Associations Matter Psalm 26:5

5 I have hated the assembly of evildoers, And will not sit with the wicked.


The people we associate with are important. David prays that God would examine him and test him. He wants God to reveal to him any weaknesses that he may have so that he can correct them. He knows that God's goodness has brought him to the place that he is in. He knows that it is God who has blessed him. David says, "Lord, I have walked in Your truth." David has sought to make God's will his will. He has sought to make God's ways his ways. He has learned the value of doing things God's way.

David shares a bit of wisdom in the next few verses. He says, 4" I have not sat with idolatrous mortals, nor will I go in with hypocrites. 5 I have hated the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked." What is David trying to say? He has learned the value of associations. David has learned that the people he associates with, have a lot to do with the life that he lives. The desire of David's heart is to walk upright before the Lord. So, he realizes that walking with people whose desire is less than that is not a benefit to his personal walk.

Notice David's choice of words here. He says that he will not sit with these individuals or go in with them where they live. He hates the assembly of evildoers. Our associations are important. Our lives will reflect the characteristics and habits of those that we hang out with. Someone has very aptly commented that it is impossible to fly with eagles hanging out with turkeys.

Perhaps a part of David's prayer had to do with God evaluating his associations. Examine me Oh God and test me; try my mind and my heart. Look at my associations and let me know if there are people that I am associating with that I should not be. We need to be constantly evaluating our associations to see that they are of God. If we look, we will see! If we look at our associations and we are not sure if they are what they should be, all we have to do is ask a few people that we respect; they will tell us the truth.

We must learn to guard and then value the associations we make. Associations do matter.

Fear the Lord Psalm 25:24

14 The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant.



What does it mean to "fear the Lord"? The Hebrew word used here literally means fear or afraid. Should we fear or be afraid of the Lord? Does God want us to fear Him because He is almighty and He is in control of every aspect of our lives? Even though these things are true, God does not want us to respond to Him out of a sense of fear. God wants us to respond to Him because of His love for us. However, we must understand, God's wrath is a reality and it is reserved for those who refuse to walk with Him and follow His lead.

God loves us and He wants us to love Him in return. So, where does fear come in? The meaning here is one that is more of reverence than it is fear. The real meaning could be translated "the secret of the Lord is with those who are faithful, and He will show them His promises." When we are faithful, what we do is we trust God because of all that He is and all that He has promised. The element of fear is still there. There is an element of fearing God when we step out in absolute faith, trusting God for everything in our lives.

This Psalm is about the promises of God. We can trust God. We can place our faith in Him and we can know that He will keep His promises to us. He did not have to give us the promises that He has given to us to provide for us and to protect us and to give us the desires of our hearts. He gave us those promises because He wants to do those things for us! That is why God created us in the first place. He created us to be an outlet for His love. Jesus did not give His life in vain; He gave His life for us! He died in our place. He died to pay the penalty for our sin. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.

Fear the Lord. Have faith in Him. Trust Him with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. He will show you His promises. He really will!

Your Path Lord Psalm 25:5

5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.


David's prayer is one that we ought to repeat every morning before we get our day started. God's way and His will for our lives is imperative, not because He is God but because He as God has a perfect plan for our lives and He wants to bless us in tremendous ways. The only way God can do the things that He wants to do for us, is when we walk the paths that He has instructed us to walk. Any other way takes us away from the place where His abundant blessings can be found for our lives.

"Show me Your ways; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me." A way is a road. A path is a narrow walkway that has been tracked down because someone has traveled that way enough to make the ground bare where feet have trampled down the grass and there is nothing but barren ground left. God's path is most often narrow and it may well be that His path is not that well traveled but it is well marked. For this path is found in His truth, which He is more than willing to teach to us.

Our choice is to walk the way of the world or walk God's way. Our decision is to follow the path that He has laid for us as opposed to following the path that the world wants us to follow. Truth has only one source. Truth is not relative. Truth is not one thing today and something else tomorrow. Jesus reminded the Jews "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

We need to pray as David prayed and be determined to walk the walk and allow the Lord of glory to bless our lives as He so much longs to do. When we are willing to give our best to God, God is able to give His best to us; which is the sole reason that He created us in the first place!

Come into His Presence Psalm 24:3

3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?



