In Psalm 120, 121, 122, & 123, the psalmists emphasize the necessity of prayer. God is our rescue, comfort, hope, and only He can bring peace. We turn to God in and through all because we trust God. No matter what may come, we endure with the strength of God knowing He is on the Throne and Jesus holds all victory. He is our Helper, Keeper, and Protector. He is our Shield and He is always watching and with us. As we repent of our "selves" and line our wills up to God's will, we fall more and ...
Aug 20, 2024•15 min
Psalms 117, 118, and 119, include the shortest Psalm, the mid-point of the entire Bible, and the longest Psalm. The psalmist cries out for all the people of the earth to worship and praise the Lord, depend on His love and rest calmly in His faithfulness. As the middle verses of the Bible declare, "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people." Give thanks and praise to the Lord through everything and glorify Him for His great victory. Trust in Him for every outcome to every ci...
Aug 19, 2024•24 min
(John 13:1-15) Jesus knew the most important sacrifice - the event that is central to our entire eternity - was right around the corner. Yet, the most important thing for Him to do - right now - is bend down humbly in servanthood to wash the stinky, nasty feet of His disciples. Jesus is the One who washes feet because He is the only One who holds the power to clean us - from the inside out.
Aug 17, 2024•16 min
In Psalm 113, 114, 115, & 116, the psalms all begin with glorious praise and worship to the Lord rooted in extraordinary love for Him and who He is. His Name is to be praised and He is to receive all glory and honor with every last breath we have. Jesus came to set us free from sin and the bondages of sin. We can choose Life and freedom that is only found in and through Jesus and live our lives as though we truly believe He came to the earth, died for our sins, rose from that grave and truly...
Aug 16, 2024•16 min
In Psalm 109, 110, 111, & 112, David proclaims heartfelt praise and worship to God. He prays to God for his enemies and trusts that God will handle the situation. He trusts God and leaves the outcome to Him. He doesn't gossip about his enemies to others, he brings every thought, feeling, concern, and frustration to the Lord and simply trusts Him for every outcome. He gives us an example of how to live the Word of God out in our lives, how to praise God heart and soul, how to pray continually...
Aug 15, 2024•16 min
In Psalms 106, 107, & 108, the psalmist is honest about the sins of their lives and pours everything out before the Lord in sincere and deep repentance. God always answers a broken repentant heart before Him. In joyous faith, he glorifies and honors God above all, trusting Him with everything heart and soul. He praises God in extreme gratitude for God's patience, mercy, grace, and faithful love. If we lose our way, our freedom, our health, our hope, or our home, we can and should cry out to ...
Aug 14, 2024•15 min
In Psalm 103, 104 & 105, the promises and faithfulness of God are magnified. God forgives our sins, heals our diseases, redeems us from destruction, crowns us with lovingkindness and His tender mercies, satisfies every need, renews our spirit, makes His ways and actions known to us, pours out His mercy and grace, is patient and slow to anger, doesn't give us what we deserve due to our sin but instead removes our sins far away never to be seen when we repent and choose Jesus for Life, pours o...
Aug 13, 2024•17 min
In Psalm 99, 100, 101, & 102, we are shown the sovereignty and royalty of our Almighty God. He is King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He rules and reigns. He always has and always will. When we choose Jesus, repent, and submit our lives into His faithful arms, we enter into rest in Him because we are no longer trying to war against Him. He is glorious, gracious, and just. We praise and worship Him joyfully in submission to who He is and honor Him in all we do. Jesus died and rose from t...
Aug 12, 2024•15 min
Worship without the fear, reverence, and awe of God isn't really worship at all. We can't remove God or ignore sin in our worship. True worship includes fear and reverence for God, confession and repentance from sin, and faithful continual prayer and communion with God in our daily lives - not just on Sundays. It's talking with God about everything with the confident faith that He has the power to do anything.
Aug 11, 2024•14 min
In Psalm 96, 97, & 98, the emphasis of the psalmists is royalty - Jesus is the King of the earth. Jesus is our Salvation and our Life. He came and sacrificed His life on earth so we could receive His Life for eternity. That should be something we sing about and joyfully proclaim every day with every breath in us. We sing praise to Him, we worship Him, and we give Him all glory because He is so amazingly good and we love Him heart and soul. We rejoice because we know He is returning - sooner ...
