Aug 22; Day 40; Psalm 40 OUT OF THE PIT

Key Verse: “He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord.” (v.3)

Key Theme: After 2 chapters of more despair than hope, David has been lifted out.

Key Descriptives of God: God of Wonders (v.5) Helper; Savior; (v.17)

When we left off yesterday in Psalm 39, David was learning important things but still in a bad place. That needs to be said again. David was learning important things but still in a bad place. Never waste a “bad place” pit. Now beginning with the very first two verses he tells it all.

“I WAITED patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also BROUGHT ME UP out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.”

Honestly, this verse alone would be more than a full devotional. There are 7 nuggets of gold to be explored and each is a treasure trove of revelation. #1. I WAITED patiently. #2. He INCLINED to me. #3. He HEARD my cry. #4. He brought me UP AND OUT. #5. MIRY CLAY #6. SET my feet #7. ESTABLISHED MY STEPS. The capitalized word is what you can look up and explore to continue the treasure hunt on your own. For now I want us to just look at the word WAITED and the Hebrew word QAVAH that is used in the original.

QAVAH: “To wait, look for, hope, expect”. A primitive root meaning “To bind together— by twisting. A rope.” i.e. “To twist your little strand into His master strand.”

This word is so key for the whole “out of the pit” process. It is not a wait of exasperation. It is a patient expectant wait. That is why EXPECT and HOPE might be better words. True HOPE is not wishful thinking. True HOPE is "the expectation of good from God in the immediate circumstance.” Please read that definition again. A person of deep hope then expands that into “The expectation of good from God— in EVERY situation.”

TWISTING YOUR HOPE INTO HIS

Now see the picture of your rope of rescue being completed. Call it a rope of hope. You have to twist and weave your strand of hope into His. That is why you “QAVAH patiently”. It is a process and it requires intentionality. You tell Him you trust Him. Your strand— of orphan-minded self-help— you twist into Him as you tell yourself- “I trust in Him.” You are in a slippery miry clay of despondence that you can’t get out of with your own flimsy strand of rope and so at every turn you recommit to Him. He is INCLINED to you because you have pulled on Him through this twisting into Him. Then you become aware that He HEARD you. Suddenly He is pulling you UP AND OUT and placing you on a solid ROCK of experiential trust in Him. Here your STEPS of destiny are ESTABLISHED. Now the key verse 3.

A NEW SONG

“He has put a new song in my mouth.” All of a sudden you are “singing a new tune”. You have ditched your tune of despair or even your tune of what God HAS done into what God IS doing. It is why He wants us constantly as the church finding the new worship songs that declare what God is PRESENTLY opening up to us. Notice He puts the NEW song in our MOUTH. Yes, that is the word PEH we have been talking about in 5780, “The Year of the Mouth.” The new praise that comes out in a 2020 season of contradiction and despair then leads to a move of God that “many will see”, “and fear” (meaning "reverence, honor, reverence, respect, be awed”), and will put their trust in God. This is what breaks out when we twist into Him as we are under duress. Personal revival comes. Collective revival can come.

GOD OF WONDERS

“Many, O Lord my God, are Your WONDERFUL works” (v.5). That word “wonderful” in the Hebrew is PALA. It means “wondrous, marvelous, distinguishing, surpassing, miracles, extraordinary”. This is who He is. Once we have been secured and rescued by our HOPE ROPE our mouth is moved to sing, declare and prophesy out of that place. “Blessed is the man that MAKES the Lord His trust.” (v.4) You don’t check to FEEL if He seems trustworthy — you MAKE Him your trust. The rope twisting thing. You are now blessed to experience the God of Wonders.

INNUMERABLE THOUGHTS

“And your thoughts towards us cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” (v.5)

Just that He would have any thoughts, personally, towards us is so worth meditating on and being strengthened by. He is our original parent. He who designed us with some of these “thoughts” is incapable of failing/rejecting us as our natural parents often have. We were entrusted to our natural parents but He is our source parent. He is our ultimate “safety net” in life and we are so always on His mind that we could not even collect and archive all His thoughts for us individually. They can not be numbered. When we get a revelation of that it will secure us even more on a non-slippery ROCK.

WHAT ABOUT THE SEX TRAFFICKED?

The Lord is reminding me that this year many of you/us have been challenged in an unusual way as we have discovered the widespread nature of the sex trafficking and pedophilia. Where was/is God? Then the deadly connection. If He is not there for others maybe He is not really there for us. He would have you know that His innumerable thoughts have also been for all of them. He would say, wait until you see how much He was there for them in their trials and how He wipes every tear and memory of devastating abuse. He has done more here and He will do more there, than you can imagine. The first martyr Stephen seemed so abused and mistreated and alone in his last minutes on earth one could second guess God’s care for him. Yet what maybe no one else really knew was that he was seeing an open heaven and Christ personally cheering him on (Acts 7:55, 56). That’s significantly better than an epidural during child birth. We are all going to love our God even more when we have seen the full picture of His care — here and there— for those who have suffered tremendously. If we can imagine a goodness that we would do, where do we think we get that from? He will outdo us because He is way more invested in every single one of us than we can possibly imagine. "Eye hath not seen”.

I FINALLY UNDERSTAND

Well, we made it through verse 5 . Verse 6, is amazing as David has advanced New Testament revelation that burnt offerings and sin offerings were not God’s ideal. It has always been about the heart. “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart” (v.8). I like how all of this is said in the NLT, “Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand” (v.6). Doesn’t this seem applicable to this whole chapter? Life?

LET GOD BE MAGNIFIED

Time has disallowed us covering the last 9 verses, but I do have to insert as our final nugget verse 16 and a practical way we can look into His shining face today. “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, THE LORD BE MAGNIFIED!” This is what brings the shine back to our face.

Aug.21; Day 39; Psalm 39; MUZZLED?

Key Verse: “And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.” (v.7)

Key Theme: Reduced to hope in God by the vanity of life.

Key Descriptive of God: God of Hope

We are already on day 39 of our 67-day journey of His face shining upon us in The Summer of His Love. How rich it has been to focus on HIM in one of the most critical periods of our existence as a nation. Everything seems at risk and so what a perfect time to be secured in the only guarantee of our lives— HIM! This essentially is what Psalm 39 is about. There seems to be leftover processing from Psalm 38. An interesting pattern in our journey through the Psalms is that whenever David is focused on God it is quite an uplifting Psalm and whenever he is in a lot of introspection we get dragged down a bit. Yet, even then or perhaps especially then, crucial lessons are being taught us. This is such a chapter.

SILENCED

Psalm 39 starts with a recurring priority for David that we should all heed, stewardship of the mouth. “I said to myself, “I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say. I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me.” He wants to talk less not more when the “ungodly” are around him. In other words, as he gets on social media, he is not wanting to engage more but rather less with those who seem to oppose righteousness (JRV— Johnny’s Revised Version). The next two verses in the NLT are actually hilarious. “But as I stood there in silence— not even speaking of good things— the turmoil within me grew worse. The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words.” (v.2,3) So David goes from the ideal of “I will not sin with what I say” to a torrent of fiery words in three verses. As I have often said, there is a lot more in common between President Trump and David than people would like to acknowledge. Reading the Psalms straight through as we are connects us with David’s best moments but also his worst.

