April 30

There is a whole lot of praise going on! It strikes me that throughout these particular Psalms there was a theme of praise. The Psalmist was saying that we should praise God for who He is and we should praise Him for what He has done. If you are like me my times with the Lord tend to be a little me focused. They are where I learn about Him and ask Him to help me and others. The Lord is saying to me that my times with Him need to be more HIM focused. It is not like I don’t praise Him and extol Him, I do, it is that I don’t make PRAISE the singular focus enough! I love worshipping Him in song, but God is calling me to remember His works and praise Him for that. He is calling me to praise Him for His glory, splendor, greatness and everything else about Him. The beauty of that is it gets the focus off of me, my problems, my issues and puts my mind on His greatness and His history of greatness. My problems then fade in comparison and faith rises in me. Then instead of being worried and depressed, I am building confidence. I don’t praise Him to build confidence and trust, rather I praise Him because He is WORTHY! Confidence and trust and appreciation and many other things are just by-products. (Did I mention joy and happiness too?)

April 29

"Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." (Psalm 16:5-6, NIV)

The Lord said to me to stop fretting, worrying and wondering. I have and will take care of you. I will expand your boundaries at the proper time and they will stay where I put them. Your life isn’t by chance, it is by my design. (Me talking) It is not like my actions have no effect, they do! But the Lord has assigned me my lot and it IS and WILL be pleasant for me.

One of my all time verses is in this Psalm (16). “In your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures evermore”. Wow --- that is where the joy is! When I want joy that is where I have to go – to His presence. How? I must praise, worship, adore and concentrate on Him, which means that I have to get away from distractions and give attention to Him.

One more thing – I love to be rewarded! I have even thought of becoming a bounty hunter to earn some extra money. Also, I would give my employees rewards for getting a lot of work done in a day – I love rewards!

"By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward." (Psalm 19:11, NIV)

Not only is there reward in doing what the Lord says to do, but GREAT reward! It seems to me then that I have to HEAR the voice of the Lord and OBEY Him to get the reward. I know about the keeping/obeying part, but it is the hearing part that most, including me, miss. We don’t take time to listen. Stop and listen – maybe you will hear your assigned portion and be greatly rewarded for going after it!
April

April 28

"Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you." (Psalm 84:4, NIV)

"He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; ..." (Psalm 112:7-8, NIV)

"The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”" (Psalm 92:12-15, NIV)

What a difference would be made if I just STAYED in the house of the Lord. That has got to be my goal in this life – dwelling in His house. If I am ever praising, then I am not complaining. If I am trusting and I not fearing! It doesn’t even occur to me to fear anything! I want to flourish and grow tall and strong and bear much fruit in my old age, staying fresh – that only comes when I dwell in His house! When my eyes are on Him, when His presence surrounds me, how can I help but be filled with hope, joy, love and confidence. He for sure dwells in me, the challenge is to dwell in Him. Oh the fruits of it! My soul longs for it.

Help me remove these pesky distractions, attitudes and mind-sets so I can dwell in your house.

April 27

There are definitely times that I envy the rich. I just wish I had more money so that I didn’t have to bargain hunt (although I am thrilled when I get a bargain), and shop at different stores to decrease our grocery bill. I just wish I had a few more bucks, like twice as much would be good. Then I could take my wife to Jamaica for our 25th anniversary! I could pay someone to do all the work on the house that I have to do because I don’t have the money for it. Ahh…, then I enter His sanctuary and I gain understanding of the end of the rich, and my end. I would much rather live with my wealth than have millions and have the end of those who have forsaken God in part because of their wealth and blessing. My end is life and isn’t that the most important thing? Terry, stop looking at this life like it is the most important thing – God is most important! Eternity is my future and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in this life.

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord." (Psalm 40:1-3, NIV)

I waited – He heard – He lifted – He set – He gave – He put - and now many will see that and put their trust in Him. May I take what He has done in my life and let is shine! I will bring glory to YOU oh Lord, my life is for your glory and is spent bringing you praise.

