Author Archives: Diana Symons

Psalm 1 – How To Live The Blessed Life

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

There’s so much in this psalm to learn from. It’s simple and straightforward, and so easy to pass by. Let’s look at this.

Don’t follow people who live ungodly lives. Surround yourself with people who will build you up, not tear you down. You may work with them and live next door to them, but you don’t need to laugh at their crude humor or seem impressed with their sinful life. Be helpful, be kind, but don’t follow them.

Meditating on the law was meant to focus the person on God and keep them safe from sinful influences. The law said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your strength. Just doing that would keep you from straying into dangerous areas. The intentional effort it takes to do that comes back in blessing.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The intentional focus to meditate on the things of God yields strength of soul. God sees that and loves it. He prospers the one who will keep faith strong. Planted by streams of water is refreshing and life-giving.

In our busy, worrisome life today, it’s so easy to overlook the simple things that God intended for our help. Be intentional. Think about the goodness of God and remind yourself to do it as often as possible. See what happens when you do.

When God Feels Far Away

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We all go through those times when it feels as if God has moved on without us. There is a definite feeling of loneliness and loss. It feels like everything we do is wrong and it will never be right again. If you’ve felt that, you’re in good company. David did too.

He starts by describing his loss in vivid terms (Psalm 42):

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

There is desperation in this tone, he is in anguish:

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”

Not only is he distraught, he’s being mocked for it. He can’t be himself with anyone because of this internal pain:

how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.

He’s too broken to celebrate with the crowd.

But here is where David shines. He recognizes that his heart needs help. He’s very pragmatic about his depression:

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

This technique must have worked for him well because he used it often.

I think that God uses these times to see what we’re made of. It’s easy to trust Him when life is rosy, but what do we do when it gets hard? Do what David did. Make the decision to trust God anyway. God is still God and He is still with us, always. Just keep reminding yourself and the joy will come. It’s a promise.

Do Unto Others Is Not About Your Convenience

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So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matt 7:12) The Golden Rule is one of those scriptures as familiar as John 3:16. For many of us, it’s part of our religious DNA. And for many of us, it’s one of those teachings that roll off us like water off a duck’s back. Because it’s so familiar, we stop thinking about it. It’s just something that we know.

This forgetfulness is something Jesus is not amused with. Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:4) Doing for others what we want them to do for us was not a new command. It came out of Leviticus 19. God’s been saying that for a while. So why is it so hard to do, because yes, it’s hard to do.

When we’re sitting in church, the Golden Rule sounds right. We should treat others the way we want to be treated, but then we go home. We get on the freeway and go to the grocery store and, hardest of all, we live with family. The business of real life takes ahold of our perspective and all thoughts of that kindness flit away somewhere.

The good news is that kindness is a fruit of the Spirit. When we see that we are lacking in this area, all we need to do is ask for His help. The Holy Spirit has equipped us with everything that pertains to life and godliness. He provides. It’s our job to ask. This won’t be a one-time request. It will be one that we ask over and over, because we need to. It’s important to God so it’s really important to us.

It takes mindfulness to treat others the way we want to be treated. It’s not convenient. But of all the laws and the teachings of Jesus, this is the one He said to remember. Let’s be careful to treat others well.

God Has Called You By Name

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When we receive salvation by grace, we are adopted into God’s family, everyone who is called by my name, whom I have created for my glory, whom I formed and made. (Isaiah 43:7) We were born to know Him and be with Him. It’s not an idea that seems like it would work, it’s a plan that He has had from before the worlds were created.

It’s amazing to think that we live and breath because God loves us so much. It’s a love that we really don’t understand. Jesus came in the flesh to die as our sacrifice for sin because He loves. He loves! And He knows each of us intimately. We shouldn’t be freaked out by the fact that He knows our secret sins. He loves us! He’s waiting for us to turn to Him so He can work out the problems we have to deal with.

I have called you by name, you are mine. (Isaiah 43:1) Can there be anything more amazing and fantastic than knowing that God is calling you by your name? You are known and loved in heaven. You can press into that and find a loving God who’s been waiting for you since forever. It’s your move now.

For Your Own Good, Ask God To Test You

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I love that David was honest with God. He knew his own weaknesses and he knew that God was his help. He didn’t try to hide the fact that he messed up and confessed his sin. And when he did, he could stand before God with a righteous soul. He was bold enough to ask God, Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind. (Psalm 26:2)

Most of us would rather not ask God to do that. We’re afraid of what He would find, things we know are lurking in the places we try to hide in our hearts. How silly! God sees everything. He knows us better than we know ourselves. We’re afraid that God will judge us if we open up in real honesty. But we’re missing the point.

David understood that to confess his sins made him clean before God. He didn’t want anything to block that relationship. It’s for our benefit to have God shine a light on the dark places of our heart so we can ask forgiveness and be cleansed. There’s freedom there and peace of mind. God wants that for us, for our own good.

Delight Yourself In The Lord Means What Exactly?

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Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4) I grew up thinking that because I believe in God, I go to church, and I pray to Him, that means He should give me all that my heart desires. I would get frustrated and doubtful because those things didn’t happen. It took me a long, long time to understand what this verse actually means.