5780: YEAR OF THE MOUTH

In the Hebraic calendar we are 28 days from the new year of 5781. Much attention was given last year about this time to us entering “the year of the mouth” based on the various symbolisms of 5780. How ironic (or not) it has been that in the year of the mouth (PEY or PEH, spelling doesn’t quite work out the same in Hebrew) that the whole world has been required to wear a mask and dissent across all social media has been muzzled as never before. Most of that of course is connected to a sinister agenda to try to stop President Trump from fulfilling his Isaiah 45, "Cyrus’ assignment”, of removing the world “deep state”. However, as God is prone to do, He will take what the enemy is attempting and have His own objectives to go after. Mouth accountability has been high on His list for us in this year. While He, and we, don’t want the enemy muzzling our worship it doesn’t mean just a torrent of words is the goal. “Life and death is in the power of the tongue”. PEY is listed twice in this chapter (v.1 and v.9) and SAY, MOUTH, SILENT, TONGUE, MUZZLE, MUTE are throughout this Psalm. If we jump down to verses 8-11, “Rescue me from my rebellion”, “I am silent before you; I won’t say a word, for my punishment is from you”, it seems David is again confessing sin and taking some negative circumstances in his life as being the discipline of the Lord.

STOP STRIKING ME? LEAVE ME ALONE?

We need to remember that not all of David’s raw processing is designed for soundness of doctrine. Verse 10, is again almost hilarious, “But please stop striking me! I am exhausted by the blows of Your hand.” Seems this would have been a good time to keep his muzzle on. He is reaping the consequence of some sin but he is processing it as a direct “strike” from God. In the last verse David one-ups himself with, “Leave me alone so I can smile again before I am gone and exist no more.” This “man after God’s heart” uses Psalm 39 to say “God, stop hitting me” and “leave me alone”. Perhaps some you out there have said or thought the same thing about God? Good news!! You might still be considered BY GOD as an individual after His heart.

VANITY OF LIFE LEADS TO...?

The rest of David’s processing in this chapter sounds a lot like Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. In verses 4-6 David is bemoaning how short life is (said very creatively), how being busy gets you nowhere, “all our busy rushing ends in nothing”, and how, even if you succeed in gaining some wealth, you have no guarantees it will be properly stewarded by those you leave it to— or even if it will get to whom you planned. This reality check of life, that is hard but important for us all to get to, reduces David to what I have listed as the key verse of this Psalm. “And so, Lord, where do I put my HOPE? My only HOPE IS IN YOU.” (v.7)

HOPE IN HOPING IN GOD

Even now, man tries in every way possible to control how long he or she will live. Yet, the older you get, or the older your parents or friends get, the more you realize this is not really working. Whatever extensions of life we make through exercise, diet, reduction of stress etc. only prolongs our breath by relative microseconds. That morbid proposition doesn’t initially lift our spirits— nor did it Davids. In his continued introspection David also concludes that in all the wealth he is accumulating he has no real control of how it is going to be used. Perhaps he has already had a couple of sons greatly fail him (Absalom, Adonijah). Perhaps it is just a pattern he has observed. He has come to the conclusion that he can’t control life in any significant facet. This “reality check" initially depresses him but then finally secures him to the only sure thing of this life— GOD. He turns his HOPE in other outcomes to HOPE IN GOD. What a vital lesson of life! We have no other earthly guarantees. Family can fail us. Mates can fail us. Children can fail us. Our money can fail us. Our health and quest for longevity can fail us. How depressing? Or how important a revelation? That is why David frequently refers to Him as My Rock, My Refuge, My Hiding Place, My Strong Tower. No other relationship or outcome guarantees what He does. Not just “eternal life” but accompaniment in “this life”. Today, as His face shines upon you, put your hope in hoping in God. It will lead us to where it led David in the next chapter, “Oh the joys of those who trust the Lord.” (Ps. 40:4)

Aug 20; Day 38; Ps. 38 SIN, GUILT, HOPE

Key Verse: “But I confess my sins; I am deeply sorry for what I have done.” (v.18)

Key Theme: David overburdened with his own sin and its consequences.

Key Descriptive of God: Savior

SIN

The study through Psalms is quite comprehensive for all matters of life and doctrine. Whereas our previous Psalm covered the macro matters of inheriting the earth, this Psalm is now on quite the micro matter of personal sin. It is a painful Psalm to read as David describes both the agony of soul and the accompanying agony of body and relationships resultant of his sin.

CONSEQUENCES

From verse 1, David is feeling the displeasure of God with his sin. It is not hard to think of this chapter as another post-Bathsheba/Uriah scenario though we are not told so. It had to be something more serious then flipping off a driver on the way to work. Arrows of conviction and a heavy hand of correction is what David is feeling from the Lord (v.2). From verse 3 we gather it has greatly affected his natural health as well. Over the next few verses he will speak of festering wounds that stink, being bent over and racked with pain, a raging fever, exhaustion— but all with “an anguished heart”. (v.8) From verse 10 we gather that he is either going blind or the sparkle in his eye has gone (as your different translations will tell you). “My loved ones and friends stay away fearing my disease. Even my own family stands at a distance” (v.11). It seems his wives (okay in Old Testament, not so in New Testament), and friends and family are all avoiding him, either because they believe him spiritually contaminated or because of natural illness. This all sounds to me like a likely scenario after the Bathsheba incident. His other wives are mad, his family and friends know he has really, really blown it. “To whom much is given much is required”, and he was king. There is serious guilt and shame. David is down on David, and so is everybody else.

RIPPLE EFFECT

Furthermore, verse 12 lets us know that his failings have now given his normal enemies ammunition to work with. In verse 19 he will describe them as “aggressive enemies”. They could be people or they could be “the accuser” of the brethren, Satan. Or they could be both. Sin often has a tsunami of consequences. Mind you David could just go sacrifice some lambs and get right with God— legally. But he knows so much more has happened. He has harmed his friendship with God. He has broken trust and damaged his relationships with family and with friends. He has emboldened his enemies. As he says in verse 17, “I am on the verge of collapse, facing constant pain.” While sin may have been fun while it was in the sowing stage, it is now in the reaping stage— and it is decidedly miserable. The high level of the sin has made it exponentially miserable.

BUT I CONFESS MY SINS

“But I confess my sins; I am deeply sorry for what I have done.” (v.18) Now, though this sounds like just saying the same thing twice, it is not. It does not take being “deeply sorry” to "confess sins". Any of you married people ever “confess” to your mate just to get them to stop telling you what you did wrong? Being sorry or “deeply sorry” is another thing. In verses 13-16 David speaks of waiting or hoping in God. He didn’t need to do that for getting his sin forgiven. In the Old Testament that happened with a blood sacrifice. In the New Testament it happens when we confess our sins ("He is quick and faithful to forgive"). Beyond this, I believe David exhibits the heart that God so loves, and why He calls David “a man after My own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14 NKJV and Acts 13:22). He knows beyond legalities that the relational collateral damage in all directions is immense. He, first of all, with God, wants to feel the full damage to His heart that he might have done. He can get the legal forgiveness without even connecting to God. What he is waiting for and wants to hear (“For I am waiting for You, O Lord, You must answer me” v.15) is some version of “we’re good”. David through his Psalms, publicly processing all of this before us, has given us a great lesson not only in confessing sin but confessing sin from the heart. It will accelerate healing of relational strains or ruptures.

