As we walk through our day, does our “song” (or attitude of our heart) become a whine? There are many voices through the course of our day, and often, the voices in our own heads speak and sing the blues.
There’s a battle to choose thoughts of the “highway,” as we trudge through this dry and parched, prickly, and thorny land of our day.
A simple turn to God, and His truth, with each step we takeHeartfelt surrender to His grace and gift of His Son changes everything.
Are you walking in circles? Are you tired of the whine? Give it all to God.
(And for the believer, each and every day.) We need a filling of the Holy Spirit.
Trust Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and allow the Holy Spirit to lift your thoughts to be songs of heartfelt praise, no matter what is going on in the terrestrial path you walk.
We can’t choose the “highway,” on our own. We need to open our hearts and lives to the Shepherd of our Soul. The One who loves us most, and more, and beyond deserved. It’s time to cry out to God and ask Him in,
in Jesus’ name,
“Let it be, amen.”
Yes, thanks be to God . . . His Voice, His Word is greater and good news for all who believe. He alone is able to transform our whine into a “new song,” because He gives us His Spirit when we receive Jesus.
Yes, Jesus.
He alone has power to give us a new song:
But thanks be to God . . . His Voice, His Word is greater and good, and able to transform our whine into a “new song,” over and over again.
Put sound on this glorious song:
“Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples” Psalm 96:1-3.
Do we choose to live as Noah in his day, focused “up” on the eyes of the Lord, finding grace and goodness? Noah “proclaimed salvation day after day” to unbelieving people who mocked and enjoyed the joke of his build of the ark and his message.
4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He answered me. Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue . . .
Woe is me, that I sojourn with Mesheck, that I dwell beside the tents of Kedar [as if among notoriously barbarous people]!
My life has too long had its dwelling with him who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war” Psalm 120: 1,2,5,6,7.
The ancient Word speaks as if written today. They prove to be an accurate prayer from our heart at present.
We have not experienced anything the Lord has not walked through and experienced. The old hymn,”O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” makes this clear in our mind’s eye:
“With grief and shame weighed down. Now scornfully surrounded With thorns Thine only crown; How pale thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
Our Jesus, how He knows our sadness and losses, our persecutions, and abuses. He took all our shame and failures on Himself, on the tree:
“What Thou, my Lord hast suffered Was all for sinner’s gain; Mine, mine was the transgression, But Thine the deadly pain;
What is our response when we view so clearly His willingness to face our curse?
Do we take a hard look? Do we see Him now?
“Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ‘Tis I deserve Thy place; Look on me with Thy favor, Vouch-safe to me Thy grace. (O Sacred Head, Now Wounded. Based on Medieval Latin poem. Ascribed to Bernard of Clairvaux.)
Together, we speak aloud the next Song of Ascents as we press forward into 2021. We won’t lean on our own understanding, but boldly proclaim in an ever-growing faith:
I will lift up my eyes to the hills, . . . From whence shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made Heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber Psalm 121: 1-3, Amplified.
We can trust the Lord in all things. We remind ourselves these things:
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
He.
Will.
Keep.
Your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore. Psalm 121: 7,8. A Song of Ascents.
Laws are made by man to protect the people, but move to close the doors of God’s house.
God is Spirit. His Church is not a building. The hearts of His people speak in confidence continuously, . . .
despite the location:
“I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord! Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem . . . Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
May they prosper that love you [the Holy City]! Psalm 122: 1,2,6.
“We pray for the peace of Jerusalem dear Lord!”
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
having abolished in His flesh the enmity, Ephesians 2:14,15.
He is our peace? Our peace isn’t good circumstances. Our peace is a Person! What is His name?
God saves us once from sin and death for salvation in Jesus. And to all who receive Him and believe in His name, He calls us His children. Children of God.
He saves us daily from our “natural selves.” Our brokenness, our anxieties, doubts, jealousies, hatreds, and our rage. Jesus calms the wind and the waves. He can tame our flesh. In Christ alone . . .
That He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity . . .
For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father Ephesians 2: 16,18.
We’re not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. We have access by the Spirit of God to the Father. These are not mere “positive thoughts.” God’s Word, the Gospel message is the power of God to salvation.
Step by step, breath by breath we speak, meditate, pray His Word, and become more and more empowered and hopeful:
[Earnestly] remember the former things which I did of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God and there is none like Me.
Declaring the end and the result from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose. . . Listen to Me. . . Isaiah 46: 3,9.
He, Jesus, keeps us in perfect peace when we keep our minds on Him! (Is. 26:3.)
Psalm 123. A Song of Ascents. Unto You do I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in heaven . . .
Instead of worry, we worship and wait in ever-growing faith in God, the Creator of the Universe, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the lover of our souls:
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless. Psalm 84: 10,11.
We speak aloud and are changed from glory to glory being transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ:
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs; . . .
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion Psalm 84: 5,6,7.
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives.
We can rest in our Jesus. He is our hope and stay. Do you join me in an “Amen?”
Amen!