Hello my dear friends! Today's Psalms of Discipleship will be an encouragement to all of us, no matter our where we are (or have been) in our journey with the Shepherd of the Psalms. We all have experienced great times as well as having gone through the dark waters of discouragement and personal failure. Thankfully, the Lord is present in each and every circumstance.
Learning as I go,
Denny
Psalms of Discipleship—Principle #35
Life Principles For Those Who Choose To Follow Jesus And Live The Discipled Life
Key Scripture: Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence. Psalm 42:5
Core Value: Worship
In his classic novel, A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens targeted the tension between good and evil when he wrote these famous words:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”
Those same words could be written today as we seek to navigate dangerous waters. In our case, the tension is between trusting in the Lord or allowing fear of our circumstances take control of us. All that surrounded him disturbed the psalmist. Words like “despair” and “disturbed” had become a part of his vocabulary. Many people, even believers, fail to move on from these kinds of words. They surrender and settle for spiritual defeat. This was not the case with the psalmist. Instead, after showing his transparency and confessing his inner struggle, he made a choice to move on to a far healthier perspective. His circumstances, for the moment, had not changed but his vocabulary did. He goes from “despair” to “hope in God,” from “disturbed” to “I shall again praise Him.” He rests in the fact that the presence of the Lord will help him.
May we all be honest to God on how we really feel. But may we also, through grace, have the faith to hope in Him and praise Him, even in the most challenging of circumstances. For even in the worst of times we can experience the best of times if we are trusting Jesus to take care of us.
Principle #35 & Personal Application: The quality disciple has chosen to worship God even in the midst of challenging circumstances.
• Even when our soul is in despair and has become disturbed, worship of the Lord must be our first response.
• Our hope is not in our wisdom, nor in our human strength, and certainly it is not in the citadels of political power. Our hope must be in God.
• It requires faith, not faith in one’s self, but faith in God to praise and worship Him.
Reflect & Respond: Some Really Good Questions To Ponder…
How can I begin to make the transition in my spiritual journey where praise and worship of God becomes my default setting (in other words, “my habit”) as I respond to Him when I face difficult circumstances?
Everyone goes through difficult times. Have I ever had an experience where I sensed the presence of the Lord as I began to praise and worship Him?
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, there have been times in my life where my soul has been in despair and very disturbed. And yet, You have offered me grace. It is by Your grace that I can hope in my God. It is by faith where I can praise and worship You. May my life be marked as a disciple who has the habit of worshiping You.
PS. Thanks to all of you have given your input on a new project I am working on called Psalms of Discipleship: A One Year Journey With The Shepherd. I'm going to close out the survey on September 17. If you have not taken the opportunity to respond, please do so this week. It is ten questions in less than five minutes. This link will take you to the survey. Thanks again!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6HBT759
The Essential Core Values Of The Quality Disciple Are…
Grace—Worship—Bible Study—Prayer—Community—Service—Evangelism
Denny Bates & Something New Christian Publishers © 2011 All rights reserved.
www.dennybates.com
http://thequalitydisciple.blogspot.com/
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