After the storms rolling through our area last night, I was reminded of this Psalm. As the rain, thunder and lightning began during our worship time at church and continued for several more hours, I couldn't help but meditate on some things the Lord had shown me about this Psalm recently.
Perhaps David also witnessed a great thunderstorm and wrote these verses. But the depth of God and the power of HIS SPOKEN WORD, HIS VOICE is seen in his analogies and metaphors.
Watching a storm is a reminder of powers and forces that are beyond human capabilities. But the Lord is infinitely more powerful than that!
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Let all men and angels ascribe to Jehovah God all glory and strength, more than than the power of a storm and flood!
2 Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness or in holy array.
All glory is due to HIM, worship Him covered in His glory.
3 the God of glory thunders; the Lord is upon many (great) waters. Revelation 4:5 Out of the throne came flashes of lightning and rumbling and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne seven blazing torches burned, which are the seven Spirits of God. Psalm 93 The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is robed, He has girded Himself with strength and power; the world also is established, that it cannot be moved. your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice. The Lord on high is mightier and more glorious than the noise of many waters, yes, than the mighty breakers and waves of the sea.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
Psalm 96:6 says - Honor and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. The next few verses of Psalm 29 (5-11) go on to describe how His power and majesty is at work in the earth.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
Isaiah 2: 10-17 refers to the cedars of Lebanon and mountains and lofty hills and high towers as being things that the wrath of God will come against in the day of the Lord. The cedars of Lebanon are not only things which exalt themselves against God, but also have deep roots. Evil things that have held and stayed rooted and not let go, will be broken as the voice of the Lord speaks !
6 He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion (Mount Hermon) like a young, wild ox.
Malachi 4:2 says that the Sun of Righteousness will rise and bring healing in His wings for those that fear His name. They will be set free and skip like calves let out to pasture, leaping for joy! The voice of the Lord brings liberty from the bondages of deeply rooted things !
7 The voice of the Lord splits and flashes forth forked lightning (hews flames of fire - KJV)
Hebrews 1:7 says - Referring to His angels he says, Who makes His angels winds and His ministering servants flames of fire. And this is a quote from Psalm 104:4. Matthew 28:3 says that the angel at Jesus' tomb appeared like lightning. On the day of Pentecost, tongues of fire appeared on the heads of all the disciples. The voice of the Lord sends out angels of fire!
8 The voice of the Lord makes the wilderness tremble; the Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
The wilderness is a place where things are dry. Kadesh Barnea was the place where the children of Israel spent much of their wandering time in the wilderness. The voice of the Lord shakes these dry places of lack and failure.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the hinds bring forth their young, and His voice strips bare the forests, while in His temple everyone is saying, Glory!
The hinds are a type of the ones that respond to the Lord and to His love. Song of Solomon 2:7 and 3:5. The hinds' feet are also referenced in 2 Sam.22:34, Psalm 18:33, Hab 3:19 as being able to go up to high places (places of worship). So the hind (female deer) is going to bring forth young and be fruitful at the voice of the Lord !
10 The Lord sat as King over the deluge; the Lord still sits as King forever!
11 The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.
LORD, SPEAK TO US !
SEND OUT YOUR VOICE, YOUR WORD !
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
PSALM 24
written by David probably for bringing the ark into Jerusalem.
1. A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lords and all it's fullness,
the world and all those who dwell therein
2. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
3.Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord ? or
who may stand in his holy place ?
4. He who has clean hands and he who has a pure heart
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol
nor sworn deceitfully.
5. He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from
the God of his salvation.
6. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your
face. Selah.
7. Lift up your heads oh you gates and
Be lifted up you everlasting doors! And the
The King of glory shall come in.
8. Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty
The Lord mighty in battle.
This is the king of glory
9. Lift up your heads oh you gates!
Lift up you everlasting doors! And
The King of glory shall come in.
10. Who is this King of Glory?
The lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory
In the first two verses David is claiming the world for the dominion of God and proclaiming it.
Next, in verses 3-6, he writes about going up to Mount Zion. He is going to take a stand by placing the ark of the covenant in a prominent place, as if for all the world to see the sign of God's dominion in the earth. Those who were to carry the ark were to consecrate themselves. After David learned how to transport the ark by God’s plan and not his own, the Levites carried it on their shoulders into the place David prepared for it. He was already acting ahead of his time in explaining how the OT shadows and types were meant for the NT era. The ceremonial cleansing which the Levites went through, translates into this: having clean hands, a pure heart, a pure soul, and a pure mouth.
Then in verses 7-10, he addresses the city gates, “open up, the King of glory is coming in!” It is an order. Let nothing be in the way of God's presence coming into the city and into His rightful place of authority. This was acted out in the carrying of the ark into Jerusalem and up to Mt. Zion. That is the picture of the reality of God coming to earth. God rides upon the four living creatures when He comes to the earth. In heaven He is surrounded by them all the time. They are His worshippers and prophetic voices. They speak, often, for Him, to proclaim to men, what God is going to do, or what God wants men to do.