David asks a question, "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or stand in His Holy Place?" David is asking, "Who can come into the presence of the Lord?" This question has two aspects. First, perhaps he is asking, "Who can go to heaven" but more appropriately David is talking about coming into His presence in this life. Of coarse, we will not come into His presence in the life to come if we do not come to Him in this life today. As David asked about ascending to the hill of the Lord, he was thinking about Moses going up on Mt. Sinai to meet with the Lord.

Clean hands do not make a clean heart. David gives us a two-part answer to his question. Only God can give us a pure heart. In order to come into His presence, we have to allow Him to cleanse our hearts. Only He can take our hearts and make them pure. "Clean hands" is an effort on our part to do the things that the Lord would have us do as we become the person that the Lord would have us be.

It is impossible for us to come into the Lord's presence without both of these aspects being met. He has to clean us up and give us a new heart and we have to make every effort to walk in His statutes to come into His presence. When we do that we shall receive blessings from the Lord, which is what takes place when we come into the presence of the Lord!

God's purpose for creating this world is to make it a place of blessing for us. His purpose in creating us was so that He could have an outlet for His love, which is expressed in His blessings to us. All God wants is for us to come into His presence so that He can bless us and make us a blessing to Him and to one another!

Let us walk today with clean hands and allow God to have complete control of our lives, one decision at a time. As you and I come into His presence, He will bless us exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or hope for!

It's all His Psalm 24:1

1 The earth is the LORD'S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.



The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof and everything that dwells on the earth belongs to the Lord. He owns all the cattle on the hillside. He owns every dollar that we spend and everything that we buy. He owns every house and every piece of wood that it took to build that house; He owns every stick of wood that was used to make the furniture that we call our own. Every creeping thing and every creepy thing belongs to Him. We were created by Him and for Him. We were created by His purpose and we were created for His purpose.

It can be overwhelming to try to comprehend just all that this verse really says. For some it might even be difficult to reason. Too many people look at life from the perspective, "What about me?" We want to look at life and say, "Look at what I have done; look at what I have worked to have; look at what I have accomplished."

God created everything in the world for our benefit. He tells us that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. He created it all so that we might have life and we might have it more abundantly! He did it all for us. He so much wants to bless us and give us the desires of our hearts but in order for Him to do that we have to give Him our hearts first!

We need to remember that because the earth is the Lord's and everything that is contained in it, He knows more about its purpose than we do. God knows that given the right perspective, all that He has created can be our greatest asset! However, given the wrong perspective, it can be our biggest downfall.

All that God has is really not about Him at all; it is really all about us! Put God to the test and allow him to be God in your life and see just how incredibly blessed He will make your life!

Anoint my Head With Oil Psalms 23:5

You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.


Remember David is a shepherd and this psalm is a reflection of things that he did as a shepherd to take care of his sheep. Shepherds would use oil to protect his sheep from flies that circled the sheep and sought to lay eggs in their nostrils. If they were successful and the eggs hatched, the larvae would irritate the sheep to the point that they would butt against rocks, trees or whatever they could find to try to rid themselves of the irritating larvae. They would become restless; they would refuse to eat; if the problem persisted, it could cause the sheep to go blind.

The shepherd would cover the sheep's nose and head with a mixture of oil and a few other ingredients, which would calm the sheep down. The oil would keep the flies off the animal. Another problem the shepherd encountered had to do with scabs that would come up under the wool. As the sheep would butt and rub against one another, infection under the scab would be transmitted from one animal to the other. This was a very contagious infection. Again, a mixture of oil and various herbs could be used to cure the animal of the infectious disease. When the oil was applied, the sheep became content again.

Disease in the Old Testament is often used to represent sin. Sin has a lot of sources. However, there is only one cure! God has washed us with the blood of his precious Son, which cleanses us from the stain of sin in our lives. The blood sets us free from the burden of sin in our lives as well as the penalty of sin. God knows our needs! He has plans for our lives and He wants to see those plans put to action in our lives. He wants to fix whatever is wrong in our lives. He wants to give us life and give it to us more abundantly. He anoints us over and over again by allowing the Spirit who lives inside of us, speak to our heart and lead and guide us from where we are to where He wants us to be so that we can be blessed by Him!