April 26

In Psalm 39 there seems to be some correlation between controlling my temper and tongue and understanding the brevity of my life. (Although sometimes what God spoke to me may not follow the strictest of interpretation). It does seem to me that I get the hottest and most out of control when things are not in perspective of the whole of life. It is more than frustrating when you only focus on one thing. Is that true for you? It is when I am singularly focused that I am the most infuriated over things. Whether it is not being able to find my keys, (not focusing on the fact that I have a nice car), or it is someone at church who is being very critical of me, (not focusing on the fact that God is doing great things at our church and there are many that appreciate me), when my focus is micro, it leads to my frustration. Even beyond that is the fact that I am only here on this earth for a short time. It isn’t fruitful nor does it make sense that I spend that time hot tempered, or uttering phrases that I wished I wouldn’t have! There is a saying, “life is too short for…”. In this case, I think it should go like this; life is too short for me spending my time in anguish because of others or because of circumstances. It is what it is – make the best of it! (I think I should reread that every day)

April 24

So many good things this morning! Psalm 88 was a raw as they get, and Psalm 91is as full of promise as any. But it was this verse that stood out;

"In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer."
(Psalm 109:4, NIV)

There was something about this verse that struck me and I stopped and mused. It is saying something about being a man of prayer and how that protects you. However it doesn’t protect you from being accused, so where is the benefit?

Of course you know where I am going. The benefits are vast and being a man of prayer is an answer to our prayers of protection and especially deliverance. I am convinced that God is calling me deeper into prayer. How I pray and how often I enter into deep prayer is not enough. I don’t think it is even about defeating foes or being delivered, I think it is about advancement! God is saying to me that if I want to go forward I must become MORE of a man of prayer.

I accept your word oh Lord – help me discipline my flesh to carve out the time needed to become more of a man of prayer.

April 23

"Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." (Psalm 86:11, NIV)

Could it be that only an undivided heart is able to fear God correctly? Hmm…. Something for our hearts to muse on.

It was the actions of praise and worship that stood out to me in Psalm 71. "I will ever praise you, My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, I will proclaim your righteousness, I declare your marvelous deeds, I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you, My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long” Thinking about God is NOT good enough. My mouth, my lips and my hands with my heart need to express out loud the praise of my God. The words like declare and proclaim speak loudly to me.

Oh God I will declare you loudly my God. I will tell of you, declare you, praise you – out loud, for I want all to hear of my devotion to you – even my own soul will hear and praise you!

April 22

When I am in trouble or when I am sailing wonderfully through life there are 2 things that I desire to know. However when I am in trouble my need factor rises because of my heart’s need to be reassured that I am not alone in this trial. When I am in the middle of it, my heart cries out to God for help and there are 2 things that I NEED to know.

"One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done." (Psalm 62:11-12, NIV)

I need to know and trust that God is strong and able to help me. After that, and most importantly, I need to KNOW that God is loving and more importantly, that He loves me. I need to know that He is with me in trouble - in all of life! Without His encouragement, without my knowledge of His strength and love, I am lost. So it follows then, when I am depressed, discouraged and feeling like any of life’s challenges are a hopeless case, I have forsaken that knowledge and turned to trusting myself.

You are my rock, my salvation, my fortress and my reward! In you alone will I trust!

April 21

Today’s Psalms are again about being pursued and reviled by enemies. However I noticed that in most of them there was a thread of; my enemy WAS my friend. How awful is that when a friend turns into an enemy. Someone you shared life with turns on you and raises up false witness against you and tries to bring you down in others eyes. The pain is multiplied isn’t it? Those people are wicked! (That is what David calls them).

The first thing that stuck out was;

In my integrity you uphold me
and set me in your presence forever. (Psalm 41:12)

There is much to say about this, but God is telling me that integrity is a must. It is super important for me to have integrity in everything. In fact God uses it as a handle of sorts to uphold me and set me in His presence! In the days we live, when someone’s word means little and their character is shifted by circumstances rather than firm in principle, I must live with integrity.

I’ll end with something that is a reoccurring theme in my life. David says to himself, (paraphrased for Psalm 43), “why are you so bummed out, why are you depressed? Put your hope in God – In fact I will praise Him through all of it because He is my God and the one who saves me not only from this circumstance, but from death itself!” Talk yourself through it – that is what the Lord is saying to me. Don’t just sit in it and soak, talk yourself THROUGH it and come out the other side with priase!

April 20

Decades ago I used to vilify the “positive confession” movement. They stood for confessing things to bring them into reality. Some people abused this practice because their confession was for their desires and not the Lords, yet the there were so many who just confessed God’s Word. Today’s Psalms are one of the reasons that I came around to the positive confession of God and His Word.

