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Psalm 120:1: When I was in trouble I called to the Lord; I called to the Lord and he answered me.
How many times have you called out for help and found people are not willing to help you? How many times have you born consequences you thought far too harsh?
God does not see us as a large crowd of people whom he has to save before we get ourselves into deep trouble. He does not see us as a world in need of help.
He sees each one of us as an individual who is in need of mercy and help. He wants us to recognise that we are all our own selves and we all need a one to one relationship with him, nothing more, nothing less.
He is there and he is listening. When we call out he does answer - but in a way which makes perfect sense for us and the people around us. We may not see that because we are too bound up in our own pride and wants.
Stop and allow God to have a go!
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Psalm 68:2: As the smoke vanishes, so may they vanish away; as wax melts at the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
It is about this time of year when I get to wake up around the same time as it is dawning when everything is covered in tiny glistening droplets of water which very quickly disappear as the Sun comes up.
The psalmist writes here about the bad things in the world having the same fate as the dew in the morning. When God makes his presence known, the evil withdraws and hides as his light shines brightly.
As Christians we should be making the most of the light of God in our lives to ensure others know their evil deeds are going to account for nothing when God is in it.
God would love to be the bright shining sun in our lives which evaporates the sin of this world and allows his glory to shine through everything for everyone to see and enjoy!
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Psalm 144:3: O Lord, what are mortals that you should consider them; mere human beings, that you should take thought for them?
How often have you thought that you are not good enough for God or you are nothing compared to other people or things in this world?
Would it surprise you to know that God knows everything about you - the real you, the one not everyone gets to know. He knows exactly what you do... And he still chooses to love you!
God's love for us goes far beyond our level of understanding in terms of likes and dislikes; we tend to have a very shallow view of our worth as a living soul! God does not!
I learned this when I was in hospital and saw just how much doctors and nurses went out of their way to help; all the while knowing God was helping even more!
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Psalm 90:2: Before the mountains were brought forth, or the earth and the world were formed, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Are you expecting something new to happen today which has never happened before? Are you looking to have miracles happen just because you want them to happen?
We must not forget that God has been here from the very beginning, before everything was created and continues to watch over everything as it happens. He is the one who can make anything happen...
But we should curtail our expectations according to the will of God and what he wants in our lives. So how do we find that out?
We get back to reading his word, the bible, so we can understand more of what he wants in our lives.
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Psalm 119:59: I have considered my ways and turned my feet back to your testimonies.
When you have a rule book or instruction manual and continue to follow it, you tend to get things done in the right way... But when you start to guess your own ways instead of following the instructions, things go astray!
God wants us to be safe and secure, which means we should be following his instruction at all times.
Our bibles are those instructions and we should be consulting them all the time - not putting it aside and seeing how we get on without the law!
When we know the right way through instructions, we can follow those ways easier than if we do not!
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Psalm 119:5: O that my ways were made so direct that I might keep your statutes.
If we had ears which could tell us what is right and what is not, we would be able to listen to the truth and right stuff all the time... but we don't!
We are always being faced by temptations because our hearts and minds tell us everything but the truth!
God has given us our bibles as the ultimate guide book to be able to identify what is righteous...
But we still have to read it and make decisions on our own! He will not prevent us from making wrong decisions if we really want to!
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Proverbs 3:18: She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy.
Sometimes we lack a bit of intuition or wisdom. Sometimes we lack common sense completely!
God will always be willing and ready to teach us wisdom when we are willing to stop and ask him for direction!
God does have a mean sense of humour and may well place us in position where we are very uncomfortable - so we can learn and others can learn from what he teaches us.
I have spent far more time in difficult situations than I wish to remember, but I know God has always been trying to guide me well throughout!
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Jonah 4:6: The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush.
Have you ever stopped to wonder at all the things God has done for you behind the scenes? Have you ever thanked him properly for all he is doing?
Too often we get upset with God because our goals are constantly changing and we expect him to change with our goals instead of fulfilling what we agreed with him to start with, or what we asked of him.
God does not go back on his word, but we seem to chop and change our views with the wind! We change our minds. We go back on what we agreed. We fall short of the mark...
But when we stop to look at what God has done, we may well see he has fulfilled what he said in the beginning!
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Psalm 46:10:‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.’
One of the things we should remember is that God is the creator of everything, this earth, this universe, this reality in which we live.
Outside of this reality is something different, something maybe our souls will get to experience after our bodies die.
When that happens, our souls are going to realise just how awesome and powerful God is and we will have no problem worshipping God in a whole new way after realising just how much he has done for us!
But, while we live on earth amongst all the other people in the world, let us lift up our worship to God and prepare our souls for what lies ahead!
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Psalm 35:7: For they have secretly spread a net for me without a cause; without any cause they have dug a pit for my soul.
This is one of those psalms you read and maybe begin to question whether the writer is saying the right things...
When we have things done against us, we may not be able to do anything about them because of the circumstances. But God can do things.
When we ask for bad things to happen against others, God may well not answer us in the way we wish because he knows what is in the hearts of everyone; but you can be very sure he is listening and will answer in one form or another.
