67 Day Countdown - Days 11-20

August 6, 2020 Johnny & Elizabeth Enlow

July 24, Day 11, Ps.11: FLY AWAY OR REIGN?

Key Verse: “The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?”(v.3)

Key Theme: God STILL ruling during chaos

Key Descriptives of God: The Still Ruling Lord; The Examining Lord; The Righteous Lord

In this hot summer of 2020, on our 67-day journey of seeing Him “shining His face upon us”, it is amazing how relevant and on topic David’s Psalms are to us. In Psalm 11, David is apparently facing much unrest and is facing the option of running away or sticking to His call as king. Verse 1 (TPT) “Lord, don’t you hear what my well meaning friends keep saying to me: Run away while you can! Fly away like a bird to hide in the mountains for safety.”

COLLAPSING LAW AND ORDER?

This is perhaps something relevant for us right now. Verse 3, tells of the foundations of law and order having collapsed and so “What can the righteous do?”. Do we give in to our well-cultivated escapism mindset or do we find our refuge in the Lord and stay the “kings and priests” He has called us to be? Anarchism, rioting and rebellion has caused our president to feel the need to send upgraded law re-enforcements. He is attempting to fulfill his role as primary protector of the citizenry. Quite likely, in cities such as Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago etc. "the righteous" (all sincere believers) are very likely hearing “well meaning friends” say, hey it is time to "run away while you can.” Certain entire states seem to be encouraging “well meaning friends” to call loved ones and say its' “fly away like a bird” time— go and find a place of safety. After all, what can you do? Verse 4 answers us, “But the Lord is in His Holy Temple; THE LORD STILL RULES from HEAVEN. He watches everyone closely, EXAMINING every person on EARTH.”

EVERY PERSON IS BEING EXAMINED

Note the heaven to earth connection. He is in HEAVEN but is highly involved with EARTH— even when foundations of law and order seem collapsed. He is “examining every person” is something powerful to ponder. In unique and perhaps unprecedented moments such as these EVERY PERSON is being tested. Every wicked or just broken person is being tested. Every good or innocent person is being tested. I am being tested as a reformer and prophetic voice. President Trump is being tested as commander-in-chief during these chaotic times. Every one of you is being tested. It is different depending on who you are, where you are, and what you are called to do. Good, bad or indifferent EVERYONE is being tested- by He who STILL rules.

ONLY BE COURAGEOUS

When being examined by the Lord there are two key matters to remember. First, He always wants us to pass our tests (remember He’s Professor Waymaker). Secondly, no test is ever passed through cowardice. Another way to say that is “without faith it is impossible to please God.” All promotions from God are to be entered into by steps of COURAGE. Joshua was told that this one thing alone would ensure a victorious passage into Promised Land, “only be courageous". I am not automatically saying that everyone presently in a danger zone needs to stick it out— but I am saying that whatever move or stay that is embraced should be done so courageously, knowing our Lord is STILL RULING here on earth. Our courage is to be a byproduct of that reality. GOD IS INVOLVED! He is SO involved that He is as a Teacher looking over His classroom with every person being examined.

SEE, PERCEIVE, PROPHESY, PROVIDE

That word “examining” from verse 4 is the Hebrew word CHAZAH. This word means, “see, perceive, prophesy, provide.” That meaning processed in sequence is amazing and worth chewing on all day. He is SEEING us, PERCEIVING us, PROPHESYING over us, and PROVIDING for us. In our present “fly away” or “reign” dilemma He is doing all of these. He SEES us, which is for our comfort and benefit. He PERCEIVES us, which is His deeper observation of us for His purposes of determining our capability to be promoted. He PROPHESIES over us according to our response in this testing experience— essentially whether we are due a promotion or whether a repeat is in order. (He gives no F’s) And He PROVIDES for us accordingly. Next level classrooms demand next level provision.

UPRIGHT MEN WILL SEE HIS FACE

The 67-day focus is on “seeing His face shine upon us”. This is in the midst of “foundations of law and order” being challenged. You chose what you want to focus on. The last verse says it all. “The Lord is righteous, HE LOVES JUSTICE (huge repeat theme); upright men will SEE HIS FACE.” Yes, this can have an afterlife interpretation but it is much more than that. Theoretically all— even those not entering heaven will see His face at the judgment seat. But SEEING HIS FACE is always associated with favor, protection, provision, a way being made (i.e. Professor Waymaker). It is good to remember that in a chapter that highlights the loss of law and order that the promise of the last line is still to see His face. This summer will continue to reveal itself as “it was the best of times and it was the worst of times”. Shifting into a new era will always entail that. Stare at Covid, Communism, Congress, Control and China and you will be in “fly away like a bird” modality and possibly join friends in rapture-watch parties. Gaze at and magnify Him who STILL rules and you will find your own face radiant— product of HIS radiant face. Don’t worry, be happy. It’s just war out there.

July 24, Day 11, Ps.11: FLY AWAY OR REIGN?

Key Verse: “The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?”(v.3)

Key Theme: God STILL ruling during chaos

Key Descriptives of God: The Still Ruling Lord; The Examining Lord; The Righteous Lord

COLLAPSING LAW AND ORDER?

EVERY PERSON IS BEING EXAMINED

ONLY BE COURAGEOUS

SEE, PERCEIVE, PROPHESY, PROVIDE

UPRIGHT MEN WILL SEE HIS FACE

July 25, Day 12, Ps. 12: HELP us do as we are told?

Key Verse: “Because of the oppression of the weak, and the groaning of the needy, I WILL NOW ARISE, says the Lord. I WILL PROTECT THEM from those who malign them.” (v.5)

Key Theme: Man’s Treachery and God as Rescuer

Key Descriptive of God: The NOW ARISING GOD

Though only 8 verses, Psalm 12 is packed with truth and relevance for our day. It is almost as if these Psalms were designed to speak into this most unusual and challenging year 2020. It all starts with a HELP LORD! from David which is a great prayer.

“HELP, Lord, for the GODLY are no more; the FAITHFUL have vanished from among men.” (v1)

This, of course, seems like a dramatic overstatement as David is prone to do. Today with all that is going on I am sure many of us have been tempted more than once to just let out a cry of HELP! Unique here though, David is not just discouraged by the evil people he expects nothing good from. He is having a hard time as it seems “godly” or “faithful” people are vanishing. That word “faithful” in Hebrew means “nourishing; to foster as a mother; to foster as father; to be carried by a nurse.” Such interesting definitions that we could apply today in several ways (failure or lack of foster parenting?) The faithful, nourishing, nurturing “godly” men seem scarce. Many have felt quite stunned by their church pastors and leaders as they have shown no “fight" to gather with their congregation— obviously often out of fear or “safety” concerns.

Pentecost Power to be Compliant?

2020 has exposed the lack of courage and the consequences are going to be bigger than most imagined as the post-pandemic scenario will reveal. True Christian leadership has never been about safety and compliance first. Today it is the default behavior and it is disheartening enough to lead many to say “HELP Lord!” This time not just from the UNgodly challenges that are many but the lack of evidence of the HELPER. Having said all of this let me applaud the example of Che Ahn of HRock and HIM who is legally taking on the state of California as he shows true apostolic leadership. Apostles never think safety first. The Holy Spirit (HELP) was not poured out so we could be meek examples of compliance and “safety first”. It was to release boldness and power to be “witnesses” (Acts 1:8). The word “witnesses” in Greek is MARTYS from which we get the word MARTYR. Holy Spirit empowerment was for embracing risk of death.

