quotes Zechariah 9:9)

 

   What an exiting day that must have been for the disciples of Christ to see the people shouting “Hosanna,” and waving the palm branches and laying them on the road to make a “royal carpet” for the Lord to travel along on His lowly donkey as He entered Jerusalem on that glorious day! Not only was the prophecy of Zechariah being fulfilled right before their very eyes, but also the prophecy of Daniel was being fulfilled, although they were probably not aware of just how dramatic that fulfillment was!

    

   In the book of Daniel, verse 9:25, that awesome man of God living his life in Babylonian captivity, wrote these words: “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.”

 

   This Scripture indicates that 69 weeks (weeks of years) after the order to rebuild the temple was commanded buy the King of Persia, the Messiah would come to His people, the Jews. Pastor David Jeremiah penned these words about this prophecy:

 

    “The sixty-nine weeks began with March 14^th445 B.C., when Artaxerxes’ decree went forward. We need to remember that the weeks are counted as years and each year had 360 days. Simple calculation of this time element is this: 69 weeks (of years) x 7 (days of a week)= 483 x 360 (days in a year) = 173,800. Now if you take March 14, 445 B.C., when the decree to rebuild Jerusalem went forth, and add to it 173,800 days, you come to April 6, A.D. 32. According to Sir Robert Anderson in his chronology, it was on that day that Jesus Christ rode into the city in His triumphal entry.” (The Handwriting on the Wall” by David Jeremiah, p. 195)

 

   What more can we say or think about this Man called Jesus Christ? He is the predicted Messiah for the Jewish people and the Son of God that He claimed to be and He came just as the ancient prophets foretold so that we could know without a doubt that He is who he claimed to be: the Savior of the world who gave up His life as a ransom for all who will believe in Him and surrender to His Lordship in their lives.

   

  How about you this glorious day that we remember our Lord fulfilling prophecy just a few days before He would die on a cross for you and of me? Has there ever been a day when you have repented of your sins, professed your belief in him with you lips, and surrendered your life to His loving control. Today would be a great day if you have not! If you have given your life over to Him are you truly being obedient to His teachings? Also, today would be a great day to dedicate your life to Him anew and be a faithful disciple, making other disciples.

 

 

“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10)

 

 

PRAY

 

 

1.     Holy Spirit pleas fill me today and help me to serve Him in my family, and in my church and help me to see who I can minster too in His name today.

2.    Help me Lord to spend time in Your Scriptures today and everyday this week so that my heart will be prepared to celebrate Your glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday and that I will be a witness to others of your wonderful grace and mercy.

3.    Lord, place those people on my heart and in my path this week so that I can invite them to celebrate your resurrection with me at our church this Easter.

4.    Lord be with the Christians in Ukraine and give them strength and courage to stand strong for you, no matter the circumstances or hardships.

 

 

 

Absurd, you say?

 

   “Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:4-7)

 

  Most of us have heard these verses so many times that we don’t think about them too much. But what about someone who is hearing it for the first time? Pastor Max Lucado in his book “God Came Near” tells of an encounter between a pastor and a first time hearer of the history of Jesus. I hope you enjoy!

 

       “You mean to tell me God became a baby….

 

      The one posing the question was puzzled. His thick eyebrows furrowed in doubt and his eyes squinted in caution. Though there were places to sit, he opted not to do so. He preferred to stand safely behind the crowd, unsure, yet intrigued by what he was hearing. Throughout the lecture he had listened intently, occasionally uncrossing his arms to stroke his whiskered chin. Now, however, he stood upright, punching the air with his finger as he queried.

 

           And that he was born in a stable?”

 

           He looked as though he’d walked down from one of the adjacent Colorado mountains: stocking hat, down vest, nylon leggings, hiking boots. And he sounded as though he honestly didn’t know if the story he was hearing was a mountain legend or the gospel truth. 

 

       “Yes, that is what I meant to say,” the lecturer responded. 

 

           “And then, after becoming a baby, he was raised in a blue-collar home? He never wrote a book or held any offices, yet he called himself the Son of God?”

         

      “That is right.”

 

    The lecturer being questioned was Landon Saunders; the voice of the Heartbeat Radio program. I’ve never heard anyone tell the story of the Nazarene like Landon can. 

