Psalm 27 + Morning Prayer

with you this morning on Sunday morning. And hopefully you're starting to stir and get ready to go to church somewhere, somewhere online. That's what you need to do. Make sure you're full of the word. And hopefully you can do that in community as you do that with your family. Or maybe you will be FaceTiming or texting friends while you're online, or getting engaged in the chat for whatever scripture, for whatever website that you're going to, for the church service that you're going to. And I just wanted to read a scripture over you that I've been marinating on, and I'll tell you why. One of the things I've been asking, um, God during this time is, what do you want to teach me? I mean, while I have a little bit of— while my antennas are up, that's what I like to say. While my antennas are up, what do you want me to hear? What do you want me to learn? What do you want me to understand? Um, and so one of the things that you see in the scriptures in Psalms is that David asked God, to teach him, to show him what he needed him to know, to show him what he needed him to learn. And the great thing about the Psalms, y'all, is you don't have to make up the words yourself. Like, you can totally just borrow David's words. And so I wanted to read this to you, and I'm going to do what I did a few weeks ago and read it in 5 different versions. So that way, in at least one version, you'll get it, and then hopefully one will resonate with you. And then what I'll do is pray for you. And then in the comments on Facebook and YouTube, after I pray, you leave your prayer request. And then what you'll do is pray for the person above you and then leave your request. And that way we have a prayer chain, so that way nobody goes unprayed for. But I'll read for you and then pray for you first. And then Instagram, because Instagram doesn't really let us do that well, um, what I'll do is as soon as I can I'll put it up in Instagram TV, and then in those comments, you can pray for each other there. Hopefully that makes sense. So let me read the scripture to you. I'm gonna start out in the scripture version that I grew up on, New American Standard Version. It's the one my daddy preaches from. Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread? When evildoers come upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear; though war arise against me, in spite of this I shall be confident. One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. For in the day of trouble, he will conceal me in his tabernacle. In the secret place of his tent, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock, and now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing. Yes, I will sing. Praises to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, and be gracious to me, and answer me. When you said, seek my face, my heart said to you, your face, O Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my help, do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path because of my foes. Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me and such as breathe out violence. I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord. Okay, same scripture, Psalm 27, and this is in the Contemporary English Version. You, Lord, are the light that keeps me safe. I'm not afraid of anyone. You protect me and I have no fears. Brutal people may attack and try to kill me, but they will stumble. Fierce enemies may attack, but they will fall. Armies may surround me, but I won't be be afraid. War may break out, but I will trust you. I ask only one thing, Lord: let me live in your house every day of my life, to see how wonderful you are and to pray in your temple. In times of trouble, you will protect me. You will hide me in your tent and keep me safe on top of a mighty rock. You will let me defeat all of my enemies. Then I will celebrate as I enter your tent with animal sacrifices and songs of praise. Please listen when I pray. Have pity. Answer my prayer. My heart tells me to pray. I am eager to see your face, so don't hide from me. I am your servant, and you have helped me. Don't turn from me in anger. You alone keep me safe. Don't reject or desert me. Even if my father and mother should desert me, you will take care of me. Teach me to follow, Lord, and lead me on the right path because of my enemies. Don't let them do to me what they want. People tell lies about me and make terrible threats, but I know I will live to see how kind you are. Trust the Lord. Be brave and strong and trust the Lord. Same scripture, different version. This is a paraphrase. It's the New Living Translation paraphrase. Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation, so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. The one thing I ask of the Lord, the thing I seek most, is to live in the house of the Lord all of the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in his temple. For he will conceal me there when troubles come. He will hide me in his sanctuary. He will reach me, he will place me out of reach on a high rock. Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary, I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy. Singing and praising the Lord with music. Hear me as I call out, O Lord, be merciful and answer me. My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with me," and my heart responds, "Lord, I am coming." Do not turn your back on me, do not reject your servant in anger. You have always been my helper, don't leave me now, don't abandon me. Even if my father and mother abandon me, O God of my salvation, the Lord will hold me close. Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. Do not let me fall into their hands, for they accuse me of things I've never done. With every breath they threaten me with violence. Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord, Be brave and courteous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Another paraphrase, Psalm 27, uh, The Message version. Light, space, zest— that's God. So with him on my side, I'm fearless, afraid of no one and nothing. When vandal hordes ride down ready to eat me alive, those bullies and toughs fall flat on their faces. When besieged, I'm calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I'm collected and cool. I'm asking God for one thing, only one thing: to live with Him in His house my whole life long. I'll contemplate His beauty, I'll study at His feet. That's the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, the perfect getaway. Far from the buzz of traffic. God holds me head and shoulders above all who try to pull me down. I'm headed for this place to offer anthems that will raise the roof. Already I'm singing God's songs. I'm making music to God. Listen, God, I'm calling at the top of my lungs. Be good to me. Answer me. When my heart whispered, "Seek God," my whole being replied, "I'm seeking Him." So don't hide from me now. You've always been right there for me. Don't turn your back on me now. Don't throw me out. Don't abandon me. You've always kept the door open. My father and mother walked out and left me, but God took me in. Point me down your highway, God. Direct me along a well-lighted street. Show my enemies whose side you're on. Don't throw me to the dogs. Those liars who are out to get me, filling the air with their threats. I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness in the exuberant earth. Stay with God. Take heart. Don't quit. I'll say it again: stay with God. And this version of the Bible is King James, because I grew up on King James, and there's something comforting about listening to this version. Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came against me to eat of my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should acamp, encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock, and now shall mine head be lifted above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing. Yeah, I will sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me and answer me. When thou saidest, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. Hide not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my mother and my father forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. Deliver me not over against— deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against me. Such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. So let me pray for you, and then I will release you to pray for each other. Lord, you say over and over in this scripture, David reminds us as he's praying to you, and your word has made it thousands and thousands of years later into our hands, 66 books written by different authors in different time periods to form a cohesive word that we can read. And you say in the book of John that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So when we read your word, we are hearing from you. And in this scripture where David penned his prayer, we are encouraged to wait on you. We are encouraged to not look to not look at the difficulties in our life, to not look at the difficult people in our life, to not look at the difficult circumstances in our life, to not focus on the hard things in our life, but to look to you, to believe in you, to decide to trust you for our deliverance, to trust you for our salvation, to trust you for our safety, to just trust you to be our hiding place. Lord, I just ask, as the scripture mentioned over and over, for you to teach us. To teach us and lead us. I pray that we would not waste this opportunity to get to know you, that while we are unable to go into our church buildings, while we are watching our church services online, that we would not let that be an excuse or substitute for the time we have available to spend with you. While we're not going to our kids' games, while we're not doing our extracurricular activities, going to the mall, going to the movies, spending time with friends in person, Lord, I ask that we would use this time to seek you, to look at your face, to read your word, to get to know you better, to learn what it is to, to dwell in your presence and to feel that you are our hiding place, our safety, and our ever-present help in time of trouble. So Lord, would you teach us? We come because we want you to lead us, and we don't want this time to be wasted because we were busy on social media, too busy doing things that ultimately do not have anything to do with getting closer to you. And while yes, we wanna declutter, and yes, we wanna spend time with our kids, and yes, we wanna get to work while we have to work in our homes, and yes, we wanna cook the meals, and yes, we wanna do all of the things that would cause us to be responsible citizens, responsible parents, responsible friends, responsible neighbors, and all the things we know you want us to do, let us not in the exercise of doing forget the exercise of being. Help us to remember to be with you so that through your word, because you are the word, You would teach us, that you would guide us, that you would lead us. May we become more familiar with the Holy Spirit that lives in us through the power of Jesus Christ than we ever have before. Would we become more acutely able to hear your voice so that we can do what you say, so that we can be hearers of the word, as James says, not just doers. Would we draw nigh to you, as James 4:8 says, so that we would experience what it is to have the holy God of all time to draw near to us. Would you teach us us as we crack open your word and lead us as we seek your face in prayer. And then for those of us who do feel that we are being attacked, who do sense that there is an attack from us, not just from the virus that we are all now facing, but from people, from circumstances, from our finances, for our health, Lord, I just pray that you would indeed be a very present help in time of trouble. And God, I ask that even in those things, even in those difficulties, that you would teach us, and lead us so that no experience that we have during this season of our lives would be wasted on our growth, on our maturity, and in our ability to be better acquainted with the God who created us. We're thankful for this day. And now, Lord, I just pray that as we go into our various church services to worship you, may we not sit and be bystanders. May we stand and sing along. May we crack open our Bibles and sit still and focus Let us not multitask because you did not multitask when you sent your one Son to die on the cross for our sins. You focused on what we needed and gave us what we needed. And now, Lord, in this hour, we need to hear from you. So help us to do that the way we should. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So if you missed the beginning of this call, all you have to do at this point for Facebook, YouTube, uh, it definitely is to look in the comments and leave your prayer request. But before before you leave your prayer request, look at the person who commented before you, reply to their comment, pray for them. The prayers don't have to be long. These are, these are comments on social media, y'all, so you don't have to go all the way in with the full paragraph. Just 2 or 3 sentences that lets the person above you know somebody saw their request and prayed for them. Multiple people can reply to pray, but when you've done that, if you have a prayer request, leave a comment with your prayer request so that somebody can pray for you. Here's the thing, we are physical distancing, but because of social media, it's a wonderful invention, we don't have to be socially or even spiritually distant. So pray for others and leave your prayer requests so others can pray for you. And then Instagram, like I told you earlier, it takes me a minute because I have to put it on a backdoor way. So it'll be up on Instagram in just a second. This will be live, but the Instagram video on Instagram TV will go up and then in the comments at that point, You can pray then. All right, y'all, it's Sunday. It's the Lord's Day. Make it a great Sabbath. Rest and do all the things that are related to making sure that you have the space to have God speak to you and to have his word resonate in your mind and in your heart. Because as you renew your mind, your mind then renews the way you feel, and it removes what you— renews rather what you do. Your head, as you renew your mind, influences your heart, and your head and heart influence your hand. And don't we want to just do whatever it is in this season that God would have us to do? Because if you haven't figured it out yet, y'all, we don't have time to waste. And this place is not our home. This physical body is not our home. You are the soul of who God created you to be, and your physical temple is just the house that you need to make it around on this earth. And one day, y'all, we will all face our end. And when that happens, and when this physical thing that you can see stops to exist, The soul of you will exist forever. So what we do for now determines how we live in the hereafter. And don't you want to live well in the hereafter? So don't think too much about what's happening in front of you. Think yes and live well right now, but also think about what you are doing that will affect the soul of you and how you live beyond when you believe in God and his son Jesus Christ. Happy Sunday, y'all. I hope that scripture was encouraging to you. It's been encouraging me too. Me for, um, a few days, and I wanted to share. Talk to you soon.