Tag: Psalms

  • A Heart Cries Out

    A Heart Cries Out

    A heart cries out

    In sad futility:

    Is anyone out there?

    Does anyone care?

     

    Yes, says the Lord

    I hear your prayer.

    Do you hear my answer?

    Do you really care?

     

    A soul sadly survives

    Without being alive:

    Why do I matter?

    Why do my thoughts scatter?

     

    I still love your soul.

    I showed you the Way.

    When will you believe,

    That your heart will not deceive?

     

    Is anyone out there?

    Does anyone care?

     

    I hear you in prayer.

    I AM your joy and salvation.

     

    Sad, isn’t it – the futility of one without God.

    In fact, the Bible points to many of God’s faithful who have moments of doubt and hopelessness.  Yet their answer always comes though faith and prayer.

    The American Heritage Dictionary gives us a rather complete picture of futility by definition:

    1. The quality of having no useful result; uselessness.
    2. Lack of importance or purpose; frivolousness.
    3. A futile act.
    “Life without God is lifelessness.
    We often confuse the emotions and moods of the heart with the temporal worldly meanings imposed on our self-seeking souls by the ruler of this world.
    • The world does not equate Heart to soul.
    • Love is only equated to sexual love by the imposition of false meaning twisting our every thought.

    We do not think to ask God for an answer.  Time after time our heart cries out in hopelessness.

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    Without God as part of the love of our life, we miss out on the very love God intended.
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    The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9 KJV
    If you want to understand the heart, look to the Hebrew root word: leb.
    Foremost in your understanding of your own heart is that your heart is your soul. 

    We are not really just the flesh and bones that others see or the mind and actions you show off to others. At the core of our being, you are your Leb:

    inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding; 

    1. Inner part, midst
    2. midst (of things)
    3. heart (of man)
    4. soul, heart (of man)
    5. mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory
    6. inclination, resolution, determination (of will)
    7. conscience
    8. heart (of moral character)
    9. as seat of appetites
    10. as seat of emotions and passions
    11. as seat of courage

    Yes, there is much more to us than just our nature of the flesh.

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    The scriptures about the heart are also most revealing.  The list is long and includes some of what Jesus had to say about our hearts.

    Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ – John 7:38 ESV

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    So why are faith and prayer the answer?

    Did you hear a conversation in the opening poem?

    One caught-up in his or her own heart will have neither humility nor faith to hear God’s answer:

    requiring trust in Jesus as Lord.

     Psalm 4:

    Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

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    Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself on the Cross because of God’s love for you said:

    And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. – Matthew 21:22 ESV

    Does your heart cry out?

    You with ears to hear, listen to God in your conversation of prayer.

    Jesus IS Lord.

  • Children are a Gift from the Lord

    Children are a Gift from the Lord

    Psalm: 127: ESV

    Unless the Lord builds the house,
    those who build it labor in vain.
    Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the watchman stays awake in vain.
    2 It is in vain that you rise up early
    and go late to rest,
    eating the bread of anxious toil;
    for he gives to his beloved sleep.

    3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

    4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
    are the children of one’s youth.
    5 Blessed is the man
    who fills his quiver with them!
    He shall not be put to shame
    when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

    I noticed a nearby neighborhood gathering  as I drove to work, so familiar and filled with fond memories.  The gathering of the little ones joined by their moms at the school bus stop is a place of joy worth noting.

    At one time it way my joy to put our little one on the bus or to be waiting with neighbors as she bounded off the bus full of the joy of her school day.

    These moments must not be discounted by busy parents.

    • Has the Lord built your house?
    • Do a husband and wife not labor in vain only to miss out of the joyous and lasting moments of such blessings of our children?
    • Why would you rise early and go to bed late only to miss out on the most joyous and blessed passing moments in your children’s lives?

    Blessed are the man and the woman who take time to enjoy the Lord’s blessing – the children the Lord has given to your keeping for only a short time.

     

     

     

  • Blessed fear

    Blessed fear

    What is blessing?  What causes curse?

    Deuteronomy 11:26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:

    27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today,

    28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today…

     Can fear be a blessing?  Whom or what do you fear?

    Proverbs 28:14

    Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always,
    but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

    Acts 9:31  So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

    Psalms 111:10 

    The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
    all those who practice it have a good understanding.
    His praise endures forever!

    2 Kings 6:17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

    Whom Shall I Fear

    You are my sword and shield though troubles linger still

    Whom shall I fear?

    Be blessed by the Christian music of Chris Tomlin

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    Do you fear to SHARE Jesus Christ?

    Please comment and share. Be blessed in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

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