Faith can mean different things to each of us, but for all of us our faith must serve to inspire us, no matter what the circumstance of our life may be at the moment. Going through the psalms I found these very beautiful, and inspiring words, the first four verses of Psalm 27:
Psalm 27 (King James Version)
1The 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?
2When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
3Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
4One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I 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 enquire in his temple.
The first line perfectly sums up religious faith. The Lord is your light and salvation. The emphasize being one the word is, without doubt. If you come to believe this with all your heart, then there is nothing in the world that can defeat you.
Of whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
If you have made the Lord your light the answer is no one. Of course there aren’t many who can say they never have doubts, at least at some points in their lives. That is when you need to work harder at making the Lord your light. So he can show you the path to salvation not matter what obstacles you find in the way.
There is wickedness in the world. You will encounter enemies. I doubt there are many who can claim they are without fear. Your Lord’s light will quiet your fears. It gives you the confidence to keep yourself on the path to salvation.
The last verse my be the most beautiful in the Bible. To dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of your life, here in the world, and after in Heaven. To be able to behold the beauty of the Lord, that is the great promise of salvation.
How do you keep the Lord’s light bright when you are surrounded by wickedness and enemies?
Singing Psalm 27 might help keep that light shinning on your pathway to salvation.
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October 16, 2009 at 1:09 pm
therealstorie
Singing. I can remember when my Jessie (now almost 15) then, 4 said to me out of the blue: “Mama, when you sing about Jesus, it pushes back the darkness.” I couldn’t believe my ears. She then went on humming and talking more like 4 year olds do.
I have experienced time and time again as I crank up the worship songs, or sit at the piano, a great light comes inside of me….and the darkness is pushed back. Singing God’s word is powerful
Great post Ed!
October 16, 2009 at 6:56 pm
edfromct
Happy to see you back online Storie. I look forward to reading your new blog post.
I love the quote from you daughter. “Mama, when you sing about Jesus, it pushes back the darkness.
If anybody knows about the power of singing your God’s word it is you, with your beautiful voice.
October 16, 2009 at 8:00 pm
therealstorie
Thank you Ed. After I read your post today, I spent about one hour at the piano worshipping. Thank YOU for the reminder. I have missed you! and I am excited for what the fall/winter season hold in blog land.
October 16, 2009 at 11:08 pm
edfromct
I am excited to to have you back in blog land. Maybe you can share some of that piano worship with us.
October 16, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Michelle
I love this passage! I think I would be overcome with darkness if it weren’t for my faith in the Lord. HE is the light of my life. I ran across this scripture the other day that caused me to see another view of His light:
He caused His lamp to shine upon my head,
and by His light I walked through darkness.
~Job 29:3
He causes the light to shine, even in the darkness that I’m currently experiencing. His light might not shine as brightly as the day…right now…I might only see a few steps ahead, because it is so dark around…but in that light I can step, knowing He’s always there.
And yes, as Storie has said, singing praises certainly pushes back the darkness. I think I listened to Kim Walker all day yesterday. As I keep my heart and mind on praising Him, I am not afraid. I know He is able to do all He promised. And He promised nothing would separate me from Him.
Thanks again, sir!
October 16, 2009 at 7:19 pm
edfromct
I hope you walk out of that darkness around you very soon. Your God’s light will show you the way, even if it is only one step at a time.
Singing your God’s praise will keep you focused and calm your fears.
Listening to inspirational songs does sooth my nerves. My singing unfortunately has the opposite effect on my neighbors.
If our friend Job could keep singing God’s praise with everything that was happening to him, it’s an example all CF can learn from.
October 16, 2009 at 7:06 pm
gchyayles
I love Psalms. David is so real to me. And if you’re looking for advice/encouragement during times of despair you definitely have it from this book.
Enemies, wickedness, darkness, lies, false testimonies. It seems like all of those things go with the territory living in this world. I have noticed seasons of that; relationships that become about that either temporarily or permanently; moments where you wonder why or how someone could treat you that way, attacks from the enemy that seem never ending etc.