MY SAVIOR

I love it that in a chapter on sin and its consequences that the last two words are MY SAVIOR or MY SALVATION— depending on your version of the Bible. Either one is perfect. “Come quickly to help me, O Lord my savior” (NLT) or “Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation!” (NKJV). Here a thousand years before Christ, David lays out redemptions' plan for forgiveness of sins and salvation. It is called JESUS and He is our Savior and our Salvation in every way. He provides for “legal” righteousness and He provides for relational repair all across the spectrum. He is a wholistic and wholesale Savior in every conceivable body, soul and spirit way. Today let His full face shine on you. He is our Hope.

Aug 19; Day 37; Ps. 37: THE RAPTURE?

Key Verse: “For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the Lord, They shall inherit the earth.” (v.9)

Key Theme: The righteous remain.The wicked get taken.

Key Descriptive of God: Sovereign (established throughout chapter); He Who Gives Inheritance ON EARTH

What a task for today! Psalm 37 is perhaps the most powerfully instructive of all the Psalms and especially so for our day. The Lord showed me years ago that this chapter has more “eschatology” (end-times understanding) than any chapter in the Bible. I have been immersed in it for 25 years ever since John Paul Jackson and another prophet gave me specific prophetic words from this chapter. I remember about that time Bob Jones (the prophet) sharing that the whole Body of Christ need to I.V. this chapter. I agree and I have. Especially in 2020. Early this year I went through and did a verse by verse and word by word study. This chapter has 40 verses and so I have 15 pages of notes. We can cover only themes today but that will be rich and hope giving. (Psalm 37 is an acrostic Psalm meaning every line begins with the next letter of the 22-letter Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 25 and 34 were also acrostic Psalms and had exactly 22 verses each. There is something special about these Psalms as they lift our spirits in unusual ways.)

DO NOT FRET

Verses 1,7,8 tell us three times “Do not fret”. It is specifically not to “fret” over “evildoers”, “workers of iniquity”, “the man who brings wicked schemes to pass”. In my early year notes I put in parenthesis (Soros, Clintons, “deep state”). Anybody else see that too? It is a verse for us today, because never has a populace been more aware of “wicked scheming” seemingly prosper. It can make one sick at heart to know of it all. It is why the Lord tells us even today August 19, 2020, DO NOT FRET and as is added in verse 8, “it only causes harm”. The alternative David gave to "fretting" was REST and TRUST. What a great year to grow these rare plants.

THE RIGHTEOUS INHERIT THE EARTH: 7 TIMES

Psalm 37, is so anti-conventional "rapture thinking" that it is shocking at how it has remained ignored and unattended to. Conventional “rapture thinking” has us expecting things to get worse and worse and then finally Jesus comes and rescues us from it all. The wicked are either than “burned up” or forced to live on earth for a season until they get destroyed with the earth. Psalm 37 says the opposite. I will let it do its’ own teaching by pointing out the 7 times it tells us who remains. I will start with the back of the chapter. Be aware that the word LAND (“erets” in Hebrew) means “land, earth, country, piece of ground, countries.” Be aware that the word INHERIT (“yarash” in Hebrew) means “possess, heir, occupy, have permanently” and that the word DWELL (“shakan” in Hebrew) means “to reside permanently, settle, remain."

#1. “Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to INHERIT THE LAND.” (v.34)

#2. “The righteous shall INHERIT THE LAND, and DWELL IN IT FOREVER.” (v. 29)

#3. “Depart from evil, and do good; And DWELL FOREVERMORE.” (v.27)

#4. “For those blessed by Him shall INHERIT THE EARTH.” (v.22)

#5. “But the meek shall INHERIT THE EARTH, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” (v.11)

#6. “But those who wait on the Lord shall INHERIT THE EARTH.” (v.9)

#7. “Trust in the Lord and do good; DWELL IN THE LAND and feed on His faithfulness.” (v.3)

Note on #3, we “depart from EVIL” not “depart from the EARTH”. On #5, “abundance of peace (Shalom)” is for here on earth. We don’t just “inherit” trouble, but it becomes Hab. 2:14, “the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.” I am continually stunned at the saturation of “fake news” eschatology in the Body of Christ where people who challenge the 7 Mountain Mandate say the scripture is clear that things can’t get better. There are twenty times more scriptures speaking of a good future ON EARTH than a bad one. A puny view of God causes one to embrace the “less than” and that is the illness to be healed of. As AW Tozer said, “What you think about God is the most important thing about YOU.” You will always gravitate towards an end-times view consistent with your God-view. The tinier He is, the sooner we need to get “raptured”. The bigger He is, the more we innately know our assignment as His kids to contend for “on earth as it is in heaven”. That is how we INHERIT THE EARTH.

EVILDOERS GET "RAPTURED": 7 TIMES

Ironically, or not, I found it 7 times in this chapter when who gets "cut down", "cut off", "removed", "passed away" or otherwise “vanished” is the wicked. For the record, yes I believe in a glorious return of Jesus (“rapture” if you want, though not a Biblical word) but it clearly is not a rescue operation from being overwhelmed by the devil, but rather a celebration of His kids having sufficiently proven on earth that they are His kids. Romans 8:19 states that creation itself is waiting for this. This does not happen when you live under constant speculation or expectation of soon leaving the planet. Again, take in David’s eschatology as it is nourishment to our God-view.

#1. “Nor be envious of WORKERS OF INIQUITY. For they shall soon be CUT DOWN like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” (v.2)

#2. “For EVILDOERS shall be CUT OFF.” (v.9)

#3. “For yet a little while AND THE WICKED SHALL BE NO MORE; Indeed you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more.” (v.10)

#4. “But those cursed by Him shall be CUT OFF.” (v.22)

#5. “But the WICKED shall PERISH; and the ENEMIES of the Lord, like the splendor of the meadows, SHALL VANISH, into smoke they shall VANISH.” (v.20)

#6. “For the Lord LOVES JUSTICE, and does not forsake His saints; THEY ARE PRESERVED FOREVER, But the descendants of the WICKED shall be CUT OFF.” (v.28)

#7. “When the WICKED are CUT OFF you shall see it (meaning we are here not gone). I have seen the WICKED in great power, and spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he PASSED AWAY, and behold, he WAS NO MORE; Indeed I sought him, but HE COULD NOT BE FOUND.” (v.34-36)

Please note who gets “Left Behind”. It is not the wicked. Who suddenly disappears in #3 and #7? Who was “taken” in Noah’s day? The Bible says it will be “as in the days of Noah”. PLEASE, LETS STOP THE FAKE NEWS ESCHATOLOGY. It literally enables “the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a native green tree.” Guess who you are going to see “disappear” in 2020? It is happening before our eyes and wait until you see the way this year ends. Psalm 37 is for 2020.

There is a final passage from Psalm 37 we just must cover. It is from verse 4.

DESIRES OF YOUR HEART FULFILLED?

“DELIGHT yourself also IN THE LORD, and He will give you the DESIRES OF YOUR HEART.”

We often try to skip the the first half and just “claim” the second half. Here’s the deal, our “desires of the heart” are just lust for money, power, fame or significance— without the first part. The Hebrew word for “delight” is ANAG. NO, it doesn’t mean NAG the Lord until He gives you what you want. ANAG means, “to be soft; dainty; be delicate; take exquisite delight; make sport of; to allure as in the amorous gestures, look, walk of a woman;”. Yes, I know that is uncomfortable thinking, especially if you are a man, but it is what intimacy with God is all about. Did you see the “make sport of” part of the definition? Can you have fun with God? Again, there is a reason we are called to be “the Bride of Christ”. The word DESIRE is also so interesting in its’ Latin understanding. DE means FROM. SIRE means to BE THE MALE PARENT. In other words, if you fall head over heels in love with God, you and Him will have babies. The DE SIRES of your heart are what your love affair with Him produces. You and Him together produce a “desire”. This keeps it from being just a solo-generated lust for something else.

