Christian Growth

How lovely is your dwelling place, 
LORD Almighty! 
² My soul yearns, even faints, 
for the courts of the LORD; 
my heart and my flesh cry out 
for the living God. 
³ Even the sparrow has found a home, 
and the swallow a nest for herself, 
where she may have her young— 
a place near your altar, 
LORD Almighty, my King and my God. 
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house; 
they are ever praising you.^[c]

⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you, 
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 
⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baka, 
they make it a place of springs; 
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.^[d]
7 They go from strength to strength, 
till each appears before God in Zion.

Psalm 84:1-7

I've read alot lately of my soul yearning, fainting for God's presence.  Yes!  I understand and concur!  "My heart and flesh cry out..."  Lately, my physical body has been weary and drained.  I have been pleading to the Lord for healing and strength.  But also, my "heart" -- my soul, my spirit, my emotions, that which makes me "me" -- has been weary and saddened over what I see around me.  People are causing one another pain where there used to be love.  Circumstances of grief, poverty and pain abound, even in our own community.  Plus, I am always crying out and asking God for clarity for my own life's purpose and calling.

Psalm 42 reminds me, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?  Put your trust in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God."

It's a declaration to praise, a decision to trust.  God has proven Himself both worthy and faithful, and so my heart and my flesh yearn for His courts and His presence = the Living God!  He is a living source of strength, hope and power.  Romans 8:11 says that the same power which raised Christ from the dead is living and active IN me!  Wow!  Praise the Lord!

Verses 2-3 of Psalm 84 paint a picture of a safe place, a safe haven next to God's altar.  Those who dwell in God's house are blessed and always praising Him.  How could they not be?

When I realize that God is my strength (as verses 5-7 declare) and I seek Him to be my source and my guide, then I am comforted; I am blessed.

I "set my heart on pilgrimage."  What does that mean?  To me, it means I choose that the path of my life is directed by the hand of the Lord.  My heart is His -- my passion, my goals, my dreams, my ideals.  We live in a fallen world, and therefore, during my pilgrimage I will experience times of testing, trials, desert lands.  When hard times come, I will shed tears and experience deep sorrow.

AND YET, when my heart is set on the Lord, those tears He will use to make even the desert land fertile!  The place of my deepest wounding can be used by God to be a fertile place of ministry -- to bless me, to bless others and to glorify Him.

Psalm 84:7 declares that I will go from "strength to strength."  Truly, that is not a picture of most people's lives, is it?  More often, we see a roller coaster of highs and lows, days when we are strong and days when we feel weak, seasons of triumph and seasons of defeat.

I submit to you that IF our eyes and our hearts are focused on Jesus, IF our feet are set on the pilgrimage of being his disciple, IF we are intentional in choosing to worship Him and to spend time in His presence, THEN even those times that appear negative or weak or destructive will be turned for our good and for God's glory.

We will move from strength to strength until we stand before our Maker and hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."   (Matthew 25:21 ,23)

God will renew our strength and continue to conform us to the likeness of Jesus.  Strength to strength.  Amen!

For further study: Romans 8:28 ; Hebrews 12:1-3 ; Genesis 50:20 ; Proverbs 4:20-27 ; Isaiah 40:31 ; Psalm 61 & 63

See, a king will reign in righteousness 
and rulers will rule with justice.

Each man will be like a shelter from the wind 
and a refuge from the storm, 
like streams of water in the desert 
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

Isaiah 32:1-2

God showed me this scripture to pray for my church, for the leadership, for the Body -- that we would indeed be a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storms of life.  Too often we allow the enemy to create storms, turmoil, damaging winds inside the walls of the church.  So, what is intended to be a safe place filled with love, mercy, encouragement, exhortation, grace and peace becomes just one more place of tension, conflict and hurt.  We must pray against this, fix our eyes on Jesus, and strive for peace -- in the church corporately and in our individual lives.

Do we offer streams of water in the desert lands of people's lives?

Jesus said of himself in John 4:10-14 that He was the source of living water.  Are we pointing others to that source?

I love the imagery of this scripture from Isaiah -- "the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land."  Can you picture it?  Perhaps it looked like the rock at Horeb from which God gave the Israelites fresh water. (Exodus 17:1-7 )

That certainly was a thirsty land!  Physically it was a desert, but spiritually the people were thirsty for God's presence, His deliverance. Any spiritual moisture in their souls was being sucked dry by their grumbling and unbelief.

God showed up in a mighty way, gushing fresh water from that huge rock.

So, too, in our lives our Rock offers not only shade in our desert-like lives but a rush of living water which, if we let it, will saturate our very souls.

Other scriptures for study: Psalm 91:1 ; 46:4; Numbers 20:1-13 ; John 4:10-14 ; 7:38

please see Day Twelve for part one

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,

streams of living water will flow from within him."

By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

John 7:38-39

If we are believers in Jesus Christ we become a conduit for that living water.  It flows from deep within us by the Holy Spirit who resides in us.  That living water gushes out of us and onto those we come in contact with.

The Message version interprets part of John 7:38 with these words, "Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says."

So, when was the last time your life, my life was a river of living water that was full to the brim with the joy, wonder and amazement of Almighty God, so much so that it gushed out all over those we are in contact with?

We need to open our eyes to the people around us like the Samaritan woman.  Oh, they're in different clothing today:  business suits rather than plainly draped cloth, painted smiles, spiked hair, perhaps some body piercings and extravagant tatoos.  Or maybe they're in very proper "church clothes" sitting right next to you on a Sunday morning, with a heart pierced more severely than any nose ring.

Please Jesus, open our eyes.  Let us be the one that says,

"If you knew the generosity of God, you would ask me, and I would take you to the Source of living water.  Then you would never thirst again -- by the power of the Holy Spirit, the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ."

Additional scriptures for study:  Rev. 21:6 ; 22:17; Isaiah 55:1 ; Psalm 36:8-9 ; Proverbs 9:1-6 ,10