Transcript: Daily Christian Devotional from Brighter Day Baptist Church

Welcome to Browder Day Baptist Church Daily Devotional. Today is April the 22nd, and we're going to be starting in our verse for today. Our chapter for today is in chapter 17 of Psalms, and then we'll pray and we'll get started. But we're so excited that you can be here today. And, you know, I hope these psalms are blessing you and enlightening you. I just hope that, you know, that's what we want to do is put God's word out to you to help you grow each day and help you learn something new. You know, and I know it's blessing me to share them with you. Tomorrow and Sunday, I will not be here. so I will come back with you on hopefully Monday and we'll catch up with chapter 18 in Psalms so let's open in prayer and then we'll begin dear Heavenly Father we just thank you so much for this time we can share Lord and we ask you Lord to please Lord bless our listeners Lord that come and watch Lord and we ask you Lord, to bless our service today, Lord. I ask you, Lord, for forgiveness of my sins and put me aside, Lord. Please use me today, Lord, as your vessel. Let this word go out clearly. And, Lord, let it change our lives. That's what we ask, Lord. We change our lives. Help us to be better than what we are doing, Lord. And help us and forgive us of our ways and enlighten us and teach us, Lord. and make our hearts and our minds and our ears and our eyes to be accepted to the word, Lord, and let it change our lives today, Lord. Thank you again, Lord, for our listeners. Lord, I pray, Lord, if there's anyone out there, Lord, that is struggling and having a tough time, Lord, I just pray, Lord, that you just be with them and help them, Lord. And we're just going to thank you, Lord, for this time that we can share, Lord, in Christ's name we pray. Amen. So let me go ahead and get my Bible here, and we'll get started. Okay, so we're, like I said, in Psalms chapter 17, verse 1, it says, Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of fingered lips, fingered lips, I'm sorry. Let my sentence come from the presence. Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Thou hast proved my heart. Thou hast visited me in the night. Thou hast tried me and shall find nothing. I am proposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings in thy paths. Let my footsteps slip not I have called upon thee for thou wilt hear me O God Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. Show thy marvelous lovingkindness, O thou thou savest by the night. hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rises up against them keep me as the apple of thy eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings from the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who compass me about They are enclosed in their own fat With their mouths that speak proudly They have no compass us in our steps They have set their eyes bowing down to earth Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey and as it were a young lion lurking in a secret places. Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword. From men which are the hand of the Lord, from men of the world which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure. They are full of children, and leave their rest of their substance to their babies. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be steadfast when I wake with thy likeness. Now, we will dig into the commentary a little bit and see where all this takes place. And there's so much to grasp in today's word. So we're going ahead and get started here. let's go ahead and get into 17 chapter 17 verse 3 it says was David saying he was sinless far from a proud assumption of cutley David claimed he was understanding of his relationship with God in Psalms 32 and 51, David freely acknowledged his own sins. Nevertheless, his relationship with God was one of a close fellowship and constant repentance and forgiveness. His claim to goodness, therefore, was based on his constant desire to closely follow God. And then chapter 17 verse 7 Our life circumstances may cause us to question whether we are living up to God standards for us Life bleak and overwhelming. Ask God to remind you of his love for you today. his reminder may come from a friend, a song you hear, the beauty of his creation, or a Bible verse he brings to your mind. When you notice it, recognize it as a way God has chosen to communicate with you and thank him for this sign of his love. Chapter 17.8 Just as we protect our eyes, God will protect us. We must not conclude, however, that we have somehow missed God's protection. If we experience troubles, God's protection has far greater purpose than helping us avoid pain. It is to make us better servants of him. One way God protects us is by guiding us through painful circumstances, not only by helping us escape them. and then 17 8 the shadow of the wings is a figure of speech symbolizing God's protection he guards us just as a mother's bird protects her young by covering them with her wings Moses used this same metaphor to describe God in Deuteronomy 32, 11. And then we go into chapter 17, 13 through 15. We desire ourselves, we deceive ourselves when we measure our happiness and satisfaction in life by the amount of wealth we possess. when you put riches at the top of your value system, you let power, pleasure, and financial security over the shadow of the value or eternal value of your relationship with God. Sometimes we think we will be happy or content when we get riches, only to discover that they don't really satisfy and that their pleasures fade away. The true measure of happiness, of satisfaction is found in God's love and in doing his will. You will find true satisfaction if you put your relationship with God above earthly riches. So we see a lot that going on in here The protection of God Are we putting earthly riches money above God Are we putting anything else above God? You know, let's take time today and look what we're doing as far as putting things in line that need to be first is with God. Then put our house in order. Put God first in front of your family. Put God first in front of your money. ask him you know what you should do with what you have first it says in the Bible it teaches you know to acknowledge him first and all these things will be added unto you you know and I thank David for his steadfastness with God and always crying out to God it shows the humble the humility that David's going through and crying for protection and teaching us that when trials do come and things do happen is to be humble to God he's the one that's going to protect us when we don't see things the uncertain things that's coming around the corner we should always be praying to God for protection you know and I just want to end in prayer. Today, we're going to go a little further in the end of our prayer time. This is going out to all the churches and pastors that have spread the gospel. Let's end in prayer, this special prayer for today. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you, Lord, for your teaching today, Lord. We thank you for this time that we can be together. Thank you for the lessons and psalms that you teach us, Lord. Lord, I come to you today with a special request, Lord, to please bless and watch over our pastors across this nation, Lord. I ask you, Lord, to protect them, watch over them. Lord, help them learn and help them keep on keeping on spreading the gospel, Lord. I know, Lord, that it's got to be hard running churches and dealing with people. And, Lord, I just pray, Lord, that their hearts and their minds and their soul would be humbled to the word and to keep on keeping on. I ask, Lord, that you just give them that encouragement. Encourage their hearts. Encourage their minds. Encourage their souls. And please protect the churches and the church families, the pastor's families, from all this worldly stuff that's out there, Lord, and Satan is out like a lion trying to destroy, Lord, our churches and our schools and our communities. We just pray, Lord, that you would just intervene and watch over us and protect us. Thank you, dear Lord, again, for this lesson today, Lord, and let us have a great day. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.