My cup runs over. There is nothing more satisfying nor is there anything more fulfilling than to live in complete contentment in life. Even when the storm clouds may be brewing and the enemy may be buzzing around our heads, we need to remember, "greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world." When we make God a priority, He is able to anoint our heads with the oil provided by His presence in our lives in the Holy Spirit and that makes us more determined to walk with Him so that we can be the person that God so much wants us to be. He can and will fill our cup to overflowing if we will just allow him to do so!

A Table Prepared Psalms 23:5

Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies.


The table here represents a table at the top of a mountain where the shepherd will take his sheep in the spring of the year to spend the summer. There is a certain amount of preparation that the shepherd has to make in order to make the table safe and suitable for the sheep for the stay for the summer.

The shepherd has to make sure that there are no poisonous plants on the plateau. He has to check to see where the best places are to make camp and to prepare a plan to move from one place to another so the sheep get the maximum benefit from the grazing areas. The table has to be checked for predators and trapped if necessary.

Sheep will try anything. They will eat anything. As individuals, we are the same way. We test and sample things many times knowing what we are doing is wrong or not beneficial to the quality of our lives. However, we do it anyway. God watches over our lives like a shepherd would his flock. He tries to guide us from the danger that is in front of us. He knows where the danger is and He knows where the best places on the table are located for our maximum benefit. Jesus said I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. God has indeed prepared a table before us in the presence of all of the evil influences that surround us.

There is one other thing that we need to remember. The closer that we remain to our Shepherd, the safer we are. The sheep that fall victim to the predators are the sheep that have wandered away from the flock and are walking in territory away from the watchful eye of the shepherd. We are always under the watchful eye of our Lord, but when we are not walking in His presence and making decision that He has given us instruction, we are away from His permissive ability to guard our lives as he has planned for us. There are benefits to walking in the footsteps that He has given us to walk. However, there are dangers when we step out of those footsteps and go in the direction that we want to go in.

We need to walk with the Lord one decision at a time and give Him the opportunity to do for us as He so much wants to do! The table is prepared; it is our responsibility to walk there and not stray everywhere else!

Thy Rod Protects Me Psalms 23:4

Thy Rod and Thy Staff they protect me.



Shepherds carried a staff that they used to protect themselves as well as their sheep. This staff was carefully chosen and selected so that the shepherd would get the most out the staff. The shepherd would use the staff to "hook" his sheep around the neck if they started to get away from the fold. He could also hook to sheep to pull them out of harms way. There were times when the shepherd would use the staff as a spear, launching it against oncoming danger. The staff provided the shepherd with a source of stability, as he would use it to lean on and rest. It also provided the shepherd with a means to balance himself as he would have to cross dangerous crevices.

Not only did the shepherd use the staff for protection, he used the staff to discipline his sheep as well. If an obstinate sheep started to get out of line, the shepherd would pop the sheep on the head to get its attention. In addition to getting the attention of the sheep, the shepherd would use the staff to fluff the wool to see below the wool and examine the sheep's skin. Sometimes, the wool would hide sores below on the skin, which could go undetected until the sore became a danger to the animal's health. The staff represented protection for the sheep. They felt secure when the shepherd and his staff were present.

Moses' staff is perhaps the most famous of all staff's. It was this staff that God used to get Pharaoh's attention as well as Moses'. It was the staff raised over the Red Sea that caused the waters to part. It was this same rod that God told Joshua to touch the Jordan River that caused the waters to once again part so that the children of Israel could pass from the wilderness into the Promised Land. The Staff represents the presence and the power of God. It represents God's hand of protection for the child of God. There is nowhere that we can go that His rod and His staff are not present. There is no danger that we will ever face that His powerful hand of protection will not sustain us and provide protection for us.

It does not matter what we face in this life, there is no panic in heaven, only a plan! That plan can be seen in His staff of protection for any situation or circumstance that we may find ourselves in. Remember something else. When we stray away from the fold, it is His staff that will pull us back to safety! The crook at the end of the staff was so designed to reach down and hook the sheep to pull it to safety. We are safe and secure because of His rod and staff that protect us from everything that this world can throw at us!

The Valley of Death Psalms 23:4

Yea though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me.


