Tim Hetzner – Daily Devotions

Songs of Deliverance – Part Three

“Yet You are enthroned as the Holy One; You are the Praise of Israel.” (Psalm 22:3)

The original King James Bible says, “O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” The New King James Bible says, “You are…enthroned in the praises of Israel.” You say, “Which translation is accurate?” Both are accurate. The word “inhabit” pictures a dweller who feels right at home. And the word “enthroned” pictures someone in a position of power and authority, someone who can give orders and make things happen. So, God is at home in our praise; His power is released through our praise.

When God created the world, He did it with words – sound. So, God’s power can travel through sound. And certain sounds move His heart. Certain sounds invoke His presence. Certain sounds move Him to action. The key to deliverance, which means to be set free, is in having an encounter with God. And songs of deliverance can set the stage for such an encounter with God.

Read these three Scriptures carefully: “Meditate within your heart on your bed and be still” (Psalm 4:4). “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7). “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). Note the words “meditate,” and “be still,” and “rest,” and “wait patiently,” and “He who dwells in the secret place.”

Now picture yourself “soaking” in the presence of God. Your emotions are quiet, your spirit is attuned to God’s presence, you can hear what He has to say and receive from Him what you need. That’s what happens when you surround yourself with “songs of deliverance.”

Prayer

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Songs of Deliverance – Part Two

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” (Acts 16:25)

Even science agrees that music has healing power. Today, we have music therapists who play sounds that set captives free in hospitals, special educational needs classrooms, nursing homes, and other environments. Harvard University researchers, among others, are reporting that music is a healing balm for stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and the physical stress of premature birth. They have also learned that music can improve surgical outcomes, help to restore lost speech, reduce side effects of cancer therapy, relieve pain, improve mood, and battle depression. Dr Gottfried Schlaug, a Harvard University neurologist, told the Los Angeles Times, “Music might provide an alternative entry point to the brain because it can unlock so many different doors into an injured or ill brain.” His research shows that pitch, harmony, melody, rhythm, and emotion, which are all components of music, engage different parts of the brain – parts of the brain that are also important for speech, movement, and social interaction.

“He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions” (Psalm 107:20). So, when music is the medium used to praise God and express His creative and life-changing Word, you begin to see its potential to bring deliverance. That was certainly so for Paul and Silas: “At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed” (Acts 16:25-26).

Change your attitude. Change your environment. Change your outlook. Start surrounding yourself with songs of deliverance!

Prayer

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Songs of Deliverance – Part One

“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” Selah (Psalm 32:7)

The psalmist wrote, “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.” When trouble comes, you can turn to God and hide in Him. How? By surrounding yourself with songs of deliverance. Ruth Ward Heflin gives us the road map into God’s presence: “You praise until the spirit of worship comes, you worship until the glory comes, then you stand in the glory.” And that is where “all things are possible.”

God told Jeremiah, “I am ready to perform My word” (Jeremiah 1:12). That includes His Word when it’s set to music. The harp David used to worship God on the hillsides while he tended his flocks was the same harp God used to deliver King Saul from the spirits that held him in the grip of depression.

That wasn’t the only time God used a musician to bring about a miracle. When the people of Judah faced extinction because of drought, Elisha, the prophet, said, “Now bring me a musician.” Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him. And he said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Make this valley full of ditches’” (2 Kings 3:15-16). God filled every one of those ditches with water and gave them a spectacular victory over their enemies.

Singer Julie True says: “On a spiritual level, music bypasses our mind and goes straight to our heart, soul, and spirit. It touches places that nothing else can reach…Worship opens the heavens and moves God’s heart.”

Prayer

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Jesus Can Use It, No Matter How Small

“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9)

If you feel you’re not talented enough to be used by God, read the story of the feeding of the five thousand. Actually, there were five thousand men. If you add women and children, the number could be more than twenty thousand. And the boy’s lunch was more meagre than you imagine. A loaf was about the size of a mini pancake. The word for fish refers to sea creatures about the size of sardines. But what made that little lunch a big feast is what the boy did when Jesus asked him for it. He gave it willingly. He didn’t say, ‘Lord, you can have one fish, but I will keep the other one. You take three loaves, and I will keep the other two.’ He gave Jesus everything He asked for.

