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Psalms 52:8 NLT But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.
As children of God who trust in the Lord, we’re supposed to be thriving. We shouldn’t be barely making it, suffering with bad health, and having nothing to pass on to our children. It doesn’t matter what country we’re from, our family dynamic, or our current financial status. We’re to be thriving.
The only thing that stops us from thriving is unbelief. If Satan can make us doubt God’s word, make us believe that we don’t deserve to thrive, or if he can keep us ignorant to the thriving promises of God, we won’t succeed. However, if we believe and meditate on God’s word about successful health, families, marriages, and finances, we’ll thrive in every area of our lives.
Make up your mind to thrive. As we can see, it’s God’s will, and just because everyone around you may be failing doesn’t mean that has to be you.
#thrive #in #Christ
Psalms 51:2 NLT Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.
For every born-again believer who is trying to live godly, if we sin, guilt will be present. It doesn’t matter if we ate too much or committed murder, guilt will accompany sin.
Some feel like guilt is necessary and good because it will help us stop sinning. However, Isaiah 53:5 Amplified says He was bruised for our guilt, and Hebrews 10:22 says our guilty consciences have been cleansed by Christ’s blood. These scriptures let us know God doesn’t want us having guilt. God’s goodness will lead a person to repentance (Romans 2:4).
So, although sin will accompany guilt, we don’t have to accept the guilt. Instead, we can receive and be grateful for His forgiveness, our righteousness, and our holiness (1 John 1:9).
Don’t let a slip up ruin your day, week, or month. If we sin, confess it, simultaneously receive the forgiveness that was made available through Jesus Christ, and move on. God doesn’t get any glory from our guilt. Guilt only negatively impacts our faith and relationship with God.
#purified #cleansed #free #through #Christ #Jesus
Psalms 50:23 NLT But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.
If we want to honor God, give thanks. It’s that simple. Give thanks for all the wonderful things He’s done.
Give thanks for the breath we breathe, give thanks for our children, and give thanks for the place we reside. If we would just look around, we’ll see there are numerous reasons to give thanks.
It’s truly a sacrifice to give thanks when things aren’t idyllic. We may have been in a car accident, but we give thanks that we’re still alive. We may have been laid off, but we give thanks that all of our needs are met (Phil. 4:19). Our children may be misbehaving in school, but we thank God that the seed of the righteous is delivered (Prov. 11:21).
In every situation, to honor God, give thanks.
#give #thanks #God #is #worthy
Psalms 49:15 NLT But as for me, God will redeem my life. He will snatch me from the power of the grave. Interlude
This life will end for everyone. Money and medication can’t save us. It doesn’t matter how much we work out or eat right. This life will end.
But for the believer (those who believe that Jesus Christ died for our sin), we have a promise of eternal life. In fact, believers are currently experiencing eternal life. David had to wait on Jesus to be snatched out of the grave, but we don’t. Believers will never die.
So don’t be afraid of transitioning to heaven or be too upset when a believing loved one transitions to heaven. We all will still be alive, enjoying ourselves with our heavenly Father.
#perfect #eternity #heaven #receive #Jesus
Psalms 48:9 NLT O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple.
Periodically, we should meditate on God’s love for us. How do we do that? We get in a quiet place and think of all the ways He loves us. It could be in a room, on our way to work, or on a walk.
The first place we see God’s love for us is in His word. We can go in His word and see the love He provided through Jesus Christ. Every sacrifice Jesus made was out of His love for us. While we’re in His word, read about His promises. Every promise God has for us is based on His love for us.
Secondly, we can experience God’s love by reflecting on all that He’s done in our lives. We can reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus and all the benefits that come with our salvation. We can recall the way He healed our bodies, the joy that He’s made available, the miracles He performed, and His faithfulness. Every good thing we have and every good memory is an example of God’s love.
Finally, we can focus on and be grateful for His love that is shown through the people surrounding us. It could be our parents, spouses, good friends, or children. When we think of the way they love us, that’s His love flowing through them.
Meditating on God’s love keeps us grateful and keeps our minds in a positive place. When we truly know how much God loves us, we can be encouraged for tomorrow.
