LHM Daily Devotion - November 14, 2017 "Eleven Minutes"

Among the many gifts I received for confirmation was a Timex watch...

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

By Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour

"Eleven Minutes"

November 14, 2017

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all His benefits- who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

~ Psalm 103:1-5 (ESV)

Among the many gifts I received for confirmation was a Timex watch: you know the ones -- "They take a lickin' and keep on tickin."

As the proud possessor of a new watch, I felt it was my duty to time things which is how on Thanksgiving Day I found myself timing Pastor Abel's prayers. As I stood, shuffling from side to side on my restless feet, the pastor prayed for

• people who were about to get married and those whose marriage had gone on for a while;

• the people who were sick, for those near death, and those who were healthy;

• for the children of the church, the leaders of the church, and those who had been delinquent from the church.

He prayed for the grade-school, high-school, and college kids; for those who were in the military; and those who had moved away and escaped his lovingly watchful eye. He prayed for democracy, the church, the country, and then he prayed against the heathen Communists.

Folks, my pastor prayed for eleven and a half minutes, almost as long as a short sermon. And, at that age, I could not figure out why anybody would have a Thanksgiving prayer that would run that length of time. Well, today I know. Indeed, I know two reasons why Pastor Abel did what he did.

Reason number one: pastor took the words of the Psalmist printed up above seriously. Pastor knew it was our obligation and our privilege to offer unending thanks to the Lord. Especially on Thanksgiving Day, pastor thought it right and proper to remember -- and list -- as many of God's earthly benefits as He could.

At the same time, even on that special day of thanks, our pastor didn't feel comfortable just speaking about physical gifts from God. He also wanted to call to our recollection the Lord's kindnesses when it came to the spiritual blessings He had extended. Once again, the Psalmist led the way when he mentioned two of the biggest blessings: the forgiveness of sins and our redemption. But as I said, there was another reason for that long prayer, and so there was.

That second reason is we have a God who is ready to listen to our prayers.

While an eleven-minute prayer might seem like an eternity in purgatory to a 12-year-old, it was music to the ears of the Lord. You see, the Lord had sent His Son into this world to be the sacrificial payment to redeem our souls. It was a great sacrifice, which ought to evoke an ongoing response.

In other words, to not pray was to take Jesus for granted. And that's not what God's people do.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, may our hearts be filled with appreciation for the blessings which You have given us through Your Son, our Savior, in whose Name we pray. Amen.

Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin!  Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).

CPTLN Devocional de 14 de Noviembre de 2017 -

Alimento Diario

Alegría eterna

14 de Noviembre 2017

Les digo que así también será en el cielo: habrá más gozo por un pecador que se arrepiente, que por noventa y nueve justos que no necesitan arrepentirse.

~ Lucas 15:7 (RVC)

Cuando el Presidente de los Estados Unidos anunció que nuestros soldados regresarían de Iraq y Afganistán antes de finalizar el año 2011, lo que en realidad estaba diciendo era que "sí o sí iban a estar de regreso para las fiestas".

Más allá de la tendencia política personal de cada uno, la noticia que los padres, madres, hijos e hijas iban a estar junto con sus familias y amigos para celebrar el nacimiento del Salvador, fue recibida con el mayor de los entusiasmos.

Esa clase de noticia es la que tanto grandes como niños habían estado esperando, soñando y pidiendo durante mucho tiempo.

Pero Jesús dice que hasta tan grande alegría es poco, en comparación con la alegría que hay en el cielo cuando un pecador llega a la fe en el Salvador crucificado y resucitado. El cielo se regocija cada vez que el poder del Espíritu Santo, por medio de la fe, cambia el corazón de una persona, le perdona sus pecados y le cambia su futuro eterno de los horrores del infierno a la felicidad del cielo.

Es claro que hay una diferencia entre un soldado que regresa a casa y un alma que es salvada por la sangre de Jesús.

Cuando hayan pasado las fiestas, o quizás incluso antes, el soldado se va a dar cuenta que ha regresado a un mundo que no es perfecto: un mundo en el que existen problemas, sufrimientos, tristezas y dolores.