The American church has had limited opportunities to display this type of boldness and so far is overall greatly failing with this test. This will be the scathing indictment of present church leadership particularly in hindsight when the “Wizard of Oz” smoke and mirrors manipulation gets fully exposed. We have been shut down by shadows from behind a curtain. Even now, the data reveals that this “deadly virus” has a 99.4% survival rate (normal seasonal flu rate) for those who even get it— and that rate goes higher every day as more and more test. The hypocrisy of the whole masking and social distancing mandate is glaring. If it works then why can’t we meet and go about business (and get in election voting lines) as normal, while doing that? If it doesn’t work then why force us to do both? Meanwhile, our church leaders say “Can’t we do the loving thing? You can worship at home and meet online". Funny how pre-pandemic that was considered abandoning the Biblical mandate to “assemble”. Believe me, many are getting it— if worshipping at home and doing church online is legitimate Christianity during hard times (about to go into 6th month) then it is legitimate at all times. The church was already abandoning the building before all of this. Somebody better show some kingdom mettle. I understand this can be more complicated in other nations - but here it is a main constitutional right and a foundational pillar of this nation. During the brutal Revolutionary War fought in the midst of a much more deadly smallpox outbreak there was no masking, no social distancing and church continued to meet. But of course, no “Wizard of Oz” could get on social media back then.

It is all good though as this present test will surface the new edgier “church wineskins” and the new out-of-the-box and edgier leadership. Yes, they will be known by love— but love not missing its key ingredients of power, risk, and courage. John 3:16 does not read, “For God so loved the world that He masked and socially distanced.” Instead in the midst of the pandemic of sin, He risked all and gave all. HELP us HELPER with some kingdom guts (and yes, I wanted to use the other word).

THIS LYING GENERATION

Another truth. In verse 7, David speaks of the Lord preserving the oppressed from “this lying generation.” Verses 2-4 are all about this. “Neighbors lie to each other”, “flattering lips”, “boastful tongues”, “We will lie to our heart's content”, “our lips are our own— who can stop us?”. Or as another version says, “We will triumph with our tongues.” The “mainstream media” is clearly the vivid example of this. They believe if they can keep flooding with lies they will triumph— in their evil-aligned agenda. This is the known problem for 2020. In the year 5780 of the Hebraic calendar with the emphasis on the word PEY, meaning “mouth” or “breath”, we find the mouth of twisting Leviathan quite active. The Lord spoke to me through a recent dream that once 2020 is passed we will realize that most of what we thought was going on this year was a lie. Truly a Wizard of Oz scenario. Fake everything. This is the year Leviathan tried to sweep the world away in a flood of lies. Notice I said, “tried”. I already count him as having failed. Just make sure YOU are clearly free of the lying spirit and agenda.

I WILL NOW ARISE, SAYS THE LORD

Our key verse of the day comes in here. “I WILL NOW ARISE, says the Lord.” The lying agenda has been key in advancing “the oppression of the weak” and “the groaning of the needy”. Many of you know about it. If you talk about it on social media you will get censored by the big “boastful tongues” of our day that go by harmless-sounding names such as Twitter, Facebook,YouTube, Google and Instagram. The war of the day is being fought here and not on traditional battlefields with tanks and soldiers. It too gives the illusion of it not being war- when the truth is millions more are dying and “groaning” from this non-conventional war than from traditional war. Suppression of cures, suppression of dangers of certain foods and drugs, suppression of secret death agendas, suppression of needed corruption exposure and the connected promulgation and promotion of every kind of evil and corrupt politician, influence and “influencer” is what war looks like today. People keep saying “We might be going to war” — and some responding “Oh, I hope not.” WE ARE AT WAR! I have not cast down scary dreams because I think all is safe. I cast them down if they don’t show God at work and God winning. But yes, it is war. Millions are being enslaved and millions are being killed. Abortions, vaccines, drugs, contaminated food and water have literally been intentionally and strategically weaponized to kill. In fact, the death machinery is so extensive that the Lord is now in the midst of executing a huge RESCUE OPERATION from heaven. The original OPERATION RESCUE of Randall Terry was rescue from abortions. We are living out RESCUE OPERATION. This is where God saves America and by extension the whole world from a sophisticated and long plotted abortion of destiny— that was going to include many natural deaths. He has heard the weak and the needy. He has heard the children. Everything you are seeing played out in society here in 2020 is because this RESCUE OPERATION is in place. God is now arising so we may now arise.

PROMISES PURIFIED SEVEN TIMES?

Verse 6 says, “The Lord’s promises are pure like silver refined in a furnace seven times over.” This means that this promised RESCUE OPERATION as well as your personal promises from God that you have held onto are headed to a time of fulfillment. Have your promises from God been so tested and refined that it just feels like they are going back in the furnace over and over and over? Well, here is the good news. There is an end in sight. Something important has been secured with every excruciating delay. We are about to be rescued from the lying agenda regarding our promises as well. The NOW ARISING GOD is doing just that.

July 26, Day 13, Ps. 13: SPARKLING EYES

Key Verse: “Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.” (v.3)

Key Theme: Feeling forgotten by God

Key Descriptive of God: The GOOD-TO-ME God

Psalm 13, is very short and simple but again not hard to identify with in 2020. In 4 of David’s 6 verses, he can’t find enough ways to describe how abandoned and forgotten by God he feels. Verse 1, “O Lord, HOW LONG will you forget me? Forever? HOW LONG will you look the other way?” Anybody else in touch with a “God who forgets you?” and FOR EVER at that? You in touch with what seems like the “God who looks the other way”? Hang in there with David because he won’t leave you there but he is not done yet with his low starting point. Verse 2, “How long must I struggle with ANGUISH IN MY SOUL and SORROW IN MY HEART every day? How long will the ENEMY have the UPPER HAND?” He is there now. He has finished testifying on how the enemy is kicking his butt.

David is a feeler in a very nuanced way. Where I might say, “God I am feeling a little discouraged today”- David is to the point and thorough and seemingly a bit dramatic. As he is prone to do over and over David grabs a pen or picks up his harp to let out how he honestly feels as he starts his “worship set”. If David led our Sunday worship meetings he would do it so differently. No early, fast-paced, smiley-faced “God is so good” songs. He often starts seemingly so low he has to pull his socks down to see. Picture it, at your local church. Worship begins with “How long God will you forget me? Forever?!” followed by multiple descriptives of that where we might all say, “OK, I get it. You are not feeling all that connected or seen by God, this morning.” I wonder what would happen if we’d allow our most depressed worship leader of the day to lead out with his or hers own prophetic song of the day? Wouldn’t that be awesome? Word would get around. At that church they pick out the skilled worshipped leader who least feels like praising God and he/she gets to lead and has to be honest. Wow, church might fill up just with that. Everybody would be curious to know how low things would start and how much honesty there will be in the description of that low place. Imagine going to church not to hide or cover up things but going there for a point of contact with your present biggest contradiction in life— knowing you wouldn’t be left there. For my whole life David and the Psalms have been that for me. So what did David want?

