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Psalms 140:13 NLT Surely righteous people are praising your name; the godly will live in your presence.
When we get born-again by making Jesus Christ Lord and Savior, we’re made righteous (Rom. 5:1). Godliness is a way of behaving while we’re righteous. We see this in 1 Timothy 6:11 where Paul instructs Timothy to pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
For those who are righteous, God is not only with us, but He lives in us by way of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13). And He said He’ll never leave us nor forsake us (Heb.13:5). With this understanding, we can clearly see from scripture that every believer remains in the presence of God.
So, contrary to some religious teachings, God is not coming and going based on our behavior and we don’t have to get in His presence through song. For us, we get to live in His presence.
So, whatever we want or need, at anytime, we can go to God. He’s always there. If we need help in any situation, He’s there. We don’t need to wait until we’re out of options to ask for help. Be efficient with your time by going to Him first.
Praise God that every born-again believer will forever be in the presence of God.
#living #in #God #HolySpirit
Psalms 139:14 NIV I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
We are wonderfully made by God. Our height, our hair texture, the color of our skin, the size of our lips, and the shape of our nose was wonderfully made by God.
The world may say certain looks or sizes are beautiful or handsome, but how God created us is wonderful, and we need to accept that.
If we see parts of ourselves as flawed, we’re rejecting His creation. We’re saying we would have done things better than the Creator.
So, love and accept your image. Be confident in how you look. Since He said you were wonderful, believe that, and don’t accept the lies of the enemy that tell you otherwise.
#wonderfullymade #createdbyGod
Psalms 138:3 NLT As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.
Every single time we pray, God answers. It doesn’t matter if the subject is regarding our marriages, finances, employment, or health. When we pray and ask God for direction, He’s there to answer. He’s not withholding any answers from us. He answers immediately.
The delay to our answers is usually because of noise. When there are a number of options and they all seem good, it can be difficult to know which answer is from God. There are two ways to deal with this noise.
1. We can let the peace of God rule in our hearts like an umpire (Col. 3:15). The decision that gives us peace in our spirits is usually God’s answers to our prayers. It may not be the most logical answer and it may seem difficult to achieve, but if it brings us peace, that’s God.
2. Fasting. When we fast, we position ourselves to hear from God with clarity. Fasting minimizes the noise and God’s voice becomes supernaturally loud and clear.
We don’t have to wonder if God heard or will answer our prayers. He heard us and His answers are available. Let’s do our part to hear from Him with clarity.
#fast #pray #listen #to #God
Psalms 137:1-4 NLT Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land?
When we go through a difficult situation, our flesh doesn’t feel like doing anything constructive. It doesn’t feel like praising God, worshipping, praying, or being a blessing to someone else. It just wants us to sit there and pout about the situation and it wants others to feel sorry for us.
It’s during these times we need recognize this demonically influenced pity party and force ourselves to do something that will lift us up. We may not feel like it, but start praising and worshipping God, start praying in the Spirit, and intentionally do something for someone else.
These things will combat the enemy’s attacks against our mind and our mood. We’re letting everyone know no matter what we’re going through, we’re not going to let it steal our joy or our hope in God.
So, cool it with the pity parties. Get out of that funk, remember what the Lord has done, and give Him praise.
#worshipGod #serveothers #hope #in #God
Psalms 136:4 NLT Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles. His faithful love endures forever.
God works miracles. Not too many people, Christians included, believe this, but He does. He can step into our situation and do things that defy logic and reason.
He can raise the dead, supernaturally supply all need, instantaneously heal our bodies, or bring life into a barren situation.
What causes these miracles to happen? Our faith. When we believe in the power in God’s word and act on our belief, we too can experience these miracles.
Don’t believe the lies of an unbelieving bunch who say miracles aren’t for today. Trust and believe the Word of God and its power above what you see, hear, or the experiences of others.
#trust #God #miracleshappen
Psalms 135:14 NLT For the Lord will give justice to His people and have compassion on His servants.
When things are unjust, we don’t have to fight those battles. God will give justice to His people. All who have made Jesus Christ Lord and Savior have been adopted into the family of God (Ephesians 1:5). And by default, we become His people.