Pero la persona que muere en Cristo entra en un hogar de felicidad eterna. Esto significa que su alegría ya no va a ser medida en minutos, horas o días, porque estará en el lugar donde no hay más lágrimas ni sufrimiento, donde la tristeza y la enfermedad no existen, donde reina por siempre la alegría.

ORACIÓN: Señor, cuida y protege a los soldados hasta que regresen a su hogar. Protege sus cuerpos, pero también protege sus almas. Haz que cada corazón reconozca que Jesús es el Salvador, para que el perdón abunde y muchos más pasen a ser parte de la gran reunión que nos espera en el cielo. En el nombre de Jesús. Amén.

© Copyright 2017 Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones. ¡Utilice estas devociones en sus boletines! Usado con permiso. Todos los derechos reservados por la Int'l LLL.

Prayers for victims and survivors of the major earthquake that struck the Iran-Iraq border yesterday

Our prayers this morning go out to the victims and survivors after a major earthquake struck the Iran-Iraq border yesterday, killing more than 300 and injuring thousands.

O merciful Father, you have taught us in your holy Word that you do not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men: Look with pity upon the sorrows of the victims and survivors of yesterday's earthquake along the Iran-Iraq border for whom our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Daily Readings for MONDAY, November 13, 2017

And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit - Matthew 15:14

Daily Readings

Nehemiah 9:1-25

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the LORD their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, "Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise." And Ezra said: "You are the LORD, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you. You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham; and you found his heart faithful before you, and made with him a covenant to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite; and you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous. "And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea. You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted insolently against our ancestors. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. And you divided the sea before them, so that they passed through the sea on dry land, but you threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. Moreover, you led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go. You came down also upon Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and you made known your holy sabbath to them and gave them commandments and statutes and a law through your servant Moses. For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, and for their thirst you brought water for them out of the rock, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you swore to give them. "But they and our ancestors acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and did not obey your commandments; they refused to obey, and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them; but they stiffened their necks and determined to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them. Even when they had cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud that led them in the way did not leave them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night that gave them light on the way by which they should go. You gave your good spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness so that they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. And you gave them kingdoms and peoples, and allotted to them every corner, so they took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon and the land of King Og of Bashan. You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land that you had told their ancestors to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the peoples of the land, to do with them as they pleased. And they captured fortress cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses filled with all sorts of goods, hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance; so they ate, and were filled and became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

Revelation 18:1-8

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendor. He called out with a mighty voice, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! It has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt of every foul spirit, a haunt of every foul bird, a haunt of every foul and hateful beast. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury." Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you do not take part in her sins, and so that you do not share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her as she herself has rendered, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so give her a like measure of torment and grief. Since in her heart she says, 'I rule as a queen; I am no widow, and I will never see grief,' therefore her plagues will come in a single day-- pestilence and mourning and famine-- and she will be burned with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who judges her."

Matthew 15:1-20

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat." He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' But you say that whoever tells father or mother, 'Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,' then that person need not honor the father. So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'" Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us." Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted.

Prayer of the Day for MONDAY, November 13, 2017

O ever watchful Shepherd, lead, guide, and tend me this day; without Your restraining rod I err and stray. Hedge up my path lest I wander into unwholesome pleasure, and drink its poisonous streams; direct my feet that I be not entangled in Satan's secret snares, nor fall into his hidden traps. Defend me from assailing foes, from evil circumstances, from myself.

My adversaries are part and parcel of my own nature; they cling to me as my very skin; I cannot escape their contact. In my rising up and sitting down they cause me pain; they entice with constant baits; my enemy is within the citadel. Come with almighty power and cast him out, pierce him to death, and abolish in me every particle of carnal life this day. Amen

~ a Puritan prayer, from Valley of Vision

Verse of the Day for MONDAY, November 13, 2017

Romans 8:18 (NIV)[Present Suffering and Future Glory] I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Read all of Romans 8

Listen to Romans 8

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Morning Devotions with Cap'n Kenny - Suffering

Suffering

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

~ Romans 8:18 (NIV)

What is the most difficult aspect of life to accept, for Christians? In my experience, it is the death of a close family member: a child, a beloved spouse, a parent. The death of someone we have loved so much, for so long, that their passing rips apart the very fabric of our earthly existence.

