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On to the Next Trial

 
In spite of this positive conclusion of the trial, we knew that after such exposure to the police and the public, there was a high possibility of Jul, Woohan and me being expelled. Therefore we invited some of the newer workers into the fellowship to make sure there would be continuity if we had to leave.
Having been fired from my job, I now had time to make a less hurried search for a new apartment. In September, a friend introduced us to a man who had a place for rent in a new section of town up on the southern ridge of the city. We went for a visit, looked at the apartment and took it.
Shortly after this as I was driving along alone when suddenly a voice said, “Read Psalm 43.” It was so startling and real that I turned and looked in the back seat to see who was there but there was no one.
As soon as I got home I took out my Bible and opened to Psalm 43. Verse 1 said, “Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.”
“Wow,” I thought, “That is certainly appropriate for me!” I went right to work and memorized the short Psalm. I had no idea of how the Lord was using this to prepare me for what was to come next but was sure that having it in my mind was important.
One week later I got another visit from a policeman. He notified me that I was being put on trial in a small town up on the Black Sea Coast.
“What for?” I asked, “I haven’t been up there for a long time.”
“You’ve been sending religious propaganda letters into the area. The prosecuting attorney got one and complained to us. We know that you, Jul and Woohan are behind all this, so you are being put on trial for it.”
The policeman handed me the official papers. “Make sure you go there for this trial date. If you don’t show up, we will escort you in handcuffs to the next one!”
I closed the door and thought to myself, “Jul and Woohan are out of the country, so I may have to go alone.” It was not a pleasant prospect.
First I called our lawyer’s teacher, Professor T., who had helped to defend us in our recent trial. He invited me to come to his office and spent an hour telling me what to say and not to say during my hearing. That was helpful.
I asked others to accompany me, but no one wanted to take the risk after seeing Harry, Ivan and their German partner put in prison until their next trial date.
Barbara offered to come, but I told her that someone needed to be there for the kids if I were sent to jail for the next three months or more.
In the end I went off alone on the night bus. It was an eight-hour ride, and most of the way I meditated on Psalm 43. It was so appropriate:

“Vindicate me, O God,” [Truly, He was the only One who could help!]
“and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;” [This nation certainly rejected the Word of God and all He had to say and I needed God to be my lawyer.]
“rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.”[Those I’d dealt with were just that; God had rescued us thus far and would again.]
“You are God my stronghold.” [He is my only hope and a powerful One.]
“Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?” [That’s how it seemed. Here David was lifting his soul to God, telling Him how he felt. Like David, I also felt vulnerable and weak, going from one trial to the next.]
“Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;” [And God had done that ahead of time, directing me to this Psalm that was so appropriate to my situation.]

“let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.” [The Word brings me into the light of God’s presence with Truth.]
“Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.” [He has made Himself my personal God. He is my joy and He is my delight; my joy is not dependent on acquittal, freedom, or ease. I must focus on Him in this situation.]

“I will praise you with the harp,” [Giving praise before I get an answer—that is what I should and want to do. And I did it: “Praise you, Lord God, for how you are going to work this out.”]

“O God, my God.” [You are not just God, but my God who is personally, intimately involved in my life.]
“Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me” [So why should I be discouraged, here on this bus in the darkness of the night, speeding towards my rendezvous with a possible prison stay?]

“Put your hope in God,” [He is the only hope in this situation, a solid, sure, powerful, faithful and certain hope. I choose to trust in and hope in Him.]

“for I will yet praise him,” [He will work, He is faithful, He will do what is best, and I will praise Him both before I see the outcome and afterwards.]

“my Savior and my God.” [Again, that personal commitment on God’s part to save and rule my life.]
I was encouraged and refreshed, even though I didn’t know what God would bring to me in the coming day. As it turned out He had four gifts for me.
 
Picture: Barbara praising God with her “harp.”
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Psalm 32:5-6

 
Psalm 32:5b-6 “you forgave the guilt of my sin…Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found;”
 
[In every situation, this is what we have the privilege of doing: running to you in prayer, Lord, seeking you and your help. Prayer is not our last resort, nor the least we can do; it is our first resort and the most we can do for anyone. I praise you that you can always be found by your children, for you are consistently with us, always watching, always ready to help: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1).
 
