Psalm 67 How is it going for you?
Good Morning
Stand with me and lift up your bible and repeat after me.
This is my Bible.
I am what it says I am.
I can do what it says I can do.
I am going to learn how to be what it says I can be.
Today I will learn more of the word of God.
The indestructible, never ending, living word Of God.
I will never be the same.
I will never be the same.
In Jesus Name
Please turn to Psalm 67 in your bible and say, “Amen” when you are there.
Please read along with me.
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us—
2 so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you.
6 The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
How is your prayer life right now?
Do you what you pray is important to God or do you think He is so busy that it is kind of like being on hold with customer service with some company that you need their help with a personal matter?
You dial the number and automatically a voice says, “Thank you for calling. You are now number 23 and a representative will be with you shortly.”
You set your phone on speaker and go about your day trying to take care of something else while you wait.
About 5 minutes goes by and the voice comes on and says, “Thank you for being patient. Your call is very important to us. You are now caller number 22.”
There is a song out by the group Mercy Me called, “Hurry Up and Wait”
Part of it goes like this;
“So hurry up and wait
Rest your weary head for a moment
Hurry up and wait
Feel the burden lift off of your shoulders
Hurry up and...................................”
Our lives are so busy that we cannot do that very well, can we?
In the first part of our message about Psalm 67 that we shared some years back, we talked about patience.
We shared about a man who has very little presence in the Bible.
Bruce Wilkenson wrote a book a while back called, “The Prayer of Jabez”
It is about what it would be like to be like Jabez.
1 Chronicles 4:10 and say, “Amen” when you are there.
Jabez did something that we should all do right now with what is going on in the world we live in.
Pray.
Yes, you just heard me say a four-letter word. Pray.
“Thank you for being patient. Your call is very important to us. You are now caller number 17.”
Jabez called upon the God of Israel.
He said, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain.”
Why did God grant his request?
Because He knew his heart.
God knows your heart and mine. No matter what we are going through in these trying times, God knows.
God knew that Jabez was sincere in his belief that when he prayed God heard him.
He does.
If we look at what we read in Psalm 67 we see from the writer what God does for us.
The first two verse of the Psalm are ones we need to concentrate heavily on in our lives today.
“Bless me so that I might glorify you; bless me so that I might show your power, your love, your majesty, your goodness to all nations.”
How do we do that with all that is going on in the world today?
We have to get in the habit.
When you were first born you started to learn habits.
When you were hungry, you cried.
When you had made a mess in your diaper, you cried.
When you wanted to be held, you cried.
It became pretty easy. When you wanted something, you cried.
As you became older you learned that when you wanted something or did not want to do something you cried.
However, as you grew you also learned that when you laughed and were just yourself, not planning the crying thing, life could be good.
“Thank you for being patient. Your call is very important to us. You are now caller number 19.”
I watched a video recently of two little ones in diapers playing with their dog.
As they would crawl towards the dog, the dog would wait until they got closer and then run around them in a circle. The babies would laugh and laugh and the dog loved doing it. You could tell that the dog was just loving on the babies.
Dogs do that. I have seen over the past several months many stories of what a blessing a dog has been to someone that has just returned from military service overseas. They greet the ones they have not seen with love. If you have a dog in your home you know what I mean.
That is the way God is.
When we go to Him and keep Him in our lives first and not;
Complain about the weather.
Complain about the leadership in our country.
Complain that there was not our brand of snacks in the aisle at Walmart.
Complain about all the other things that we don’t like in our world today and remember, The good.
Every breath that we take is happening for a purpose.
God has a plan for our lives.
What is your plan?
Jabez had one. He just asked for God’s help along the way.
In the Psalm that we read, there was a plan.
To put God first and live with Him in our lives. In the days we face now it is hard. But, He is not.
“Bless me oh Lord that I may gratify you....”
How do we gratify the Lord our God?
We have to keep Him first is what we do. When you wake in the morning, say, “Morning Lord”
As you go through the day, talk to Him, listen to Him.
Thank Him for being with you in all the pieces and parts of your hectic day.
Stop for a moment and lets do this together.
Breath in.
Breath out.
Thank Him for the breath that you just had.
“Thank you for being patient. Your call is very important to us. You are now caller number 2”
Patience is rewarding for those who wait.
Isaiah 40:31 “But those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.”
“Thank you for calling. How can I help you today?”
God says that when we wake up in the morning. He says, Good Morning”
Let’s get in the habit of being like Jabez and saying, “Good morning Lord”
Amen?
Shall we go to Him in prayer?
Please stand with me.