We know, at least in theory, that we should love Christ more than we love anybody else. He told us this in no uncertain terms: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Yet, one hardly has the heart to preach this to a mother distraught over the death of a child, or a young man whose wife has died in a car accident. It would be churlish and ineffective.

The only suggestion I have for this horrendous problem is to be forewarned and forearmed. Just as we must prepare ourselves for our own death, we must prepare ourselves (and others, where possible) for the possibility that those we love best in life might die before we do. (In fact, in the case of our parents, it is a probability.) And no matter what our age, the death of close family members is disorienting and irreducibly painful.

How am I going to react when X dies? Am I going to be able to find some consolation in Christ, or is my faith going to be shattered beyond repair? Or like many, am I going to go through a period of questioning at the worst possible time? Is Satan going to find me unprepared when I am most vulnerable?

For surely, every person we know and love will die, whether before us or after us. We cannot force them to accept salvation; we can only accept it for ourselves and be assured, even in our darkest moments, that what God has in store for us is more wonderful than the pain we suffer during our lives. Our suffering as human beings can surely be terrible; but God promises us, in Romans 8:18, that our joy will be incomparably greater than even our worst moments on earth.

But to take consolation and comfort from God’s promises, and the presence of the Holy Spirit with us, we must be prepared. It isn’t easy to take comfort when all we want to do is mourn! We must get ready, by prayer, meditation, and study, to accept the measure of relief that He affords us while we are still alive, and strength from the certainty that, one day, the sun will certainly rise on our darkness, forever.

Lord God, steel me to turn to you during the painful periods of my life. Amen.

In Jesus,
Cap'n Kenny


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Scripture taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
What is the most difficult aspect of life to accept, for Christians?

Un Dia a la Vez - Apunta hacia la excelencia

Apunta hacia la excelencia

Consideren bien todo lo verdadero, todo lo respetable, todo lo justo, todo lo puro, todo lo amable [...] todo lo que sea excelente o merezca elogio.

~ Filipenses 4:8 (NVI)

Estamos casi a las puertas del último día del año. Así que es muy importante que todo lo que Dios nos mostró en estas pequeñas meditaciones diarias las empecemos a poner en práctica. De esa manera no solo llegaremos a tener éxito en la iglesia, sino en todo lo que emprendamos en la vida.

Procuremos siempre modelar a Jesús para que nos vaya bien en las cosas que emprendamos. Que siempre esté delante de nosotros la sinceridad, la honestidad, la transparencia, la humildad, la integridad y la verdad. Aunque a los demás les moleste esto de ti, recuerda que servimos a un Dios bueno e íntegro y Él espera lo mejor de nosotros.

No importa cuál sea tu trabajo, hazlo de buena gana. Sé que a veces nos ha tocado hacer cosas que nunca nos imaginamos, sobre todo en este país, y eso nos puede frustrar. Sin embargo, nosotros debemos ver las cosas diferentes. Así que piensa que esto que haces hoy es pasajero y que Dios tiene un mejor futuro para ti.

Un Día a la Vez Copyright © by Claudia Pinzón

Standing Strong Through the Storm - HOPE IN THE FACE OF REJECTION

HOPE IN THE FACE OF REJECTION

Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

~ Mark 10:29-30 (NIV)

A young lady from India who received Standing Strong Through the Storm (SSTS) training shares her poignant story:

Though I long to see my family, I cannot go home. I haven’t been home in three years, ever since my family poured hot water on me to show their hostility. They were extremely upset when I accepted Christ as my Saviour as a teenager. I stopped worshipping idols and other gods that my family worshipped. I began to pray and read the Bible every day. My family, who kept food from me, even poured hot meals on me. They tore Bibles from my hand and burned them, six of them.

I was beaten severely for attending church services. One time so badly that I was half dead. While I was still on my sick bed I heard the voice of God saying, “Leave your family whom you love and follow me.” It was a very difficult decision for me, but I agreed to do His word. So I told my father that I would be leaving for Bible College to study and learn about Jesus. On hearing my words he was furious and said that if I was to do my own will then I could leave for good. He demanded money that he had spent for my upbringing. It broke my heart.

