IHS TOGETHER / EVANGELICAL CHURCH ALLIANCE INTL.

Anytime we feel not good enough, we deny the powerful truth that we are a glorious work of God in progress.

Psalm 13:1-6

1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?  2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?  3 Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,  4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.  5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  6 I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.

Suffering changes us. This year has changed us. Consider the grace that we can bestow to each other from that suffering that changes. It is not about focusing on the cause. It is about focusing on the response.

Psalm 51:1-19

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.  5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.  6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.  7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.  10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.  13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.  14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.  15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.  16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.  18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.  19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous

Psalm 25:1-7

1 In you, Lord my God,

    I put my trust.

2 I trust in you;

    do not let me be put to shame,

    nor let my enemies triumph over me.

3 No one who hopes in you

    will ever be put to shame,

but shame will come on those

    who are treacherous without cause.

4 Show me your ways, Lord,

    teach me your paths.

5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,

    for you are God my Savior,

    and my hope is in you all day long.

6 Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,

    for they are from of old.

7 Do not remember the sins of my youth

    and my rebellious ways;

according to your love remember me,

    for you, Lord, are good.

Psalm 122:1-9

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

2 Our feet are standing

in your gates, Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built like a city

that is closely compacted together.

4 That is where the tribes go up—

the tribes of the Lord—

to praise the name of the Lord

according to the statute given to Israel.

5 There stand the thrones for judgment,

the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

“May those who love you be secure.

7 May there be peace within your walls

and security within your citadels.

8 For the sake of my family and friends,

I will say, “Peace be within you.”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek your prosperity.

Psalm 8:1-9

1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 122:1-9

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

2 Our feet are standing

in your gates, Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built like a city

that is closely compacted together.

4 That is where the tribes go up—

the tribes of the Lord—

to praise the name of the Lord

according to the statute given to Israel.

5 There stand the thrones for judgment,

the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

“May those who love you be secure.

7 May there be peace within your walls

and security within your citadels.

8 For the sake of my family and friends,

I will say, “Peace be within you.”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek your prosperity.

Psalm 104:24-35

 24 How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.  25 There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small.  26There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.  27 All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time.  28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.  29 When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.  30 When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.  31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works—  32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.  33 I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.  34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD.  35 But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the LORD, my soul. Praise the LORD.

Psalm 104:1-10

1 Praise the LORD, my soul. LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.  2 The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent  3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.  4 He makes winds his messengers,flames of fire his servants.  5 He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.  6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.  7 But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; 8 they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them.  9 You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.  10. He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains.

Psalm 4:1-8

1 Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.  2 How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods  3 Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.  4Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.  5 Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the LORD.  6 Many, LORD, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?” Let the light of your face shine on us.  7 Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.  8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 103:7-12

7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: 8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west,so far has he removed our transgressions from us.