Praise you, that you have called us to a partnership where we must seek you, come to you in prayer, and then you will answer. It is a relationship: wonderful, positive and powerful. It is a responsibility: we must reject the desire to fix things ourselves and instead come first to you, acknowledging and rejoicing in our weakness. Praise you for the possibility of entering into your presence at each moment and finding help. “In the day of my trouble I will call upon you, for you will answer me” (Ps. 86:7).]
 
“surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.”
 
[This danger is not an “if” but a “when.” Floods of trouble will come, but you will set us high upon a rock and keep us safe. “God is our refuge and strength…. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and foam, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof” (Ps. 46:1-3).
 
This is true today—as the tide of culture now is flowing against you, Lord, against your Word and your children–and it’s true forever that the flood will not overcome us. I praise you, Lord, and give you glory and honor, joy and exaltation, because, whatever might come, you are there in power, love and grace. “My soul, find rest in God alone; my hope comes from Him” (Ps. 62:5).
 
Help us to rest in you and your greatness today, Lord Jesus, rejecting worry, fear and anxiety, instead embracing love, joy and peace, trusting in you, living in your desire: “May the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace AS YOU TRUST IN HIM, so that your lives may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).
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Exalt, Revel and Rejoice

 
I praise you, my Heavenly Father, for your steadfast, unwavering love and goodness. I am so much the opposite: my emotions are up and down. My sense of achievement and worth waver. My happiness with myself fluctuates with what I perceive to be success or failure. My feelings change with how people interact with me, with how well I sleep and even with my dreams.
But you, Lord God, have made yourself my Rock, my Protector, my Fortress, my Forgiver, my Cleanser and my Father. I praise you for the whole-hearted, deep and full acceptance you have given me in Christ. I thank you for the gracious correction, the loving help, the continual support from your glorious riches, from your constant presence, your protection and provision.
In you I am forgiven; in you I am being transformed; in you I am on the upward journey to heaven; in you I have worth and meaning and unfailing love.
Lord Jesus, my wonder at you grows as I consider what I am in myself: selfish, proud, weak, unstable, lustful, lazy, impatient, unbelieving and rebellious, to name a few of my sinful tendencies. And then my wonder grows more as I consider what I, as a sinner, deserve: condemnation, rejection, punishment, suffering, failure, death and eternal separation from you.
In the light of this, I am more and more amazed at your unending, rich, powerful and enthusiastic love, poured out over me every day. You are too good to be true–but you are! Too wonderful to be real, but you are! Too great to be grasped–you are beyond human conception, but you have revealed enough of yourself for us to trust you.
Yet, this is what you are! Your love is real, demonstrated at the culmination of history at the Cross and Resurrection–and then repeatedly affirmed in my life each day by your forgiveness, patience, kindness and grace.
What a privilege to bask in your love, exult in your goodness, revel in your acceptance, and rejoice in your forgiveness. May I never take any of this for granted, may my wonder at your great goodness ever increase and spill over into ongoing revival, which results in worship through obedience, praise through faith, and rejoicing through surrender.
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Psalm 32:3-5

 
Psalm 32:3,4 “When I kept silent, [not confessing, not acknowledging my sin] my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; [this is your love, moving us towards repentance.] my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah”
Psalm 32:5 “Then I acknowledged my sin to you [may I ever do so quickly, immediately!] and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
[Because you are Love, Lord Jesus, because you are Faithful, because you have paid the great price and you love to forgive, we can eagerly and boldly come to you to confess and repent. We are safe in you, we are protected in you, for “you are good and ready to forgive and abounding in mercy to all who call on you” (Ps. 86:5).
Why hold back? Why prolong the painful resistance? And for what? A little more indulging in anger or resentment or lust? We thereby grieve the Spirit and end up with a mouthful of gravel!
Let us instead run to His open arms, eager to lay our sin at His feet, to be forgiven, cleansed and back into fellowship. This is wisdom, this is freedom, and this is what He desires for us–the restoration of our joy in Him.
Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, my great Shepherd, my Brother, My Lord, my King, my Creator and Sustainer, my God. You are worthy of worship, of honor, of glory and exaltation. May I give you these through whole-hearted faith, quick repentance, immediate obedience and ongoing praise in all things.
Help me to walk in the light of your presence today, Lord, clearly, unreservedly accepting what you have to say to me about my sin and about your love.
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Perfect Balance

From EDIFIED!
 
“Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”
Psalm 86:3,4
 
I praise you, Lord God, for your warm and loving heart which makes it possible to always come to you and tell you what is bothering me, where I have failed, where I am uncertain, when I am angry, upset and hurting.
 
You are pleased when your children transparently pour out their hearts to you. We can be fully honest, “for you are good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all those who call upon you” (Ps. 86:5).
 
What a full-orbed God you are! On one side you are pure and perfect, high and holy. On the other, you are loving and merciful, gracious and gentle, kind and forgiving, faithful and tender.
 
There’s a tension between these two aspects of your character—being the firm Judge and the kind Justifier, the stern Punisher and the gracious Pardoner, the awesome Mighty One and the approachable Merciful One, the fearsome sin Condemner and the tender sin Forgiver.
 
Both sides are always present, showing the beautiful balance of your being, kept in place, at least in our minds, by the tension between the two aspects: your “firm side” and your “tender side.” This balance helps us respond to you well. Your unbending justice inspires a holy fear of you: awe, respect, caring deeply what you think, and having a fear of firm consequences if we sin.
 
And your all-encompassing compassionate side inspires love, trust, transparency and joy. Together they nurture worship, self-denial and obedience. Seeing this perfect balance in your character brings security, rest and contentment. In you we belong, in you we have worth, in you we have competence.
Your balance also reminds us of the positive tension that you desire in us: the remembrance of where we have come from (out of the dominion of darkness where we were condemned criminals before the court of Heaven, trapped in net of the enemy, in our natural depravity and in helplessness) and who we are in you (the beloved children of the King, brought into the Kingdom of Light, living in your love and grace).
 
In our natural selves we are sinful, rebellious, negative, selfish, unbelieving and destructive. But in you we are cleansed, forgiven, justified, equipped for special service, accepted, dearly loved, and delighted in. Keeping both in mind means we are able to be truly humble—that is, seeing ourselves as you see us. Keeping both in mind protects us from being depressed in the negative and from being proud in the positive.
 
Only you could bring us to such a balance, lifting us from the level of natural thinking to heavenly seeing, from a self-centered viewpoint to a Christ-centered understanding.
You, Lord, are our wonderful God: High and Mighty, Wise and Wonderful, Pure and Powerful, Eternal and Perfect. In you all is brought together in marvelous balance. May we live there with you consistently.
 
Prayer: “I bow before you in worship, Lord; I rise up before you to obey. Help me to see myself as you see me: being your beloved son while being a sinner whom I can’t trust. Help me to trust you instead. May you be glorified in my life today as I live in this positive and constructive tension, resting in your love. Amen.”
 
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Psalm 32:1-2

 
 
Psalm 32 Of David. A maskil.
“Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”
[Praise you, Lord God, the Great and Holy One, that you have provided forgiveness for my many sins, wiping clean the record of my multitude of transgressions, including the ones to come.
I thank you, with all my heart, that you took me from being a correctly condemned criminal to being a sovereignly saved son, dearly loved, doted on and delighted in. I praise you for qualifying me to be a partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in the Kingdom of Light–when what I actually deserved was to be cast out into eternal darkness.
What a wonder to be cleansed, transformed, adopted, accepted and delighted in–all contrary to what I actually should have been given! You are truly the God of Grace, the King of Kindness and the Lord of Love.]
Psalm 32:2 “Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.”
[Lord Jesus, I praise you that you not only erased my guilt, taking it upon yourself, but that you consistently work in me to bring transparency, making my spirit one of truth, instead of deceit.
My soul certainly has deceit—I do not like my sin being exposed, even to myself, and naturally seek to cover it up. And there is much hidden there that I don’t even know yet, but I know enough to confess consistently to you: that it is natural for me to be selfish and impatient, impolite and curt, proud and negative, thoughtless and overly focused on self–among many other sins.
Praise you, Lord, that your Spirit works in my spirit and soul to change all this, making me aware of what is wrong so I can abandon it, and what is right, so I can embrace it.
Help me to stand in ever-growing awe of your greatness and goodness, of the unceasing, ever-cleansing flow of grace from your heart, and to fear you, not man.
 