#receive #Love #God
Psalms 47:3 GNBUK He gave us victory over the peoples; He made us rule over the nations.
God gives us victory over our all our enemies. David was speaking of natural enemies, but for us, through Jesus, we have the victory over all our enemies. This includes rulers of darkness as well as the people who allow themselves to be vessels for rulers of darkness (Luke 10:19; Eph. 6:12).
We don’t have to be worried about the devil or anyone he’s using taking our lives, our health, our peace, or our money. He’ll try to take these things, but when we understand and act on our authority and the victory we have over him, he’ll run away (James 4:7).
Praise God for the victory we have in Christ Jesus. Through Christ Jesus, we’ll be a champion forever.
#victory #through #Christ #Jesus #forever #champions
Psalms 46:7 NLT The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.
Two times in this chapter, it says, “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us” (v.7, v. 11). When God mentions something twice in scripture, we should pay twice as much attention to what He’s saying.
God is with us. For all of us new covenant believers, God is in us. Not only is He with and in us, He is our fortress. That means He protects us. We wouldn’t have nearly as much stress, worry, or depression if we had a true understanding that God is and will always be with us.
Having a revelation that God is with us will alleviate those things that could cause us stress, like the health and safety of our children, our finances, and “uncertainties” about our future. We can give those concerns to Him and let Him handle it (Psalms 138:8).
Don’t go through life forgetting that God is with you. He sees everything you’re going through, and He has a solution to every problem. Trust Him.
#God #is #with #us
Psalms 45:7 NLT You love justice and hate evil. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.
God loves justice or righteousness, and He hates evil. He doesn’t hate the person doing evil. He hates evil acts.
What is evil? Anything that’s opposite of God’s nature and God’s word. Most of us would agree that murder and rape are evil. However, in Numbers 13:32, spreading fear and unbelief are evil too.
Get in God’s word and find out what’s approved of God and focus on doing that. When we do what God said (in context), we won’t do evil.
#honor #God
Psalms 44:1 NLT O God, we have heard it with our own ears— our ancestors have told us of all you did in their day, in days long ago:
Imagine a 7 year old walking in a room seeing their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins going one at a time telling their story about the amazing things God has done for them. After hearing all those stories, how inspired would that 7 year old be to trust in God for themselves?
That 7 year old would understand the faithfulness of God and the unwavering faith and patience they need to experience a miracle for themselves. Our testimony is one of the ways we can motivate the next generation.
Don’t stop talking about all that God is doing. Even if it seems little. Tell your children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews all the wonderful things God has done. This will inspire them to trust God for themselves.
#share #your #story #God #is #faithful
Psalms 43:4 NLT There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!
God should be the source of our joy. Our joy should not be built on our spouse, our children, our careers, our finances, or the lack of problems in our lives. Our joy should come from God.
So many people attach their joy to the absence of problems. They wait for everything to be just right to have joy. We don’t have to wait. It’s a choice to have joy every day.
In the midst of problems, we can still have joy. To have joy, we must look past the problems and see a bigger God. Think about how He’s handled problems in the past and expect Him to do it again. Focus on the positive things that He’s currently manifesting. Read what He’s promised in His word regarding the situation and expect it to come to pass.
Allow our Father to be the center of our joy.
#have #joy #in #Christ
Psalms 42:11 NLT Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again— my Savior and my God!
When things aren’t going well in our health, marriages, finances, or at work, there’s a temptation to be discouraged or depressed.
When discouragement and depression knock, don’t answer. Instead, let’s focus our attention on God, put our hope in Him, and give Him praise.
Putting our hope in God and giving Him praise is a choice we’ll have to make if we want to keep discouragement and depression from barging in. We’ll have to put our hope in God and praise Him while crying, when we don’t feel like it, and when everything within our flesh is saying, “How will this help?”
Don’t sit in discouragement and depression waiting for the situation to get better. Get out of that and force yourself to put your hope in God and praise Him in advance for favorable outcomes.
#praise #God #anyway
Psalms 41:1-3 NLT Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor! The Lord rescues them when they are in trouble. The Lord protects them and keeps them alive. He gives them prosperity in the land and rescues them from their enemies. The Lord nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health.