RESTORE THE SPARKLE

Verse 3, “Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! RESTORE THE SPARKLE to my eyes, or I will die.”

David is really on to something here. The word SPARKLE here is in the Hebrew the same word used in Isaiah 60:1 “Arise and SHINE.” If you ever wanted to know how you practically fulfill Isaiah 60:1, it begins with getting the sparkle back in your eyes. As David, says, “OR I WILL DIE”. Dramatic David is also telling us the truth. Once we lose the sparkle in our eye, spiritually, we are essentially dead. The breakdown of the body accelerates following suit.

Remember the goal of David in this chapter is getting his shine back. His goal is not just to vent— but he knows that is the pathway to get there. He is suffering from “hope deferred”. His son Solomon will tell us in Proverbs 13:12, that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” If you find yourself living in HOW LOOOONG? it will make your heart sick and you will lose the sparkle in your eyes. Disappointment will DIS you from your APPOINTMENT with destiny. David knew that. Verse 4, “Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, We have defeated him! Don’t let them rejoice at my fall.” (Of course, “our enemies” are never flesh and blood but always demonic powers)

THE PAUSE FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE

I think if we could have seen a time stamp beside each of these 6 verses it would be so very instructive. The last two words of verse 4 are “my downfall”. The first three words of verse 5 are “But I trust”. You don’t go from despair to hope in the one-second interval that takes place while reading it straight through. Here is a little key that will open a big door. As David, come to the Lord WITH your despair and not after having suppressed it. Pour it ALL out. If you are not used to doing it you might have a Psalms 119 (176 verses) session of doing that. When you hit rock bottom, hit pause for whatever time needed. Between verse 4 and verse 5, David may have had one minute, five minutes, ten minutes or even an hour. But then you can feel the SHIFT into breakthrough. His audience is God so that is who He is waiting for. Suddenly, “But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you HAVE rescued me.” In the space between verses it happened. God had rescued him— again.

THE GOOD-TO-ME GOD

David’s last verse, “I will sing to the Lord because He is GOOD TO ME.” This is a place of personal revelation that brings the sparkle back to the eyes. Yes GOD IS GOOD — almost everybody says it and theorizes that it must be true. Life never makes sense without believing that. But here we are invited to land it in a deeper place. God is good- TO ME. In an instant with no time for his circumstances to change David now is prepared to finish his “worship set” — singing of the goodness of God and of his trust in his unfailing love. The sparkle in his eyes is back. Hope is present again. The appointment with destiny is back on. Today and any day this pathway is available for us all.

July 27, Day 14, Ps. 14: FOOLS SAY THERE IS NO GOD

Key Verse: “But no, all have turned away: all have become corrupt. NO ONE DOES GOOD; not a single one.” (v.3)

Key Theme: The absence of GOOD

Key Descriptives of God: God who is Present(v.5);Rescuer; Restorer(v.6)

Psalm 14, is quite a baffling chapter in some ways. As many of you may have figured out, I don’t just follow one translation of the Bible. I read several and then have the Holy Spirit instruct me out of that search. When you understand the nature of the translation process you realize why no one source gets it all right. Their own veil on the meta-narrative will have them choose which of the five or so optional definitions they think best. One only has to look at the various translations of Psalm 14 to be able to see that there is a good bit of head-scratching at what exactly is David trying to say. He starts out in verse 1, “Only fools say in their hearts, There is no God.” That seems obvious. The word “fools” comes from a root word meaning “to wither.” Does a withered heart cause one to become a fool? Or does being a fool make your heart wither? Perhaps a bit of “who came first the chicken or the egg”? Either way, it is foolish to be a fool. If we see this Psalm 14 in the light of the previous Psalm 13 we talked about yesterday, we can deduce that if you don’t secure the truth that God is Good, it will lead to your heart withering to such a place you can’t see God at all. An atheistic fool kills his own heart.

David, however, proceeds from this place to speaking of the total absence of goodness in ANYONE. Just when you thought he was going to bash these atheistic fools he says,

“The Lord looks down from heaven ON THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE; He looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, ALL HAVE TURNED AWAY; ALL HAVE BECOME CORRUPT. NO ONE DOES GOOD; NOT A SINGLE ONE!”

Wow, what an encouraging observation, huh? What’s the difference between a “fool” and “the entire human race”? Why not just be a “fool”? Well, obviously this is first a foundational chapter laying out the premise for the need of Jesus. Paul essentially quotes the chapter in Romans 3. There and in what follows he (Paul) tells of our requirement for a Redeemer who alone is truly GOOD and that through Him we are imputed righteousness as we have faith in Him and His atoning work on the cross. This is the great reveal from this Psalm. But now to a second nuance.

NO ONE DOES GOOD?

Though we have verse three telling us NO ONE DOES GOOD and that David has categorized us all together in that mix, verses 4 and 5 make a clear distinction between “evildoers” (v.4) and “the righteous” (also translated “those who obey Him”)(v.5). A significant insight for me came from looking up the word GOOD because somehow “the righteous” and “those who obey Him” were not qualified enough as doers of GOOD. I found out that the Hebrew word used for GOOD was the same word used in Genesis 1 when God looked back over what He had created and it says “and God saw that is was GOOD.” Over and over He did this. The definition of this word GOOD is “pleasant, delightful, joyful, good, cheer” as well as “used of an agreeable pleasant smell.” I then understood why “the righteous” and even “those who obey” are not up to par with the GOOD-ness of God. His GOOD is full of various definitions of pleasantness and joy and then He has an "agreeable pleasant smell" as well. What a lesson for us to extract from today’s reading. We know that here in the New Testament age we have Jesus inside us and empowerment of the Holy Spirit that gives us a reality that David did not have. We can be Christ-like and have the fruit of the Holy Spirit only because both indwell in us. We can showcase the kind of GOOD that only comes from God. “As He is so are we in this world”.(1 Jn.4:17)

BE OF GOOD CHEER IT IS I!

If you do the search it is amazing how many times Jesus used the word GOOD in the New Testament. It is woven in His language scores of times. In Mt.9:2 when He heals the paralytic He says, “Son be of GOOD CHEER, your sins are forgiven.” Mt. 9:22 when He healed the woman with an issue of blood, He said, “Be of GOOD CHEER daughter your faith has made you whole.” In Mt. 14:27, when He was walking on the water and scared His disciples beyond measure, Jesus said, “Be of GOOD CHEER it is I.” In Acts 10:38 after Pentecost, when Peter was preaching as to who Jesus was, he said, “Jesus went about DOING GOOD and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” Note there that He “did good” AND He healed. The healing didn’t sum up His GOOD-ness, it accompanied His GOOD-ness. “Be of GOOD CHEER” over and over as He does His miracles, and then the best, “Be of GOOD CHEER it is I!” Wow, to be able to say that.