So, if we were laid off from our jobs without a cause, if we were wrongly convicted of a crime, or if we experienced racism or sexism, God promised us justice. If we were mistreated by our ex-spouse, if our character was dragged through the mud by a former friend, or if we were deceived by an ex-business partner, God promises us justice.
Under grace, God’s form of justice may not be the way our flesh wants. He’s not striking them down with leprosy or sending plagues to their houses. Instead, He’ll let those who mistreated us live long enough to see God bless us (Psalms 23:5). He’ll make what the enemy meant for evil work for our good (Genesis 50:20; Roman 8:28).
Let’s give our cares to God and let Him fight for us because He is the One who provides justice.
#God #fights #for #us #victorious
Psalms 134:2 NLT Lift your hands toward the sanctuary, and praise the Lord.
Praising God is a privilege. We’re not limited to only praising Him in church. We can praise Him in the car, at the gym, at home, or at the park.
When we’re in public, when we praise God, we don’t have to be animated or put on a show, but His goodness should compel us to do something. We can lift our hands, sing out loud, dance, close our eyes, or praise Him in our heavenly language (unknown tongues).
If we’re forcing ourselves not to do something, we’re operating in the spirit of fear of what people will say or think about us. That’s not what God desires.
God has been way too good for us to allow the opinions of people to hinder our praise. So, do something when praising His holy name.
#praise #GOD
Psalm 133:1 AMPC BEHOLD, HOW good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Romans 12:18 says, do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. When we make a conscious effort to live in peace with everyone and be united, we’ll experience a more pleasant world.
There are people who make it their point to be divided about something. It could be the way the country is run, the way church as a whole is being operated, or how their spouse does things. Instead of finding things to be divided about, let’s focus our efforts to be united about something. Let’s find the good in something and build that up.
If there’s a difference of opinion about something, there’s a way to handle that difference without being divided.
Unity will always be stronger than division. Let’s make our nation, the church, and our families stronger by being united.
#live #in #unity #peace
Psalms 132:2-5 NLT He made a solemn promise to the Lord. He vowed to the Mighty One of Israel, “I will not go home; I will not let myself rest. I will not let my eyes sleep nor close my eyelids in slumber until I find a place to build a house for the Lord, a sanctuary for the Mighty One of Israel.”
David prioritized God over everything else. He put God above his status, his successes, and his wealth. He knew he wouldn’t have had any of those things if it wasn’t for God.
As a result of David prioritizing God, God made some promises of His own.
Psalms 132:15-17 NLT I will bless this city and make it prosperous; I will satisfy its poor with food. I will clothe its priests with godliness; its faithful servants will sing for joy. Here I will increase the power of David; my anointed one will be a light for my people.
God promised to prosper the city where David was ruling, make the priest of the city godly and joyful, and increase David’s power and influence.
We can expect similar results when we prioritize God. When we prioritize God by doing what He’s placed in our hearts, we’ll experience great things in our lives. Matthew 6:33 says our needs will be met. Job 22:21 says we’ll have peace and things will go well with us.
Whether it’s serving at church, cutting hair for the homeless, or starting a business that will benefit others, when we prioritize God and do what He instructed, we’ll make a better world and experience God’s blessings.
#God #first #experience #blessings #next
Psalms 131:1-3 NLT Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord— now and always.
There are things in life that will rattle our faith. There may have been an abrupt job loss, death of a loved one, or a messy divorce.
If these things happen, we don’t need to carry those cares. We don’t need to concern ourselves with the situation or think of things we could’ve done better. Carrying these cares and concerns brings stress and stress affects our health.
What we should do is calm ourselves by trusting in God’s word. He is the solution to every problem. He is our peace, He is our joy, He is our provider, and He is our comforter.
Whatever we’re lacking during troubled times, find what we need in God’s word, and meditate on these scriptures. As we meditate, supernatural peace and provision will manifest in our lives.
Focusing on the problem brings stress, but focusing on and trusting the truth in God’s word brings life and peace.
#focus #on #Jesus #life #peace
Psalms 130:4 NLT But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.
In the old covenant, God offered forgiveness. For the new covenant believer, through Jesus, God offers forgiveness. As easily as He offered forgiveness is as easily as we should receive it.