We live in a society where we’re taught to get all we can and keep it for ourselves. Very few people are consistently kind to the poor. We know it’s a good thing to help, but most of us don’t position ourselves to really help them. We limit our finances to ourselves and to our loved ones, and our lives are too busy to take a day to serve them.
God understood that people would have a hard time helping the poor, which is why He put a few promised perks in His word that would encourage kindness.
As we can see, those who are kind to the poor can expect joy, to be rescued from trouble, protection, prosperity, and restoration of health. Any time we help the poor, we can be in faith for these things to happen for us.
Help the poor to spread kindness and to represent the Kingdom of God, but if not, understand that you’re passing up these promised perks.
Psalms 40:8 NLT I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.”
Doing the will of God won’t be pleasant to our flesh, but our spirits (the real us) love doing the will of God.
Our love for doing the will of God is out of gratitude for what He’s done for us. It’s not payback, because we’ll never be able to pay Him back for what He’s done for us. But, it’s gratitude.
So, think about all that He’s done for you, let go of that fear and encourage that lady you’ve never introduced yourself to. Give some money to that homeless guy you see all the time. Be bold in that difficult discussion you need to have with your friend. And trust God when things seem illogical.
All of this and more is the will of God. If we don’t do it, who will? Obey the will of God, which is in His word, and do it with joy.
#gratitude #do #the #will #of #God
Psalms 39:7 NLT And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.
We can tell where people put their hope by their response to certain things. A person who puts their hope in the government becomes upset when their political representative faces resistance or doesn’t do what they said they would do. A person who puts their hope in the stock market could become depressed if their stocks plummet. A person who puts their hope in doctors and medicine becomes fearful when they get a negative doctor’s report.
However, for those who put their hope in the Lord, they shall be like a tree planted by the river. Their leaves will not wither (Ps. 1:3). They shall be like a house built upon a rock. When the rains and winds come, they will not fall (Matt. 7:24-27).
If we can push all these systems and man-made constructs to the side and only trust God, we shall not be moved. We won’t be worried about the economics, the test results, or what the government does or doesn’t do.
We can take every issue to God because our hope is in Him.
#hope #in #God #only
Psalms 38:1-3 NLT O Lord, don’t rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your rage! Your arrows have struck deep, and your blows are crushing me. Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins.
When reading the bible, it’s important to rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). In Psalms 38, David was going through a lot. He was in pain, his enemies were attempting to kill him, and his family had forsaken him.
From this low place, David made a statement about God being the cause of his tragic circumstances.
If someone just reads this chapter, without rightly dividing the word of truth, they may think if God gets angry enough He will cause sickness and allow our enemies to come against us.
“Everything in the bible is truly stated, but not everything in the bible is a statement of truth.”
Although David’s statement is truly stated in the bible, it’s not a statement of truth. God doesn’t cause sickness and tragedies. He doesn’t even allow them. Tragic circumstances, including sickness comes from the devil, the natural consequences of sin, the troubles of life, or what we allow by not using our God-given authority (John 10:10; Prov. 13:15; John 16:33; Matt. 18:18). The point is, it’s not God.
Be mindful as you’re reading the scriptures. Be sure to read in context, be sure to read in the perspective of a new covenant believer, and be sure to rightly divide the word of truth.
#truth
Psalms 37:7 NLT Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.
Trusting and believing God requires patience. In fact, Hebrews 10:36 says we have need of patience. We can’t pray, fast, or cry long enough to speed up our breakthrough. Patience is a necessity.
While we wait, we can learn things about God, ourselves, and even the devil. With God, we can learn about His creativity and faithfulness. We’ll see how creative He can be to bring His faithful promises into our lives.
For us, we’ll learn how to develop our character, we’ll learn how to keep anxiousness at bay, and we’ll learn how to combat doubt from entering our minds.
With Satan, since he lacks creativity, we’ll begin to learn the pattern of his tired old tricks he uses to get us into doubt and unbelief. We’ll eventually understand the thoughts of fear of it not happening, the thoughts of unworthiness and time delay are a joke.
Don’t worry about the wicked getting what you want. It may not last forever. Wait patiently for God to provide His promises to you, and you’ll enjoy them forever.
