March 29, 2024

We Are Free

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

Chains are broken, ’cause You have spoken
It is finished on the Cross
Now I’m living in Your freedom
Jesus, You have set me free

By the power of Your Spirit
Every captive is released
For this purpose, I am living
‘Cause, Jesus, You have set me free

Nothingʼs gonna hold me back
No, nothingʼs gonna keep me down
Jesus has set me free, Iʻm free indeed

I will give You praise
With everything I am Iʼll praise
Whatever may come my way
You have won the victory, oh You set me free

Iʼm surrounded by Your goodness
I am covered by Your grace
My heart is grateful, forever thankful
‘Cause, Jesus, You have set me free

I will give You praise
With everything I am Iʼll praise
Whatever may come my way
You have won the victory

We are free, we are free
And we have the victory

I will give You praise
With everything I am Iʼll praise
Whatever may come my way
You have won the victory, You set me free

PlanetShakers
Joth Hunt

 *   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

Set me free from my prison, that I may praise Your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
because of Your goodness to me.
Psalm 142:7 NIV

Here is David…once again…on the run for his life from Saul, hiding in a cave, acknowledging the need for his God’s deliverance and protection.  And don’t you just love his motivation?  Listen again to what he writes:

“…[so] that I may praise Your name,
then the righteous will gather about me because of Your goodness to me.”

Yes, he definitely needed to be rescued from the cave.  Yes, he surely needed to be delivered from this situation.  Yes, he absolutely was in dire straits fearing for his life.  But, even more than being rescued, delivered, and saved, he wanted to praise his Deliverer, his Rescuer, his Savior and tell others about God’s goodness.

And this was always the recurring theme of David’s heart—to praise God!  Even now, thousands of years later, you and I are so often brought to the place of praise through the beautiful, praise-filled words of David’s psalms, yes?  Here are a few of my oh-so-very favorites:

But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalms 13:5-6

My mouth shall tell of Your righteous acts
and of Your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is more than I know.
Psalm 71:15

Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
Psalm 40:5

In Psalm 142, we hear of David’s desire to not only praise God for rescuing him but that other’s, also, would praise God for this.  How about me (and you)?  When we cry out to our God for His deliverance in our situations and circumstances, is it only for relief for ourselves?  Or is our prayer that out of our deliverance would come honor and glory and majesty and praise of our God…? Oh, for sure, we need God’s deliverance!  Daily each of us need God’s provision and protection and blessing.  But we should always be sure to tell others about the wonderful and mighty and awesome things that He does as He cares for us.

So, tell us, would you…how has God set you free lately?  We would love to praise His name because of His goodness to you!

God’s Declarations and Thoughts

SeekingHimLogo
I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

The Jeremiah 29:11 declaration which God made is so powerful.  This shows that declarations are a way of establishing things in our lives.  His declaration shows how He thinks of us, along with His will and His purpose for our lives.

Thou shall declare a thing and it shall be established.
Job 22:28

What is it you declare and think about your life…family…job…school, etc?
Be positive: declare and think that which will make your future bright.  God’s thoughts over us are of good…not of evil; and He declares the same.  As we think of ourselves, we, too, should not think that which is evil but only that which is good and declare it.  “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45).  If we are filled with wrong thoughts then the declarations we speak will be of evil and destruction.

Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders You have done.
The things You planned for us no one can recount to You,
Were I to speak and tell of them, they will be too many to declare.
Psalm 40:5

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God.
How vast is the sum of them.
Psalm 139:17

David came to a point of realizing that in anything and in all things about his life was centered on God and that all things were being managed by God.  Let us also align our thoughts with the thoughts God has for us so that we may accomplish His will in our lives.

As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55: 9

Blessed be the Lord who has good thoughts for us and declares them.  May we  have good thoughts for ourselves, our family and friends and declare good over everything.  May we remember this lesson that we need to be thinking and declaring good things.