We don’t have to put ourselves in timeout for a week to think about what we’ve done. We don’t have to experience guilt or beat ourselves up about the sin we’ve committed. Like taking a receipt at a grocery store, we can accept the payment for sin, take forgiveness, and move on. It’s as simple as that.
No one needs to question us about being truly sorry for what we’ve done. We can accept God’s forgiveness, thank Him, and know we’ve been forgiven.
Praise God for the forgiveness we have through Jesus Christ.
#forgiven #by #God #through #JesusChrist
Psalms 129:2 NLT From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me, but they have never defeated me.
Attacks against health, our character, our finances, and our families may come, but as we believe in God’s word, they will not defeat us.
As long as we trust in what God says about us, we won’t be defeated. However, if we only look at our circumstances and situations naturally, we may suffer some defeats. If we see low finances in our account and conclude we’re broke, we’ll be defeated in our finances. If we see problems in our marriage and conclude, this may not work, our marriage may suffer a defeat.
Hold on to what God said about your life and you won’t be defeated. Attacks may come, but our counterattack is maintaining our belief in the word of God.
#use #the #Word #of #God
Psalms 128:1-4 NLT How joyful are those who fear the Lord— all who follow his ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be! Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your table. That is the Lord’s blessing for those who fear him.
Some believers have a big problem with prosperity. I don’t know why. Prosperity is mentioned all throughout the bible. Even though it’s in the bible, if someone mentions prosperity in a sermon, some deem it as “the prosperity gospel.”
First of all, there’s no such thing as the prosperity gospel. There’s only the gospel of Jesus Christ also known as the gospel of grace (1 Cor. 15:1-10). The gospel of Jesus Christ is about the forgiveness of sins for all who will believe in Him (Col. 1:14; Rom. 10:9). Once we believe, there are benefits when joining the family of God. The benefits of our belief are health, authority, and prosperity in all areas of our lives (1 Pet. 2:24; Luke 10:19; 3 John 1:2). Prosperity is a byproduct of our belief.
Looking at the scripture above, as we trust in God by putting our belief in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins, we’re promised enjoyment, prosperity, and a blessed family. God never intended for us to be saved and sick. God never intended for us to be saved and broke. God never intended for us to be saved and having marriage problems. That is NOT God’s will for His people.
It’s interesting how people negatively came up with the term “prosperity gospel” when referring to being blessed financially, but no one has negatively come up with the term “health gospel” or “family gospel” when referring to being blessed in our health and in our families. Being prosperous financially is part of the same belief benefit package as being healed.
So, if you have a problem with prosperity, you have a problem with God’s promise to the believer.
#be #prosperous #salvation #health #joy #peace #wealth
Psalms 127:2 NLT It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to His loved ones.
The term grinding has become popular nowadays. It essentially means people working long hours, usually at multiple jobs, with little to no sleep, attempting to be financially successful. People say they’re grinding like it’s a badge of honor, but as we can see from scripture, the concept of grinding is useless and unwise.
Working is not a problem. In fact, God commands us to work (Gen. 2:15; 2 Thess. 3:10). The problem comes when we push God to the side and attempt to be our own provider. Where is our dependence on God if we’re working long hours to exchange time for money?
God desires rest for His people. Science has proven that there’s a number of health issues that come up due to a lack of sleep. What good is it to make $200,000 a year, but we’re not healthy enough to enjoy it?
Also, how is working long hours beneficial to our family? Yea, that person is living in that big house, driving that nice car, but they don’t know what their daughter is going through at school.
There should be balance in our lives that’s inspired by the Holy Spirit. If He tells us to pick up an extra shift or work an extra job, that’s fine. But if He doesn’t, trust that God will provide.
Rest in Him and rest in the natural. Stop trying to chase money and receive all that God has for you by faith.
#rest #rely #on #God
Psalms 126:5-6 NLT Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.
Giving anything is difficult for our flesh. It’s because our flesh sees giving as a loss. This negative mindset on giving is natural. We’ll see this in a one year old shouting “mine!” They were never taught to be stingy, but they have to be taught to share. And if they’re made to share, they often cry.
