Category: psalms
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Sovereign Inner Guidance
36Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! 37Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.–Psalm 119 Here are five points I would like to make regarding this passage. Now I want you to ponder your story. Is there any lasting hope for you as…
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What Are You Storing in Your Heart?
11I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.–Psalm 119 I counsel my friends journeying with depression to maintain a quiver of arrows ready to draw upon and fire. Each of those arrows is a powerful piece of self-talk based upon Biblical truth. And the best arrows are…
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Rejoice and Be Glad
24This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.–Psalm 118 My perspective each day is challenged by this verse. Today is God’s day. He made it. It belongs to Him. Today’s purpose is ultimately found in giving God glory and longing for His will to be done in and…
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Transcendence and Immanence
4The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. 5Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, 6who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? 7He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; 8he seats them with princes, with…
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The Highest Name
1The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”–Psalm 110 Your Bible probably writes the two titles differently. The Hebrew reads ne-um YHWH ladoni or “said Yahweh to my Lord”. What’s cool is that the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, has two forms of the…
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Prayer and Enemies
1Be not silent, O God of my praise! 2For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. 3They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. 4In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. 5So they reward me evil for…
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Stillness and Self-Talk
10“Be still, and know that I am God.I will be exalted among the nations,I will be exalted in the earth!”–Psalm 46 I am a father of two children. They often are not still, always moving about. And sometimes that movement tells a story. I remember the days when my wife and I had to remind…
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Messianic Moment
6Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; 7you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions–Psalm 45 Psalm 45 reads like romantic chapter from the Song of Solomon. In fact, many…
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God Knows Your Secrets
20If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.–Psalm 44 I used to be an addict and I would hide my addiction from others. I had excuses and rationalizations for my sin, but…