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Dear Lord, we thank You for the word that has come at the right time when we needed it most.  Your Word gives us life and teaches us new precepts every day.   Thank You for showing us how deep Your love is to a point of thinking and declaring good things (and not evil) over our lives.  King of glory, we worship You.  May we walk in that grace of thinking and declare good for ourselves, our families, friends and all that concerns us. For with our mouths we shall declare a thing and it shall be established to the glory of Your holy name.  Be exalted always, Jehovah.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

Before The Morning

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

Do you wonder why you have to
Feel the things that hurt you
If there’s a God who loves you
Where is He now

Maybe there are things you can’t see
And all those things are happening
To bring a better ending
Some day, some how, you’ll see, you’ll see

Would dare you, would you dare, to believe
That you still have a reason to sing
‘Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
Can’t compare to the joy that’s coming

So hold on, you got to wait for the light
Press on, just fight the good fight
Because the pain you’ve been feeling
It’s just the dark before the morning

My friend, you know how this all ends
And you know where you’re going
You just don’t know how you get there
So say a prayer

And hold on, ’cause there’s good for those who love God
Life is not a snapshot, it might take a little time
But you’ll see the bigger picture

Once you feel the way of glory
All your pain will fade to memory
Once you feel the way of glory
All your pain will fade to memory
Memory, memory, yeah

 Singer / Songwriter: Josh Wilson with Ben Glover

 *  ~  ♥  ~  ✞  ~  ♥  ~  *

There are times when I question God. In my sinful nature, I say, “If He is good, why is this happening and why does it feel so bad?”  (Are you with me?)  And “If He loves me so much, why would He allow me to hurt?”

The answer is that there is sin in the world.

The Lord saw how great man’s sin on the earth had become,
and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
Genesis 6:5

But He didn’t leave it this way, He sent a Savior so that joy could replace sorrow.

See, in our minds, we can only see the picture up close.  Our problems seem so big, and at the time they are.  It feels sometimes that the mountain that is in front of us will be there forever.  But God is still writing our stories.  He knows the ending and He sees our lives with a different view.  He is trustworthy and good. He loves you so much that He can’t get enough of you.

The hope in this song is this: You can dare to believe that you still have a reason to sing — to sing His praises!  ‘Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling can’t compare to the joy that He has for you.  You’ve got to wait for the light…press on and keep fighting the good fight because the pain you’ve been dealing with is just the hurt before the healing and the dark before the morning.

As God promises in Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your Presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”  He will fill us with joy and He will give us flickers of light when we are in a season of darkness and He will bring us out victoriously.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 40:5

 *  ~  ♥  ~  ✞  ~  ♥  ~  *

Let us pray: Dear God, You are so good.  You wrote each one of our stories with a beautiful ending.  Thank You for Your grace and mercy and patience when we doubt Your perfect plan.  We only see what is in front of us, so we ask that You increase our faith and endurance.  Give us the strength to keep on fighting the fight and give us the willingness to stay on the right path.  And most of all, we thank You for the Joy that comes in the morning all because of Your precious Son saving us from ourselves.  We love you.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Praising His Name Together

SeekingHimLogo

Set me free from my prison,
that I may praise Your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
because of Your goodness to me.
Psalm 142:7 NIV

Here is David…once again…on the run for his life from Saul, hiding in a cave, acknowledging the need for his God’s deliverance and protection.  And don’t you just love his motivation?

“…that I may praise Your name, then the righteous will gather about me because of Your goodness to me.

Yes, he definitely needed to be rescued from the cave. Yes, he surely needed to be delivered from this situation. Yes, he absolutely was in dire straits fearing for his life. But, even more than rescuing, delivering, and saving, he wanted to praise his Deliverer, his Redeemer, his Savior and tell others about God’s goodness.

And this was always the recurring theme of David’s heart—to praise God!  Even now, thousands of years later, you and I are so often brought to the place of praise through the beautiful, praise-filled words of David’s psalms, yes?  Here are a few of my oh-so-very favorites:

But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalms 13:5-6

My mouth shall tell of Your righteous acts
and of Your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is more than I know.
Psalm 71:15

Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
Psalm 40:5

In Psalm 142, we hear of David’s desire to not only praise God for rescuing him but that other’s, also, would praise God for this.  How about me (and you)?  When we cry out to our God for His deliverance in our situations and circumstances, is it only for relief for ourselves? Or is our prayer that out of our being delivered our God would receive honor and glory and majesty and praise…? Oh, for sure, we need God’s deliverance! Daily each of us need God’s provision and protection and blessing. But we should always be sure to tell others about the wonderful and mighty and awesome things that He does as He cares for us.

So, tell us, would you…how has God set you free lately? We would love to praise His name because of His goodness to you!