Now think about the results of his act of sacrificial kindness.

1) The original lunch didn’t fill up even a single basket, but the leftovers filled twelve baskets. This illustrates the harvest law taught in Scripture. When you give to God, you always get back more than you give (see Luke 6:38 ). And when you withhold, you rob yourself of His blessing. ‘One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want’ (Proverbs 11:24).

2) By meeting the needs of others, his own needs were met. ‘Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted’ (John 6:11). The truth is that when you give God what you have, you will be amazed what He does with it.

Prayer

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Stand on the Promise God Gave You

“Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.” (Psalm 105:19)

When Joseph’s brothers stripped him of his coat of many colors, which represented his father’s favor, what held him steady? The promise God gave him. When he was thrown into a pit and then sold into slavery, what held him steady? The promise God gave him. When the butler he befriended in prison failed to speak on his behalf to Pharaoh, what held him steady? The promise God gave him. ‘Joseph…was sold as a slave…He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him. The king sent and released him, the ruler of the people let him go free. He made him lord of his house’ (vv. 17-21).

God’s Word will stand the test of time, but in order for it to come to pass, you must stand strong in faith during your times of testing. You will be tested by the attitudes and actions of your family. You will be tested by the unfaithfulness and betrayal of friends you trusted. You will be tested by living in circumstances of adversity and hardship that seem opposite to what God promised you. You see, God is more interested in your character than He is in your comfort. The New Living Translation says, ‘Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character’ (v. 19). Why test anything? To find out if it’s trustworthy. And when you prove trustworthy, you can stand on the promise, ‘It will certainly come to pass’ (Habakkuk 2:3). So, stand on the promise God gave you.

Prayer

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Love God with All Your Strength

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)

What does it mean to love God with all your strength?

A pastor defines it: ‘It means expending tremendous amounts of energy for kingdom causes. It means blood, sweat, and tears. It means servanthood and sacrifice. It means good old-fashioned hard work. Energy may be the least appreciated dimension of love because it’s the least sentimental. And how we invest our energy reveals our true priorities.’

It reveals how much we love someone; in this case, God.

The pastor continues: ‘Christianity was never intended to be a noun. And when we turn it into a noun, it becomes a turnoff. Christianity was always intended to be a verb. We’ve got to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We’ve got to seize opportunities to serve…At the end of the day, God isn’t going to say, “Well said, good and faithful servant”…[but] “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Nothing is more fulfilling than burning calories for a kingdom cause. Anything less than leveraging all our strength for God’s purposes is boring at best and hypocritical at worst. So many Christians are so bored…so frustrated by the gap between their theology and reality. The way to close the gap, and the way to experience that holy rush of adrenaline again, is to break a sweat serving others. It can be as simple as babysitting for a single mum who needs a night out, serving in a ministry in your local church, or volunteering at a local nursing home. It doesn’t matter how big or how small, every calorie burned for a kingdom cause earns compound interest for eternity. And it’ll fill the emptiness in your soul with pure joy.’

Prayer

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The Many Ways God Speaks to Us

‘Speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.” (Job 12:8)

The patriarch Job wrote to ‘speak to the earth, and it will teach you’. George Washington Carver is considered one of history’s greatest scientific minds. Around the turn of the twentieth century, agriculture in the southern states of America was suffering. The boll weevil was destroying cotton crops. The soil was being emptied of nutrients because farmers planted cotton year after year. It was George Washington Carver who pioneered the idea of crop rotation. He urged farmers to plant peanuts, and they did.

The plan revived the soil, but farmers were upset because there was no market for peanuts. Their plentiful peanut crops decayed in warehouses. When they grumbled to Carver, he did what he had always done – he prayed; he regularly got up at 4am, walked across the woods, and asked God to disclose the mysteries of nature to him. One of his favorite Scriptures was ‘speak to the earth, and it will teach you’. Carver literally asked God to reveal the secrets of nature, and God did.