Just because it feels natural doesn’t make it right. Our mindset on giving has to be renewed with the word of God (Rom. 12:2). If we want to experience God’s best, we can’t see giving as a loss. We must see it as a seed with a guaranteed harvest.
It may be extremely difficult to give, especially when we have needs of our own. But if we’re prompted by the Holy Spirit to give, just know He’s not trying to take anything from us, but He’s trying to get more to us.
Initially, it may be difficult to give our time, talents, or treasure, but the harvest on our seed makes giving well worth it.
#give #your #time #talent #treasure #gain #even #more
Psalms 125:1 NLT Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever.
As we trust in the Lord, we obtain security in every area of our lives.
We’ll be secure within ourselves. Insecurities will fade because we’ll trust what God said about us and we’ll know who we are in Christ. We’ll be secure in our finances. Our trust in God’s principles of giving causes us to be sufficient in all things and have plenty left to share with others (2 Cor. 9:1-8). Our trust in God causes us to be secure in our marriages. When we trust God’s instructions on how to be a husband or a wife and give our cares to Him to perfect, we’ll experience a wonderful marriage (Eph. 5:21-33; 1 Peter 5:7; Psalms 138:8).
The devil will try to knock us down, destroy something of ours, or take something that belongs to us, but becuase of our trust in God, he won’t be successful.
Establish and maintain complete trust in God. It will take us to great places.
#trust #God #experience #the #good #life
Psalms 124:1-3 NLT What if the Lord had not been on our side? Let all Israel repeat: What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us? They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger.
“What if” scenarios can be beneficial for the believer. It makes us appreciate God and the sacrifice of Jesus even more.
-What if God wouldn’t have saved us from that toxic relationship? We probably would have been arrested for domestic violence.
-What if God didn’t come through to provide rent money? We would have been on the streets.
-What if God didn’t heal us of that disease? We probably would have been dead.
-What if God didn’t prompt us to go outside while our children were playing? We wouldn’t have been there to tell our children to get out the street and they could have been hit by a car.
-What if we were never awakened by God, through our neighbor’s dog barking in the middle of the night? We wouldn’t have smelled the smoke in the house and we all could have died.
On the other side of some of our biggest blessings were tragic circumstances. Let’s take time to reflect on God’s goodness and mercy and thank Him through “what if” scenarios.
#thankyou #God #for #keeping #me
Psalms 123:2 NLT We keep looking to the Lord our God for His mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.
Negative circumstances will come. When those circumstances come, the best thing we can do is look to the Lord.
The good news for us is, under the new covenant, every negative circumstance has already been handled through Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hangnail, a loss of a job, or stage 4 cancer. It’s all been handled by Jesus. Jesus has done it all.
As we look to Jesus and His finished works, we can expect a change in our situation. We may not know how or when, but as long as we keep our eyes on Him, change will take place.
Hebrews 12:2-3 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.
#change #is #coming #hope #in #Jesus #Christ
Psalms 122:6 NLT Pray for peace in Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper.
God doesn’t show favoritism (Rom. 2:11). What He does for one, He’ll do for another. So, if they prayed for peace in Jerusalem, we can pray for peace in our city. We can pray for peace in Houston, Chicago, Washington DC, etc. Wherever we are, we can pray for peace in that city.
Verses seven through nine gives us a prayer template. All we have to do is add our cities and update the government structure.
Example:
Psalms 122:7-9 O (YOUR CITY), may there be peace within your (BORDERS) and prosperity in your (CITY HALL/GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS). For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “May you have peace.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek what is best for you, O (YOUR CITY).
*For us, Jesus will do whatever we ask in His name (John 14:13). So, begin or end every prayer in the name of Jesus.
Since we have to live in the city, we might as well use our God-given authority to create its setting.
#pray #for #your #city #nation #home
Psalms 121:7 NLT The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.
Through His word, God lets us know that He keeps us from all harm and He watches over our lives. Either we’re going to believe this or not.
Doubt to believe this promise usually comes when we consider our experiences or the experiences of others. If we consider the car accident we were in or being physically assaulted, we may doubt God’s ability to keep us from all harm. We may think we’re responsible for our own safety. That’s not true.
