A Look at Psalm 37 (verses 12-15)

Psalm 37:12-15 (NIV), “12 The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; 13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming 14 The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. 15 But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.”

Have you ever had times where all you can do is laugh? You can clearly see the wicked schemes of the enemy and all you can do is just shake your head and laugh. I always find it humorous to know that God laughs at the wicked. Psalm 37 definitely has no shortage of warnings to the wicked. The pending destruction for those who choose to persist in evil and not repent, is reinforced over and over again.

Before I moved to the complex where I am currently living, I had a landlord that was very unfair and was often being used by the enemy. It was a year of foolish schemes. I could tell many stories, but I think out of all the stunts she tried to pull, the worst of all was when she tried to say she never got the last month of rent from me. If you ever move to South Florida and decide to rent from a private landlord, be prepared to pay three months of rent upfront (first and last month, plus the security deposit, which is equal to one month of rent).When move out time came, she tried to say I never gave her the last month of rent. Thank God I had ALL my receipts!

I guess the second runner up would have to be when my daughter and I had no A/C for two weeks in August as hot as South Florida is. She blamed it on the WiFi I had installed by the cable company, even though she told me it was okay to have it installed. She said the WiFi was too much for the apartment. Not to mention the A/C had stopped working a couple of times prior to the WiFi install, but she would always go to the fuse box and make it work again. This time the fuse box trick would not work, so she blamed me. Coming in at third place is the time she called me at 5:00am to ask me when I would pay the rent, even though it wasn’t due for another week.

That twelve months with her was a real circus! I could go on and on but I’ll stop here. I think you get the picture. I was so relieved and thankful to get out of her apartment before she could find a stupid reason to keep my security deposit.

She had many wicked schemes, but by God’s grace I still found strength to pray for her, and pray against the evil one that was using her. Many of my family members were praying for me and her during that difficult year. God heard our prayers and answered. I feel like her sword pierced her own heart, because my daughter and I were covered under the blood of Jesus. Everything she tried ultimately failed.

God laughs at the enemy’s foolishness and sometimes we His children just gotta laugh too. I wasn’t laughing much at the time, but it makes me laugh now looking back.

Remember this: The battles that come our way have already been won by The One who never fails us.

A Look at Psalm 37 (verses 10-11)

Psalm 37:10-11 (NIV),”10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. 11 But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.”

Have you ever thought about your inheritance?

I know that from a natural standpoint to inherit something usually means that someone has passed away and left behind money, property, businesses, or some other type of asset. On the flip side they could have also left behind a debt or obligation that someone else now has to take care of. We can also inherit traits that have been passed down from previous generations.

My grandparents had a very strong faith in God. That is a trait that has been passed down throughout the generations within my family. Most of us in my family have definitely heard about their faith in God. We’ve heard about how He provided for them and how they were people who believed in the power of prayer.

Have you ever thought about your spiritual inheritance in Christ Jesus?

Verse 11 specifically mentions peace and prosperity. Inheriting peace in a world full of chaos and confusion is golden. The Bible tells us that in Christ, we lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10). He wants to prosper us in ways we have not even thought about, because His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). We have also inherited the fruit of The Holy Spirit who lives within us when we accept Jesus as our Savior (Galatians 5:22-23). Most of all, I’m super excited about our eternal inheritance that we have in heaven.

Jesus said in John 14:2-3(NLT)…

“2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”

These verses make my heart leap for joy when I think about how much it cost to own a home here in America!!! There is an eternal home being prepared for me, and it’s free!! Jesus already paid the price!! I honestly don’t have a lot in terms of material wealth, but the best things in life often don’t have much to do with money anyway. I do want to try and enjoy my life here on Earth as much as I can. However, it’s most important to me to leave behind an inheritance of God’s love and testimonies of the saving grace and never ending faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Why? So that I know I will see as many people as possible spending eternity in the presence of our Savior. It’s where we will spend eternity that matters most.

Please take some time to consider the inheritance you are leaving behind, both natural and spiritual, but especially spiritual. Remember heaven is real, but so is hell. Both are eternal homes. Time is short. Choose this day whom you will serve (Joshua 24:14-15).