Every year at the end of the spring, David would take his sheep from their home to the top of the mountain to the cooler plateaus where they would graze during the hot dry summer. Then when fall came, they would make their way back down the mountain to their home where they would weather the winter. This trip up the mountain would take place in the valleys. It was in the valleys that food and water would be plenteous.

The only way to get to higher ground was to climb up through the valleys. Sometimes the valleys would present danger. Storms would build up on the other side of the mountain and then boil over the top of the mountain and into the valley with no warning. Rock slides and mudslides were constant dangers that the shepherd had to try to guard against. Predators such as coyotes and wolves and wild dogs would hide in the rocks and attack the sheep. There was no other way to get to higher ground. This was the only way.

David knew this and as he looked at his life he knew that to get to higher ground with the Lord he had to pass through the valleys himself. He knew that he had to go that way if he was going to get to the place that God wanted him to get to. However, he also knew that it was in the valley that God would water him and feed him and sustain him!

David speaks of this valley as "the valley of the shadow of death". We need to remember that a valley is not a dead end! There is an exit out of the valley! For the Christian, this valley is a journey to higher ground, which is eternity and it is a valley that we will not go through alone! David says, "I will not fear any evil for Thou art with me."

The Bible does not tell us a lot about what we can expect at death. However, one truth runs consistent and that is God will be right there with us. When a Christian leaves this life, he will be with the Lord! Jesus told the thief on the cross "today you shall be with me in paradise." As long as I am with Jesus, I don't care where I am!

As God's children, we do not have to fear the shadow of death for Christ has overcome death and the grave! Death is but a shadow that we have to pass through for death has been defeated for the Christian! Because He lives, we can indeed face tomorrow no matter what it may bring!

Restore My Soul Psalms 23:3

He restores my soul.



David writes, " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters; He restores my soul." David had been through some tough trials in his life. He knew the restoring touch of the Hand of God in his life. Restoration comes when we are led to the green pastures and the still waters that God has planned for us. It is easy to get away from the care that walking with God provides for us as His children. It is so easy to look to our own devices for comfort and pleasure and the lure of the world is always before us. Restoration comes from the Lord.

We confuse activity for productivity. We confuse material prosperity with spiritual maturity. We think success is a sign from God that we are where we are supposed to be. While success can be a blessing from God, we have to remember that our relationship with Him is the foundation of success that God is looking for.

Why does David include this in his Shepherd's prayer? Sheep will lie down and roll over onto their back and when their legs are in the air, they cannot get up on their own. Gasses will start to collect in their stomach and circulation of blood to their legs will be restricted. In the hot summer sun a sheep can die in a matter of hours if it gets in this condition. The sheep needs to be lifted up and placed on its legs. Often times, it is necessary to rub the sheep's legs to get blood circulating in the legs again. The sheep will fall back down until the legs are stable enough for them to stand on their own. The shepherd once again is directly responsible for sheep's well being.

Sometimes, we can take God's blessings and we become self complacent or self sufficient, thinking that we are responsible for our own good fortune. This causes us to walk our own path instead of the path that God has set for us to walk. We wake up one day "cast" as sheep. We cannot stand on our own two feet. We are unable to do for ourselves. We come back to God and He brings to green pastures and He leads us to the still waters and then God restores us!

He shears away the heavy wool, which makes our lives better. He trims away some of the fat that has us weighted down. The process is not an easy process nor is it very much fun. It is however, necessary. God will do what He needs to do to make our lives better, even when it means there may be times of difficulty ahead, which will lead to a season of plenty! God's whole purpose is to restore our soul. Everything else becomes a blessing!

Still Waters Psalms 23:2

He leads me beside the still waters.


Water is the most basic need that we have. An individual or animal can go days without food but they both have to have water much sooner in order to survive. All life, plant and animal is comprised of water. In fact, water makes up as much as 75% of the body chemistry of most living things. Without an adequate supply of water, life suffers dramatically, fast.

Sheep do not have the innate ability, as do most animals, to find water. They rely totally and completely on the shepherd to lead them to water. I have read that sheep can be with a few yards of water and not know it. This describes human life. We thirst for the fellowship that God so much wants to give to us. Without that fellowship, our lives fail to find fulfillment and purpose. We desperately try to look everywhere for something to satisfy that thirst that is deep within us, but until we come to the Word of God and let Him fill that thirst, we will not be satisfied. Of coarse Jesus is the Living Water.