In all of these Psalms, David was in trouble. In some it seemed like he was depressed and could only see the bad that was happening. It is out of this despair that he begins to confess the character of God. It is as if he is telling himself not to fear and to trust in the Lord. The reason these Psalms speak to me so much is that David is truthful with his feelings of anguish, but he ends up declaring the Lord’s goodness, faithfulness, strength and the FACT that God will rescue him! He doesn’t accuse God because he is in a tough place, he accuses his accusers and seeks help from the Almighty who is well able to deliver him.

Oh how I want to be like that! I don’t want to give up and blame God for putting me in the middle of something, nor blaming Him for not getting me out it sooner. God showed me Psalm 13’s end and this I will live by;

"But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me."

I will trust in His love. I will rejoice in His salvation that I have. I will sing and I will recall the great things He has done in my past. Now that is a recipe for victory!

April 19

I am reminded today that God will take up my cause! In Psalm 7, David freely invites the Lord to judge him if he has done wrong. This group of Psalms are written from the perspective of someone who is being troubled but has done nothing wrong. It is refreshing to me to see that God will take up my cause and defend me. The trouble isn’t from God, the trouble is from my enemy and God will rescue me from my enemy. God is on my side.

The verse that really spoke to me today is; “He who is pregnant with evil and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment. He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made. The trouble he causes recoils on himself; his violence comes down on his own head.” This not only reminds me that those who perpetrate evil will be rewarded with evil, but it reminds me that this principle will work in MY LIFE too! As I think about it, I can’t remember the last time I plotted evil or conceived trouble for someone. However, I have caused trouble for people with a sharp word, or a lack of care and love, and even reacted poorly become unrighteously angry. The life in these verses is the spiritual principle that I DON’T want working in my life – my words, my anger, my _________ (fill in the blank) will recoil on me!

Oh God, deliver me from myself. May my mouth be your mouth and my ways your ways. May I dispense love, compassion and forgiveness to all those around me.

April 17

So here is freedom – God chooses for you! Did you see that today? I did! All of these priest and Levites were chosen by God to do certain things. In fact, if you were born into a family who took care of the east gate, guess what you would probably do for the rest of your life – take care of the east gate.

It was for freedom that Christ set us free – but the freedom wasn’t for OUR rulership of our life. It is, plain and simple, so that we could choose to do what God has already chosen for us to do. I am sure that God allows us to make some free will decisions in our own life. He sometimes presents us with a crossroads of sorts that have 2 good decisions. Most of the time in my life God is very specific about what He wants of me. Today I am reminded how I am free FROM choosing what I want TO choose what He wants. That is freedom since what he wants is far superior to what I would choose without Him.

April 16

One little thing like taking a census cost 70,000 lives. Who am I to say that is harsh! I will say that I don’t understand things like this very well. It was probably the reasons that David did it that was utterly contemptible to the Lord. After all, Joab was repulsed so much that he didn’t count 2 tribes. Hmmm… One thing for sure, our sin doesn’t just affect us. David ended up throwing himself on the mercy of God which is always a great place to be.

What struck me this morning was Psalm 30, especially the end of it. When judgment, chastisement or anything else that is personally costly is happening in your life – throw yourselves at the feet of your Father. When calamity or destruction is falling on your house, sing to the Lord! It will only last a little while! That is the promise. God loves to turn my mourning into dancing and he takes off my depression and gives me joy! That is where He wants to take me – to joy. In this life, I must traverse many difficulties, but my end is JOY! His goodness can be counted on in the midst of struggles to get me through to the other side. He is faithful, merciful and his favor lasts for a lifetime. That is something I can count on – something I NEED to count on!

April 15

David can’t seem to go too long without some sort of fight. Today’s reading was another fight internally devised. Because there was already some sort of division within Israel, Sheba pounced on the opportunity to exalt himself. How long will it take for people to learn that if God doesn’t exalt you, you are in trouble?

The thing that stood out for me was the intercessor of Abel Beth Maacah. It was her intercession that brought about the deliverance of a city. Did you get that? There are 2 things here for me. #1 is that intercessors can deliver a city – plain and simple. #2 is that the deliverance only came through someone losing there “head”, which in this case Sheba, who was hiding in the city, running from God, exalting himself as leader in his own pride, had to lose his head for the city to be delivered. My lesson is that the “head” that is self exalted must roll. It must be cut off and delivered up for my own deliverance. There are plenty of applications for this, in churches and organizations and in governments, but the application for me is in my own life. If there is anything self-exalted in me, it must be cut off and thrown down. There is no way around the violent action of death. Jesus said to carry our cross daily – the symbol of death. Whatever in me that exalts itself above the will of my Father, must die!