Is this maybe the rarest of rare realities on earth that we are to display AS we “obey" and AS we are “the righteous”? Is the sparkle in His eyes, the pleasant, delightful spirit He carried, and the agreeable, pleasant "smell of Jesus" what the world right now in 2020, in the midst of all the challenges, needs most? Wouldn’t it be awesome to carry so much of Jesus that we could show up in places and say, “Hey be of good cheer- it’s me”? This is the opposite of having the “withered hearts” of fools who say there is no God. Maybe the "watering of hearts" with who God is, is what the world need’s most? Maybe even “fools” will reconsider. Maybe in order to have that to give, it is what WE need most. I believe this 67-day journey of focusing on His face shining upon us is doing just that. How it touches our God that we would choose to do so in the face of so many other distractions/crises begging for our attention. Today hear Him say, "Be of GOOD CHEER it is I!” Even before He takes care of your “issue” and our national “storm”, He who is the source of all GOOD and all GOOD NEWS, is bringing us Heaven’s fragrance and demeanor and saying “Be of good cheer it is I”. I am "PRESENT in the company of the righteous” (v.5). This is how He begins to be Rescuer and how He begins to be Restorer (v.6) and we can join in with the last line of the chapter. “Let Jacob REJOICE and Israel BE GLAD!” He is with us, He is with us, He is with us.

July 28, Day 15, Ps. 15: NEVER BE SHAKEN

Key Verse: “Lord, who may ABIDE in your tabernacle? Who may DWELL in your holy hill? (v.1)

Key Theme: Terms of Having God LIVE with You

Key Descriptive of God: Guardian of His Presence?

Another wonderful Psalm of David that reveals to us the depth of who he is and why God would call him “a man after my heart.” His first line is, “Lord who may abide in your tabernacle?” Definitely not a normal start of conversation/prayer from a shallow, “bless me” Christian. Two key words of his first verse I have capitalized. ABIDE and DWELL. When David is speaking of “your tabernacle” and “your holy hill” he is speaking beyond a geographical location. He is speaking of the sacred place of His presence. He has been there and felt the presence but his question is now “How do I ABIDE there?” “How do I DWELL there?”

VISITATION OR HABITATION?

When I looked up these two similar words in the Hebrew (Strong’s Concordance) the main difference I found is that ABIDE was about remaining or lodging lengthily and DWELL was about remaining or lodging permanently. What a proposition from David. He is seeking understanding on how to go from VISITATION mindset to HABITATION mindset. Is God available in such a way? We have to consider verses 2-5 as God answering. Again we probably have that significant pause between verses that could have been minutes, hours or even months or years. The timestamp between verses could really be insightful. What then follows is worth diving in deeply over a whole lifetime. God will VISIT anywhere. But He will only LIVE certain places. There is a nuance similar to the difference between REVIVAL and REFORMATION. REVIVAL is a visit from God. REFORMATION requires Him staying on. A RENAISSANCE will be the result. There are terms and conditions.

WHEN THE AGE TO COME STICKS ON YOU

First, we want to be clear that this is not how you “become saved”. That is all through the blood of Jesus and His righteousness alone. Our tiny responsibility is to say YES to needing a Redeemer. In general it is worth remembering during our 67 days in Psalms that David is going to have some “gaps” in his theology based on it being under the old covenant. However, his theology is closer to ideal than we might think because he lived “ahead of time”. David lived knowing and experiencing "the age to come". He would foretell of Jesus in multiple chapters. He would speak of the Holy Spirit (“take not your Holy Spirit from me”) out of this same advanced revelation. David plugged into "ahead of time" realities not theoretically or even legally thought available to him, by nature of his passion and pursuit of God. It tells us a lot about him— and about God. He let David grab hold of the power of the age to come in his own physical body where he could easily overpower lions, bears, giants and even armies. He could jump over city walls. I have been fascinated with that prospect my whole life. What we see in him this Psalm 15 gives us insight as to how he got there. If you ABIDE and DWELL in His sacred tent "the age to come" begins to stick on you. "All things are possible" becomes your natural default position in the face of any adversity.

GUARDIAN OF THE PRESENCE?

The Lord is the Guardian of His own presence. There are levels in Him as even expressed in the natural tabernacle of Israel. There was the Outer Court, the Inner Court and then the difficult to access Holy of Holies. All of them representatively are an aspect of “His presence” but each is progressively a next level discovery of who He is. The priests were only allowed to visit one time a year into the Holy of Holies and that only after advanced measures of sanctification. Yes, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved— but there are the rewards of those who “diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) God lets our hunger/desperation dictate how far in Him we go. If salvation (Outer Court) is good enough for us then we can stop there. If we must know and experience more of Him it is available to us. In the tabernacle the same lamb’s blood of atonement went all the way into the Holy of Holies. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit we get a taste of the Holy of Holies. Because through Jesus, the veil of separation has been torn, we can go in and out of the Holy of Holies (there was a veil between Holy Place and Holy of Holies in the tabernacle) in a visiting capacity. To remain in that place where He ABIDES or DWELLS we must become more like Him. It is like trying to live with the sun, you can’t do it unless you become sun-like. You will always have something on fire if not and it will be really hard to enjoy the sun. But your frequent visits prepare you for remaining— as things not like Him begin to burn off. Holiness is not really a commitment to behave. It is an evidence of a lot of time with He who is innately Holy.

WHO MAY DWELL?

Verses 2 through 5 then are descriptives of those who don’t just VISIT but those who REMAIN. Verse 2, in reality covers it all. WALK uprightly, WORK righteousness, SPEAK truth. WALK, WORK and SPEAK like Jesus. That is it. Oh how simple, huh? As Ephesians 4:13 says, “till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” There is a “fullness” measure. David then repeatedly addresses things of our speech and mouth as this is the area where we are least like Him. Verse 3, he addresses slander or gossip. Especially against neighbors. Then, speaking evil of friends. Keeping promises even if they hurt. He is saying “Are you safe to be around for people close to you?” If not you are not really ready to be a DWELLER of His Holy Hill. You are not safe for Him and accidentally He may not be safe for you at that level. Too many things that might burn up.

You can take all of this wrongly if it sets off “performance anxiety”. It is not a list of do’s and don’ts. Rather it is to be seen as an invitation to the next level of experiencing our Creator. It is telling you how HE is. He is safe to be around— unless you are gossiping or slandering or otherwise bashing people close to you. He WILL burn that off with just a look. He loves you so much He wants you safe to be around. And so, on and on, you get the idea. The final lines says it all. “He who does these things will NEVER BE SHAKEN”. That is what we have to look forward to on this journey into the next measure of who He is. Anybody need that in 2020? I looked up the word NEVER in the original Hebrew— and it means NEVER.