It is a prophetic declaration for us to agree with now – in our day and in our city.
Let the barriers of the power and authority of the Kingdom of God be opened up, let the KING of GLORY come in!
Let the religious spirits and the jezebel spirits who silence the prophetic voice in our city be annihilated and the KING OF GLORY will come in. These have kept guard at the city gates long enough. OPEN UP!
1. A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lords and all it's fullness,
the world and all those who dwell therein
2. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
3.Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord ? or
who may stand in his holy place ?
4. He who has clean hands and he who has a pure heart
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol
nor sworn deceitfully.
5. He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from
the God of his salvation.
6. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your
face. Selah.
7. Lift up your heads oh you gates and
Be lifted up you everlasting doors! And the
The King of glory shall come in.
8. Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty
The Lord mighty in battle.
This is the king of glory
9. Lift up your heads oh you gates!
Lift up you everlasting doors! And
The King of glory shall come in.
10. Who is this King of Glory?
The lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory
In the first two verses David is claiming the world for the dominion of God and proclaiming it.
Next, in verses 3-6, he writes about going up to Mount Zion. He is going to take a stand by placing the ark of the covenant in a prominent place, as if for all the world to see the sign of God's dominion in the earth. Those who were to carry the ark were to consecrate themselves. After David learned how to transport the ark by God’s plan and not his own, the Levites carried it on their shoulders into the place David prepared for it. He was already acting ahead of his time in explaining how the OT shadows and types were meant for the NT era. The ceremonial cleansing which the Levites went through, translates into this: having clean hands, a pure heart, a pure soul, and a pure mouth.
Then in verses 7-10, he addresses the city gates, “open up, the King of glory is coming in!” It is an order. Let nothing be in the way of God's presence coming into the city and into His rightful place of authority. This was acted out in the carrying of the ark into Jerusalem and up to Mt. Zion. That is the picture of the reality of God coming to earth. God rides upon the four living creatures when He comes to the earth. In heaven He is surrounded by them all the time. They are His worshippers and prophetic voices. They speak, often, for Him, to proclaim to men, what God is going to do, or what God wants men to do.
It is a prophetic declaration for us to agree with now – in our day and in our city.
Let the barriers of the power and authority of the Kingdom of God be opened up, let the KING of GLORY come in!
Let the religious spirits and the jezebel spirits who silence the prophetic voice in our city be annihilated and the KING OF GLORY will come in. These have kept guard at the city gates long enough. OPEN UP!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
PSALM 63
Oh, God, you are my God
Earnestly I seek You
My soul thirsts for You
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen You
In the sanctuary
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness
Is better than life
My lips shall praise You.
So I will bless You
As long as I live
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
Earnestly I seek You
My soul thirsts for You
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen You
In the sanctuary
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness
Is better than life
My lips shall praise You.
So I will bless You
As long as I live
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
On Earth As It Is In Heaven
What do you think this looks like ~
praise on the earth -- as it is in heaven.
praise on the earth -- as it is in heaven.
Monday, April 27, 2009
A LIVING SACRIFICE
...And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11
The Holy Spirit has been speaking and making it clear to me about the last of these three phrases ~
"...and they did not love their lives to the death."
I have heard this verse quoted so often the last many years in the church. It's great, it's a powerful verse. But always the last phrase is left off when quoted.
In times when the we are to be stepping into more power, more authority in the earth, one of the ways we overcome our adversary is by not having a grip on our own lives. That includes our possessions, our positions, our agenda, wanting things done our way, and our very life. The early church lived this way, they knew that Jesus had laid down His life and they were willing to do the same in the face of power-hungry political leaders. We have little precedence for this in our American society. But we have to look at Jesus, who is our Master. He spoke in Matthew chapter 10, the whole chapter, about this mindset. Notice verse 24
"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. "
Paul wrote about this in Phillipians 2:5-8
5 "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
It's called being a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1) It is a way of life, to be ready to die, but being alive and empowered by the ways of the Spirit in us. The whole New Testament is full of these kinds of passages. Humility, serving, giving, martyrdom, loving. It's LOVE. This is true LOVE, to lay down our own life for another. God has shown us this and it is our calling. God is love.
The Holy Spirit has been speaking and making it clear to me about the last of these three phrases ~
"...and they did not love their lives to the death."
I have heard this verse quoted so often the last many years in the church. It's great, it's a powerful verse. But always the last phrase is left off when quoted.