April 14

I find myself at the end of this day sad for David. It is not because that he didn’t want to punish his enemy – his son Absalom – it is because his son is dead and this whole thing must have been dreadful. Absalom was obviously handed over to Joab by the Lord. I have never even heard of someone stuck in a tree like that, but that doesn’t console a father’s heart. A father’s heart grieves for his son who is in rebellion and wants restoration rather than harsh judgment. David must have wanted just that – restoration.

So how about my heart? Should I wish all my enemies should be crushed and brought to my feet so I could cut off their heads? What if some of my enemies are they of my own household? What then? How about my church family or people at my place of employment? Something has happened to the “warrior” that becoming “king” has softened. There is more mercy, more compassion and more of a desire to see things restored and reconciled. There is a proverb that says not to rejoice when your enemy is struck down. (I was rebuked with this proverb many years ago) Mercy triumphs over judgment. It is much easier since I am in the “king” stage of life and have passed through warrior stage to administer mercy, but it still takes the power of the Spirit and my will to be a man of mercy seeking reconciliation rather than judgment.

April 13

David’s Kingdom is in jeopardy because of his son Absalom. The Lord will deliver David, but not until David is exiled from His own city to the desert. His response to this whole thing is interesting isn’t it? Even with the man who was cursing him. What happened to the warrior? I think I know.

First of all David didn’t know what was going on in his own household. Second, he did nothing to his son who raped his daughter after he himself set it up (unknowingly). Third, he did nothing to the son who killed his son. Somehow David went limp. Maybe it was too long without a war, I don’t know.

What I do know is that I must be aware of the state of my house, which for me extends to the church I serve. Keeping it in the realm of the Miller Tribe, I must give retribution for the wrongs or suffer the consequences. I must deal with things and not pretend they don’t exist. Even in my own life I have to take care of the sin that creeps into my life and kill it! If I don’t, one day, it may very well rule me. One day I may find myself in the desert and wonder why. One of the answers may be my lesson today – I let something that I should have killed live, and now I am in the desert crying out to the Lord.

April 10

The Kingdom was in conflict. There were wars and battles seemingly all the time. So why do we expect peace? It was inner peace that Jesus promised, not smooth sailing.

David shouldn’t have committed adultery with Bathsheba. Do you know why? Because he should have been at war and not lounging around on his roof! It was the time to be at war and somehow David got convinced that he didn’t have to fight for Israel anymore. I once heard a preacher say that he was too busy to sin. Our lives should be so full of God and our service to Him that we just don’t have the time, opportunity or readiness to sin.

Finally my lesson is that sin is always exposed. It is exposed by God through His Word or His prophets or the consequences in our lives. We are surely forgiven and our slate is wiped clean forever because of the work of Christ on the cross, however that doesn’t mean that I sin in a vacuum. People have said that Christians feel like they can sin and then be forgiven so what is the big deal about sin. Sin IS still death. It brings death! We stand forgiven before the Lord – there is no doubt about that – but there is a big difference between consequence and forgiveness. The question is, do I want to fight another battle that I convened myself? Don’t I have enough battles to be fought without bringing more on myself?

April 9

Regular worship was established by David. He appointed singers and musicians to regularly worship before the Lord. The Lord wants the same things of me. Regular worship – daily time – a consecrated life. It is amazing that a love of mine like worship can so easily get moved to the side and the attitude of “I’ll do it when I have time, or, I’ll worship when I feel like it” can take over. I have to APPOINT worship in my life. With the busyness of western living, I must make priority of REGULAR and daily worship.

The other striking thing was the worship of David. He said, “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.” I think I am still up for that kind of worship. It’s a type of abandoned, more than you are comfortable with worship. Will you be humiliated in your own eyes and become undignified in your worship of the King?

April 8

I found myself reading the Psalms and wanting to get back to the history, to the nuance and the detail of things. I enjoyed the appointment of singers and musicians and how Kenaniah (the head Levite) was in charge of singing because he was skillful at it. Then I found myself while reading the Psalms asking God to speak to me, and He did.

God told me that the Psalms were about Him. They were cries to Him for things based on His character to bring them. Today’s reading said “ascribe glory to the Lord – ascribe strength to the Lord”, and He spoke to me. Be careful not to make Christianity about you, because it is about me.

