Target Lock

 

Target lock

 

This past week has been very emotionally draining for me.  I’m not going to get into the awful mess except to say this.  In video games and WWE wrestling games in particular sometimes you focus on the wrong opponent.  You have to remember which buttons in the game change your target lock.  I got distracted and off-track last week.  Over the past few days, I can tell you I have poured through chapters in the Bible especially in the book of Psalms. I needed to adjust my target lock.  I needed my eyes fixed back on God.   I was driving back and forth to work, and my brain was becoming so occupied that I don’t remember coming and going.  I needed to refocus.   I’ve been on autopilot.   

 

Then I came to Psalm 33.

 

Psalm 33:20-22

 

“We put our hope in the Lord.  He is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.  Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.”

 

 

That’s where our focus needs to be in emotionally draining times. You have to have a firm foundation.  

 

 

Twosets of Jones’s by Big Tent Revival

We trust in the name by Steve Green 

He never changes by 4 Him 

Cry for help

 Cry for help

If you ever take the time to read the Psalms you go on a journey through the emotions of the heart of King David.  He goes through the good, the bad and the ugly as far as human emotions can go.  He’s open and honest with God.  In Psalm 25 I want to show you a small passage where he gives us an honest cry for every follower of God.  

Psalm 25:4-7

“Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow.  Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me.  All day long I put my hope in you.  Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past.  Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.  Remember me in light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord. “

We need to seek God for the right path.  

Your kingdom reigns by Meredith Andrews 

All in all by Charmaine 

Heart’s cry by Steven Curtis Chapman

Inside out by Hillsong 

Restore

 

Restore

 

 

We’ve read and heard Psalm 23 multiple times in our lives and that can be both good and bad.  Sometimes the repetition has made us not think about what it says.  I want to show you my favorite verse in the whole chapter.  It’s a verse I have very often prayed back to God.  The English Standard version translates it this way.  

 

Psalm 23:3

 

“He restores my soul.  He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

 

 

Restore that’s the key word there.  Some versions actually say refreshes.  So why do I pray this back to God you may ask.  Some of you know I spent 14 years working at call centers.  It was one of the most frustrating and emotional things one can do with their life.  I still hate talking on the phone to anyone other than my wife and family.    I got yelled at, cussed out and verbally abused all in the name of trying to help people.  Customer service is not for everyone.  There were days and nights I would leave work to go home and not listen to music, and I love music.  I got to the point that I could no longer handle the sound of another person. I also on a daily basis got verbally attacked by coworkers making fun of something I wore, said or did because how dare I like anything different than what other people did. Prayer is a place you can go and turn your problems over to God and he wants you to be as honest as you can, and he will restore your soul.  There have been times I have prayed this before bed because I’m so emotionally drained from a day and I have to ask God to restore or refresh my soul when I don’t know how to go on.  I bring up my trauma from call center work for a reason. if anything I have gone through can be used to give someone else hope and point them to God I will try to do so.  I’m a mess but if God can use me to help someone else, I’m willing to be used.  

 

If you skip the music you will have missed part of the message of the blog.  

Cares chorus by Psalty

In the Name of the Lord by Sandi Patty 

Honesty by Margaret Becker 

Keep breathing by Kerrie Roberts

Friend of a wounded heart by Point of Grace

Instructions for life

 

Instructions for life

 

We live in a world where people want to make things that are wrong into what they think is right.  It’s a scary place if you watch the news for any length of time.  We need to get back to the Word of God.

 I want to share with you the words of a song done by Johnny Cash that very much reflects the state of our world today.  

 

You can see it in the movies and the paper and the tv news
Somebody's army is always on the move
There's gonna be a battle the lines have been drawn
They've got guns and tanks and planes

The wells are gone dry and the water is bad and the air is acid rain
There's war after war and rumors of war from the east
There's a rumblin' in the ground and they're talkin' about the beast

Good mothers cry cause the rivers run high
With the blood of too many sons
Some people say peace is on the way
But the worst is still to come

Cause the prophets wrote about it
And Jesus spoke about it
And John got to take a look
And he told us what he saw when it's easy to see
It's goin' by the book
It's goin' by the book

There's armies in the cities and the missiles stand ready for flight
A pale horse rides like the wind across the night
And that rumblin' in the desert like thunder gettin' closer
And the trumpet's gettin' ready to blow
There's gonna be a shout that will wake the dead we better be ready to go

Cause the prophets wrote about it
And Jesus spoke about it
And John got to take a look
And he told us what he saw when it's easy to see
It's goin' by the book
It's goin' by the book

It's goin' by the book
Goin' by the book

 

 King David had some things to say about God’s instructions for our lives.  See we’ve somehow bought into the world’s lies that God’s commands are not for our good.  Open up the Bible and take a better look.

 

 

Psalm 19:7-11

 

“The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul.  The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy making wise the simple.  The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart.  The commands of the Lord are clear giving insight for living.  Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever.  The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.  They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.  They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.  They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.”

 

 

Basics of Life by 4 Him 

Going by the Book by Johnny Cash

Back to the blood by Pam Thum