God Himself told us the way of this a long time ago: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5) Jesus called this the greatest commandment. Commandment! It’s not a request or suggestion. We are born and bred to be lovers of the Lord God. He made us for that purpose because He loves us back. This is a decision on our part. We must chose to love God fully. That’s not the same thing as believing in Him, or trusting that He will answer prayers. It’s about seeing Him as the wonderful, lovely, awesome Father that He is. It’s dreaming about Him like David did, wanting to know Him more and more.

When we stop looking at what we want and turn our attention to Him, He’s happy to bless us with our heart’s desire. Then it becomes icing on the cake. Delight in God is it’s own reward.

If You Are Willing, God Will Lead You

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When Moses met with God learn the laws, God said to him, Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. (Exodus 23:20) He did indeed lead them as a cloud by day and fire by night. It was an extraordinary display of presence that must have been awesome and comforting.

David understood that and wanted it, Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me. (Psalms 25:4-5) Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. (Psalms 27: 11) For You are my rock and my fortress; therefore, for Your name’s sake, lead me and guide me. (Psalms 31:3)

When God prophesied to Israel about His promise of salvation, He said. For He who has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of water He will guide them. (Isaiah 49:10) And Jesus, in the prayer that He taught us said, Lead us not into temptation. (Matthew 6:13) It was a prayer knowing that God will lead us and make a way, but we must want to be led in righteousness.

The Holy Spirit is here for us to do exactly that. He will lead us and make a way where there could be no way. It is as it has always been. God is for us and He goes before us. If we will listen and follow Him, He will always lead us and make a way.

God Will Tell You His Secrets

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Psalm 25 promises that God will tell you His secrets if you press into Him. Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me. It starts by wanting to know more about Him. This is not a casual interest, or a curiosity of the moment. This is a desire born of the soul to know the God who made the universe, to understand His heart and mind. It starts by asking. God is not a god who sits quietly, observing and not interfering. He wants to be active in your life and if it’s your desire to know Him better, He will respond.

The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way. There’s the key. Don’t seek His knowledge so you can write a paper about it. Seek it because you recognized that He is awesome and full of majesty, yet so loving that He sent Jesus to save you. When He answers, it is not a dazzling epiphany that will answer all the questions of time. He teaches His way. It’s an on-going process. We go from grace to grace. He builds on His truth as we can receive and understand it.

The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant. Here is the promise. When we seek to love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength, He revels His secrets. The Hebrew for the word covenant is cowd (Strong’s H5475). It means secret counsel. You are invited into an intimate communion where God will share His plans, His covenant, and His desires for you and for humanity. This is the most awesome relationship you can imagine. He promises, I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel. (Isaiah 45:3)

This is not an empty promise. This is the real thing. Go after Him with everything inside you and see what He’ll reveal only to you.

God Hears When You’re Frustrated

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One time I told God how frustrated I was. I believe the prophetic word. I know that it can be wrong if people try to help God, but generally it’s good. Every time I get a prophetic word, I write it down and read them all over time. It’s been exciting to see how many of them fall within categories. But one time it frustrated me. I complained to God in my journal that it seemed that these prophetic words were things God was “going” to do. Why was it always something that would happen later? What wasn’t ever anything that was going to happen now? I vented. I didn’t hold back as I told Him exactly how I felt.

That was the day I read Ezekiel 12:28, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “None of My words will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak will be done,” says the Lord God.’

I was stunned. He let me know that He heard my moaning. It couldn’t have been more obvious. Yes He was talking in Ezekiel about Israel, but He used that conversation to speak to me and I heard Him. It was encouraging on several levels. One, because He was promising that His word is true. And two, because He wasn’t bothered by my frustration. He likes it when I’m real with Him. David was very real with him as he wrote the Psalms. He wrote about being fearful or wanting revenge on those who were evil.

We don’t have to pretend piousness with God. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Just be aware that when you talk to Him, He wants to talk back. And He will do it in kindness. He understands that we feel pain and loneliness. He understands the issues that we face in life. He doesn’t expect that it won’t affect us. Be real with Him and you can say like David, I sought the Lord and he answered me. (Psalms 34:4)

Are Your Hearing God?

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Do you remember the old saying, living in a garage does not make you a car just as attending church does not make you a Christian? Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matt 7:21-23) I can’t imagine a scarier thing to hear.

How do we ensure that we don’t ever hear those frightening words? By listening to God. He who is of God hears God’s words. (John 8:47) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (John 10:27-8) The key to knowing that you are saved is knowing that you hear the voice of God.

What does God sound like? He usually sounds a lot like how you think to yourself. When we have Jesus living in our heart, He uses our own thoughts to communicate to us. How do you know it’s God? Practice. If you pray and ask God a question and a new thought comes into your mind that surprises you, then believe that He is speaking to you. Sometimes you’ll hear a friend or read something in a book and your spirit will know. God has many languages to speak in. Expect to hear Him and He will be heard.

The important thing is that you hear His voice. Let Him convict you of habits and lifestyle that you need to let go of. Let Him give you insight and ideas that will help you in the things that you do. Let Him tell you how much He loves you. Be a sheep that knows the voice of the shepherd. “I never knew you” is terrifying. “I love you with all my heart” is wonderful.

#Christian, #hearing God