In times when the we are to be stepping into more power, more authority in the earth, one of the ways we overcome our adversary is by not having a grip on our own lives. That includes our possessions, our positions, our agenda, wanting things done our way, and our very life. The early church lived this way, they knew that Jesus had laid down His life and they were willing to do the same in the face of power-hungry political leaders. We have little precedence for this in our American society. But we have to look at Jesus, who is our Master. He spoke in Matthew chapter 10, the whole chapter, about this mindset. Notice verse 24
"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. "
Paul wrote about this in Phillipians 2:5-8
5 "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
It's called being a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1) It is a way of life, to be ready to die, but being alive and empowered by the ways of the Spirit in us. The whole New Testament is full of these kinds of passages. Humility, serving, giving, martyrdom, loving. It's LOVE. This is true LOVE, to lay down our own life for another. God has shown us this and it is our calling. God is love.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Spirit of Elijah
Tonight we had Bible study. It is good going through the book of Hebrews, absorbing the whole context of a large passage of scripture and being stirred up to search out other related scriptures in the Bible. During the evening, often people commented on current affairs, their lives, the state of our country.
At the end, we began to pray for each other and America. It was then that I felt very strongly that the Holy Spirit said, " pray for the spirit of Elijah to come." We need, all across our nation, and here at home, we need this voice to sound. This voice will call for repentance, for an end to our idolatry, and our sin. He will be able to expose it, for often, we don't even realize it when we have idols. They are just a part of everyday life to us. Elijah will tear down the altars of Baal and the works of Jezebel, who tries to silence the voice of the prophetic. The spirit of Elijah will call for mountains to come down, for valleys to be lifted up, for the crooked places to be made straight, for the rough places to be made smooth, and then the glory of the Lord will be revealed. This will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.
Our land needs this call to go from shore to shore. We need to hear it over and over again. Only when God's people repent and turn from their wicked ways, only then will we see Godly men in government, and be able to return to the nation we began as.
And God needs to have a man, men, or a people - a voice that can speak truth with no fear of losing his status or his followers. This is one of our weapons against our enemy, satan. We overcome by (1) the blood of the Lamb, (2) by our testimony, AND (3) BY NOT LOVING OUR LIVES TO THE POINT OF DEATH ! I don't really know of many Christian leaders who would speak the truth, because they would be afraid of losing their followers who would probably cause them to lose their funding. Many are afraid of being politically correct. Many are afraid of being swallowed up by the media elite. WHO IS NOT AFRAID TO SPEAK THE WORD OF THE LORD ? who will lose his life?
The Holy Spirit says: "pray for the Spirit of Elijah to come"
At the end, we began to pray for each other and America. It was then that I felt very strongly that the Holy Spirit said, " pray for the spirit of Elijah to come." We need, all across our nation, and here at home, we need this voice to sound. This voice will call for repentance, for an end to our idolatry, and our sin. He will be able to expose it, for often, we don't even realize it when we have idols. They are just a part of everyday life to us. Elijah will tear down the altars of Baal and the works of Jezebel, who tries to silence the voice of the prophetic. The spirit of Elijah will call for mountains to come down, for valleys to be lifted up, for the crooked places to be made straight, for the rough places to be made smooth, and then the glory of the Lord will be revealed. This will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.
Our land needs this call to go from shore to shore. We need to hear it over and over again. Only when God's people repent and turn from their wicked ways, only then will we see Godly men in government, and be able to return to the nation we began as.
And God needs to have a man, men, or a people - a voice that can speak truth with no fear of losing his status or his followers. This is one of our weapons against our enemy, satan. We overcome by (1) the blood of the Lamb, (2) by our testimony, AND (3) BY NOT LOVING OUR LIVES TO THE POINT OF DEATH ! I don't really know of many Christian leaders who would speak the truth, because they would be afraid of losing their followers who would probably cause them to lose their funding. Many are afraid of being politically correct. Many are afraid of being swallowed up by the media elite. WHO IS NOT AFRAID TO SPEAK THE WORD OF THE LORD ? who will lose his life?
The Holy Spirit says: "pray for the Spirit of Elijah to come"
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Peace and Rest
Matt. 11:28-30
"Come unto me all ye labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
According to this word of Jesus, we can live in a state of rest and relief from the world's burdens when we follow Jesus' example of being meek and humble of heart. And this is an easy "yoke". Because being in a yoke implies working, this is an easy way to work.
Phil 4:6-8
"Do not fret or worry about anything, but in everything by prayer with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things."
According to this word of Paul, we can be released from worry by praying and being thankful. God will give us a supernatural peace, one that is surpassing what we could figure out.
Col. 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Among other admonitions in this chapter, here is the exhortation to allow the peace of the Anointed One and His anointing to be what directs us because that is our calling. And to be thankful.
I am determined to live in His peace and rest and quit striving so much.
"Come unto me all ye labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
According to this word of Jesus, we can live in a state of rest and relief from the world's burdens when we follow Jesus' example of being meek and humble of heart. And this is an easy "yoke". Because being in a yoke implies working, this is an easy way to work.
Phil 4:6-8
"Do not fret or worry about anything, but in everything by prayer with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things."
According to this word of Paul, we can be released from worry by praying and being thankful. God will give us a supernatural peace, one that is surpassing what we could figure out.
Col. 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Among other admonitions in this chapter, here is the exhortation to allow the peace of the Anointed One and His anointing to be what directs us because that is our calling. And to be thankful.
I am determined to live in His peace and rest and quit striving so much.
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