Learning of the terrible condition I was in, an evangelist reached out to me with help and brought me to a Bible College supported by Open Doors. After a year I went home expecting my family to accept me. But they remained unchanged.

Two years later, my father attended my Bible College graduation in secret, coming in late to the back and leaving early. He did not want to speak to me. My family has only given me pain and sorrow and I think about it and weep.

But I believe in God’s promise, “Let your heart not be troubled, believe in God and also in me, there are many rooms in my father’s house…I will come back and take you with me” (John 14: 1-3). So one day I will be with Him in His heavenly home where there will be no more sorrow, crying or pain.

RESPONSE: Today I will be encouraged that no matter what happens; following Jesus gives me hope.

PRAYER: Pray for many believers, like the young lady above, who endure the pain of rejection.

Women of the Bible - Salome, Mother of the Zebedees

Salome, Mother of the Zebedees

Her name means: "Peace"

Her character: A devoted follower of Jesus, whose husband ran a fishing business, she shared the common misconception that the Messiah would drive out the Romans and establish a literal kingdom in Palestine. Her name was probably Salome.
Her sorrow: To have stood with other women at the cross, witnessing the death of Jesus of Nazareth.
Her joy: To have seen an angel at Christ's tomb, who proclaimed the resurrection.
Key Scriptures: Matthew 20:20-24; 27:56; Mark 15:40-41; 16:1-2

Her Story

Salome loved Jesus nearly as much as she loved her own two sons, James and John. She would never forget the day they left their father and their fishing nets to follow him. Lately, she, too. had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah of God.

She had smiled when she heard Jesus had nicknamed her boys "the Sons of Thunder." Surely he had recognized the seeds of greatness in the two feisty brothers from Capernaum. Why else would he have invited them into his inner circle, along with Simon Peter? She had heard how Jesus had led the three up a high mountain. When they came down, her garrulous sons could hardly speak. But then the story came out.

"Jesus' face was blindingly bright like the sun….

"Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with him….

"Suddenly a cloud surrounded us and a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!' "

Salome had listened. She had seen the glory and the power that radiated from the man. Though she had heard ominous rumors that Jerusalem's men of power hated Jesus, she also knew that the great King David had faced his own share of enemies before establishing his kingdom. And hadn't Jesus promised his disciples that they would sit on twelve thrones in his kingdom? "Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake," he had said, "will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." How could she doubt him? Even with faith as small as a mustard seed, mountains could be moved.

Salome had left behind her comfortable home on the northwest shore of Galilee to join her sons. Now, as they journeyed up to Jerusalem, she remembered other words Jesus had spoken: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." She would no longer deny herself the one favor her heart desired. Prostrating herself before him, she begged, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom."

But instead of replying to her, Jesus turned to James and John and said, "You don't know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"

"We can," they answered.

Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."

Jesus, who knew Zebedee's sons better than anyone, realized that Salome was only voicing their rising ambitions. Like any loving mother, she had simply asked for what she thought would make her children happy. But as Jesus' reply and subsequent events proved, this mother didn't begin to comprehend what she was asking. Soon, the man she had approached as a king would himself die on a cross, and she would be one of the women witnessing his death.

After it was over, Salome may have remembered the anguished faces of the men who had been crucified with Jesus, one on his right hand and the other on his left—an ironic reminder of her request on the way up to Jerusalem. Such a memory would only have increased her terror for what might now happen to her sons.

Along with other faithful women at the cross, Salome was present on the morning of Jesus' resurrection. Surely the angel's words—"He has risen! He is not here!"—would have comforted her later in life when her son James became the first martyred apostle, dying at the hands of Herod Agrippa.

Instead of asking Jesus what he wanted for her sons, Salome acted as though she knew exactly what he needed to do on their behalf. She must have forgotten that Jesus had exhorted his followers to leave behind not only houses, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers for his sake, but also children. In Salome's case, it didn't mean turning her back on her children but surrendering them to God. It meant putting Jesus above everything and everyone, loving him better than her own sons. Only then would she understand the meaning of what they would suffer as followers of Christ. Only then would she really know how to pray.