We can live a life where we’re kept by God from all harm. The first thing we must do is to truly believe God’s Word about this promise. Doubt contaminates our faith (James 1:6-7).
Secondly, we must forget the past and focus on the truth in God’s Word. If He said He’ll keep us from all harm, we should magnify this truth over everything else.
Finally, we should know how to hear from and be led by the Holy Spirit. Learning to hear from the Holy Spirit comes from spending time with God. The Holy Spirit will always agree with God’s word. The Holy Spirit wants to keep us from harm by telling us to go this way or do things that way, but if we get in the way of the Holy Spirit’s instructions by doing what we think or feel is right, God is not obligated to keep His word.
Let’s set ourselves up to be kept from all harm by believing in God’s words despite our experiences, putting our past behind us, and being led by the Holy Spirit.
#trust #believe #God #follow #HolySpirit
Psalms 120:1 NLT I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to Him, and He answered my prayer.
Marriage trouble, car trouble, financial trouble, health trouble, or children trouble. Any kind of trouble we have, we can take it to the Lord. He doesn’t want us handling any trouble ourselves. He wants us to bring it to Him. Even if we caused the trouble, He still wants us to bring it to Him.
When we bring any and all trouble to Him, we’re humbling ourselves. We’re letting Him know that we can’t do it without Him.
Once we give our troubles to Him, we don’t need to check on His progress. We should give it to Him, trusting that He’ll handle the situation for our good and for His glory.
As always, He’ll find a great solution to our troubles. God’s solutions are so good until they make it seem like the trouble was a setup up for His solution.
Give every trouble to God and let Him work it out.
#cast #your #cares #on #the #Lord #give #God #your #troubles
Psalms 119:165 NLT Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble.
Mostly everything we purchase comes with instructions. When we buy clothes, there are instructions on how to clean the clothes. When we buy a phone, there are instructions on how to operate the phone. The instructions are given to ensure that things look and function properly.
God’s Word is instructions for life. When we follow the instructions in God’s Word, we’ll experience a smooth and peaceful pathway to success.
Problems will come in general because we live in a fallen world (John 16:33). But even more problems come when we deviate from God’s instructions. If we choose not to forgive, we may have more emotional trauma (Matt.18:21-22). If we choose to chase money, we may find ourselves doing something deceptive to get it (1 Tim. 6:10). If we choose not to discipline our children, we’ll have to deal with spoiled children with behavioral and character issues (Prov. 22:15).
We’re not smarter than God. Our way is not better than His way. We’ll save ourselves a lot of headaches if we would just trust that His way is best and follow His instructions.
We tend to follow the instructions for everything else. Let’s consistently follow the instructions given by God.
#follow #Jesus #listen #to #Word #of #God
Psalms 118:10-12 NLT Though hostile nations surrounded me, I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord. Yes, they surrounded and attacked me, but I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord. They swarmed around me like bees; they blazed against me like a crackling fire. But I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord.
God has given us authority over any and every thing. There’s nothing that can defeat the children of God. No hostile person, no attacks, no illness, and no other issues can triumph over us. But we must know how to operate in our authority.
In Luke 10:19, Jesus says “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Our authority comes from our belief in the truth of God’s word, our understanding of the power of our words, and our use in the name of Jesus.
1. We must believe that what God said in His word is 100% true regardless of our experiences. It could be our second week in the hospital, but we must believe that we’re healed according to 1 Peter 2:24. We could see a negative balance in our bank account, but we must believe God will generously provide all we need. Then we will always have everything we need and plenty left over to share with others according to 2 Corinthians 9:8.
2. We must believe in the power of our speech. Jesus says in Mark 11:23, we will have what we say. So, if we believe God’s word and say what it says, instead of what we’re experiencing, we will have what God desires in our lives.
3. Nothing works for us without the name of Jesus. Mark 16:17-18 Jesus says, these miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” He also said in John 14:12-14, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
When we combine these three things, in any situation, we will dominate whatever life throws at our way.
#wininlife #walk #in #God #given #authority #the #name #of #Jesus
Graced To Do God's Will 