My prayers are with you that God will continue to bring His love into your life, even in the little ways. I also pray His Spirit will guide you into all truth and overthrow the plans of the evil one in your life, so that you can enjoy the inheritance that Jesus Christ died to give you both now and in eternity.

A Look at Psalm 37 (verses 8-9)

Psalm 37:8-9 (NIV), “8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret it leads only to evil. 9 For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.”

It’s pretty easy to see that the world we live in has become a very angry place. Many people are extremely unhappy and feel very empty inside. They are attempting to fill the void in their hearts in ways that are only creating more emptiness.

Anger usually happens when we feel that we have been cheated out of something in life. Rather we caused the misfortune in our lives ourselves, or rather someone else did it to us, we feel hurt. Constantly living in this pain called anger can lead to evil. When we are angry it can cause us to say and do things that bring harm to others. That’s why God tells us to refrain from anger and turn away from wrath. It’s natural to get angry in certain situations, but it’s how we handle that anger that determines our destiny. We have to learn how to give our angry feelings to the Lord, so that it doesn’t destroy our lives or our relationships.

We don’t have to fight anger alone. God has given us options that will keep us out of trouble. Prayer, meditating on scripture, exercising, talking to someone you trust, journaling, or spending time doing your favorite hobby, can help release anger. It also helps greatly to remember what God says about you. His opinion of you is what matters most. We are priceless to Him, no matter what others may think. The inheritance we have in Him is greater than anything we could ever achieve on our own. When we hope in Him we will never be put to shame (Psalm 25:3)

Keep Reading: A Look at Psalm 37 (verses 10-11)

When You Feel Like You’ve Failed God

We’ve all had these moments, days or even seasons where we feel we have failed God. When we go through these times where we feel like we are “less than” in God’s eyes, He still loves us. He doesn’t have the ability to stop loving us. His love for us endures forever.

pexels-photo-1161268When we fail, it can cause us to want to draw away from Christ, but instead of drawing away, He desires for us to draw closer to Him. He always fully accepts us, just as we are. Remember His love perseveres through our setbacks, our anger, our disappointments, and even our rebellion. His dreams for you don’t go away because you have failed. He never gives up on you. He is a perfect Father who loves you perfectly.

When we fall into sin, it breaks His heart if we choose to ignore His love for us and go the other way. He wants us to know Him intimately enough to understand that even in our sin, His love for us still persist. After all, Jesus died for us while we were sinners.

Romans 5:8 (NLT), “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.“

Does He desire for us to repent and refocus on Him? Yes He does. He wants us to abandon our sinful ways the same way we want our loved ones to do better when things are wrong in their lives. God really, really loves us. If need be, He will discipline us to get our attention when we insist upon disobeying His instruction. Hebrews 12:6 reminds us that the Lord disciplines those He loves, just like we as earthly parents discipline our children.

One thing is for certain, God’s discipline will always be done with unconditional love. His discipline is intertwined with His mercy, and is measured out according to what He knows will benefit us most. I’ve been on the receiving end of God’s discipline. Although it doesn’t feel good, it is good for me. I’m thankful for His discipline, because it has helped me to become a better woman. I want to be all He wants me to be, and I know you do too. Part of us walking in our purpose is submitting to God’s divine discipline in our lives.

Thank you Lord for your loving discipline and your sweet mercy!

 Are you feeling like you’ve failed God today? Maybe it’s something that you did last night or last week. Maybe it’s something from your distant past that you can’t seem to shake. Whatever the case, God loves you and regardless of how you may feel right now, He has never stopped loving you. Just repent, receive His forgiveness and allow His love to begin healing your heart. His healing may happen instantly or it may happen slowly, one day at a time. Which ever way The Holy Spirit of God chooses to work in your life, He will bring healing and restoration if you will only trust Him.