         “He never traveled outside his own country, never studied at a university, never lived in a palace, and yet asked to be regarded as the creator of the universe?”

 

         “That’s correct.”

 

        “And this crucifixion story…he was betrayed by his own people? No followers came to his defense? And then he was executed like a common junkyard thief?”

 

          “That’s the gist of it.”

 

         The authenticity of the questioner didn’t allow you to regard him as a cynic nor to dismiss him as a show-off. To the contrary, he seemed nervous about commanding attention. His awkwardness betrayed his inexperience in public speaking. But his desire to know was just an ounce or two heavier that his discomfort, so he continued.

 

      “And after the killing he was buried in a borrowed grave?”

 

   “Yes, he had no grave of his own, nor money with which to purchase one.”

 

    “There was a hint of emotion in the student’s voice as he carefully worded the next question. 

         “And according to what’s written, after three days in the grave he was resurrected and made appearances to over five hundred people?”

 

        “Yes.”

 

       “And all this was to prove that God still loves his people and provides a way for us to return to him?”

 

       “Right”

 

   I knew which question was coming next. Everybody in the room knew it. It could have gone without being asked. In my heart of hearts, I was hoping that it would not be asked. 

 

   “Doesn’t that all sound rather…” He paused a second, searching for the right adjective. “Doesn’t that all sound rather absurd?”

 

      Landon’s answer was simple. “Yes. Yes I suppose it does sound absurd, doesn’t it?”

 

    I didn’t like that answer. I didn’t like it at all. Tell the fellow how it made sense! Diagram the dispensations. Present the fulfilled prophecies. Explain the fulfillment of the Old Law. Covenant. Reconciliation. Redemption. Sure it made sense. Don’t let him describe God’s actions as absurd!

 

   Then it began to dawn on me. What God did makes sense. It makes sense that Jesus would be our sacrifice because a sacrifice was needed to justify man’s presence before God. It makes sense that God would use the Old Law to tutor Israel on their need for grace. It makes sense that Jesus would be our High Priest. What God did makes sense. It can be taught, charted, and put in books on systematic theology. 

 

   However why God did it is absolutely absurd. When one leaves the method and examines the motive, the carefully stacked blocks of logic begin to tumble. That type of love isn’t logical; it can’t be neatly outlined in a sermon or explained in a term paper.

 

   I don’t know what happened to that inquisitive fellow in Colorado. He disappeared as quickly as he came. But I am in his debt. He forced me to see Jesus as I’d never seen him.

 

      Bloodstained royalty. A God with tears. A creator with a heart. God became earth’s mockery to save his children.

 

   How absurd to think that such nobility would go to such poverty to share a treasure with such thankless souls.

 

   But he did.

 

    In fact, the only thing more absurd than the gift is our stubborn unwillingness to receive it.” 

 

 (“Absurdity in the Flesh” from the book “God Came Near,” by Max Lucado, pp. 29-34)

 

How about you this Christmas season? Are you thinking at all about the Creator of the Universe Who came to earth as a baby, lived His life to show us who God is, and then allowed Himself to be crucified on an cross to be a perfect sacrifice for our sins?

 

  Or are you caught up in the real absurdity of this world, worrying about presents you are going to buy or receive, Santa Claus, and dinner with the family? Not bad things by themselves but really pretty trivial in light of what God has done for us, not because we deserve it, but because He just loves us and wants to have a personal relationship with each one this Christmas! Oh yeah, He wants one for the rest of the year too!

 

PRAY

 

1.)  Dear precious Jesus, thank you for leaving Your throne in heaven and coming down to be born of a virgin in a stable in the town of Bethlehem. 

2.)  Thank you for revealing Your coming to Joseph and Mary, to the shepherds in the fields that night, and to the Wise men who came from afar to worship You and bring you gifts.

3.)  Thank you that I can call You my precious Savior because You died for me and for anyone who will call upon Your Name, and receive You into their life and allow You to rule over them.