As a result, Carver discovered more than three hundred uses for the peanut. Perhaps more accurately, the Lord revealed more than three hundred uses. They comprised everything from shaving cream to glue to cosmetics to soap to sauces to insecticide to linoleum to wood stains and to fertilizer. Carver said, ‘I love to think of nature as wireless telegraph stations through which God speaks to us every day, every hour, and every moment of our lives.’ Today God will speak to you in many different ways; you just have to be sensitive and listen.

Prayer

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Make God the Source of Your Self-Worth

‘Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.” (Isaiah 43:4)

Guess who said, ‘You are precious to me’? God. So don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. Why is this important? Because understanding who you are as a person and genuinely believing that you merit love and attention from another person is essential to your self-worth. The capability to convey that successfully and in a considerate manner is essential for any healthy, mutually satisfying relationship. A sense of self-worth is not arrogance. It helps you to set boundaries and guarantees that no matter who you meet, those boundaries will never be compromised.

Often, when we feel used in relationships, it’s because we have permitted those boundaries to be crossed. Or worse, we have never thought about where the boundaries should be. The way to prevent this situation is to be clear about who you are and what you are willing to do in a relationship. Disregarding the truth about another person, or yourself, may be okay temporarily, but over time, it usually leads to disaster.

With a solid foundation of knowing who you are and what you represent, you will possess the bravery to ask the right questions and discern the answers. You will acquire information and evidence that help you realize who a person really is and if they fit into your life. You will be truthful with yourself and others about who you are, your needs, and the way you want to live your life. Outside your relationship with God, there is no other more important relationship than the one you have with yourself. God says, ‘You are precious to me.’ Believe it, and live accordingly.

Prayer

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It Is a Walk of Faith

“We live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Impalas are one of the most powerful animals in Africa. They can leap to a height of more than ten feet and cover more than thirty feet in one jump. Yet the impala can be kept in an enclosure with a fence that is no more than three feet high. Why? Because it will not jump unless it can see where its feet will land. In a sense, impalas walk by sight, not faith.

What does it mean to ‘walk’? To put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward a step at a time. What does it mean to have ‘faith’? To trust the Lord, obeying His Word regardless of how things look or feel to you.

Now, faith doesn’t do away with intelligent thought and reason. But there is a difference. When intelligent thought and reason will not take you another step, faith keeps right on going. Why? Because intelligent thought and reason hold the hand of a person and go only as far as they can travel, whereas faith holds the hand of God, the God who makes a way where there seems to be no way. That was Abraham’s story: ‘[Urged on] by faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went forth to a place which he was destined to receive as an inheritance; and he went, although he did not know or trouble his mind about where he was to go’ (Hebrews 11:8).

Are you anxious about the future? Don’t be; just take the next step of faith, and you will be one step closer to the blessings and rewards that God has in mind for you.

Prayer

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Bring Your Problem to Jesus

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5)

A Christian leader informs us: ‘There was not a bigger social happening in Jewish life than a wedding. It usually began with a ceremony at sundown in the synagogue. Then the entire wedding party would leave the synagogue and begin this long candlelight procession through the middle of town. The couple would be escorted past as many homes as possible so everyone could come out and congratulate them…They went home to a party lasting several days! There would be gift-giving, speech-making, wining and dining. Hospitality at a wedding was considered such a sacred duty that the master at the wedding could actually be sued for “breach of hospitality”. So, running out of food or wine was considered a tremendous insult.’

It’s notable that Jesus’ first miracle was not healing cancer or raising the dead but resolving a domestic crisis and rescuing newlyweds from embarrassment. It’s a mistake to think that God only cares about major stuff like divorce, bankruptcy, or death. He also cares about minor stuff like broken dishes, toothaches, grumpy bosses, lost dogs, flat tires, and late flights. The Bible says, ‘Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you’ (1 Peter 5:7). What matters to you matters to Jesus.

Notice that when these newlyweds sent out wedding invitations, they sent one to Jesus. And He showed up and met their need. Notice also how it happened. Mary, the mother of Jesus, said to them, ‘Whatever He says to you, do it.’ What Jesus told them to do did not seem rational, but when they obeyed, they received a miracle. And if you will pray, trust God, and obey Him, He will work a miracle for you too.

Prayer

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