 

A Look at Psalm 37 (verses 5-7)

Psalm 37:5-7 (NIV), “5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”

Verse 5 reiterates the importance of committing to and trusting in the Lord. One thing I will say about commitment and trust is that they both take time. Neither one of them are easy to do, especially depending on the circumstances we are in. However it all starts with a decision. Just like our faith in Christ started with a simple decision to accept Him as our Lord and Savior, so does learning to commit to Him and trust Him. Growth in our relationship with Christ will happen in stages and be a lifelong process. As long as we have hearts that are willingly saying “yes”, then the Holy Spirit will empower us to live for Jesus.

Have you ever felt as if you needed to be vindicated? Vindication is not only needing to be cleared of some type of blame or suspicion, but it is also when someone or something is finally proven right. As Christians we often do suffer just for trying to do what is right. Mostly because we live in a world that tends to call wrong right and right wrong. So when we aim to do what’s right by God’s standard, someone will often come along and try to tell us that we’re doing wrong. They may also try to convince us that our godly ways are ludicrous. Verse 6 comes to the rescue by assuring us that our righteous reward will shine like the dawning of a new day and our vindication will shine like the noonday sun. The Lord will expose the darkness of evil by shining His Light on it. He will bring us the needed vindication when he clears us of blame and proves us right.

Just like with commitment and trust, we must also rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to teach us to be still, wait patiently for the Lord and not fret/worry. It really all goes back to trust. Do we trust God to show up for us? If we don’t trust God, chances are we will struggle to be still and wait for Him. After all, who waits for someone that’s not coming? We will feel pressure to take matters into our own hands if we think God is going to stand us up. However, there is nothing sweeter than when God shows up on our behalf and fights our battles.  I have had plenty of times where I worried about stuff only to find out God had already taken care of it. My worrying was completely in vain. Yeah, there are situations we can fix, but some situations are way beyond us. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can cut through the foolish and wicked schemes of ungodly people who are trying to work against us. We just need to make a decision to sit back and watch Him work. Will you make a decision to commit to Jesus and trust Him just one day at a time?

Previous Reading: A Look at Psalm 37: (verses 1-2)

Previous Reading: A Look at Psalm 37: (verses 3-4)

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A Look at Psalm 37: (verses 3-4)

Psalm 37:3-4 (NIV), “3 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

When we dwell with the Lord we find true safety. Abiding in Him is a covering for our lives. He will care for us and provide what we need to have an enjoyable life.  The word pasture comes from the Latin word “pastus”, which means to feed or nourish.  God assures us that he will “feed” us all we need to live successful and meaningful lives. His love will keep us well nourished spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. He promises to grant us our hearts desires when we delight ourselves in Him. Delighting in the Lord means to find great pleasure in Him and to enjoy being with Him. When we delight in the Lord, we will find ourselves having a hunger for the things of the Lord. Getting to know the Lord and loving who He is will lead us to want to live in obedience to Him.

I think it pays to ask ourselves often, “Am I delighting myself in the Lord?” It’s easy to lose focus due to the fact there are so many distractions in daily life. I thought about Luke chapter 15, where Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep. He said that if there are one hundred sheep and one is lost, the shepherd should leave the ninety-nine and go after the one to find it. That is how He feels about us when we are not abiding safely in the pasture He has prepared for us. He longs for us to return to Him. He is our loving Shepherd who takes great delight in watching over us.

Previous Reading: A Look at Psalm 37 (verses 1-2)

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A Look at Psalm 37: (verses 1-2)

Psalm 37:1-2 (NIV), “1 Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.”

Psalm 37 is my favorite Psalm. Since I really love it, I read it often. It always encourages me to keep moving forward in Christ. We do see a lot of evil going on today. We also see many who seem to be getting away with their evil acts. There is much harm being done to innocent people both young and old. It seems as if the foolishness is never ending, and that some people live just to make others miserable. However we must hold fast and not give up. We must not adopt their evil ways. Although to us it may seem that God’s justice is slow in coming, He said in 2 Peter 3:9 that He is not slow. He said He is just giving people time to repent because He does not want anyone to perish (another example of His loving nature). Those who choose evil and do not turn to Jesus Christ and repent, will soon wither and die away. So when it comes to evildoers…Do Not Fret.

Next Reading: A Look at Psalm 37: (verses 3-4)

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