David makes a special statement that has always puzzled me. Notice David's use of the phrase "still waters". Sheep find water in more ways than one. Of coarse, they can drink from a stream or river. They can drink water drawn from a well or they will do very well taking the water from the dew found on the grass in the early morning and late evening. The last is the purist of all the water. Notice David writes "he makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters."

The green pastures provide the "still waters" on a daily basis! As the sheep graze in the early morning, they feed and drink! Perhaps this is what Jesus was referring to as He said in the Sermon on the Mount when He said "Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6) When the sun comes up and the day begins to heat up, the dew dries and its ability to satisfy dries up with it.

When we as sheep rise early in the morning to spend quality time with God in His Word and in prayer with Him, He is able to fill us and satisfy us. If we rise up and let the day get started without taking in the "still waters of the Gospel", then its ability to fill us and satisfy us wanes as the day wears on. When we do not take the time to start the day off with the Lord, we lose the best opportunity to experience the provisions that He has prepared for us that will get our day headed in the right direction. Take time for God and let the "still waters" sooth your soul!

Green Pastures Psalms 23:2

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures.



The Lord is my shepherd; there is relationship. I shall not want; there is supply. He makes me lie down in green pastures; there is rest. Here is a picture of utter contentment. Here we find the sheep resting. The shepherd is there. They have eaten well. The sheep are perfectly content. Rest is primarily a state of mind. Here we see the connotation that it is the shepherd that gives the sheep the peace they need to settle down. God wants to give us that peace and contentment as well.

Notice, David writes, "He makes me lie down 'in green pastures'." The shepherd does not make the sheep le down just anywhere but rather He leads them to the choicest of places. For the good shepherd, not just any field will do; the good shepherd looks for the best pasture so the sheep will be well fed and they will be healthy. Green grass represents a life of plenty. It does not represent a life of luxury. Green pastures are plentiful but they are plain. There was nothing special about the green pastures but they were plentiful.
God's blessings may seem a bit mundane compared to the zest and zeal that the world offers. Realty is the world over promises and under delivers every single time. God is faithful and the ability to lie down peacefully in a house of plenty is indeed a blessing from God. When we allow Him to be our shepherd and we as His sheep hear His voice and follow Him, we will rest at night and rise in the morning refreshed and filled with all the fullness of God's presence and His provisions!

I am so glad He allows me to lie down in "green pastures" where I can be totally content and safe and secure because of His presence and His power! That is rest!

I Shall Not Want Psalms 23:1

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."


The Lord is my shepherd; this statement pictures relationship. I shall not want portrays supply. David tells us that God is the controlling factor in his life and because of that, David says, "I do not want for anything." David was content in his life and his life was full and meaningful and he did not lack for anything. The desire of God's heart is to be the source of life for us all.

When we look at this statement, "I shall not want", it is important to remember that being a Christian is not living a life of comfort and ease. Walking with God does not guarantee us a life without problems. What it does promise us is God as our shepherd will safely lead us and He will protect us and He will give us the peace and comfort and strength to make it through the trials that we face. I like the statement, God does not promise us a smooth flight but He does promise us a safe landing!

When you and I look to Christ, we will find contentment in our lives. God created us to be this way. God created us with the need to find contentment in Him. He gave us the choice to find this peace and contentment in Him or to try to let the world give it to us. The world offers a lot of choices and makes a lot of promises that do not deliver at all. When we look to the world, we are tempted by greed and by the security of self-sufficiency; all of which take our attention away from the shepherd and the care that He has planned for us. The only way for us to find real and lasting peace and contentment in life is to look to the shepherd who provides for us and protects us and gives us utter contentment. The things of the world cannot satisfy the hunger that is on the inside of us that God placed there for Him to fill.

We are not capable of doing for ourselves the things that God has planned to do for us. Our "want" is determined by the degree of submission that we give to Him in our lives on a daily basis. As we make decisions that allow Him to be our shepherd, there is a peace that passes all understanding that over takes us. That peace sustains us even when the storms of life are beating down on us and we are fighting battles in our lives. God is in control and He will give us rest and He will satisfy our deepest desires and control our consuming cravings. God wants to be our shepherd. He does not want us to want for anything, except for Him!

I shall not want; what a wonderful supply to draw from!

