If you have been around here very long, you know that one thing I LOVE is to pray the Word!  At the start of this year, I picked up an old devotional that I love!  I have picked up many devotionals over the years, and quite honestly I end up setting many aside, maybe only making it a few weeks in.  The devotionals that I DO love are those that point me to the Word!  Every time I pick up this particular one, I cannot wait to go and read the suggested reading OR dig into the one listed for me to meditate upon.  THAT is what makes a devotional strong for my faith journey!  This week I came across, once again, Psalm 107.

Everything about this Psalm draws me into worship (you will notice this with the worship songs I include)!  And as I have found often, especially in this last year, is how applicable the Word is, how timely, how alive! 

Today, my version of choice for Psalm 107, especially in my prayer life, is The Passion Translation.  Join me as we pray…

Let everyone give all their praise and thanks to the Lord!  Here’s why—he’s better than anyone could ever imagine.  Yes, he’s always loving and kind, and his faithful love never ends. (v. 2)

Spend some time praising Him for who He is – for His loving kindness, for His steadfast love.  He is a good, good Father.  Spend some time meditating on this truth and thanking Him for it.  [This is especially true if you didn’t have a great father growing up, or had one who was absent.  Our Abba Father will never fail us, will never shame us and will never abandon us.  His love is completely unconditional!  He loves us because we are His!]

So, go ahead—let everyone know it!
Tell the world how he broke through
and delivered you from the power of darkness and
has gathered us together from all over the world.
He has set us free to be his very own!
Some of us once wandered in the wilderness like desert nomads,
with no true direction or dwelling place.
Starving, thirsting, staggering,
we became desperate and filled with despair.
Then we cried out, “Lord, help us! Rescue us!” And he did!
He led us right into a place of safety and abundance,
a suitable city to dwell in.
So lift your hands and thank God for his marvelous kindness
and for all his miracles of mercy for those he loves. (v. 2-8)

We each have a story – of how God rescued us and delivered us from the power of darkness.  Even if you grew up in a “perfect” family, we all have experienced hard in our lifetimes and know how and when He set us free!  We know the day He rescued us and set our feet upon the rock.  We know those days we were floundering, doubting our faith and our God; days where we didn’t know if we could go on; days where all we saw with our eyes was the “impossibility” set before us. 

Praise Him for your story!  Tell someone else your story!  Make a call, send a text, write a post…  We have conquered the enemy by the blood the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Rev. 12:11).  Do not, for one moment, discount the power of your own story!  It has power to speak truth and triumph into the one who is in the midst of his/her own darkness.

Pray for those who are wandering with no true direction, for those filled with desperation and despair.  

Pray for those who are in middle of the storm, pray for yourself.  Cry out, “Lord, help me!  Rescue me!”  He WILL lead you into a place of safety and abundance.  Praise Him already, for the way He will answer this cry of prayer!

How he satisfies the souls of thirsty ones and fills the hungry with all that is good! (v. 9)

Oh dear ones!  If we will but seek after Him, He will satisfy our hunger and thirst for Him!  So, if you are feeling weary or hopeless in your walk, seek Him!  Go after Him!  Spend time in worship, singing His praises!  Read the Word and read it aloud.  Read the Word and discuss it with a friend or spouse.  Pray for this hunger and thirst!  Spend the time filling in and you will find your heart suddenly transformed! 

“Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied.  Matthew 5:6 AMP

Seek to be in right standing with Him and ask Him to reveal all those places creating any chasm between you and Him (Ps. 139:23-24).

Some of us once sat in darkness,
living in the dark shadows of death.
We were prisoners to our pain, chained to our regrets.
For we rebelled against God’s word
and rejected the wise counsel of God Most High.
So he humbled us through our circumstances,
watching us as we stumbled, with no one there to pick us back up.
Our own pain became our punishment.
Then we cried out, “Lord, help us! Rescue us!” And he did!
 His light broke through the darkness and
he led us out in freedom from death’s dark shadow
and snapped every one of our chains.
So lift your hands and give thanks to God for his marvelous kindness
and for his miracles of mercy for those he loves!
For he smashed through heavy prison doors and
shattered the steel bars that held us back, just to set us free! (v. 10-16)

Praise Him that you are no longer in the darkness.  Praise Him for your rescue!  And pray for those spaces you might still feel consumed by darkness.  Pray that He would break through those chains.  Pray for those who you sense are under their own chains of hopelessness and despair.

Pray for those (and for yourself if needed) who have rebelled against the Lord Most High.  Pray for humility, teachability and for blind eyes to suddenly be opened.  His light has a way of breaking through the darkest corners and crevices of our hearts, of our families and of this nation. 

Pray for the Lord’s guiding hand – that He might lead the Church back once again to the throne of grace.   Pray for soft hearts.  Pray against judgement, fear, bitterness, anger and offense.  Pray for miracles of mercy to flood His Church, that He would smash all the prison doors and steel bars that have held us back.  Pray for a Church on fire.  Pray for a miracle of unity!