Aug 09, 2024•18 min
Psalms 93, 94, & 95 reveal the Kingship and Authority of Jesus. He is Lord of all. He is King of all. He is God. He is all. He is holy and His love is holy. He will be returning to judge sin and evil and when He does, all sin will be judged. He desperately wants every last person to choose to abide in Him and be free from sin and the judgment of death that comes with it. When we abide in Him, it's like an unborn baby abiding in the mother's womb. That baby goes where she goes, that baby is n...
Aug 08, 2024•12 min
In Psalm 90, 91, & 92, we see purpose in our lives in and through God. God has a purpose and a plan for our lives if we are willing to trust His lead and walk into it. We are travelers on this very temporary earth and if we have put our faith in Jesus and entrusted our lives to Him, God is our Home. He is our Dwelling Place, our Rescue, our Refuge, our Protection, and our Stability. He will pour out the comfort, strength, and encouragement we need for every day if we are willing to repent fr...
Aug 07, 2024•14 min
In Psalm 86, 87, 88, & 89, each of the writers are experiencing the various highs and lows of life. Much like we all do which is why the Psalms are so real and relatable. What we continually see in these chapters is the persistence of prayer. They each pray - a lot. They talk to God honestly, openly, and intimately. God wants a real and honest and personal relationship with all of us. Some people get by with putting on a fake mask at church on Sunday's, but God will never settle for that. He...
Aug 06, 2024•19 min
In Psalm 82, 83, 84, & 85, the psalmists cry out for evil and wickedness to be resolved. They long for the Lord and to bask in His presence night and day. That should be the desire of each of our hearts. God wants us to know Him, experience Him, delight in Him, and fall more and more in love with Him every day. He hears our prayers and He wants us to listen for His voice as well. He speaks to us through prayer, through His Word, through His Holy Spirit, through the Jesus loving people He's p...
Aug 05, 2024•16 min
(Acts 28) Too many of us walk around with snakes hanging from our hands. We need to shake off the snakes, let them burn in the fires of hell where they came from, and passionately pursue Jesus with all our guts.
Aug 03, 2024•4 min
Jesus is most glorified when you are fully, wholeheartedly satisfied in and through Him. The most important thing in our alabaster jars is us. Jesus wants us to pour out all we have and all we are for Him because we love Him. He wants us to trust Him wholeheartedly with every outcome. No matter how big you think God is, He's even bigger.
Aug 03, 2024•12 min
In Psalm 79, 80, & 81, we see the Asaph crying out to God for mercy. God's people were rescued from slavery, protected and cared for through their wilderness journey, and received an inheritance that was grown by God. They rebelled against God and worshiped everything else instead of God. Their time to repent and turn ran out and God sent judgment and correction. Asaph pleads for God's help and his heart of despair is turned to worship and praise for who God is - even while experiencing puni...
Aug 02, 2024•15 min
In Psalm 76, 77, & 78, we read about connecting with God emotionally as Asaph pours his heart out sincerely to God, giving God every emotion. God wants us to know Him. He is present and wants us to enjoy His presence. He wants us to experience Him. He wants us to trust Him and let Him revive us. He wants us to love Him in reverent respect and honor for who He is. He wants us to fear Him knowing He is God - the God of the cosmos and holds all power and authority. He wants us to obey Him out o...
Aug 01, 2024•17 min
In Psalm 73, 74, & 75, Asaph brings all of his questions to God and trusts God will answer. God does answer. Asaph received his answers as he worshiped and praised the Lord. It was through worship that he received a deeper understanding of God and who God is. He was struggling with the wicked, prideful, arrogant people appearing as though they have no burdens, no troubles, and keep getting richer. He brought everything to God and understands now that God is good, kind, and loving. He underst...
Jul 31, 2024•15 min
In Psalm 70, 71, & 72, the Psalmists affirm that the Lord is our only Rescue, our only Hope, and our only Refuge. Even in the midst of despair and tragedy, they choose to praise the Lord more and more and we can to. We can stand firm and glorify the Lord no matter what knowing He is on the throne and He is faithful. He restores life - for eternity - if we choose to let Him be Lord of all of our lives. Jesus came and ransomed us if we choose to accept His payment. He's given us the check, it'...
