FAITHFUL FRIENDS!

Friday's Focus......

FAITHFUL FRIENDS!

AKA Friends in the Faith

Appreciate the counsel of a friend in the faith! I have had them both physically & emotionally pick me up when I have fallen. I have heard their voice through a text or phone call so loneliness doesn't smother me. Their counsel encourages one to continue to fight for faith.

Reciprocate in a like manner. When friends in the faith are struggling, come alongside to help them journey from hurt to hope! Maybe share a Psalm of Lament.....those psalmists'prayers in pain that help lead to deeper trust.

Friends in the Faith---a 'Kinship of Kindness" filled with grace-laced truth.

• A true friend offers sincere, sometimes painful advice for your own good, rather than empty flattery. 

WISDOM PSALMS!

Psalms of Wisdom or Wisdom Psalms---during my season of medical maladies, this book of the Bible is where I have camped out! The rockier the path of "life" became, the more I turned to wisdom found there! The perfect law of the LORD refreshes the soul and makes wise the simple. 

(Psalm 19:7, DAL, PPP)

Psalmists often looked to God for insight.(Psalms 1,73, 91,119) 

For me, Psalm 1, 3, 16, 25, 27, 34, 37, 90 & 121, are at the top of my "wisdom" list as I have reflected on God's word. 

Think..... Considered. Focused. Meditated. 

Psalms Personally Paraphrased. (PPP)

• Blessed...delight in the law of the Lord & meditate day and night. (1)
• You Lord are my shield, glory & lifter of my head. (3)
• You make known to me the path of life. (16)
• I lift my soul to God in whom I trust (25) I take refuge in you, for I wait for you.(25)
• Be strong, let heart take courage; wait for the LORD! (27)
• His praise will continue from my mouth (Psalm 34) Blessed take refuge in Him. (34)
• Delight yourself in the LORD, (37) Commit your way to the LORD;trust in Him and He will act. (37) Be still before the LORD ...wait patiently for Him. (37)
• Teach us to number our days to get a heart of wisdom (90)
• My help comes from the LORD who is my keeper.(121)

True wisdom is followed by alignment with one's actions based on truths found on each path/circumstance with Him, rocky or not. 

A path of life walked in humility. AMEN!

Selah

10/26/09 Meditation started early this Monday morning in Psalm 3, a psalm of David. I was using my New American Standard translation but my heart was remembering the good ole King James version from my grandmother’s Bible. Psalms and KJV equal comfort for me. I was in need of a little old fashioned comfort this past weekend. Though my grandmother’s Bible is too fragile to travel, I’m staying in a preacher’s house where Bibles abound and the internet is at my finger tips. http://www.biblegateway.com/ (a great source for different translations)
Psalm 3, according to my Bible notes, is a morning prayer of trust in God. Perfect! The first 2 verses deal with the problem but in verse 3, the focus shifts from the problem to the problem solver.

But Thou, O LORD, art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. (Psalm 3:3)

THOTS: As a shield, He is my protector. A biopsy report looms. Time is a critical factor today in scheduling both an infectious disease regimen and hopefully keeping my pending surgery on the docket. Of course, if diagnosis is cancer all recent plans go by the wayside. Regardless, He is my shield! My marginalia says, "to adorn" beside the word glory. Glory is perhaps the hardest word for me to wrap my finite mind around, so I am Trusting Him On This Subject today. Does He adorn me? Does my trust in Him adorn Him?? As the lifter up of my head, He is my encourager. No “happy pills” needed. (Yet!)

I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. (Selah) I laid down and slept: I awakened; for the Lord sustained me. (Psalm 3:4-5)

Those verses pretty much describe last night and my “new beginnings” this morning.

THOTS: Selah. Bible dictionary says there are different interpretations of this word---silence or pause is given.

I think I’ll pause to think on these verses. Won’t you join me!