Some of us were such fools, bringing on ourselves
sorrow and suffering all because of our sins.
Sick and feeble, unable to stand the sight of food,
we drew near to the gates of death.
Then we cried out, “Lord, help us! Rescue us!” And he did!
God spoke the words “Be healed,” and we were healed,
delivered from death’s door!
So lift your hands and give thanks to God for his marvelous kindness
and for his miracles of mercy for those he loves!
Bring your praise as an offering and your thanks as a sacrifice
as you sing your story of miracles with a joyful song.  (v. 17-22)

Pray for healing and for deliverance from death’s door (for yourself, for others and for this nation).  Then, enter into a place of praise!  With anticipation and expectancy, bring Him a thank offering for His kindness and miracles of mercy He bestows on those He loves!  Sing your own story of miracles.  He is worthy of praise!  Give to Him what He is due!  All Glory and Honor and Praise!

Some of us set sail upon the sea to faraway ports,
transporting our goods from ship to shore.
We were witnesses of God’s power out in the ocean deep;
we saw breathtaking wonders upon the high seas.
 When God spoke he stirred up a storm,
lifting high the waves with hurricane winds.
Ships were tossed by swelling sea, rising to the sky,
then dropping down to the depths,
reeling like drunkards, spinning like tops,
everyone at their wits’ end until even sailors despaired of life,
cringing in terror.
Then we cried out, “Lord, help us! Rescue us!” And he did!
God stilled the storm, calmed the waves,
and he hushed the hurricane winds to only a whisper.
We were so relieved, so glad as he guided us
safely to harbor in a quiet haven.
So lift your hands and give thanks to God for his marvelous kindness
and for his miracles of mercy for those he loves!  (v. 23-31)

Many of us has been in our own storms.  We have been consumed by the terror of the waves.  Maybe you are in your own storm right now.  Maybe you are consumed by the storm in this nation.  Wherever fear or anxiety threaten your peace, call on the Father!  And throw off those things that do not belong and those things that are not of Him!  We cast ALL our cares onto Him for He cares for us (1 Pt. 5:7).  Believe in the answer.  Believe that He calls you to a safe harbor!  Lift up your hands in thanksgiving and praise Him for the miracles only He can bring!

Let’s exalt him on high and lift up our praises in public; let all the people and the leaders of the nation know how great and wonderful is Yahweh, our God! (v. 32)

Dear friends, please pray for our nation.  Godly principles are one by one being pulled and replaced with “anything goes”.  Pray with all the fervor in you that HIS praises would be lifted high in the public square!  I think of the many prayer and praise efforts on the national mall in our nation’s capital – the days, weeks and months prior to the election.  I think of all the public worship events that have sprouted up across this country – some organically, some prayed for, prepared for and planned – ALL to give worship to our King.  Pray that no matter the state of this government that these efforts would be MULTIPLIED rather than censored and erased.  Pray for a supernatural boldness that can only be poured out by the Holy Spirit.  Pray for more and more and more!  “Let ALL the people and the leaders of (this) nation know HOW great and wonderful is Yahweh, our God!” 

Whenever he chooses he can dry up a river
and turn the land into a desert.
Or he can take a fruitful land and make it into a saltwater swamp,
all because of the wickedness of those who dwell there.
But he also can turn a barren wilderness into an oasis with water!
He can make springs flow into desert lands
and turn them into fertile valleys so that cities spring up,
and he gives it all to those who are hungry.
They can plant their fields and vineyards there
and reap a bumper crop and gather a fruitful harvest.
God will bless them and cause them to multiply and prosper.
But others will become poor,
humbled because of their oppression, tyranny, and sorrows.
For God pours contempt upon their arrogant abuse of power,
heaping scorn upon their princes,
and makes them wander among ruins.
But he raises up the poor and lowly with his favor,
giving them a safe place to live where no one can touch them.
God will grant them a large family and bless them!
The lovers of God will rejoice when they see this.
Good men are glad when the evil ones are silenced.
If you are truly wise, you’ll learn from what I’ve told you.
It’s time for you to consider these profound lessons
of God’s great love and mercy! (v. 33-43)

He is NOT done with this nation!  He has not abandoned us.  In fact, I believe He will do immeasurably more than all we could ask for or imagine!

Are you with me?  Do not become weary.  Keep pressing in!  The opportunities abound and there is a far greater platform than ever before for HIM to show off! 

He can makes ways in the dessert.  He can “turn a barren wilderness into an oasis with water”!  Believe that all the seeds we have planted in prayer that GOD will cause those same seeds to multiply and prosper.  His justice will reign.  The darkness has become darker than I ever known in this nation and yet, I see His Glory abounding!  I see many of His people rising up and championing His Kingdom!  Pray that He will raise us up with His favor!  I have no idea what this look likes, but my experiences with the miracles of God says we haven’t seen anything yet!

Today, consider His great love and mercy.  And worship Him  – for His goodness will never fail us!

What from this Psalm spoke to you today?  Share below…