The Lord Is My Shepherd Psalms 23:1

1The Lord is my shepherd;



Here David describes for us one of the most precious relationships is all of creation. The Lord is my Shepherd. What a beautiful picture this presents to us. There is a very special relationship that exists between a shepherd and his sheep. David compares this relationship to God's relationship with His children. Perhaps the most telling aspect of this relationship that exists between a shepherd and His sheep is that of protection. The shepherd is the sole protector of the sheep. God wants to protect us! He wants to fight our battles and He wants to be our source of strength in every situation we face.

Not only does the shepherd protect his sheep, He provides for his sheep. The quality of life that the sheep have is directly related to the care that the shepherd gives to them. Sheep that are well watered and well fed are happy sheep. The shepherd is responsible to make sure the sheep are led to the right pastures at the right times so they will find the food and shelter they need to be their best. God is our shepherd. He is our protector and He is also our provider. He will take care of us when we are willing to hear His voice and then heed His voice. As you and I as God's children do what the Holy Spirit leads us to do and we become what the Word of God tells us we are to be, God is able to do great and mighty things with our lives.

God is always there for us; He is just not always able to do for us. The quality of our lives speaks volumes about us as well as it does God. God's plan is to shepherd our lives. His desire is to meet our needs. However, we have to allow Him access to our lives. We have to learn to walk with Him and allow Him to do the things that He so much wants to do for us. As we surrender our lives to Him, He is able to bless us and then others are able to see us and they are able to see the care of the shepherd in our lives.

David understood that when he wrote, "The Lord is my shepherd." Is he your shepherd? He has proven that He is more than capable of handling the job! Remember something, we are His sheep because He deliberately chose us even though we did not deserve it! What a special privilege it is to be a Child of God and an object of His affection.

They Were Delivered Psalm 22:5

3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. 4Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. 5They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.



David had times in his life when he felt that God did not hear his cries for help. "Why are You so far from helping me?" David asked. He cried out to God in the daytime and at night. He had been taught to go to God when he faced difficulty. He had been taught that God would answer his prayers. He knew that God could heal the hurt that he had in his life. He knew that God could correct whatever was wrong in his life. He knew that God COULD do all that. The problem that David was experiencing was there were times when it did not seem that God WAS answering his prayers.

Why did David write, "3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. 4Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. 5They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded." What is he trying to tell us in these few verses?

David is reminding us that God is able to deliver us from whatever is wrong in our lives at any moment. David knew that God had taken care of those who had trusted in Him who were before him and he knew that God would deliver him just as He had done for them. David tells us, God is Holy and He delights in the praises of His people. God wants to bless us so that we can bless Him and in doing so, He can bless us even more. God's intention is to create an unending cycle of the blessed one being blessed!

God has always been faithful to His people. He loves us with an everlasting love. Just as He delivered all those who have gone before us, so will He deliver us if we will come to Him in faith, believing that He is everything that He says He is and that He will do everything that He says He will do. David is looking to the Word of God for a Word from God that he would be able to stand on and live his life.

We can find the same thing for our lives today in God's precious Word. He has always been faithful to those that love Him and He is not about to change that now! That is the whole purpose for our being here in the first place. That is why God created us. He wants to bless us and make us a blessing to those around us. Live for Him today and let Him delight in your praises to Him! He will be glad that you did and you will be glad as well!

Be Exalted Psalm 21:13

13Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power."



How is God exalted? Do we exalt Him? How?

Look at our text and we will see what David says God would do for us. His hand shall find all of His enemies and all those who hate Him. The Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath and fire shall destroy them all. The plans of the evil ones will not be performed because God will have turned them back! "Be exalted Oh Lord, in Your own strength."

How is God exalted? He is exalted when He is able to do what only He can do in our lives! God is exalted and lifted up when we allow Him to fight our battles and win our wars and He gives us victory! In Your own strength Lord, be exalted! David was a mighty warrior and a mighty man of valor. He knew the sweet taste of victory! He knew the thrill of watching defeat take hold of his enemies. He knew first hand the feeling of the exercise of power and the respect that it gave him in the eyes of the people.

David also knew that it was God who had given him his victory! He knew that God delighted in providing for and protecting His own. He knew that God delighted in defeating His enemies and giving victory to His children. He wanted God to be exalted in his life! He wanted the power of God to be seen in the lives of the children of Israel.