July 29, Day 16, Ps. 16 THE PATH OF LIFE

(67-day Journey of His Face Shining Upon Us)

Key Verse: “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy: at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Ps. 16:11

Key Theme: The Lord as our securer of destiny and inheritance

Key Descriptives of God: Lord my Master; Lord my inheritance; Lord who guides me; Lord always with me

FULLNESS OF JOY

Psalm 16 is one of my favorite Psalms containing one of my favorite verses in the Bible, which is the above mentioned “key verse”. I frequently quote AW Tozer, “What you THINK about God is the most important thing about YOU.” Who and what comes to mind when you think about God will determine how much of Him you experience and how much of Him you reveal to others. You can’t give away what you don’t have. Perhaps one of the least seen or even understood aspects of God on earth, by even believers, is that the closer you get to Him the more joy there is available. Even if hard to press into that place on earth because of the challenges of life, we must know that is “end game” so to speak. It is where we are headed. In His presence is “FULLNESS of joy”. This is not a little wry humor or general smiley cheerfulness. FULLNESS OF JOY is marked by what poured out in Acts 2 on those waiting in the Upper Room. Peter had to remark to the crowd that gathered, “We are not drunk as you suppose”, because they “supposed” they were drunk. At Pentecost, throne room atmosphere was piped into the Upper Room. Around the throne room in heaven people look drunk with joy. There is loud laughter, tipsy people, people holding their stomach's because of excess laughter, unsteady walking, shaking on the floor with joy, people overcome with merriment in every descriptive way, plastered people, everybody wanting to show a joyful dance to Papa, “Hey Papa look at this”, it's a mayhem of good times. Fear not, if you are too spiritual to like this atmosphere you can always hang back a little from the throne room and perhaps maintain your dignity. Amazing Paradise with its beautiful trees is available too and less craziness. You have a choice. BUT— IN HIS PRESENCE— IS FULLNESS OF JOY.

PLEASURES FOREVER MORE

Now just in case that wasn’t descriptive enough, we are told that at His “right hand are PLEASURES forevermore.” If your emotions were made for anything they were made to experience throne room pleasures. The tastes of pleasure we have here on earth pale in comparison— but they are a taste. The word “pleasures” in Hebrew is NAYIM and it means “pleasant, delightful, sweet, lovely, agreeable, singing, sweetly sounding, musical.” Fullness of joy and unending pleasures are to be found immediately around His inner circle presence. Fun and ecstasy would be the mild descriptives of His immediate atmosphere. What does this tell you about Him? What you think about God is the most important thing about YOU. Let’s incorporate this upgrade into our thinking and into our showcasing. The world knows very little about this God-characteristic— because WE know very little about it.

BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THE SUFFERING?

Now if you are suffering a lot and/or are deeply impacted by all the suffering on earth that may actually bother you. Why is He so happy and why is there so much merriment up there when so much suffering is happening down here? Well, remember not to try to be God yourself. Only He can simultaneously experience all appropriate emotions, and in a personalized fashion— at the same time. He weeps with those who weep. He cares even more than we do about all the suffering and injustice in the world. We can’t do what He can do perfectly which is celebrate, correct, instruct, rebuke, weep, laugh, provide, govern, pull back, be mad at the devil, be happy with His saints ALL AT THE SAME TIME. But at His core He is all about unbelievable joy. Much laughter. It even splashes over when He looks over at the enemy doing sophisticated plotting of many years at how to take out God’s anointed on planet earth (Psalm 2). I am sure He calls over whoever is near Him and points out the dark plans being concocted and they share in a belly laugh. Then He deals with the plot itself — like He is doing today. He can maintain absolute joy at all times because ONLY He can see the end from the beginning. What seems to us as long periods of earthly suffering are microseconds of our eternal existence. We only have glimpses at His operations of redemption and so we can be tormented by what we can’t see and what we don’t understand. Understand this, If there is no panic around the throne and no overriding despair at temporary challenges, we are invited to operate from that foundation. Do the best we can with representing Him, and trust a lot. Angst-filled Christianity is SO unlike throne room Christianity. Let’s start with the end in mind.

SATAN’S THRONE ROOM

Now there is going to be so much untapped treasure from this chapter that I will have to leave for lack of time’s sake. Find it and feast on it as you can today. However, let me highlight some key lines that are almost self-explanatory. “Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods.” The atmosphere of Satan's throne room is bickering, arguing, cursing, finger-pointing, fear, hate, misery, torment, horrible music and worse smells. In HIS presence is fullness of groaning and moaning and at HIS right hand is horrific despair forevermore. That is what he offers those who run after his false gods and unavoidably they will get a taste of it now. Satan cannot offer himself as god because he is so horrible at his core. He has to set up pseudos. “Troubles multiply” for those who follow them.

BOUNDARY LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES

“The boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” (v.6) Though I emphasized the hereafter in what I so far communicated, David as he is prone to do, is all about “the land of the living.” Throughout the chapter, he speaks to THIS life. It is only in the last verse that he mentions where we are all headed so there is context to why he expects so much good on the way. He calls it THE PATH OF LIFE. Yes, there are challenges and contradictions, but this joyfully victorious God is available all along His pathway. Verse 6 tells us, we ALL have pleasant boundary lines of destiny available for us. When we stay on the Path of Life He has made available for us on earth there is always a “pleasant place” of call and destiny and a “delightful inheritance”. Oh, how I would like to develop that but my devotional focus of the day has already overextended. Make sure you read this whole chapter as verses 5,7, and 8 just can’t be missed— and the rest is loaded with good as well. A great chapter to experience His face shining upon us.

July 30, Day 17, Ps. 17

(67-day Journey to Rosh Hashanah)

Key Verse: “Show me Your unfailing love in wonderful ways. By Your mighty power You rescue those who seek refuge from their enemies” (v.7)

Key Theme: Plea for JUSTICE

Key Descriptives of God: God who Hears; God who Arises, Confronts and Casts Down Wickedness

Here in Psalm 17, David is back to facing some “swamp” equivalent of his day. The JUSTICE theme again reverberates throughout the chapter, beginning with the first verse. “ O Lord, hear my plea for JUSTICE. Listen to my cry for HELP. Pay attention to my prayer, for it comes from honest lips.”

If I had to guess the timetable of this chapter it was either when being chased by King Saul or possibly when his own son Absalom was attempting to usurp the throne. This I say though his language about them seems inconsistent with how he thought about them. “Protect me from wicked people who attack me, from murderous enemies who surround me. They are without pity. Listen to their boasting! They track me down and surround me, watching for the chance to throw me to the ground. They are like hungry lions, eager to tear me apart.” (v.9-12) It simultaneously sounds like what President Trump has to go through as well as what “the deep state” is being exposed for doing in general. “THEY TRACK ME DOWN” is quite sinister. Today as in David’s day, we need to see the God who HEARS, who ARISES, who CONFRONTS, who CASTS DOWN WICKEDNESS. (v.6,13) Do it again TODAY, our God!

WONDERFUL WAYS

In verse 7, David asks the Lord to show His unfailing love in WONDERFUL WAYS. The word “wonderful” in Hebrew used here is PALAH. It means, “to make distinguished or illustrious, to be distinguished, wonderful.” I love this prayer. As David asks to be rescued he asks for it also to be in a wonderful, distinguishing way. An illustrious, distinguishing way. Don’t just pragmatically rescue me/us— Do it so that the accompanying story to what You did stands out. That’s the God that David knew and that’s the God we want to be looking to in these days. He takes us out of Egypt, He guides us through the Red Sea, He provides and protects in the Wilderness, propels us into Promised Land— but every stage is a distinguishing storyline marked by His supernatural intervention. Once He takes out Egypt’s firstborn, causes the Red Sea to part into dry land, feeds with manna from heaven, leads with a cloud by day and a fire by night, gives water from the rock, parts the Jordan River— His wonderful, distinguishing handiwork is so all over the process that He can not be forgotten. Man cannot take the credit for the wave of “rescues.”