Ah, so much more in this chapter. Make sure to be secured by verses 25 and 26. Those who find their righteousness in Jesus Christ are NEVER forsaken.

Aug. 18; Day 36, Ps.36 ABUNDANTLY SATISFIED

Key Verses (2): “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the great deep”. (v.5)

“They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house; You give them drink of the river of Your pleasures”. (v.8)

Key Theme: The Evil of Man versus the Beauty of God. He Wins.

Key Descriptives of God: Fountain of Life; River of Pleasure; Light

Be prepared to be really encounter the Lord during todays devotional as this is what is happening to me. In this "Summer of His Love” His Face shines upon us as He prepares a table of “fullness" in the very presence of our enemies. (the “plandemic”, the failed hit job on our economy, the failed race war etc.etc.) It is only appropriate that today’s date 8/18 would happen to coincide with Deut. 8:18 “He gives you the power to get wealth”. The heart and soul of this chapter is about being “abundantly satisfied” with what our Fountain of Life provides. His wealth extends far beyond a bank account’s bottom line.

EVIL VS. GOOD

The first four verses give us insight into those who qualify as “wicked”. There is “no fear of God” in them. They have “blind conceit” so they can’t even see their wickedness. “Everything they say is crooked and deceitful”. “They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots.” “They make no attempt to turn from evil.” All that has been exposed in 2020 seems to be revealing this sort of “wickedness”. Before this year is over I believe we will see the last verse (v. 12) of this chapter have a profound fulfillment. “Look! Those who do evil have fallen! They are thrown down, NEVER TO RISE AGAIN.” I ask you to join me in declaring, decreeing and believing that this will be our reality in 2020, as we shift into a new kingdom era.

YOUR LOVE, O LORD

The catalyst into this reality are the first two words of verse 5, “YOUR LOVE”. The rest of this awesome verse turned popular worship song says it all. “Your love, Oh Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies.” David doesn’t seem to have enough vocabulary to describe His LOVE and His FAITHFULNESS. In “reaches to the heavens”, David perhaps unintentionally, says more than he knows. "YOUR LOVE" is the antidote to the first four verses of dominating evil. It has the power to go into the "second heavens” (where evil is headquartered) and displace and dislodge. The “second heavens” thought-realm is presently being assaulted by our great God’s LOVE and FAITHFULNESS. It creates a “Great Awakening” on earth.

MIGHTY MOUNTAINS AND THE GREAT DEEP

“Your RIGHTEOUSNESS is like the MIGHTY MOUNTAINS, Your JUSTICE like the GREAT DEEP.” (v.5) As it tells us in Ps.89:14, “RIGHTEOUSNESS and JUSTICE are the foundation of Your throne.” What the love and faithfulness of God is awakening will overhaul the 7 “mighty mountains” of media, economy, government, education, arts/entertainment, family and religion. It will also overhaul “the great deep”. RIGHTEOUSNESS (Hebrew word TSEDAQAH) means “righteous acts; justice; moral virtue; rightness”. JUSTICE (MISHPAT in Hebrew) means “favorable verdict; execution of a judgment; act of deciding a case; ordinance; justice.” If you recognize the nuanced difference here, TSEDAQAH is in PEOPLE, and MISHPAT is in SYSTEMS. JUSTICE is a great overlapping theme, as it is in both Hebrew words. Our kingdom assignment is to affect the “great deep” foundation of systems as well as the “mighty mountains” of human behavior. His love addresses justice in systems and righteousness in people. The 7 Mountain Mandate is to, through His love and faithfulness, REVIVE people and REFORM systems. REVIVAL AND REFORMATION!

ABUNDANTLY SATISFIED WITH FULLNESS OF YOUR HOUSE

I love this phrase of verse 8. The Hebrew word RAVAH is used for “abundantly satisfied”. It means “water; make drunk; fill; satiate; saturate; be intoxicated; soak; bathe.” Wow, that is thorough. This is what He wants to do for “the children of men” (v.7). Yes, that includes you . Maybe, when your are done reading you could find the song of verse 5 and let Him water you, saturate you, bathe you and intoxicate you. And not done yet, David has to add the word FULLNESS (Hebrew word DESHEN) meaning “abundance, blessing and fertility.” If the “fertility” is not personally needed you could bequeath it to your children and/or their children:):) Where does all this come from? HIS HOUSE. Not a church building but where He abides. He inhabits the praises of His people both in church and in the 7 Mountains. Living out your kingdom assignment is praise to Him. If we would properly align with His narrative, “YOUR HOUSE” could also be OUR CHURCH'S reality. Wouldn’t that be awesome? It will be in many places.

RIVER OF PLEASURES

“You give them drink from the RIVER OF YOUR PLEASURES.” (v.8) The Hebrew word for “pleasures” is EDEN. He wants us drinking from the river of Eden! Is that not something? Yes, in the midst of the first 4 verses of gross evil. To make it plainer. Yes, in the midst of quarantines, “social distancing”, riots, communism and a lying media telling you THEY are winning. The word EDEN means “luxury, pleasure, dainty, delight and finery.” Yes today, 8/18 (Deut. 8:18), He gives you the power to get wealth. It is so much more enjoyable for Him to do so “in the presence of our enemies” and under contradiction. In heaven, this is just standard.

FOUNTAIN OF LIFE: REVIVAL

“For with You is the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE; In Your light we see light.” (v.9) Wow, hard to believe this didn’t make it as my key verse huh?. That word LIFE in Hebrew is CHAY and it means “alive, living, merry, fresh, raw, appetite.”

Is that not good? He is the source of REVIVAL and it is being released all across the land. You will know it has hit you when you feel "alive and living" rather than dead and dying. You will feel “merry” rather than distressed.”Fresh” rather than "a has been". (Did you know that when Sarah laughed at being reminded of her promised son Isaac, she actually said “Shall I being old have EDEN?” Gen. 18:12. This is for many of you.) “Raw” means authentic and real. Finally, the ultimate sign that Revival has come to you is your “appetite" for God has become ravishing.

IN YOUR LIGHT WE SEE LIGHT

That is the last line of verse 9 and a profound little phrase. In 2020 think of seeing "light at the end of a tunnel" (like on the cover my new book “The End of the World- as You Know it):). If you can’t see Him, you will only process present darkness— and if you are a stuck prophet or intercessor you will pass that on to others. If hope is not on the tip of your tongue you are not “a realist” but a studier of darkness. What a wasted study. Repent!! Then worship in “His House”, immerse yourself in the “river of His pleasures”, drink deeply of “the fountain of life” and see everything through HIS LIGHT. You will be abundantly, satisfied with fullness. Aug 17; Day 35, Ps. 35: VENGEANCE?

Key Verse: “Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me; Fight against those who fight against me.” (v.1)

Key Theme: David is being wrongfully pursued by former friends.