With Wings Like Eagles

 

    “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created the stars, The One who leads their hosts by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.” (Isaiah 40:25-26, NKJV)

 

 

    When I first went into the Army there were several goals I had for myself. One of them was to become Airborne qualified, and after I graduated from the Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, GA, I walked across the field and signed into the Airborne department and started my training two days later. There was really no thought process involved. My father, Donald Rivette, had undergone Airborne training in 1942 as a Infantry Second Lieutenant and had been in the original group of soldiers that eventually became the 502nd Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 101^stAirborne Division. (I have a great picture of him in one-piece jump suit, jump boots, and a football helmet!) He had also served in the 11^thAirborne Division as a major in 1955-56 and was a Master Parachutist.

 

    The training was three weeks long. The first week was ground week and it included all types of physical training, how to jump out the door of a plane with your equipment, and how to hit the ground properly, (three points of contact, feet, thigh, back.). The second week was tower week with various training activities that culminated in being lifted up in a parachute from the Airborne tower and let go to fall to the earth. 

 

   The last week was jump week and that was all we did. We suited up in the parachute harness with a main chute and an emergency chute and sat on the runway waiting for the planes to arrive. It was at this point, sitting in that uncomfortable equipment next to my fellow soldiers on the runway, that the magnitude of what I was about to do hit me!  I thought to myself: “You are going to jump out of a perfectly good airplane with a parachute that you didn’t even pack yourself! Are you out of your mind? This is crazy, they didn’t give you near enough training to go out and to this!”

 

    Have you ever done something like that? You made a decision to do something, did all the preparation, and then realized at the last minute that maybe this was not the smartest thing you have ever done! I would like to tell you that for future decisions in my life after that one that I thought things out more clearly, but that would not be true. I can tell you that I have learned that I can trust my Lord to take care of me no matter whether I am following His plan or I am off on a tangent of my own making. The prophet Isaiah who wrote the lines at the top of this page asks us this question:

 

 

   “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.” (verses 28,29)

 

 

   Even though you may be overwhelmed with a personal problem or a stressful situation in your work, family, or church there is Someone who is there for you and He does not get weary, tired or discouraged. He will give you the strength, and yes, the patience that you don’t have, to see it through until the end. If you “lack might He increases power.” But the best is yet to come! Read on:

 

 

    “Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, The will run and not get tired, they will walk and not faint.”(verses 30,31)

 

 

  You “will run and not get tired and you will walk and not faint.” That is the best deal on the planet! Put your faith in Him and He will carry you through this day and the next and the next……

 

    Oh yeah, I did jump out of a plane that day in Ft. Benning, and boy, you should have seen the big smile on my face when I looked up and saw that chute open above me and me floating safely down to the ground! (Now what was it they taught me to do when I hit the ground?)

 

 

PRAY:

 

1.    Lord, thank you for loving me so much that You gave Your Son to die for my sins. I know that You are the One who pursued me until I gave my life to You.

2.    Lord, I praise You because You are the Creator of the universe and you not only know all the stars by name but You know every hair on my head.

3.    Lord, use me today to be the type of person that reflects Your love to others that I come in contact with and fill me with Your Spirit so that I may be bold in telling others about You.

"A Horrible Pit"

 

“ I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.” (Psalms 40:1,2 NKJV)

 

   When I was about 14 or 15 years old my best friend was Mike Harrington, and we had many an “adventure” together. He lived down the street from me and his house was on a small river. We spent many an hour rowing in his rowboat on the river, exploring the woods on the other side of the river, building tree houses (one in my backyard and one in his), and shooting homemade slingshots. 

 

One “adventure” we had was totally unplanned. He had come up to my house and we were returning together to his house, but instead of walking down the street we chose to walk along a creek that was in the woods between the houses of the neighborhood leading down to his house. We had done it many times before and we knew the creek well. It had rained a good bit the day before so the creek was deeper than usual and the water was rushing through the ravine it occupied.

 

As we approached a big bend in the creek we noticed that the usual sand bar had doubled in size and we stepped onto it to continue our walk down the stream. We had only gone a few yards when we both began sinking in the sand. At first our reaction was “no big deal, this sand is just a little soft today.” Then as we continued to sink up to our waist our attitudes changed quickly! One of us yelled “grab a tree!” And both of us headed for the nearest one. Mike went left and I went right and after a short few minutes we were both firmly holding on to a tree and pulling our bodies out of the sand!

 

Truth be told, we were probably not in real danger, but for a few minutes I had the vision of sinking out of sight into quicksand like I had seen in a cowboy movie or two! We had thought we were on solid ground when we stepped on the sandbar, but we were not!