This is what we are looking for today as well and it is happening. God chose a year 5777 to begin an immense rescue operation. He picked a man named Trump— because in that word it expresses exactly what He is doing. Trumping (trumpeting) a message and trumping the aces played by the enemy. Last night I put on my Facebook page (Johnny and Elizabeth Enlow) my prophetic word from November of 2016, called Trumpquake!. For the many of you now receiving this by email, you may not see it come across your path and so really for all, I recommend you go to read it as well today as “wonderful” storylines are being set up to be told for posterity. He is not just a “gitter dun” (i.e. get it done) God but a God who loves telling a wonderful, illustrious, unforgettable story with how He intervenes.

Today, as we observe the challenges of our day or our personal challenges, let us look to God in the same expectant and dependent way mighty King David did in verse 6, “I will call on you O God FOR YOU WILL ANSWER ME.” This is the primary way that we repent— by turning from self-dependence even on the sophisticatedness of our repentance (many have elaborate steps we must repent for God to hear us in 2020). We simply plead for JUSTICE, cry for HELP, ask God to PAY ATTENTION to our prayer, and then add “and God show your unfailing love towards us in WONDERFUL WAYS”. He will. Anytime He has even 10 who will look to Him, GOD WINS on the macro stage. He will win with an accompanying "showtime".

July 31, Day 18, Ps.18: THE BRONZE BOW

Key Verse: “For by thee I have run through a troop and by my God Have I leaped over a wall.” (v.29)

Key Theme: David’s song the day he was delivered from Saul

Key Descriptives of God: Lord, My Strength; My Rock; My Fortress; My Savior; My Shield; The Power that Saves Me; My Place of Safety

Psalm 18, is one of these chapters we could easily take a whole week on as it is 50 verses long and just full of meaty revelation. I had listed nine different verses as possible “key verses” of the Psalm but had to choose one. Even it being 50 verses is a truth all on its own as 50 is the number of Jubilee, of Pentecost (means 50 days), and by extension the number of the Holy Spirit. Essentially the entire chapter is repeated in 2 Samuel 22 and how important do you have to be to have two, word for word, Bible passages. The context of course is huge. The chapter heading tells us that this is the song that David sang on the day he was delivered specifically from King Saul— but also all his enemies. So this is a chapter celebrating LIBERTY AND JUSTICE and God’s hand in it all. This chapter is prophetic for us right now and is to be a rock for us the rest of this year.

WHEN THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION WON’T STEP ASIDE

In our present-day application we have David who has already been anointed king by the prophet Samuel but King Saul is still trying to kill him. Think of it as the previous administration not accepting the election’s result. Can we relate? I was shown by the Lord when President Trump was first elected that he had a call to fulfill the acronym of his first name. The Trump part is obvious. A trumpet or the high card on any play. But DONALD stands for David, Obededom, Nehemiah, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel. President Trump has a call associated with all these names. He is to be David as he has to take down big mouth Goliath ("the media-driven swamp")). He is to be Obededom in that his embracing of God’s priorities brings the presence back. Nehemiah because he is to build the wall in every sense. Abraham Lincoln because he is to be an emancipator of every kind of human trafficking. Daniel because he is in a lion’s den but God is shutting the mouth of the lions. We all identify with all of the assignments in his name as we are living it out and become exposed to the same dangers and challenges that he faces. The relevancy of scripture has never been greater.

ABSOLUTELY DEPENDENT, ABSOLUTELY MIGHTY

What is so awesome about this Psalm is that it juxtaposes two seemingly contradictory realities. David sounds tiny, overwhelmed and in imminent danger in several verses and he sounds like Superman in others. Verse 4, he mentions “floods of ungodliness” (DEMS presently?) making him afraid. Verse 5, “snares of death confronted me” (COVID?). Verses 16-19 speaks of needing heaven to “rescue” him. “He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong from me.” “They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the Lord supported me.” “He led me to a place of safety.” If you read only those verses David seems small and pitiful and like the school kid being picked on by bullies needing help.

But then David says some things that make you think why was he ever calling for help at all. Verse 29, “I can run through a troop, I can leap over a wall”, (and mind you that word means city wall). Verse 37,38 “I chased my enemies and caught them; I did not stop until they were conquered. I struck them down so they could not get up; they fell beneath my feet.” Verse 41, “They called for help but no one came to their rescue. They even cried to the Lord, but He refused to answer.” Wow, how strong is that? And then, verse 42, “I ground them as fine as dust in the wind, I swept them into the gutter like dirt.” This is a one-man army and wrecking machine (bull in the China shop?). We remember he kills lions and bears by running them down and tearing their jaws, which is the hardest way to kill either animal (but very significant as well). David is the guy that says “one can put a thousand to flight” and he is talking about himself. The women of Israel have already been singing “Saul has killed his thousands, David his ten thousands” — probably not helping his overall cause. Goliath was a lightweight for him as he killed him easily the very day he first saw him. Is there anybody who should sound less distressed and helpless or in need of a “rescue”?

BY THEE, BY MY GOD: RUNNING THROUGH TROOPS, LEAPING WALLS

What seems like a contradictory reality is actually the key to David’s strength. As you read the whole chapter, you see that David has not one drop of self-confidence or self-assurance outside of God. HE is the absolute source of everything that sustains David— and not in some cursory “tip his cap to the Big Man upstairs.” First of all, I love the way that David describes the Lord rescuing him. “I prayed to my God for help” (v.6). “Then the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the mountains shook; they quaked because of His anger. Smoke poured from His nostrils; fierce flames leaped from His mouth.” Wow, this is some kind of response that David sees or perceives! Was it actually that or is David just embellishing? Whatever it is, he is not done telling about His Mighty God. “Dark storm clouds were beneath his feet. Mounted on a mighty angelic being (“cherub” in other versions), He flew.” (v.9, 10) "The Lord thundered from heaven.” “His lightning flashed, and they were confused.” (v.13, 14) For a full eight verses (v.7-15) David describes a very present, active, responsive TO HIM God. Every description could lead us on another pursuit of revelation treasure. (“Foundations of the mountains shook”— think 7 Mountains. “His lightning flashed” and remembering the huge bolt of lightning striking the Washington Monument etc.etc.)