God wants that today in our lives and in the lives of our churches. He wants to show His power. He wants to demonstrate His ability to fight our battles and win our wars and bless our lives. He wants to give power to the church today! He wants the church to bombard the gates of Hell and compel the lost to come out and come to Him! He wants our churches to be filled to overflowing! He wants our lives to be full and running over! He wants to be exalted and lifted up and all we have to do is take Him by the hand and walk with Him and follow His leadership and His instruction for our lives and He will give us victory and He will be exalted in us and through us!

Then, we too will sing and praise His mighty power because we will have seen His deliverance first hand in our own lives and in the lives of those around us! Let's let go and let's see the mighty hand of God go to work in our lives and in the lives of our churches for His glory and His honor. Let's exalt Him as we allow Him to be God in our lives today!

Give Us Life Psalm 21:3

1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 2Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 3For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. 4He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him,


David is looking at his life and is rejoicing in the blessings that he knows God has given to him. His life is full. God has given him the desires of his heart. He has given him blessings above and beyond his hopes and dreams. God is so good! He has not changed. As God provided for David in his day, so does He want to provide for us today.

David asked God for life and God gave it to him. David found strength and joy in God's salvation. There is so much more that God has in store for us than saving us from an eternity in Hell; He wants to give us life today that will carry us into eternity in Heaven. The desire of God's heart is to begin to bring heaven to us today. He created life to be lived to its fullest. He created us so that He could provide for us and make our lives as David's life was, filled to overflowing.

We have to allow the Source of Life to make an impact on our lives. Sin says, "I don't need God." Sin says, "I know more about my life than God does." As result, we struggle through our day wrestling with the cares and the concerns of the world, because they cannot do for us what God has planned to do for for us.

We need to begin our day asking God for life and looking to Him for His guidance and His direction so that He can give us all that He so much wants us to have. As He is able to do that for us, we will find our lives full of joy and peace and happiness that the world cannot begin to give to us. Life is not as difficult as it seems.

The things that makes it so difficult are the decisions that we make that are out of step with the Word of God and the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We need to be reminded over and over and over again, that He is life. We need to be reminded that there is life in His Word when we make that Word a light unto our path and we follow His Word for our lives.

Let the Lord have His way in your heart today and allow Him to bless you this week and you will find His blessings to be more than satisfying and your life will be blessed indeed exceedingly abundantly more than you could ask or hope for!

Sin is Serious Business Psalm 19:13

. 11Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 12Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 13Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.



The law of the Lord is ours to warn us and to reward us. When we lean toward temptation, the Holy Spirit speaks to the heart of the child of God and reminds us of God's will for us in that matter. He reminds us that His plans are much better than the rewards that the temptation may offer. In fact, David reminds us that God's rewards are more than good; they are great!

David asks the Lord to cleanse him from his secret faults. We need to pray and ask God for the wisdom that we need to walk through life and allow Him to be our fortress and our foundation. We need to allow Him to do the things that He has planned to do for us. Notice David asks the Lord to keep him from "presumptuous sins". He does not want them to have hold over him. These are bold blatant sins that we flaunt in the face of our Lord. These are the sins that we commit that we know even before we do them that God would not and could not be pleased with. It is amazing how poorly we really do live our lives. As someone has said, we are paying an awful high cost for a lot of low living.

When we refuse to settle for what the world offers and we stand in faith on the Word of God, we find God's righteousness. When we allow Him to be our strength and our stay, we find life that is so much easier and so much more rewarding on a day by day basis, which is really we all want in our lives.

Finally, the desire of David's heart is that the words of his mouth and the meditation of his heart will be acceptable in God's sight. The words we speak and the thoughts we think are really the essence of who we are. Think about it for a moment. The thoughts we think determine what we say and what we do. As we think so are we! Our lives are the product of the many decisions that we made just minutes ago as well as years ago. Every decision that we make impacts our future.

David wants his decisions to be acceptable in God's sight. Why? He wants his decisions to be acceptable so that God can be his strength and his redeemer! When our thoughts and our decisions are made acceptable to the Lord, then He is able to do for us as He has planned to do. He is able to make our lives worth living! He is able to bless us and make us a blessing to others. The desire of our heart needs to be focused on one area and that area is our thoughts. We need to strive to hold our thoughts captive to the Lord and making our decisions pleasing in His sight. When we do that, we too will be able to call God our strength and our redeemer as well!