Jul 30, 2024•13 min
In Psalm 68 & 69, David cries out to God and both despair and worship exalting God's great power and the salvation that only comes in and through God. These Psalms point us directly to Jesus. Through the life-saving power of Jesus, the enemy is defeated. We can rejoice and remain unshakably anchored to Jesus. He carries us through anything and everything this temporary world will bring, He's the only One who can. These Psalms show the incredible picture of how God has moved in the past, how ...
Jul 29, 2024•16 min
John 11:1-44 - Lazarus - Come Out! Jesus is always with us and loves us incomprehensibly through everything we face. When life doesn't make sense, don't look around - look up! Faith in Jesus means believing what is beyond reason to believe from a human perspective. We look up in God perspective instead. Believing in the miracle working power of Jesus leads to seeing the miracle working power of Jesus in our lives.
Jul 27, 2024•20 min
Psalm 65, 66, & 67 focus on praising the Lord for His amazing blessings and gracious dealings with His children. We are to give God all the glory and live our lives passionately pursuing Him, intentionally worshiping Him, and glorifying Him in all we do and say. We confess our sins and humbly repent when we fall into sin and get back up and praise the Lord in gratitude for His saving mercy. We trust Him through every storm knowing we are victorious in and through Him. We are not defeated, Sa...
Jul 26, 2024•13 min
In Psalm 62, 63, & 64, David is again facing real life-threatening challenges. He was the lineage that our Messiah would come from and Satan made every attempt possible to take David out. God wins. God is the victory holder. His plan is faithful and He holds all power. In every challenge David faced, he trusted God. He rested in God - even while fleeing for his life from place to place through the wilderness. His refuge and trust was wholly and completely in the Lord. He spent intentional ti...
Jul 25, 2024•16 min
In Psalm 59, 60, & 61, David's enemies are closing in and the nation is vulnerable as well. He sees everything going on around him, but still chooses to look up faithfully to God - the One on the Throne. He trusts God's provision, strength, delivering hand, shield of protection, comfort, mercy, and unfailing love. He sings praises and worships God in gratitude for the victory - even when the victory hasn't come quite yet. He knows God is faithful and stands firm in his faith in God. He gives...
Jul 24, 2024•12 min
In Psalm 56, 57, & 58, David once again shows us the importance of giving God our fears and God then turning those fears into increased faith. God heard every prayer, every plea and every one of his tears. He hears ours as well and wants us to let Him comfort, strengthen, and heal our broken spirits. David's greatest desire was to glorify God so he brought absolutely everything to God. God wants us to talk with Him openly and honestly about everything - all day, every day. He wants a true an...
Jul 23, 2024•15 min
In Psalm 52-55, David is facing some real, life-threatening, and heartbreaking struggles and circumstances. He is feeling betrayed and surrounded by evil. He really wanted to just fly away and get away from it all. Have you ever been there? I for sure have. Instead of running, David turned to the Lord. He examined his feelings honestly and openly. He felt them. And then he gave them all to the Lord just as honestly and openly. God gives us our emotions so we can give them back to Him. God turns ...
Jul 22, 2024•16 min
In Revelation 2 & 3, Jesus calls us to repent of sins, our lost love for Him, apathy, and indifference. He pleads with us to cling to Him, remain faithful, and persevere. There's no time like "now" time to answer His knock, join the victorious, and respond to His call.
Jul 20, 2024•3 min
In Psalm 49, 50, & 51 - 3 Psalmists speak into eternity, values, repentance, gratitude, and God's cleansing and healing hand. We can choose to store up riches in this temporary life and get caught up in pride, glamour, and sin, or we can choose to live for Jesus and receive a glorious eternity with Him. Our bank accounts and material collections will not come with us when we die. Only God's Word and the people we share His Word with, who choose to submit their lives to Him, will come with us...
Jul 19, 2024•13 min
In Psalm 46, 47, & 48, the descendants of Korah write a song of encouragement and worship to the Lord. They emphasize the presence of God. When we trust God wholeheartedly it makes all the difference when walking through the changes, struggles and difficulties of life. God is our strength. God pours out rivers of Joy and He is our God and will be glorified today and for eternity. There are times when He tells us to "get moving" and times when He tells us to "be still". When He says be still,...
Jul 18, 2024•15 min
