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Rich in Grace
05 Sunday Feb 2023
Let Us Go to the House of the LORD
05 Sunday Feb 2023
Posted in Psalm 122
I will praise the LORD!
![5009[2693] D Adam](https://davidkitz.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/50092693-d-adam-2.jpg?w=529)
Landestreu Church — photo by Donald Adam
Reading: Psalm 122
A song of ascents. Of David.
I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
Our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
That is where the tribes go up—
the tribes of the LORD—
to praise the name of the LORD
according to the statute given to Israel.
There stand the thrones for judgment,
the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 BY BIBLICA
![BGBG_v4.3_150[1818]](https://davidkitz.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/bgbg_v4.3_1501818.jpg?w=529)
Please pray for peace to return to Ukraine!
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
He Will Watch over Your Life
04 Saturday Feb 2023
Posted in Psalm 121
I will praise the LORD!
Moraine Lake, AB, Canada, Photo by vishal amin on Pexels.com
Reading: Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 BY BIBLICA
Please pray for peace to return to Ukraine!
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
He Heard My Voice
03 Friday Feb 2023
Tags
Today’s quote and prayer from
“Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer”
by David Kitz.
Reading: Psalm 18:6-15
Heavenly Father,
may I always see you as my helper.
Ride to my rescue when times are tough,
and I am in need.
You are my help and defender.
You are worthy of my praise.
Amen.
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 BY BIBLICA
Your prayers for the people of Ukraine are making a difference.
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. Start your day with a new devotional series. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
A Life Built on the Rock
03 Friday Feb 2023
Tags
Today’s quote and prayer from
“Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer”
by David Kitz.
Reading: Psalm 18:1-5
Heavenly Father,
help me daily to build my life on the rock, Christ Jesus.
Lord Jesus,
you are my fortress, my salvation, and my stronghold.
I put my full trust in you.
Amen.
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 BY BIBLICA
Your prayers for the people of Ukraine are making a difference.
Start 2023 with a new devotional series. Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. Start 2023 with a new devotional series. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
A Thunderstorm Puts Me in My Place
03 Friday Feb 2023
Reading: Psalm 18:6-15
In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.
The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, LORD,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils (NIV). *
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com
Reflection
Maybe you are like me? I love thunderstorms. But watching a thunderstorm in a city is like watching a Christmas light display in broad daylight. There’s something missing. There’s no sense of broad expanse or sweeping grandeur.
I grew up on the prairies and for sheer awe there’s nothing quite like viewing a thunderstorm slowly building in the western sky. There you are on a slow-moving tractor working a field. There’s you, there’s miles of flat land, and there’s the sky. And the most active thing is the sky. Sometimes the storm clouds can hang there boiling and brooding for hours—lightning flashing in the distance. Then suddenly the air changes, the wind picks up, and look out! Lightning! Thunder! Fierce gusts of wind. Rain. Hail. It all comes at you—comes at you with a vengeance.
I love a thunderstorm. It puts me in my place. It lets me see who I am. I am a small man in a big world—a world I cannot control. I’m a man at the mercy of God. I’m always at the mercy of God whether I see the storm clouds building or not.
In this psalm, David pictures the LORD riding the wings of the wind, thundering from heaven, not to harm him, but storming in to rescue him in response to his cry for help. That’s my God. That’s the picture of God I need etched into my mind. He is the God who hears and answers, the God who helps in times of need. In a vast world, He hears the cry of little, insignificant me. I love a thunderstorm. It lets me see the LORD’s love and grace.
Response: Heavenly Father, may I always see you as my helper. Ride to my rescue when times are tough, and I am in need. You are my help and defender. You are worthy of my praise. Amen.
Your Turn: Do the storms of life help you see God at work around you? Take time to reflect on how God brought you through one of those storms.
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 BY BIBLICA
Your prayers for the people of Ukraine are making a difference.
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. Start your day with a new devotional series. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
Who Is Your Rock?
02 Thursday Feb 2023
Reading: Psalm 18:1-5
For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD.
He sang to the LORD the words of this song
when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies
and from the hand of Saul. He said:
I love you, LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I have been saved from my enemies.
The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me (NIV). *
![5009[2693] D Adam](https://davidkitz.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/50092693-d-adam-1.jpg?w=529)
Landestreu Church — photo by Donald Adam
Psalm 18 is one of the longer psalms in the Book of Psalms. Step by step, day by day, we will glean wisdom from the psalmist, David, as we make our way through this psalm.
In many respects Psalm 18 is a psalm of culmination. The introductory note tells us David composed and sang this psalm when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. For many long years David had been fleeing for his life from his master King Saul. At long last, after repeatedly calling on God in great distress, David has triumphed. And now through the words of this psalm, he gives all the credit and all the glory to God.