Key Descriptives of God: Judge; Rescuer; Avenger

Psalm 35 is the first of 7 Psalms (not consecutive) where David is pleading for vengeance from God against his enemies. It is easy to read these chapters and say, "Wow, David really needs to upgrade to New Testament standards of 'loving your enemies' and 'praying for those who despitefully use you’.” Perhaps. If we knew the specifics of what was going on in his life it would be easier. I definitely don’t think that the average person is being encouraged to give himself/herself over to “vengeance” thoughts or that for most of us these chapters are any kind of guide for dealing with people who disagree with us. It is my view that this chapter has to be covering the time David is running from King Saul— and it was not over yet but ongoing. David had slain Goliath and become the hero of the people. Initially embraced by Saul, he turned on David when he heard the women celebrating David’s return from the battlefield saying “Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands.” They were not trying to be insulting to Saul, as he was being recognized as a great warrior, but it was just so obvious David was at another level. It was yet another reminder that Saul, who was Israel’s giant (a head taller than the other men) had cowered before Goliath for forty days and that David had been the rescuer. So he tried to kill David.

PLEAD MY CAUSE

The entire long chapter (28 verses) is David pleading with God for rescue from this situation. David is most thorough in his descriptions of what is taking place. He again sounds helpless throughout this Psalm and it would be easy to forget that there is a reason the women would sing “David has killed his ten thousands”. His tone goes from being angry that they are wrongfully targeting him to emotionally hurt at the betrayal of former friends. His detailing of how he would like them to be judged borders on humorous at times. “Let them be like the chaff before the wind, and let the angel of the Lord chase them” (v.5) and “Let their way be dark and slippery, and let the angel of the Lord pursue them.” (v.6) He will explain, “For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit.” (v.7) David will go in and out of addressing THEM and HIM as those who wrongfully are pursuing him and trying to kill him. In verses 11-14 he will tell of those who are now chasing him how he fasted and prayed for them when they were sick and how he paced as a friend or brother in caring for them. The HIM he addresses must be Saul and in verse 8 David says, "Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly, and let his net that he has hidden catch himself”. ! Samuel 31, tells the story of Saul’s sudden death and ultimately he dies by his own sword seemingly fulfilling David’s request. His two big enemies Goliath and Saul both die by their own weapon of war. That is kind of standard with the enemies of God and I believe being played out in our times as well. "Media" is destroying itself. "The Swamp" is destroying itself.

DELIVERING THE POOR

“Lord who is like You, Delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him?” (v.10) This verse further seems to confirm the David and Saul scenario as he identifies himself as “the poor” and Saul as the “too strong” for him. It reveals to us that David knows the Lord enough to understand that this is a core characteristic of who He is. On and on, verse after verse, he will belabor this point “Lord how long will you look on? Rescue me from their destructions” (v.17), “Stir up Yourself and awake to my vindication” (v.23) etc.etc. Again David can sound dramatic— but only if you fail to consider he might have been on the run for months or even years from the king of his nation with all the best warriors also chasing him down. His plea to God has to come out of being aware that he, David, has already been anointed king instead of Saul, but we know from the story itself that David was not going to make that happen by personally killing him. If God went out of the way to anoint him king, then God needed to go out of the way to install him as king. His absolute refusal to raise an insurrection from among the people is very telling, because it is clear he has their affection. He has the personal might of a superman, he has the general populace behind him (though from the chapter you can see lying witnesses have slandered him) but yet his appeal is to God. He decidedly does NOT follow “God helps those who help themself” but lives a life of total dependence on God. David’s own great power and might he will use only at God’s discretion.

JUDGE ME?

“JUDGE ME, O Lord My God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me”. (KJV) This is a good time to explain how different the word JUDGE and JUDGMENTS were for those in Bible times compared to how we westerners apply it. We generally despise the word JUDGE and might quickly correct David and say “David you don’t want to be judged, you want mercy.” But if you would do a concordance research of the Bible you would see a constant desire of the writers for God to judge and for His judgments to be made manifest. They would make it a positive thing over and over— and that reality we often missed. For instance, Is. 26:9 “When Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness”, has caused many to believe that God has to send earthquakes, hurricanes, famines and floods to get people to stop sinning. It is a wrong understanding of the concept of judgment from a Biblical Hebraic concept.

PLAINTIFF NOT DEFENDANT

In Western Christianity, we generally think as a DEFENDANT when hearing the words “God’s judgments”. In the Hebraic mindset, they always processed as PLAINTIFFS. It was about getting a hearing. Most cultures it was hard to ever get the hearing (still is in many). One had to pay or bribe someone just to get “before the judge”. It was considered an almost sure thing to get mercy, or vindication if one could just get the hearing. The Biblical passion for judgment and justice is from a plaintiff's perspective. Is. 26:9 is to be understood as, “When Your vindications are in the earth, the inhabitants…will learn righteousness" (or “justice" as the word is interchangeable). When understood this way justice, judgment and judgments become all together desirable. JUSTICE being a foundation of His throne is not primarily about a God of vengeance AGAINST defendants/abusers, it is about a God of vindication FOR plaintiffs/the abused. That is His prime motivator and passion. As David saw, the Lord MY Shepherd is driven by His love for the little lamb not by His hatred of the lion. This nuanced differentiation is important to understand, because without it His image on earth is distorted. He is not the stern-faced Divine Judge scanning the horizon for wrongdoers to zap. Rather He is the kind-faced Divine Judge scanning the horizon for a baaaa from one of His lambs. A lion may get zapped, but His eyes are on His lambs. As 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf” of His lambs. Today, as we again allow His shining face to be upon us, let us see Him as our Judge— but through this upgraded lens. He is the Judge who is FOR us.Aug 16; Day 34, Ps. 34: TASTE AND SEE

Key Verses: “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together…and (He) delivered me from all my fears.” (v.3,4)

Key Theme: The blessedness of looking to God.

Key Descriptives of God: Deliverer (v.4,7,17,19)

Psalm 34 is another life Psalm for me, and perhaps the Psalm I have received the most prophetic words from. It is a Psalm I continually refer to in my messages and most specifically verses 3 and 4. These are guide verses for my life and in simple form contain the wisdom of the ages. It became huge for me when we pastored Daystar in Atlanta and our address was 3434, and our zip code ended in 34. It has become the strategy and guideline for how we approach the 7 Mountain Mandate (start with what God is already doing rather than what the devil is doing) as well as my philosophy in regards to the prophetic in general. It is what allows you to be before a valley of dry bones and see an immense army in potential and then call it out. I honestly don’t know if there is a more important key of life. Let’s dive in.

“Oh, MAGNIFY the Lord with me, And let us EXALT HIS NAME together, I sought the Lord and He heard me and DELIVERED me from ALL my fears.” (v.3,4)

This verse is also laid out as THE strategy for eliminating ALL fears. It all centers around the word MAGNIFY. In the Hebrew GADAL, it also means to “nourish up, grow, promote, or become great or important.” As we ponder the word in English, think "magnifying glass". You don’t magnify what you already see well. You magnify what you are having a hard time seeing. I learned that anytime fear of any sort is nipping at my heels it is because something other than the Lord has been magnified. Usually, when we think or say “What if…?”, as we process a bad or worst-case scenario, it means we have been magnifying our fears. Instead of “nourishing up” who God is and what He is saying in the scenario, we default to what is already large and study/obsess over it even more. That is normal human processing. It is how we easily become “second heaven” experts rather than “third heaven” experts, and furthermore, we like the ten spies think it valuable intel when it is a destiny-killer.