Next, it has to be noted how fully David gives God the absolute credit for whatever might he, David might have. “BY THEE” I can run through a whole troop. “BY MY GOD” I can leap over a city wall. (and that is worth digging into as when you can do this it means “gates” and “gatekeepers” no longer can stop you). Look at all the descriptives of God “My Strength” (which was immense), My Rock, Shield, Fortress, Power, Safety etc. Just look at all the He, You, God references that David makes about the Lord. David is absolutely dependent— and in that he is absolutely mighty. Your neediness can access His mighty-ness and then you can say, “God arms ME with strength” (v.32)

THE SWAMP LAID BARE

I am having to leave so much unaddressed but must comment on verse 15. “Then AT YOUR COMMAND, O Lord, at the blast of your breath, THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA could be seen, and the foundations of the earth were LAID BARE.” Can you tell this is going on today? Exposure, exposure, exposure. Furthermore, the bottom of the sea gets seen when a great tsunami earthquake has taken place and the waves have pulled out to sea momentarily. Many of us have seen the tsunamis in revelation from God. I believe we have only had the earthquake so far and the tsunami waves portion has not yet happened. Pentecost this year released the earthquake and immediately we saw the riots and so many “bottom of the sea” matters and agendas. Be patient. The waters have gathered and incoming tsunami rescue waves are on the way. Perhaps a little wave of glory has hit us so far in some worship gatherings. But the bigger and deeper the earthquake the longer it takes for the game changer waves to show up.

THE BRONZE BOW

We couldn’t leave this chapter without addressing the bronze bow. “He trains my hands for battle; He strengthens my arm to draw a BRONZE BOW.” Now, the bronze bow has been such a dilemma for Bible translators. There is no evidence of them having existed and supposedly it couldn’t even be made. Some have suggested it refers to a bow from heaven that came down that David used. No human could pull a bronze bow. Whatever it is, I love it. Whether David has just accessed the weapons vault of heaven or somehow become strong enough to pull an actual bronze bow it is a great visual. The only other Biblical reference to a bronze bow is Job 20:24. In that chapter which was part of my prophetic word for 2020 given in early January, it is all about “the deep state” going down. Verse 24, essentially says of the enemy, “though he escapes” from other forms of judgment, he will not escape “the bronze bow”. I really do think it is a spiritual weaponry that gets entrusted to us— as we become extreme worshipers and magnifiers of God. David’s “He trains my hands for battle” may have been more about lifting his hands in worship than what we might think it was. His worship of God is clearly the source of his might. How else can you “train for battle” with a weapon that doesn’t even exist? I believe “the bronze bow” gets released to intercessors and prophets who engage in the rare discipline of seeing and magnifying God, rather than seeing and magnifying the enemy— as if that was somehow key. 50 verses long— and notice how often David details plans and strategies of the enemy? NONE. The enemies plans and plots are always simultaneously frightening— and laughably irrelevant. Think on that for a moment. Studying the enemy (second heaven dreams and revelation) ALWAYS leads to foreboding. Studying God (third heaven dreams and revelation) ALWAYS leads to the belly-laughing God (Ps.2:4) of the bronze bow. The first is a present plague in the Body of Christ and must be stopped. The more detailed it is, the more dangerous it is. Stop considering it useful revelation. "Ten spies" are experts on the enemy. Caleb was an expert on God. Saul was an expert on studying Goliath. David was an expert on studying God. Saul shakes in fear for 40 days. David gets the bronze bow. You choose.

August 1, Day 19; Psalm 19: THE WONDER OF GOD

Key Verse: “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.” (v1)

Key Theme: How God is gloriously revealed through His creation.

Key Descriptives of God: God of Glory

As we start a new month in our 67-day journey of seeing the Lord’s face shine upon us in the 2020 version of the Summer of His love, what a most appropriate place of departure. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Another translation, “The heavens are continually rehearsing the glory of God.” We have insight perhaps into many things David says throughout the Psalms. In other Psalms, he will talk about “beholding” the Lord or His beauty. He will talk about “magnifying the Lord”. He will talk about “seeing” the Lord. Here in Psalm 19, he does all that while looking at the skies, even as he is noting its’ change between day and night. He is picking up the glory of God in the moon and stars at night as well as in the sun in the day. The word “firmament” is the visible arch of the sky/heaven where it looks like the stars, moon and the sun are fixed.

This is as good a time as any to remind the reader of two things about the Psalms. First, it is meant to be processed as song and poetry and not just straight literature. This means passion and repetition of theme are sown into it. Secondly, because that is so, many follow-up phrases are meant essentially to just be reasserting the first phrase and saying it another way. This is true here as well. The firmament showing His handiwork IS the heavens declaring the glory of God. Having said that, I still believe the Holy Spirit can help us extract additional-- even non-intended by the writer— revelation from the repeat/parallel pattern. For instance in Psalm 15:1 where David said, “Who may ABIDE in Your tabernacle? Who may DWELL in Your holy hill?”, we have this parallel, poetic song repeating of the first line. Yet in the nuanced difference between ABIDE and DWELL, I thought there was an insight as well that I shared. The scriptures are designed BY THE HOLY SPIRIT to be always relevant even if the author didn’t know to strategically make it so. This is why they are so amazing.

Plain, Parabolic, Personal and Prophetic

Yes, there is value in knowing the context and setting of the original author— but revelatory truth is not limited to that. There is value in extracting what it meant to an original author, but the Holy Spirit can also breathe on any passage and say that is for you and that is for now. Many Biblical "brainiac" scholars miss out on this reality for themselves as well as demand everyone else miss out on it. Don’t let yourself be limited by that. Even Rabbis accept that the scriptures can speak in four different ways. My easy to remember takeaway is that these four ways are 4 P’s of the Plain, the Parabolic, the Personal, and the Prophetic. All one has to do is go read all the times the author of Matthew said “that it might be fulfilled” what so and so prophet of the Old Testament said, and you shake your head and say “you got that from there?” The “brainiac” scholar that will tell you that it is all about “context, context, context” as you read is only giving you insight on the first P. It would not be a LIVING WORD if that was its' only value. The reason the Psalms are coming alive through the way I am sharing them is I go in and out of the 4 P’s — as the Holy Spirit leads. HE is the teacher. “The letter kills but the Spirit gives life”, as it says in 2 Cor. 3:6. Even Satan will QUOTE scripture (at Jesus in Matthew 4 coaxing Him to jump because Ps. 91 “God will give His angels charge over you”).

In fact, this whole focus of the day has gone differently from my notes as the Holy Spirit seems to be redirecting:) Yet it still ties in so closely with this amazing Psalm. In the NLT in verses 3 and 4 speaking of “the heavens proclaiming the glory of God”, it says, “THEY SPEAK WITHOUT A SOUND OR WORD; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.” David is saying, the stars, moon and sun are all prophesying to us — even if they can’t talk! God loves to message in many ways. Yes, we can look at the Plain meaning of the sun and tell of the practical, pragmatic ways it serves us on earth— but even David speaks of the sun coming out “like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding”, as he looks at the sun beyond its’ Plain context into Parabolic and even Prophetic truth that he has Personalized in his discovery of God. Part of this journey into “God’s face shining upon us” is to be able to discover it in non-overt ways. Romans 1:20 tells us that humans are excuse-less to deny God even if no one straightforwardly taught them because “the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen”. Creation itself is a powerful messenger, but a messenger as David says “WITHOUT A SOUND OR WORD.” So much more we could extract from that as well, even personally, as we realize our actions prophesy louder than our words.