Notice the list of attributes David ascribes to the LORD: my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock, my shield, my salvation, and my stronghold. To David the LORD had proven Himself repeatedly during years of hard times to be the embodiment of each of those attributes. If you call on Him, the LORD can be all those things for you as well.
Did you notice my rock is the only attribute that is repeated in this list? Why repeat the phrase my rock? In the prophetic realm, during all those years of severe testing, Christ was the rock on which David took his stand. David did not build his life on the shifting sands of public opinion or popularity. He built his life on Christ. A thousand years in advance, David was putting into practice the words of Jesus, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-25).
Now that’s wisdom—applied wisdom for the ages!
Response: Heavenly Father, help me daily to build my life on the rock, Christ Jesus. Lord Jesus, you are my fortress, my salvation, and my stronghold. I put my full trust in you. Amen.
Your Turn: How is God like a rock in your life? Has He sustained you during difficult times? Is He helping you through tough times right now, or has He already turned the tide in your favor?
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 BY BIBLICA
Your prayers for the people of Ukraine are making a difference.
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. Start your day with a new devotional series. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
When I Awake
01 Wednesday Feb 2023
Posted in Psalm 17
Tags
Today’s quote and prayer from
“Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer”
by David Kitz.
Reading: Psalm 17:10-15
Heavenly Father,
help me to seek vindication from you.
Help me put my troubles in your hands.
Rise up and come to my defense.
Today, I trust in you to act on my behalf.
Amen.
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 BY BIBLICA
Your prayers for the people of Ukraine are making a difference.
Start 2023 with a new devotional series. Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. Start 2023 with a new devotional series. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
God’s Saving Intervention
01 Wednesday Feb 2023
Reading: Psalm 17:10-15
They close up their callous hearts,
and their mouths speak with arrogance.
They have tracked me down; they now surround me,
with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.
They are like a lion hungry for prey,
like a fierce lion crouching in cover.
Rise up, LORD, confront them, bring them down;
with your sword rescue me from the wicked.
By your hand save me from such people, LORD,
from those of this world whose reward is in this life.
May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies;
may their children gorge themselves on it,
and may there be leftovers for their little ones.
As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness (NIV). *
![5006[2692] D Adam](https://davidkitz.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/50062692-d-adam.jpg?w=529)
Photo courtesy of Donald Adam
In this world there are those who have a callous heart—a heart that is indifferent to our pain, and the suffering of others. Here in Psalm 17, David finds himself surrounded by such people—people who were ready and willing to tear him down. This is a very difficult place to find yourself. This is why David cries out to the LORD for vindication. Earlier in this Psalm he pleads, “Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.”
David’s response in this very trying situation is highly instructive. He does not try to defend himself. He does not plan a personal counterattack. He has no personal plan for revenge. What tactic does he use? He calls out to the LORD, “Rise up, LORD, confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked.”
David, the mighty warrior, refuses to use his own sword. Instead, he calls on the LORD to draw His sword and rise to his defense. That takes a lot of faith and a lot of trust in God. When surrounded and attacked my natural response is to rise up in hostile indignation. I’m inclined to counterattack with all guns blazing. But David held his peace. He did not rely on his abilities. He fled to God. There he lay out his complaint and asked God to intervene. When King Saul maliciously attacked him, David did not seek revenge. He allowed the LORD to take up his cause and deal with Saul. See 1 Samuel 26.
David’s confidence was fully in the LORD. Finally in this psalm, he declares his confidence with these words: As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.
How confident are you in God’s saving intervention on your behalf?
Response: Heavenly Father, help me to seek vindication from you. Help me put my troubles in your hands. Rise up and come to my defense. Today, I trust in you to act on my behalf. Amen.
Your Turn: Do you seek revenge when others have hurt you? Have you asked God to intervene?
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 BY BIBLICA
Your prayers for the people of Ukraine are making a difference.
Start 2023 with a new devotional series. Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. Start 2023 with a new devotional series. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
The Best Heart Doctor
31 Tuesday Jan 2023
Tags
Father, Heart, heart doctor, joy, repent
Today’s quote and prayer from
“Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer”
by David Kitz.
Reading: Psalm 17:1-9
Heavenly Father,
probe my heart
so I can repent of anything that displeases you.
I want to bring only joy
and pleasure to the heart of my Father.
Amen.
* NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 BY BIBLICA
Your prayers for the people of Ukraine are making a difference.
Start 2023 with a new devotional series. Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. Start 2023 with a new devotional series. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
I love the Psalms 