Monthly Archives: September 2016

Ready for Battle?

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Meditation Journey Day 46                

Hi Friend,

Soon we will enter verses 19-22 which is the Valley of Victory in Psalm 139. Those verses are our spiritual war zone. To prepare for the battle ahead we need to walk carefully through the next two verses, 17-18, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”  

As we unpack these two verses we begin to see the way they equip us for the coming conflict with sin and Satan. The three important points of these verses are

 1) the attitude we must have toward God’s word,

2) the assurance of the vast depth of God’s thoughts about us, 

3) God’s total commitment that even if we sleep or die in the fight, He is still with us.

In the last blog, I focused on the first point, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!” today I want us to look at the abundance of God’s thoughts about us. The amount David gives, speaks to us of the assurance and confidence we have as we daily face our struggles.

confidence-farzana-featured-1024x489Confidence is the most important weapon in any fight. If you have the assurance of your arsenal, you will be assured of your victory. The weapons of warfare are not physical because our battle is in our hearts and minds. The weapons on which we depend are the words and thoughts of God as revealed in Psalm 139. Jesus used the word of God when He faced Satan in His spiritual battles (Matthew 4). We are to fight in the same manner using the proven weapon, the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6).

David is amazed by God’s vast and continual stream of loving, kind, and gracious thoughts about him. God wants us to know the amount is so vast we can sink our roots deep in His love to stand firm and grow strong. At the same time, Satan tries to fill us with doubts and fears that God is always angry and impatient with us. The Evil One wants us to believe somehow that God does not know our circumstances or problems and that He is fed up with our lack of faith. Some people have been told all their lives that God desires to punish them for their weaknesses. Psalm 139 paints a completely different perspective. God does hate our sin because He knows how much it hurts us. He accepts us as we are, but He loves us too much to allow us to stay in our filth of sinfulness. He sends us an abundance of kindness and goodness to lead us to repentance and trust in Him.

What David received from The LORD also belongs to us.

lion-3We must embrace that God continually bathes us in a sea of mercy and grace. The sum of God’s gracious and good thoughts are not few, they are more in number than the grains of sand! Think about it; God has more loving thoughts about each of us than all the sand in the entire world. Picture all the sand on every beach, every desert and in all the earth. Each grain of sand represents a new and different loving thought about you and me. He thinks more precious thoughts about us than we could ever imagine! We are constantly in His view, persistently in His presence and always held close in His arms. He is at all times around us and dwells within His Children. That is why in every conflict we can be assured of victory because “Greater is He (Jesus) that is within you than he (Satan) that is in the world” (1 John 4). Now connect that thought with Jesus’ teaching in John 8. Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

In every conflict we face, spiritual freedom comes through the Word by the Holy Spirit. We need to embrace the sweet thoughts of God towards us and walk confidently in His vast love for us. Peace always comes when He reigns over our mind. Isaiah said it best, “You (LORD) keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.” (Isa. 26)

Today review in your minds all that God says about you in Psalm 139:1-18

Observation: David is amazed by the vastness of God’s precious thoughts about him. All that David learned is ours too. We need to rest in the confidence that our Savior has us in mind 24/7/365.

Interpretation: God’s love never ends. His Presence with us never wavers and His purpose is in progress continually in our lives. He is always working all things together for the good for His beloved. We need to deeply embrace His continual and constant care that is higher than the heavens and deeper than any hole we think we are in!

Application Prayer: Father God, open my eyes to the grace and mercy you wrap around my life. As I think of the conflicts and struggles of my life, help me to lean into your grace and trust you more.  … in Jesus Name, Amen.

What is your take away?

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The Valley of Victory

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Meditation Journey Day 45             

Hi Friend,

Our meditation through Psalm 139 has been a journey into the treasures of God’s love towards us. In the last section, verses 13-16, we came to the highest vantage point on our expedition. From this beautiful view, we can see where we have been and where we will be going. We have traveled through the foothills of our worth to God (vs. 1-6), the highlands of belonging in Him (vs. 7-12), and now we rest in the majestic mountains of our purpose (vs. 13-16).

Ahead is a tough valley. I call it the valley of Victory (PS.139:19-22). It is actually a war zone. There we must fight using the truths we have gained in verses 1-16 to have victory over the lies of the world, sin, and Satan. The battlefield on which we fight is our hearts and minds; it is a spiritual battle, not a physical one.

To prepare for this battle we need to walk carefully through the next two verses, 17-18, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” 

David was a warrior king, and these words are actually a strategy that will equip every one of us for the coming conflict. David gives us three important points:

1) The attitude we must have towards God’s thoughts (truth),

2) The assurance of the vast wealth of His thoughts about us and

3) Our need to understand the total commitment to follow God knowing that even after death I am still with Him.

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David calls God’s thoughts precious, and he adds a personal depth of worship by saying, “O God!” This is the essential attitude we must have if we are to put to death our fleshly nature (Col.3) and out maneuver Satan’s fiery arrows (Eph.6). The Precious thoughts in this Psalm are what David has revealed about God in verses 1-16. They are God’s thoughts and ways (Isa.55). They are higher than our thoughts; full of power and strength. As we cherish God’s thoughts they become the word to us that is “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6). Our meditation in His word and the Holy Spirit’s presence in us breaks down the strongholds of lust, doubt, fear, and guilt in our minds.

To defeat Satan we must treasure God’s word. This is where Adam & Eve lost the battle years ago (Genesis 3). We too have lost many conflicts with sin because we did not trust God’s precious word; instead, we believed Satan’s lies. We will only win as we abide in God’s Word, the Living Christ. Our battle cry is “Greater is He (Jesus) that is within you than he (Satan) that is in the world” (1 John 4).

Therefore, we must understand David is not just saying something nice about God when he says, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!” This worship filled response is equipping David’s heart with the necessary attitude for victory and we must possess the same attitude! The Apostle Paul wrote about Spiritual warfare in 2 Corinthians 10, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” We are equipped with divine power when we humble our hearts to God receiving His word and abiding in His precious thoughts.

I pray that God’s word has become dearer to you as we have journeyed together. His thoughts are more precious than gold and silver. He has given them to us to protect and guard our hearts and minds against the enemy.

Observation: David’s praise was an expression of his soul being filled with God’s love. He is realizing God’s thoughts about him are a precious gift.

Interpretation: In verses 17-18, David gives us three important ways to prepare for the battle against the world, sin, and Satan in our hearts. The first is that we must regard God’s thoughts, truth, and word as precious to us. This is an attitude that will guard our hearts and minds.

Application Prayer: Father God, King David says your thoughts are precious. I need your help to comprehend the magnitude of love revealed about me in Psalm 139. I want to walk in victory and to know my worth, belonging and purpose all came from you. Help me to win the spiritual battles I am fighting. … in Jesus Name, Amen.

What is your take away?