 

The picture that the Psalmist, King David, portrays in the Scripture above is that of someone who has found themselves in a miry pit and is sinking out of sight. There is no tree around to help pull him out, and he needs God to come along and rescue him. God does that, and not only does He pull the person out of the mud, He places his “feet on a rock” and “establishes his steps.”

 

Are you in a place where you find yourself in a pit? Is it a pit of despair over the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, rejection by those around you, the feeling of purposelessness , or addiction to a sin you can’t seem to shake?

 

King David says that: “he waited patiently for the Lord and that God heard his cry.” There is really only one Person who can help us when we are in serious trouble. We do not have the ability to save ourselves. It is not our intelligence, our good looks, our innate abilities, or physical prowess. We can only be helped by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

 

 David continues to show us what happened next: “He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord.” (verse 3)

 

Do you need a new song in your mouth? There is only One who can put that song there. Yes you know who: Jesus! Call on Him today! Put your trust in the only one on this planet, or in this universe actually, who can come to your rescue and put a new song in your heart and on your lips.

 

Finally David tells us: “Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God are Your wonderful works Which You have done: And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare to speak them, They are more than can be numbered.” (verse 4)

Take it from King David, “a man after God’s own heart:” If you “cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you,”  (1 Peter 5:7) you will never regret it! He will come to your aid, He will set your feet upon a rock and you will have a new song in your mouth that will help other people find the Savior also!

 

 

PRAY

 

1.                   Lord, thank you for taking away my sins by dying on that cross on the hill of Calvary. Help me to trust in you today to handle all my problems as I lean upon your grace and mercy.

2.                   Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that others will see how you have blessed me and taken me out of the pit and set my feet on a straight path of service to You.

3.                    Guide me in the paths of righteousness as I read your Word and try to learn more about what a gracious master you are to Your children as you slowly form us into Your likeness.

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus Loves Me!

 

   “For I am persuaded that neither death not life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38, NKJV)

 

    There are numerous places in Scriptures (the Holy Bible) that tell us of God’s love for us. We all have heard of John 3:16 that tells us that He loved us so much that He sent His own Son to die on a cross so that anyone that believes in Him shall have everlasting life. We are told of His “loving kindness,” “His mercy,” “His faithfulness,” and His “longsuffering,” in many places throughout the record of the Holy Scriptures. It is a simple, but amazing truth: God loves me and God loves you!

 

   Every once in a while it is great to read about a faithful servant of God that showed in their life how much they appreciated the fact that God loved them and gave Himself as a sacrifice on that cross and that he or she spent their life in service to the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. I read about two such ladies the other day in a article by a Rev. Dr. Nelson L. Price, the Pastor Emeritus of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, GA.

 

   He told the story of two sisters who lived on Constitution Island, in the middle of the Hudson River next to West Point, NY, home to the U.S. Military Academy. Their father purchased a summer home on the island in 1834 and sometime after that the sisters moved there permanently and lived out their lives there. Susan and Anna Warner were their names, and both became writers of novels. Among her several books, Susan wrote “The Wide, Wide World” and it was very successful, second only in sales to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in the 1850’s. Anna wrote “Dollars and Cents” and several others also.

 

    Besides writing, they established a Sunday School, and would row across the river and teach the cadets at West Point on Sundays for many years. Occasionally, on Sunday afternoons they would invite the cadets to come over for lemonade and cookies in their home. The sisters wrote a song for the cadets to sing not only in services but to be sung during drills. It was to remind these future soldiers of the Love of Jesus. It had been originally written as a poem in Anna’s novel “Say and Seal.” In 1861 the words were put to music, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.

 

   After Susan died in 1885, the Sunday School classes became Anna’s “one thought in life" and she continued teaching until her death in 1915. The West Point class of 1915 has been called the “class the stars fell on” due to the fact that 59 of its 164  graduates that year, became General officers during World War II. The most famous of them being Dwight David Eisenhower, and one of Anna’s Sunday School students for 4 years.

 

   Their home on Constitution Island is now a national shrine you can visit, and the two sisters are the only civilian women buried in the West Point Cemetery, in honor of their years of faithful service teaching generations of West Point Cadets in Sunday School. 

