My Favorite Psalm

From the very beginning of my walk with the Lord, Psalm 34 has been my favorite. It is loaded with so much goodness that has helped me on so many occasions that I cannot count them all. Of these many goodies within Psalm 34 this one stands out to me today:

Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.

You know what makes the bible really stand out as the Word of God? The definitive wording in it. Take that word ALL above. ALL is a put up or shut up kind of word. Its the kind of word that men should use sparingly but an all powerful God can use frequently. Why? He is ALL powerful so he can backup what he says.

We remember this word ALL from other parts of the bible as well, like here: Luke 21:36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

I don't want to go off on an escape tangent right now I just wanted to give another powerful example of the use of that word ALL. My testimony regarding this word "all" is powerful because I have lived a lifetime that proves without a doubt that God almighty wrote the words : " I sought the Lord, and he answered me;he delivered me from all my fears. "

I have had plenty of fears over the years but I have been delivered from them ALL. Some deliverance takes longer than others but if you trust the Lord, if you look to Him always, if you have faith, if you believe then you will be delivered too...from ALL your fears. We take hold of the promises of God by faith. The promises are NOT for everyone. They are for those who lay hold of them by faith.

Hebrews 11:33
... Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions

For this reason one person can say with assurance that they will escape ALL of whats about to happen and not doubt it while another person is certain they will NOT escape all and they are equally certain about it. Two different people approaching the same words in the bible from differnt perspectives of FAITH.

When we read through the bible we see people lay hold of the power of God through their FAITH (centurion/woman with the issue of blood/woman with sick daughter-all healed through faith). Today is another day that I feel compelled to lay my testimony out to whoever might be reading. If you are living in doubt and fear today, know that there are people in the world (like me) who are no better than you are in anyway who have been delivered from ALL their fears through the promises of God. The Lord only knows how much of my life was spent struggling with all kinds of different problems and personal hangups and in the midst of everything, in the midst of my worst screwups....I was delivered from ALL my fears.

I think where your heart is matters alot to the Lord:
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

If you can't seem to get things right but your heart is right before the Lord, if you keep your eyes on Him, you WILL come through victoriously, delivered from ALL that you feared.

The Lord has been turning the rudder on my own heart over the past months. He has put me on a "news" diet. He asked me what I have gained in understanding from the hours and hours and hours scouring the internet. The answer? Not much. If we spend even a fraction of the time we spent surfing the net on immersing ourselves in the word of God we would see MUCH better results in our lives. The Lord has impressed upon me the need to narrow my focus, get rid of the trash. Get rid of all the utterly useless garbage that most people mentally consume day after day. Focus on the fundamentals of the faith and whatever it is we are to work on while on earth.

I am expecting, believing to see something HUGE from the Lord. That kind of expectation takes a certain kind of faith and a certain kind of belief. I share this with you to help you put the pieces together between what we see in our lives and what is required to see better things. You ever hear the saying "garbage in/garbage out?" The same thing applies on the flip side "great things in/great things out." Nothing is a greater input than the word of God and a continual focus on Him. Remember "first love" from Rev 2, remeber "seek first the kingdom of God" He comes first, all the time every day.

For some people it takes a lifetime to figure things out, for others they never figure it out, for me it has taken a LONG time to start nibbling around the edges of what the Lord's been pointing me to for DECADES. Hopefully you understand from that why I routinely tell you that I'm the least of the brothers who are "in Christ"...DECADES to get to the outskirts of what I'm supposed to be doing.

We serve a wonderful God who loves His creation. There's a time for the carrot and there's a time for the stick. The Lord has me pointing to the carrot side of things right now (just don't forget the stick is still there :-) We are dearly loved, grace and peace