God's Glory is Everywhere Psalm 19:1

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. 2Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. 3There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 6His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.


Listen as David so poetically describes for us the extent that God has gone to show us His glory! David writes, "day and night show us His Word and His knowledge. There is no speech where their voice is not heard." Night follows day and day follows night. It always has and it always will as long as this world is in existence. When night begins to fall we can know that God is in control. When the new day begins to dawn we can rejoice because we can know that there is new life in Him! No matter what faces us, there is a new day coming and with it will come the blessing of God for our lives when we trust Him and lean on Him.

David goes on, "in the night and in the day He has made a dwelling place for the sun." His going forth David writes is "from the end of heaven to the end of earth and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." Just as God made a place for the sun to shine, so has He made a place for His Son to shine in our hearts. He has made a dwelling place for His Son in us. He has given Him to us and He is from everlasting to everlasting and just as the sun radiates its heat to every nook and cranny in our world, so does the Son of God radiate His love in us and there is no life that is exempt nor is there any situation too difficult for Him to solve.

God's glory is indeed everywhere! He has created the world to declare His glory! He has created a world where He can bless us and do for us and provide for us and protect us. He has purposely done all this for us! He has purposely made everything that we see, feel and experience so that we can know that He loves us. He wants us to know that He wants us to be filled with all the fullness that only He can give to us! We are the apple of His eye. Our happiness and absolute joy is the desire of His heart. When we watch the sun rise we ought to be reminded of just how much God loves us and how much He has done for us to show us His love.

The thing that I believe He wants us to remember is this; God created all that we see all around us and all that we do not see. He gave us His Son to die on a cross so that we could live with Him forever and He still has so much more that He wants to give to us if we will just remember that He wants to be The Lord and Master in our lives so that He can bless us and He can give us all that He has planned for us.

Every time you look up today and see the beauty of the day, be reminded of His love for you and know that He made everything so that you can know Him. He wants to make your life all that only He can make it. Reach up and take Him by the finger today and walk with Him and let Him bless you today. If you will do that, you will make the glory of God beam bright today and you will bless His heart in such a wonderful way, fulfilling the purpose for which you were created!

Acceptable in Your Sight Psalm 19:14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.



Here is one of David's great prayers. David was a man who is described as a "man after God's own heart." He wanted God to be pleased with his life. He wanted to make decisions that brought honor and glory to God. David knew that the secret to God's blessings was in his own thoughts. Most of God's promises to us are dependent on our response to Him. David knew that and he wanted the best that God had for him and he knew that what he did and what he said had so much to do with God's ability to meet his need and bless him as only God could do.

Jesus told His disciples that what went into ones mouth did not defile them but rather the things that came out of the mouth because what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart and if the heart is wicked or looks to the world for its comfort, that is what defiles a man's life. (Matthew 15:18-20)

David wanted God's thoughts to be his thoughts. He knew that his actions and the things that he said were a great indicator of where his heart was. The things that we say and the things that we do are like a temperature gauge on our cars. As the temperature goes up, it can be an indication that there is a problem. The problem that most of us have in our lives is we have a warning light on the dash and when that light comes on, most of the time it is too late; our lives are already overheated!

David wanted to keep a check on his life. He wanted the words that he spoke and the things that he thought to be pleasing to God because that meant God's presence and His power and His promises would dictate and direct his life. More than anything else, David wanted his life to be all that God wanted it to be. He wanted his life to be pleasing to God.

You and I can have that same attitude. We can develop a heart after God. All we have to do is repeat this prayer over and over again during the coarse of the day and listen to what God says to us. We can begin to ask God for wisdom to know what to do and then ask Him for the power to do what He directs us to do. God's blessings are worth the effort in our lives. There is nothing that can begin to compare with the provisions that He has in store for your life and mine. Ask God to examine your heart and your thoughts and the things that you say and the decisions that you make. Pay attention to your thoughts and the things that you say. Treat those thoughts as a temperature gauge into your heart to make sure that you do not overheat! God will bless you as you seek to please Him in all that you do!

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.