Allow God to see you are trusting him with you true feeling by being honest and open to him. Don't try and hide things because you are afraid it is not the right thing to say to him!
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Psalm 118:18:The Lord has punished me sorely, but he has not given me over to death.
How many times have you been angry with the Lord because you think he has punished you for things you had no control over, like illness or debt.
God has promised us he will look out for us, but he does not promise us a life of luxury and health. His promise to us is to care for the one thing which will last forever - our souls.
You can ready many places in your bible where people have had rotten luck, felt depraved, felt left out or even unloved. But when they understand the love of God, they do tend to change their minds somewhat.
God wants each of us to live a life where we will be able to have our souls living forever with him in heaven. This may well mean the world around us does get in the way and make things difficult for us!
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Psalm 119:34: Give me understanding and I shall keep your law; I shall keep it with my whole heart.
If you are willing to start believing the Word of God, you are starting on you journey with God!
It is little wonder that the bible continues to be in the top most sold books in the world year after year. People have tried to re-write it into so many different languages and different paraphrasing, but the underlying truth is still held within it if you are willing to stop, look and listen.
The psalmist asks the right things here "give me understanding" because they want to know more and the way to know more is to read and listen to God.
Once you begin to read your bible and understand the things God wants you to understand, you will find yourself wanting to keep to those words; to change you life to a way which agrees with God - not with people...
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Psalm 100:2: Know that the Lord is God; it is he that has made us and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Of all the things in the world we should be remembering, keeping our Lord as Lord indeed should be foremost.
Too many times we take other things and even share them as the goal in life instead of the simple goal of loving God and sharing his word.
He is our creator and he alone is our God. We need to show others this is our position in life and one they should be aiming for too.
What it is not about is shunning people ro the things they do because they do not agree with your way of thinking. WE are all Gods creation!
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Psalm 33:13: The Lord looks down from heaven and beholds all the children of earth.
One of the things we have to remember is that God does not turn his back on us because we are not Jewish, or because we are the wrong race, sex or any other reason! We are all his people!
Any one of us can call upon God for help at any time. He listens to us all and he will answer us all - if we would but listen to his voice.
Much of the time we shout out a prayer and then forget about it because we get caught up in what we are doing or saying to other people. God would probably very much like it is we were to sit quietly and wait to hear from him.
I am here in a quiet church, sitting, reading, waiting, listening and then writing down what I think God wants me to... and then suddenly my phone blurts out that my blood glucose level is too low!
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Psalm 103:12: As far as the east is from the west, so far has he set our sins from us.
I have always love this verse because of the logic - I'm one of those people who loves things to be logical!
If we go North or South we will continue to go that direction until we reach the North or South pole, then we change direction...
But is we go East or West, we can continue going in that direction without end even though we may be covering the same ground over and over again, there is no end.
So when God said our sins would be separated as far as the East and the West, he meant a very long way! Take comfort...
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Psalm 20:7: Some put their trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will call only on the name of the Lord our God.
What are the things you cling to when everything is falling apart around you? Who are the people you reach out to to get comfort and strength?
If we reach out to people, then the most we can get is words of comfort or friendly companionship.
If we reach out to earthly things, then the most we can get is earthly answers and worldly comforts.
But if we reach out to God, there is no limit of the love, joy, peace and comfort we can gain because he is above all and in all and the creator of everything!
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Psalm 19:1: The heavens are telling the glory of God and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
After the rains in our drought stricken corner of the world, we see the grass beginning to sprout green shoots, we see signs of life when before we saw none.
God has made this earth to be resilient and has allowed us to be guardians. We must look after what he has given us and try to do our best.
That way people will marvel at what they see and may start searching for this higher power which has control over all things.
They may marvel at how nature seems to spring back - we can tell them of the God who is behind this all!
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Psalm 139:1: O Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
One of the things I am most comforted by is that God actually knows me, probably better than I do!
He has a watchful eye over me at all times and when I sense danger I know I can call out to him, not just for comfort but for protection.
Most often than not he has already done something before I call out to him and that is what sets our God apart from all the other things people call gods.
God is not a tyrant ruling with an iron fist and beating us into submission; but a loving God watching out for us to keep us as safe as we allow him to!
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Psalm 119:10: With my whole heart have I sought you; O let me not go astray from your commandments.
One of the bad things about living in a bad area or amongst bad people is that you get exposed to so many bad things that you begin to accept certain things as being normal.
I use 'bad' in a very broad way because we all have different definitions of what bad is - because we all grow up in different areas and are exposed to different things!
God wants us to realise we can get carried away with the things going on around us, so the easiest way to not get involved is to stay away from those things...
But that is not so easy because we live in a world where there are so many different things and experiences.
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Psalm 6:4: Turn again, O Lord, and deliver my soul; save me for your loving mercy’s sake.
One thing we do need to remember is the food that we get for our souls is not coming because we are righteous or holy, but because God loves us!
When we feel apart from God we often think of it as God turning away from us because of our sin or because we have done something wrong.
God does not turn his back on us unless we continually reject him; then we are not giving him a choice but to turn away from us.
Even if we have a glimmer of doubt, God will wait for us to turn back to him.