WHAT YOU FOCUS ON YOU MAKE ROOM FOR

The ten spies that were sent to the Promised Land magnified the giants in the land by focusing on them. Caleb who was of “a different spirit” focused on what God was doing and saying and thus “magnified” who He was in the equation, and was delivered from ALL his fears. What you focus on you make room for. So be careful what you focus on. Neither side lied per se but they each saw an entirely different reality based on what they were disciplined to look at. Caleb saw “a land that flows milk and honey” while being in “reality" surrounded by the Hittites, the Canaanites, and all the rest of the "ites", including the huge and scary “sons of Anak”. His discipline of magnifying God allowed him to see way oversized grapes and report on that rather than reporting on the impossible to miss GIANTS. He didn’t pretend they weren’t there, he just said “they will be bread for us”. He was so used to magnifying God that rather than comparing himself to the giants as the 10 spies did, he compared God to the giants. He then saw them as a delightful snack to accompany his morning Starbucks. It is a great enemy-reduction strategy.

HOW TO MAGNIFY GOD

You will never learn to minimize your fears unless you learn to magnify God— when He looks small. You magnify and thus maximize God through intentional focus. It doesn’t happen just by reading Ps. 34:3,4. Here’s the example. Say it is Monday morning, and even though you had a great day in church on Sunday where you were riding high in faith and trust, that you are now paying your bills (ugh brought down to earth) and this is an area you are not used to seeing God in. This is an activity you usually fly solo on and you start with looking at your bills (giants). BEFORE you pay your bills, begin telling the Lord who He is to you as Provider. Tell Him that one of His names is Jehovah-Jireh, “the Lord who provides.” Then remind Him (for YOUR sake) who He was in the scriptures. Begin in the Old Testament and tell Him how all His friends were well provided for. Abraham, Joseph, David stories should come to mind. Remind Him how He enticed the children of Israel into the Promised Land by telling of all the great provision (“milk and honey”) that would be there and they would “be the head and not the tail” and they would “lend and not borrow”. Then tell Him who He was in the New Testament in the person of Jesus. His first miracle was a provision miracle providing 150 gallons of awesome wine for a marriage. How He fed the 5000. How He paid for Peter’s taxes. How He filled the disciples' boats with fish when they were catching nothing. See what I am doing is magnifying the Lord. Then you tell God of provision miracles in your past, as you search in your memory. At some point in your process of magnifying you become aware that your soul can finally seem Him the size He actually is. At that point you declare Him to be so in your life and even prophesy into your future. It is a practice to apply to any area of your life where He is not seen well. Apply it to your relationships, to your destiny, to whatever. See HIM, see Him in the scriptures, see Him in your past, see Him in your present and see Him in your future. It is a little key that will open big doors. If the God you need to see today, you can’t see in the scriptures or in your past, you are unlikely to be able to see Him in your present moment of need/fear. Nourish Him up by magnifying Him. He will deliver you from ALL your fears. Try it today anywhere He seems small or unseen. As baffled scientists in the quantum world have discovered, you activate what you can see. As the follow-up verse 5 says, “they looked to Him and were radiant”.

TASTE AND SEE

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (v.8) If you have loved this scripture before just know that it is speaking of the same thing. The way you “taste and see” is by magnifying the Lord. You don’t stop until your soul “tastes” Him. He is Goooooood!

The rest of this Psalm is amazing and too bad we can’t go after all the gold here and it still remain a devotional. Verse 7, is key about the angel of the Lord encamping around us. Verse 10, on how not to lack ANY good thing. Verse 16, shows that when His face is against you (right now “the swamp”) that you are headed for being cut off from remembrance. Verse 18 is a comfort as He says He is always close to those with a broken heart. And finally, verse 19 is one of my all-time favorites. “MANY are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them ALL.” I hate the MANY part but love the ALL part. We would not be very familiar with Him as Deliverer without the MANY. Today, wherever you are and whatever you are walking through this key of magnifying God can be your game changer. Let His face shine upon you.Aug 15; Day 33, Ps.33: HALFWAY THERE

67-Day Journey of His Face Shining Upon Us

Key Verse: “No king is saved by the multitude of an army: A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.” (v.16)

Key Theme: The Sovereignty of God

Key Descriptives of God: Indirectly, His Absolute Sovereignty

Halfway through today, we arrive at our halfway point in our 67-day journey that will end us in Psalm 67 on Rosh Hashanah. It is only appropriate that Psalm 33 carries the number of Jesus’ age when He made the ultimate sacrifice that provided us and Himself with everything needed for a glorious reveal on earth. At 33 He did it all!

ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY?

The Sovereignty of God is an ongoing topic of controversy among believers and at times it goes into minute splitting of hairs. The dispute centers around whether He affects all outcomes with His choices or do we affect outcomes with our choices. Does He have ALL power and authority or has He passed some on to us. Rather than join the debate, I will just say, that the more you read David’s Psalms the more you believe He is absolutely Sovereign. It is sown into his language throughout as if almost nothing else matters and what makes it stand out more is once you consider the totality of who David was. He was a king without a limiting constitution, he was a billionaire, if you add up just what his talents of gold came to, he was a superman capable of shredding lions and bears with his bare hands, he was powerful by every description. If there was anyone who should seemingly champion the co-role with God that we have in on earth-outcomes you would think it would be him. Yet, if you read the Psalms and forgot that, you could visualize a weak, helpless, small, insignificant, absolutely dependent frail man. I suggest there is a strong correlation between the perception and the reality. The Lord showed me years ago that the highest level of power and maturity we could ever attain to in Him is absolute dependence. No dependence equals no power. Little dependence equals little power. A lot of dependence equals a lot of power. Total dependence equals maximum power. You get the idea. If you process weakness properly it turns to strength. It’s almost like there should be a scripture that says, “Let the weak say I am strong.” (there is)

SOVEREIGNTY OVER NATIONS

“The Lord frustrates the plans of the NATIONS and thwarts all their SCHEMES.” (v.10) This confirms once again that nations are always scheming, plotting and conspiring as if they have sovereignty. The word “frustrates” in this verse is translated “brings to nothing” in other translations. This even without him highlighting “the power of prayer” to change things. Now add the next verse to this, “But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; HIS INTENTIONS CAN NEVER BE SHAKEN.” (v.11) Then, let us add our key verse of the chapter, “No king is saved by the multitude of an army: A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.” (v.16) In the next three verses, he only builds on that theme. The total futility of becoming “mighty” in natural ways as compared to being watched over by the Lord.

SOVEREIGNTY OVER HEARTS

“ From His throne HE OBSERVES all who live on the earth. HE MADE THEIR HEARTS, so HE UNDERSTANDS EVERYTHING THEY DO.” (v.15) In the NKJV it says, “He fashions their hearts individually.” We know from Proverbs 21:21, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord…He turns it whatever way He wills.” If He can do that with “kings”, He can do that with all. So where does human choice come in? Well, choice is still everything— but not from a position of legal power or authority but from a position of relational favor. He is the Divine Observer with total power and total authority. Whatever authority He gave up through Adam and Eve’s sin He reclaimed on the cross, “ALL authority in heaven and earth is MINE.” (Mt. 28: 18) What we have is a relational right of appeal and favor and it is from there we derive our authority. He is NEVER limited to us, though He is always inviting us into the process. He has saved us and earth a hundred times, when we DIDN’T do a positive thing towards it. Yet, He also will allow severe consequences to affect us and nations when we fail to participate in proper prayer and righteous action. It is all about an educational process that we are expected to grow in.