Her Promise

Though the typical woman in biblical times was in a subservient role, her position as a mother is exalted by Scripture. God the Father recognized from the very beginning the important role a mother would play in her children's lives, and he promised to bless her. Those same promises apply to you today.

Today's reading is a brief excerpt from Women of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Women in Scripture by Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda (Zondervan). © 2010 by Ann Spangler. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Enjoy the complete book by purchasing your own copy at the Bible Gateway Store. The book's title must be included when sharing the above content on social media.

Girlfriends in God - Talking Back to Yourself

Talking Back to Yourself

Lisa Morrone, PT

Today’s Truth

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you.

~ Psalm 42:5-6a (NIV)

Friend to Friend

Last week, while selecting some avocados in the produce aisle, I heard a loud gasp which caused my attention to be diverted to a woman who had just started an avalanche of sorts over by the oranges. As she restacked the fruit I distinctly heard her mutter, “Stupid girl! How could you be so clumsy?” In that moment I imagined her as a five year old child being berated by her mother, in the same tone, for the same offense.

From an early age, I remember learning that spoken words have power, both to hurt and to heal. My mom taught me to use the words that came out of my mouth with care, particularly when they were directed towards others. What I did not understand then was that the way we talk to ourselves can have just as much power to transform our minds—in both good and bad ways.

In the first testament, the Bible contains an historical timeline of accounts surrounding King David, beginning in his childhood and culminating with his death. David, like you and I, encountered some great highs and some equally low lows. In today’s Scripture, we find David battling with what I believe to be borderline depression. He was tired of being chased by his enemies, tired of being misunderstood, and likely tired of waiting for God’s promises to come to fruition. Can you relate?

Buried in the words of Psalm 42 is a valuable lesson on self-speak that we would do well to put into practice. David knows he’s feeling particularly low. So he wisely acknowledges and labels his feelings. But then David uses the power of his own words to construct a ladder which he uses to climb his downcast spirit out of the pit of despair he’s found himself in.

Here are the four rungs David put in place:

HOPE: He looks his despair squarely between the eyes and directs himself to “Put your hope in God.” 

PRAISE: Next David invokes a new (contrary) attitude by saying, “for I will yet praise him.” 

AUTHORITY: He reminds himself who his Lord is by identifying Him as, “my Savior and my God.” 

RECOLLECTION: Lastly, David takes a decisive walk down memory lane when he declares, “therefore I will remember you”—which I am sure brought him back to thoughts of himself as a boy killing a lion and then the giant, Goliath, and having escaped from the tip of Saul’s spear a time, or three.

Do you feel in a state of despair today? Have you been passively listening to (and agreeing with) all the negative self-talk that comes along with it? Do not lose heart—USE YOUR WORDS! It’s time you quit listening to yourself, and start talking back to yourself instead. Speak out transformative words of hope and praise. Remind yourself aloud who your Lord is and recount the many times He has redeemed your circumstances, been true to His promises, and shown His kindness towards you.

Let’s Pray

My Creator and my God, You have formed and fashioned my heart (emotions), my mind (thoughts), and my tongue (words). Enable me to apply today’s instruction in a way that will lift up my downcast spirit and allow me to emerge with my eyes fixed firmly on You.
In Your mighty Name, Jesus, I pray,
Amen.

Now It's Your Turn

David used positive self-speak to transform his downcast heart to an uplifted face. The next time you are faced with an unsettling emotion, name it, and then place your hope firmly in Christ and offer Him words of praise. Declare His authority over your life and your circumstances. Finally, remind yourself of His steadfast love and provision in your past, which will bring you full circle, right back to hope!

More from the Girlfriends

Sleep Well Again (Harvest House Publishers) is one of Lisa’s six books in her Restoring Your Temple® health resource collection. Her books are available on Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com,or wherever books are sold.

Lisa Morrone, PT is a physical therapist, professor, author of six books, radio guest and event speaker who encourages people to “Get Healthy for Heaven’s Sake.” Visit Lisa’s website for more information and to sign up to receive her informative “Monday Morning Health Tips”!

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