It is easy to make my whole existence, my whole day, all about me. It is easy to make my woes, my adventures, my fears, my victories forefront in my mind, when He should be my beginning and my end. Oh God, let me not fear man nor my own failure. Let me not dwell on my troubles nor my to do list – but let me keep my mind stayed on you. You are my hope, my rock, my deliverer, in you will I trust.

April 7

The story of Uzzah dying has always perplexed me. It seems as though he did a good thing in stabilizing the Ark. It makes sense to make sure that the Ark doesn’t fall off its cart. Then I started to think about it. Wasn’t the Ark supposed to be carried? Let’s say I am remembering incorrectly, the Ark was not supposed to be touched. God dwelt between the Cherubim – that thing was as Holy as Holy could be! What was Uzzah doing near it? The fact remains that he tried to do something good and was punished for it, because he did it wrong. What do I do with that?

God spoke to me and said that I can try to accomplish a good result in the wrong way. Helping the church through a financial crunch would be possible if I robbed a bank. We know that robbing is wrong though so we would never… Didn’t Uzzah know…? He did! There is a separation between the secular and the sacred and God demands that we observe it. It is the difference between worldly wisdom and God’s wisdom. It’s the difference between taking the glory because you did something and giving the glory to God because He accomplished it!

It isn’t the result He is after (the Ark arriving safely), it is the process in our lives (carrying the Ark properly), because that is what takes us to the proper result – Christ likeness.

April 6

David was a boy when he was anointed King, but he was 30 when he finally reigned over all of Israel. I am reading a book that talks about the journey of a man and it begins with boyhood and ends in sage. Before sage is king. You have to get through cowboy and warrior before you get to the king stage. That is David’s life and I think that is mine as well. The things you dream of as a boy take so long to come to fruition, or so it seems. They require struggle, sometimes great struggle, and definitely adventure – on your own and with a band of friends. “How long oh Lord” was one of David’s questions and it is often one of mine. Things sure do take time.

I guess I have had to come through things in order to reign. Although I, just as you possibly, want to have things fast or even immediate, God makes sure we learn to reign, it comes through training. Am I ever done? No, I am never done! There is always another level for me to conquer, another facet of life to master. How can I be king and reign in life unless I am taught to reign by one who reigns?

Oh God, teach me to reign. I am afraid to say this, but train me to reign. I know I just invited hardship and struggle – I am cautiously willing – I want to reign.

April 1

God gives us a clue to fear in today’s reading. I have never seen this before! “Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but had left Saul. Do you see it? Fear comes (at least one of the reasons for it) because you ascribe more ability and power -or even favor) to someone or something else rather than you. When you doubt God is with you and ABLE to carry out His will for you, you will fear! Why wouldn’t you? When I believe that God isn’t ABLE or when I forget God altogether and I am trusting in my ability, I am welcoming fear into the situation.

Oh God, my strength is in you, with you and for you. When you are for me I know that no enemy can triumph over me. Convince me that you are for me! Convince me that the vision you have given me still has your blessing. Forgive me for doubt that has led to fear. I want none of either – I want all of you. You are my rock. I believe you are with me and for me. I trust in you.

March 31

Samuel was rebuked by God, like others, who mourned too long – or possibly he was depressed. Humm… Samuel was hanging out when God spoke and told him to get up and move on! Why are you still in the same place? Let’s get on with things!

Samuel was not only depressed, he was afraid of Saul. Could it have been his depression that weakened his faith? After all, we are talking about the same Samuel who rebuked Saul publicly – several times! Humm…

God in His mercy gives Samuel a plan to help him with his fears and Samuel moves to the next stage of life – one of the last things he will do – anoint the next king. I see myself in this account so much and God is encouraging me to be fearless and do what He says. Don’t look at the circumstances and get depressed! Get going!

March 30

It seems like forever since I have written. Today I will catch up. (I suffered a hand injury that has hindered me from writing).

A lot has happened in the past decades of Samuel and Saul’s life. Significant is the fact that God wanted to be the King of His people and Israel rejected them. They wanted a human king like the other nations. Humm…

Saul, a seemingly humble man was exalted, until he became proud and then he was humbled. What was the point of pride? He did as he pleased and did not carry out the command of the Lord – which was for everyone’s good! God’s word to us is the same, don’t offer me some religious sacrifice and not do what I say. And by the way, if you rebel, it is just like being a witch and the pride that says “I’ll do it my way” is idolatry. Why so harsh? Because God wants us to have His blessing and those are the exact things that stop the blessings of God from flowing to us.