SOVEREIGNTY OVER SATAN AND ALL HIS DEMONS

“BY THE WORD of the Lord the heavens were made, And ALL THE HOST of them by the breath of His mouth.” (v.6) This verse is a big reminder. If His only power were the power of Creator it would be enough to make Him Sovereign. Think of it, He can unstoppably create. Whether “all the host” of the heavens, is stars without number or whether it speaks of the angelic hosts, it doesn’t matter as He did both. People who can see the demonic realm can often become very concerned at our possibilities of a good outcome on earth. They are huge, seemingly innumerable and of a dreadful disposition. Sometimes these seers worry that our contingent of twice as many angels might be a little soft and cherubic compared to these brutes and so the double in number doesn’t appease them. Let this appease you. There is nothing to stop God from creating more “hosts” of heaven. Who could do it? God could literally create one quadrillion Herculean, Lion-Faced, 100 feet tall angels today and sic em’ on the devil. Even if He wasn’t “Sovereign”, He could be Sovereign— which makes Him Sovereign. Furthermore, He created all the bad guys (starting with Lucifer) by one day saying, “Let their be...”. He has no rule of heaven hindering Him from suddenly saying, “Let there NOT be...”. Yes, Satan is that close to extinction. Creator’s rights trump everything. For now Satan serves God's purposes of educating us.

SO PRAISE HIM: HOPE IN HIM

Once we understand His position of absolute power (Creator’s Rights) and absolute authority (Redeemer’s Rights), the “Praise Him” instructions that David gives us over and over and over in his many Psalms begin to better register with us. It becomes increasingly difficult to rely on anything else. Mainly, our hearts become so secured in His power and His authority, that we can’t help but praise Him. This Psalm 33 begins with 3 verses commending us to praise Him and rejoice in Him. It ends with 3 verses instructing us to rejoice, trust and hope in Him. In between those verses is all the drama of life being played out.

TO PRAISE MEANS TO SHOOT ARROWS

The Hebrew word for “praise" YADAH also means “to shoot arrows” or “to throw a stone.” What God likes to do is position Himself right in the middle of an encampment of the enemy and have us “Praise Him”. We don’t even have to be aware of the enemy. The demonic realm gets a barrage of arrows and stones flying in their direction as we focus our praise on Him. The more we praise Him, the more demons get shot down. The more passionately we give ourselves to praising Him, the more passionately He moves among the enemy causing maximum damage to what comes against us. He really gets “lit” from new songs (“sing a NEW song” v.3) as they go into revelatory seeing of what He is doing today. It is song that has “moved with the cloud”. The Hebrew word for “new song” is CHADASH and among its’ meanings are “fresh, of the year; unheard of- such as has not been previously worshipped.” NEW songs are designed to part the waters into Promised Land. Anointed worship is always designed to be ahead of where we experientially are and is our tour guide into the new. May these new anointed songs abound in 2020.

HOPE IN HIM

“Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, Just as we HOPE IN YOU.” (v.22) This is how chapter 33 ends. We were wired and created by God to hope in Him, then to explore hoping in something or someone else, and then to come back full circle to HOPE IN HIM. Make sure you make the round trip. We must go back to hope “as a little child” to see and enter the kingdom dimension of “all things are possible”. Rejoice in Him today. Praise Him today. Enjoy Him today. His Face is shining upon us.

Aug 14, Day 32, Ps. 32 GUIDED BY HIS EYE

Key Verse: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (v.1)

Key Theme: David on being forgiven regarding Bathsheba and Uriah.

Key Descriptives of God: Forgiver; Hiding Place; He Who Guides With His Eye

Psalm 32 takes us into the aftermath of David’s sin. It is thought that this is after Nathan the prophet has confronted him not just on taking Bathsheba but for setting up the death of her husband Uriah. I have often compared aspects of David and the assignment of David with President Trump. This has often made people mad as they process the comparison. How can I even mention them in the same breath? David, the man of the Psalms, the man who says “Who shall ascend God’s holy mountain?”, the man who says, “Oh, to behold the beauty of the Lord”— How can I compare tough/rough speaking, 3 times married President Trump with him?! Read on.

David’s Sin

Well, David’s sin was HUGE in every way and seemingly disqualifying for him still being God’s man of the hour. There is a reason he uses four different words for SIN in verses 1 and 2 to describe what he had done. It was not simple sin. He uses the words TRANSGRESSION, SIN, INIQUITY, and DECEIT (v.1,2) to describe his failure. In Hebrew, these words are PESHA, CHATA’AH, AVON, REMIYAH. (If you try to pronounce those words— with the exception of AVON, they all even sound like you did something really bad). PESHA means or implies “rebellion; a revolt”. CHATA’AH means “a calamity”. AVON is actually maybe the worst word as it means “depravity”. REMIYAH means “treachery”.

“At a Time When Kings go to War"

As we remember the story out of 2 Samuel 11, David was on his roof and saw Bathsheba bathing on some housetop below his. He desired her and so he took her— since he was King. Her husband, Uriah, who was one of David’s prestigious "mighty men” was with the army at war. David might have gotten away with his sin of adultery (or rape, if she had no choice) except for the fact she got pregnant. So now David had Uriah called in from battle to be with his wife so that the pregnancy would not be discovered. But Uriah being an honorable man, refused to go in and sleep with Bathsheba until the battle was over— thereby defeating David’s own attempt to cover his sin. David then upped the ante on his sin, and why 4 words are needed to describe it. It was not “simple adultery”. The sin starts with the first verse of 2 Sam. 11, telling us David was on his rooftop “at a time when kings go to war”. A whole message here right? He was supposed to be with his men in battle. But instead, he finds himself taking for himself, not just a “Jezebel seductress” but one of his few, chosen, mighty man’s wife. His set of sins will advance all the way to him ordering his General Joab to position Uriah on the front lines of battle and then pull back his battle support so that he is overwhelmed. It happens and Uriah is killed. It was “rebellion" ( for not going to war leading his men), It was “a calamity” for further harming the battlefield position by removing one of the top warriors. It was “treachery” in multiple directions. The treachery towards Uriah is the clearest. General Joab perhaps never forgets this day as he later in life turns on David and supports Absalom in his treacherous attempt to take the throne. One can only imagine the effect on the men around Uriah who are told to pull back and ‘sacrifice’ one of their own. And yes, the “depravity” of David’s passions is exposed before all because he is King and could already have any single woman he wanted and just add her to his harem— but no he had to take it to another level. If I were God, this is the day I forget about David’s wonderful love poems/psalms and I say DISQUALIFIED!

Blessed is He Whose Sin is Forgiven

The NLT says it this way, “Oh what joy” to those whose sin is forgiven. In the first 5 verses, David lays out an understanding of the grace of God that Paul will quote it in Romans 4, as he tells of the blessedness of the man who sin is not imputed or charged to him. David while living under the old covenant discovered the God of the new covenant. Better said, God has always been a God who wants to forgive sin because of profound repentance and not because sheep and bulls have been sacrificed. Sin is often seen as a legal matter but in God’s eyes, it has always been a heart matter. Anybody can legally say “I’m sorry” and “ok,I said it” (or sacrifice a lamb as back then). It is another to allow the levels of sin to register in one’s heart, confess them in detail to the Lord, ask for forgiveness, and then pause and fully accept the undeserved forgiveness, until it turns to joy. Verses 3-5 let us know he wasn’t originally “quick to repent” and suffered terribly from it. “Day and night” the Lord was putting His hand on his shoulder in a heavier and heavier way until repentance came.