#trust #God #be #patient #rest #in #Christ
Psalms 36:5 NLT Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
God is faithful. God is the only being who will do exactly what He said. People can say they’re going to be there for us and help us out, but even the kindest people may not be there when we need them the most.
God is always there, He’ll never leave, and He’ll do what He said. Although He’s always there, He needs our participation for most of the things in His word to come to pass. What’s our role? Trust and belief.
God doesn’t need our trust and belief for certain things. For instance, we can go years without trusting and believing He’s with us, but that doesn’t matter. Whether we believe He’s with us or not, God vowed to never leave nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5). However, obtaining His protection, peace, strength, etc. that He promises in His word, we need to trust and believe in what He said (Mark 5:36).
God is faithful. Don’t let delay or thoughts of doubt stop you from partaking of His faithfulness.
#trust #God #is #faithful #rest #in #Christ
Psalms 35:10 NLT With every bone in my body I will praise Him: “Lord, who can compare with you? Who else rescues the helpless from the strong? Who else protects the helpless and poor from those who rob them?”
All throughout this chapter, David lets us know the difficulties that he’s facing. People are trying to kill him, they mock him, and they laugh at his troubles. Despite all of these things, David totally depends on God, and he is determined to praise the Lord.
When we face difficult situations, going out and getting even with the people who wronged us isn’t the answer. Sitting around and complaining isn’t the answer either. The greatest weapon we have during tough times is dependence and praise.
We must release our cares to God and let Him handle them. Let Him do the work and avenge us. Our flesh will fight this decision of dependence, but if we resist the urge to fight back in our own strength, God will give us victory with dignity.
Knowing our victory is guaranteed, it’s time to praise. We may have to praise Him confused or with tears in our eyes because we don’t know how He’s going to do it, but praise Him anyway. Praise Him for the victory, praise Him for justice, and praise Him for clearing the air.
Totally depend on God during difficult situations and praise Him for the victory.
#trust #praise #God #be #patient #we #have #victory #in #Christ
Psalms 34:6 NLT In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; He saved me from all my troubles.
Some believers like to criticize other people for only praying to God in times of desperation. God won’t.
Of course, He wants a relationship with us where we communicate with Him all the time, but His love and grace will answer our prayer even if we only call Him during desperate times. He won’t turn His back on us or make us feel ashamed. He’s happy that we’re reaching out to Him.
We may not have spoken to Him in months, years, or at all, but as soon as we call Him, He’s there.
Don’t let thoughts of guilt, shame, and unworthiness stop you from calling God in times of desperation. When He delivers you from that situation, hopefully, your gratitude will keep you in constant communication with God.
#call #on #God #our #lovingFather #we #have #victory #in #Christ
Psalms 33:6 NLT The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.
9 For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.
We were created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). Whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt. 18:18). Our tongue is like the pen of a ready writer (Ps. 45:1). Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Prov. 18:21).
Since we were created like God and He created this world through speech, we too can create and establish our world through our words. If we say everything will work out fine and things will get better, that’s exactly what will be. If we say life sucks or nothing works out the way we want it to, we’ll experience that.
Like God, what we say will determine how our world will be. We can say things that align with God’s word, or we can say the opposite. The choice is ours.
Act like God and speak the world you want to live in.
#speak #life #like #God
Psalms 32:5 NLT Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
When we miss the mark, the devil wants us to feel guilty. He wants us to feel low and ashamed for what we’ve done. There may even be pastors and believers telling us how bad we should feel for a sin. But that’s not how God wants us to feel about ourselves. God wants us to receive His forgiveness that’s been made available through Jesus Christ and move on. Guilt and shame are weapons of the devil. Grace, mercy, and forgiveness are gifts of God.
Under grace, we don’t ask for forgiveness to be forgiven. God has forgiven us for every sin we’ll ever commit over 2000 years ago through Christ (Rom. 6:10). We ask for forgiveness to remove the guilt consciousness from our minds. That guilty feeling will go away when we’re transparent with God and ask for forgiveness.
So, if there are any feelings of guilt haunting you from sin, ask for and receive His forgiveness for ANYTHING you’ve done wrong.
#forgiven #through #Christ #receive #Jesus
Graced To Do God's Will 