One thing is always consistent though. God IS our strength. He IS our refuge. The solid rock upon which we stand. He is the lifter of my head. My vindicator.
All I have to do is acknowledge Him as being so and continue on in His light. All I have to do is praise Him through those circumstances. All I have to do is sing a new song for He has done marvelous things. All I have to do is rejoice and be glad.
Like one of my favorite old school gospel songs says: “I never lost my hope. I never lost my joy. I never lost my faith. But most of all I never lost my praise.”
When we praise Him through our circumstances we defeat the darkness whichever form it may attack us in. What an awesome God we serve to be able to do that!
Thanks for the reminder Ed
Have a blessed day!
October 16, 2009 at 11:04 pm
edfromct
gchyayles, Old school can be good, as I keep reminding myself.
Faith means having hope, singing praise to your God is as joyful an experince as you can have.
When you sing your God’s praise you are using his light to help make the darkness go away.
When you are troubled by the world around you, you need a rock to stand on. You know you have found the faith you need when it becomes that rock.
Have a blessed weekend gchyayles.
October 16, 2009 at 9:12 pm
therealstorie
YOU, my friend, are very encouraging….
Let’s all raise our arms in worship to HIM and push back the darkness!
October 16, 2009 at 9:21 pm
therealstorie
Satan, before fallen (as an angel) was a worship leader. I truly believe that worship is something that God uses to move his beloved. The enemy desires to shut us down…..does not want praise of our Risen Lord to leave our lips!
Once again, THANK YOU for the reminder to spend time worhsipping HIM….my ONE and ONLY.
October 16, 2009 at 11:13 pm
edfromct
Worshipping your God is a vital part of a CF faith. It keeps your focus on HIM and drowns out Satan, and what ever else is troubling you. It also fills you with joy.
October 17, 2009 at 6:25 am
Indian Lake Papa
Fear, being afraid – I don’t handle as well as I should. I tend to think that God needs me to help fix things. Mama, she helps me realize that we need to trust more and not be afraid when I can’t fix things. mama recently had a mammogram scare, I got rattled – I can’t fix stuff like that, I need to trust, have faith. It did not come easy for papa. Mama had a smile – I had tears.
I am working on it though Ed.
October 19, 2009 at 12:11 am
edfromct
Learning to trust is one of the hardest things for most of us. Some, like Mama, are better at it than you and me.
Faith can quiet our fears, if we let it. We need to keep working at trusting until it does.
October 18, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Rain
This is one of my favourite Psalms and one of the first I memorized as a child.
I know it’s not practical to discuss the whole Psalm, but together with verse 4, verse ten is really meaningful to me:
“Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” That even if we feel utterly forsaken by the world, God has not forsaken us.
I find that darkness can easily become overwhelming if I do not spend enough time with God and reading His word and what He says is the truth.
October 19, 2009 at 12:20 am
edfromct
I am impressed that you could memorize Psalms as a child Rain. I had a hard enough time with the alphabet.
When we feel utterly forsaken by the world, and we all will at some point, it’s faith that will make that darkness go away. That is way it is so important to reinforce our faith every day.
October 19, 2009 at 1:06 am
lovewillbringustogether
it’s one thing to have a balance between science and technology in a person’s blog in the interests of ‘fariness’ – it is quite another to see how well you seem to understand the ‘matter’ of a person’s faith.
i don’t se you as simply providing fair posts, but as showing your own belief and thoughts concerning it.
Tell me i’m just imagining it?
As for how i keep the Light shining when the time is the darkest?
Here on Earth God has ensured that there is a balance between dark and Light – each day brings both, some days the darkness is stronger or longer – some days the Light is.
for me it is a matter of trying to always keep in mind that it is what God wants that is what is most important – not what i would have things as.
And doing my best to learn from all situations i find myself facing each day, good or bad, which are mainly descriptions as a result of my own limited perceptions and not that things actually are as such.
Keep up the wonderful work Sir.
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