While There is Still Time

“Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.” (v.6) David never lost his identity of “godly”. He refused the identity the enemy was certainly trying to tag him with. “You rebellious, treacherous, calamitous, depraved murdering adulterer. Get that crown off your head! You are done.” But despite the humility and transparency it required of David to walk in repentance, he did it. His Psalms were not just a private journal— and it was more than once he was singing and telling of the “big sin” everyone knew about. While there is still time? There is time while you breathe. “The floodwaters of judgment” are in the afterlife. “Floodwaters of consequences” still happen in this life and that was true with David as well. Loss of their child, loss of respect with his inner circle, perhaps his own sons inwardly turning on him over that sin etc.etc.. On and on there were consequences.

Sin is Costly: God is Good

People who flippantly say, “Well, God forgave David of adultery and even murder” need to stay aware of the whole picture. Sin is costly. I know of a well-known name in ministry who pre-planned his adultery, divorce and remarriage, based on knowing that God would forgive him, because He forgave David for worse. He was legally correct on the sin matter but he failed to adequately count the cost in the eyes of the people. He had even projected how long it would take people to “get over” his sin and so he would be back in good graces with all. That time has long passed and it has not worked out. Perhaps the deeper devious nature of it all needs confessing? I will leave that alone and only say, that God is a great Redeemer. He allowed Bathsheba’s son Solomon to be His chosen next King. So much insight into the thorough way He does forgive even major, “unforgivable” sins. In this Summer of His Love, He is putting His “heavy hand" on many shoulders calling them into repentance. Both in the church and out of the church. God loves it when even the worst of sinners repent. He may have some “deep staters” that are presently Sauls, that will become Pauls. Full, thorough repentance always offers the best path moving forward. It always maintains destiny of some nature intact. God is sooo good.

I Will Guide You With My Eye

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” (v.8) This is the takeaway verse of the day. He wants to guide you not just by His hand (pointing), not just by His Word, but by His eye. This requires you looking at His face and seeing what He is looking at. What intimacy that is. It is not about searching the scriptures to see what you can legally get away with or not. That is not really who He is. The goal is to become so close to Him that you begin to recognize what He is looking at. By looking into His face you will also be able to recognize His demeanor, as He looks at what He looks at. A book could be written on this— but I fear I have already gone longer than I proposed to. Today, may His face shine on you and may you see what He is looking at and His demeanor as He does. He always looks at you first.

Aug 13, Day 31, Ps. 31: THE SECRET PLACE OF HIS PRESENCE

Key Verse: “How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.” (v. 19)

Key Theme: Being rescued, delivered in a dangerous time.

Key Descriptives of God: My Rock; My Fortress

Psalm 31 is a Psalm specifically for our reality in 2020. Being 24 verses long it will again be more than we can cover as a devotional post. Much of David’s interaction with God seems quite applicable for President Trump at this time, and I hope he is reading this Psalm during these days. It had to be written in a time of great dangers specifically marked by plots and lies. Four times David will say RESCUE ME (v. 2,5,15,16 NLT). In other versions, it will say DELIVER ME. We are in fact in the midst of the greatest rescue operation from heaven since Jesus Our Deliverer was sent to earth. There is a reason, Jesus on the cross said “Into Your hand I commit my spirit” from this chapter (v.5). We are in a next phase of His original rescue operation. In fact, we are in the throes of a prophetic Third Day "raising up" (Hosea 6:2), and it is just beginning. The momentous nature of the present rescue operation is yet to be fully understood and the scope and scale of it will be shocking and almost unbelievable for most. It is leading to The Greatest Awakening Ever with the front end of it being The Rudest Awakening Ever.

Brace Yourself?

Several prophetic words this year have come with the words, “Brace Yourself”, in it — some of them I have liked and some not so much. The right application for it is not "brace yourself" for what the enemy is about to do, but for what you are about to find out that God is rescuing us from. The only proper way to “brace yourself” is to be found in Him where one can experience Him as My Rock and My Fortress. We are going to see verse 20 fulfilled, “You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the PLOTS of man;”. Or as it says in the NLT, “from those who CONSPIRE against them.” Most “conspiracy theories” will prove to be “conspiracy facts” and the half has yet to be told. But as in Psalm 2, the God they ignore is laughing at them.

Psalm 31, Proverbs 31, Chiefs 31

This is as good a time as any to make an important connection to my prophetic word on the Super Bowl from early this year. I spoke of the Kansas City Chiefs winning score of 31, and the church becoming a Proverbs 31 Bride of Christ on earth. Here I will further connect it with Psalm 31. In my NKJV the heading for Psalm 31 says TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN. Did you get that? This chapter has 24 verses and the Chiefs 24-year old quarterback Pat Mahomes was the star of the game as he led them to a 4th quarter victory. All this just to tell you we are in a reference point chapter for what is being lived out now in 2020. How God continues to make scripture pin-point relevant never ceases to amaze me. And yes, I know, they don’t teach this form of exegesis in most seminaries. They should.

"FEAR IS ON EVERY SIDE"

“For I hear the SLANDER of many; FEAR is on every side; While they take counsel against me, they SCHEME to take my life.” (v. 15) The “fake news” of slander, “lying lips” (v.18), “accusing tongues" (v.20) is noted throughout this chapter. FEAR ON EVERY SIDE describes the atmosphere that has been created— not by a virus or any other real thing, but only by schemers, plotters, and conspirers. Remember what I tell you now as it will be fully proven as part of the “rude awakening” that is in process. The virus, the riots and the economic shutdown are all 100% the work of “schemers” trying to remove President Trump from the presidency of the United States. The atmosphere of fear is entirely artificially manufactured through a co-conspiring media as they also are in the cross-hairs of judgment FROM GOD.

"MY TIMES ARE IN YOUR HANDS"

This is the first line of verse 15 and I believe a nugget of truth for everyone to absorb today. Yes, it applies towards our president and the schemes to take his life— which are many. But it also applies to each and every one of us who look to Him as My Rock and My Fortress. Please repeat MY TIMES ARE IN YOUR HANDS 7 times, slowly, and you will be aware of an important impartation that will do more than you can imagine. Say it while emphasizing different parts of the phrase. This becomes a prophecy of preservation over your life and some of you will experience instant healing in your bodies from it. For some stagnant destiny will instantly be activated.

STORED UP GOODNESS

Now our key verse and the executioner of the “fear is on every side”. “How GREAT IS THE GOODNESS You have stored up for those who fear you. YOU LAVISH IT on those who come to You for protection, blessing them BEFORE THE WATCHING WORLD.” (v. 19) He still wants to “prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies.” The rewards for those who fear (honor, revere, trust) God are headed to such unprecedented measures that if we knew it we would jump up and dance a jig. Unprecedented battles lead to unprecedented victories that lead to unprecedented spoils of war. It is the 2 Chr. 20 storyline played out in 2020. You can follow the advice of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chr. 20:20, “Believe the Lord and you will be established, Believe His prophets and you will be prospered.” Note it doesn’t say, “Believe His prophets and you will live in dread of the rest of the year.” Even Old Testament prophets didn’t do commercials for the devil and call it “being a watchman”. Let me be a “watchman” for you today and tell you to beware of those who would break through your gates of praise and steal your hope in a historic day of divine deliverance. Let the last verse of Psalm 31 resonate over you in this Summer of His Love. “BE OF GOOD COURAGE, AND HE SHALL STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART, ALL YOU WHO HOPE IN THE LORD.” (v.24)