The Heavens DON’T Declare the Glory of Satan

This is a last point I want to make as my time and length of post is up. Why do I say “the heavens DON’T declare the glory of Satan?” So that the next time you hear of a disaster coming our way because of certain moons and star formations remember the parameters of the heaven’s proclamations. They declare the GLORY OF GOD. They are not to be used to report on the devil’s coming frightening activity. God never does free commercials for the devil. We should stop that as well. Every time we “testify” of the devil we are in essence doing free commercials for him. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb — and the word of our testimony (Rev.12:11). We overcome by what He did on the cross and doing commercials on what God is doing or has done. If it is not “good news” it is not the gospel.

Now, I left so much treasure unexplored in Psalm 19, but please go get it. The last verse in the chapter was my grandfather's favorite verse in the Bible and he would always recite it to us and make us recite it back. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer.”

August 2, Day 20; Ps. 20: DAY OF TROUBLE? OR VICTORY?

Key Verse: “May He grant your heart’s desires and make all of your plans succeed.” (v.4)

Key Theme: Finding God in a day of trouble

Key Descriptives of God: He who Defends You; He who Grant’s Your Heart’s Desire; He who Makes All Your Plans Succeed; He who Rescues His Appointed King

It is only appropriate that Psalm 20, on day 20, of our “His face shining upon us” journey that it all starts with “a day of trouble.” Some commentators have this chapter being about THE “day of trouble” of some end-time scenario, but it is clearly much more than that. It was very relevant in David’s day and very relevant in our day. As per usual, the Holy Spirit does it again.

“IN TIMES OF TROUBLE, may the Lord answer your cry. May the NAME of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm.” (v.1)

The word “trouble” in Hebrew is TSARAH and it additionally means, “distress, affliction, adversity, anguish, tribulation.” I am guessing many of you can identify with that in 2020. The next two verses are meant to be seen together with verse 1.

“May He send you help from the SANCTUARY, and strengthen you out of ZION: May He remember all YOUR GIFTS, And accept your BURNT SACRIFICES.” (v.2,3)

I have capitalized the words NAME, SANCTUARY, ZION, YOUR GIFTS, and BURNT SACRIFICES as these are 5 reference points of help for you in a “day of trouble”. Let’s go through them one by one.

1) NAME: The Psalmist appeals to the NAME of God. In Hebrew “name” is SHEM and it also means “fame, reputation and honor.” In difficult days we first appeal to Him for safety for His own name’s sake.

2) SANCTUARY: KODESH in Hebrew, meaning holy place. Help from the sanctuary is THE HELPER- the Holy Spirit. He is the roving holy place headquarters we look to for help.

3) ZION: Zion or Jerusalem to David is always going to mean the local embassy of heaven. The SANCTUARY is embassy headquarters but David can receive “strength” from heavens outpost/altar he had created on earth.

4) YOUR GIFTS: When appealing for help, your gifts and offerings are looked at as practical ways of showing where your trust is. When a cry of HELP! comes up, it is a way heaven can confirm authenticity.

5) BURNT SACRIFICES?: This is one of those clear places where for us we experience the benefit of the new covenant/testament. The “burnt sacrifices” were to cover sins that might legally “entitle” one to trouble. JESUS is who stands in that place having fully paid the price for all aspects of redemption. He IS our robe of righteousness, who as we acknowledge that, frees us from the consequences of our sins.

So in one sentence, you have HIS NAME, HIS SANCTUARY, YOUR ZION, YOUR GIFTS, and JESUS as advocates and enforcers of you and your nations needed rescue operation.

TROUBLE or HEARTS DESIRE?

This is where we come to our key verse, “May He grant your HEART’S DESIRE and make ALL YOUR PLANS SUCCEED.” (v.4) So wow, could 2020 and its big "day of trouble" for us personally, nationally and globally actually press us through a birthing canal into this wide place of HEART’S DESIRE and ALL PLANS SUCCEEDING? Yes, yes, yes! When “heart’s desire” and our “plans” are in alignment with the list of 5 reference points I gave then “a day of trouble” becomes "a day of victory.” Verse 5, helps us put it all together. “May we shout for joy when we hear of YOUR VICTORY, and raise a VICTORY banner in the NAME of our God. MAY THE LORD ANSWER ALL YOUR PRAYERS.” Can you believe that last part? Answer ALL your prayers? Could we be headed to “answered prayers” as never before because “trouble” has refined our properly aligned “heart’s desire”? I am telling you that YES this is where 2020 is going and it will become known as the year “His face shone upon us” instead of “a day of trouble”.

In verse 5, where it says, “May we shout for joy when we hear of YOUR VICTORY”, that word VICTORY in Hebrew is YESHUA (Jesus in Hebrew). Read that line again with JESUS in there! The word YESHUA also means “salvation, deliverance and prosperity”. Jesus is our source for all three! SALVATION He did on the cross. DELIVERANCE is what we need now. PROSPERITY is where “our heart’s desire”, “all plans succeeding”, and “all prayers answered” converge. Can we turn “the summer of trouble” into “the Summer of His Love”? Yes, yes, yes again! What you focus on you make room for. Had enough TROUBLE? Get some VICTORY.

HIS ANOINTED RESCUED

Verses 6-9, then speak right into our day. “Now I know the Lord saves His anointed”. David was calling himself the “anointed” because he was. Samuel had anointed him with oil to be king of Israel. To be anointed is to be specifically commissioned by God for a kingdom assignment. Every properly aligned son and daughter of God is “anointed” for a kingdom assignment. Know it vaguely or know it specifically- but know it. You want David’s NOW I KNOW.

In these last three verses, David exults in the Lord’s rescue operation. “The saving strength of His right hand.” (v.6) Of the enemy he says, “They have bowed down and fallen; BUT WE HAVE RISEN and stand upright.”

In a 2020 “day of trouble”, THEY BOW, WE ARISE. Let THEY be “the swamp”, “The deep state”, pedophiles, human traffickers, anarchists, the present version of the antichrist, enemies of freedom— but especially, all the demonic supporting cast. BOW!

GIVE VICTORY TO OUR/THE KING

Compare verse 9 in the NKJV and the NLT. “Save, Lord! May the King answer us when we call.” (NKJV) and “Give victory to our king, O Lord! Answer our cry for help.” You see the dilemma translators have of properly discerning meaning? One thinks it is another cry to THE KING (God) to save us. The other thinks it is a cry to save King David. I believe the NLT got it right on this one (except OUR should be THE) but for David’s time and for our time as well. In context, David has been speaking of the Lord saving “His anointed” (v.6) (himself) and he is still on that theme. In the last verse he is pointing out that he is not just “anointed” but he has been anointed “the king”. The Hebrew word used there for KING is never used towards God but always a human king. The point for today? President Donald Trump has been anointed “the king” in our day. Even as David was anointed by the prophet Samuel, multiple prophets in our day, even years before he became president have verified his anointing to be “king”. David made many mistakes as king but never lost his assignment “anointing” and fulfilled his full term. The same is true for President Trump. He has one of the greatest assignment “anointings” ever given, as the enemies are greater than us. It is proper that we enter in intercessory agreement and proclamation agreement that God give victory with his assignments to “the king” of our day. God TRUMP the enemy with YOUR Trump card! (for those translating this into other languages that last line may be a challenge:))