 

  Oh yeah, the song that they wrote for the cadets to sing in church and drills, I am sure you have heard it many times. The song is “Jesus Loves Me This I Know.” 

 

   The story is told that someone asked the internationally acclaimed theologian Karl Barth what was his most profound thought. He replied: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

 

  Yes the Bible does tell us that throughout the entire book! 

 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)

 

PRAY

 

1.    Lord, thank you for sending Your Son to this earth to take away my sins and to give me eternal life now on this earth, and for eternity in heaven.

2.    Lord, help me today to remember that You have bought and paid for me with a heavy price and that I live to serve You today.

3.    Fill me with Your Spirit, that You might live through me today and that anyone I come in contact with will see You in my words and deeds, and desire to know You also.

 

 

 

God made me!

 

   “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mothers womb.  I will give thanks to You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.” (Psalm 139:13-14)

 

   King David, the author of this Psalm, clearly knows who his creator is. He tells God, (and us) that: “You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mothers womb.” What a beautiful word picture of your body being woven like a fine tapestry in your mothers’ womb. He did a wonderful job! You have a brain, arms, legs, eyesight, hearing, taste buds, a circulatory system, a digestive system, a nervous system, and much, much more that all work together in perfect unison to allow us to “live and move and have our being!”(Acts 17:28)

 

   Have you sat down recently and thought about what a marvelous body you have, and how it enables you to so many things that allow you to be who you are, and live a life on this beautiful planet God has created for us to live on? David says that God’s works are “Wonderful!” and he “knows it very well.” Do you know it also? David continues: 

    “My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were written The days that were ordained for me, When there was not one of them.” (verses 15 & 16)

 

   Wow! King David says that God knew all about your formation in the womb and that you were skillfully fashioned to be just exactly the person God intended you to be! I understand that that may not be what you want to hear. You may wish that He had created you different, with a different appearance, or abilities, but think about this: God has a specific plan just for you! You were created the way you are for His specific plan and purpose and He is a loving God who only wants you to fulfill His purposes! 

 

   You are unique! There is no one on the earth today that has been created like you, that has the same personality, soul, appearance, and purpose that you have! David says that the days of your life have been ordained (planned) for you before you were even born! You just have to live out your life for Him, and He will guide you on the paths He has chosen for you.

 

  I realize that for many this does not sound like a good deal. You want to do what you want to do and be what you want to be. But think of it this way: The Creator of the Universe loves you and has prepared a life for you that you are uniquely qualified to fulfill, and He has your best interests in mind! He is a loving God and He will walk with you and equip you to handle any challenge that you encounter along the path He has chosen. And as you walk on this path He will give you love, joy, peace, and fulfillment in this life, and the life to come!

 

    Do you have to follow His plan for you? No, you do not! Believe me, He has the best plan, but He is a loving God and will not force you to follow it. He gives you a free will, but remember, He is a good, good God and knows how to give the best for His children who live for Him. Next, King David gives us these awesome words: 

 

   “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake I am still with You.” (verses 17 & 18)

 

   If you are familiar with David’s life, you know that he had some really tough times. He was wrongfully accused of sedition by King Saul, and was pursued by Saul for many years, forced to live in desert places with a band of misfits and rebels before God raised him up to be king. He had a hard life and had some more tough times when he was king, but he always knew that God was with him, and for him and that God’s thoughts were precious to him. His thoughts to us are just as precious and just as numerous. We may not be earthly kings like David, but we are children of the King of Kings! Finally David closes the Psalm with these magnificent words:

 

   “Search me O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.” (verses 23 & 24)

 

    That sounds like a prayer I should use everyday! How about you, are you ready to allow God to search your heart and see if there is anything harmful to you in your life? And Oh yes, we want to be led in the everlasting way!

 

      PRAY:

 

1.    O Lord, how I long to love you and serve you better. Search my heart today and show me the harmful things I have allowed to enter my life. Forgive me for not coming to You so much sooner.

2.    Forgive me Lord for my sins of commission and omission. Help me to keep my eyes upon You today and to allow Your Holy Spirit to guide my thoughts, my words, and my actions.

3.    Thank You Lord for being always there for me just like You were for David, and no matter the trial or the difficulties that this world and the devil throw against me, I have You at my side to guide me and help me through each situation.