Help me today to follow the leading of your Spirit and to be wise and effective for you, basking in the truth that you will never count my sin against me and that you are unceasingly at work to move me forward in sanctification. I thank you now for what you will do today, whether it be pleasant or painful, trusting you to do and bring what is best.
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Psalm 31:23-24

 
Psalm 31:23 “Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful,”
[There are an infinite number of reasons to love you, LORD Yahweh! Not the least of which is your faithfulness to your Word, to your promises, to your Character, to your love. We can be sure that whatever you allow into our lives, you have a plan, a purpose and will give provision and carry us through.
Because you are faithful, Lord Jesus, you preserve, protect and deliver those who are faithful, who trust in you, who walk in awe of you, in obedience to your desires, living in the light of your great and holy presence. “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them” (Ps. 34:7).]
“but the proud he pays back in full.”
[You will act against those who are proud–including against me if I need it. I praise you, Lord Jesus, that as the Good Shepherd you do rebuke us, correct us, chasten us and punish us when needed to get our attention. I praise you, Lord God, for your working in every way, for your guidance in all things.
Thank you that you will deal with those who, in pride, act against your children, against your Word, against Truth. Help us to reject pride, to be humble before you, not listening to our hearts, but to you.]
Psalm 31:24 “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.”
[When our hope is in you, the Time Beginner, the Star-breather, the Dawn-bringer, the History Ender, we can be strong and encouraged, for you, Lord God, are powerful and good and wise and it is your nature to love.
When my heart is down, discouraged and disappointed, I can find my hope in you, the great and glorious God whose power is immeasurable, whose might is eternal, whose strength is unending, whose love guides all you do: “My soul, find rest in God alone, for my hope comes from him” (Ps. 62:5).
To hope in you is wisdom, to trust you is good, to obey you is freedom, to lift our souls to you is joy.
 
Praise be to you, Lord God for what you will do today in the plans and events before me. I choose to trust you, honor you and worship you. Be glorified in my life today.]
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The Story of Arrests and Trial Continues

The next day, the hours in the cell crept by slowly. We prayed together and sang some—but the police didn’t like that—and we slept.
That night the police brought in more people, including our Korean partner and an older German believer who was not associated with any of us. He had been walking around downtown wearing a sign, calling people to Jesus.
We found out later that there had been fifty-four arrests in nine cities, most of them made using Harry’s address book. Thankfully no one recanted this time, in spite of the pressure applied.
The next day I was again taken for questioning. The police put a chart in front of me showing the leaders of each work in the nine cities, with titles for each. I had read about this categorization of us in the newspapers, so did not hesitate to confirm that these people worked there.
Later the police hung this chart in their terrorist division along with those of the groups like the PKK and Hezbollah. They considered us as dangerous as these other groups, even though there were only about two hundred of us in the whole country of sixty-five million, and we had no weapons and no political aspirations.
Actually, the police were right; we were more dangerous than those other groups, for the power of God was working through us to bring light into the darkness of Islam.
 
For the whole time we were jailed, Barbara and the other wives had no word of what was happening. However, they had contacted their embassies, and the US Consul was busy at work behind the scenes. By the afternoon of the third day, the Consul had convinced the police to let us go.
It is not an easy process to get out of jail. We first had to sign statements that we were treated well. Then we were driven to a hospital where doctors examined us and signed a report that we had no signs of torture. Then, finally, in the evening we were driven to the closest police station and released.
I was glad to get back home, and my family was happy to have me. It had been a pretty stressful time for all of us, for different reasons. But there wasn’t any opportunity to withdraw and recover.
The police had told us that we were being released because of lack of evidence. It was nice to go free, but using that reason left us open to the threat of being arrested again if they got more evidence. So although we knew this was not the end of the adventure, little did we know that we had just begun the journey into harassment.
When I returned to work the next day, the director called me into his office.
“I am really sorry to tell you that I must fire you,” he said. “The police came yesterday and told me that if I didn’t fire you they would make my life miserable.
“I like you and your teaching, but I can’t put my career and family on the line for you.” He looked genuinely sad.
“I understand,” I said, “and I wouldn’t want you to risk anything for me.” We shook hands and I left.
In one sense I was happy. The amount of time I had to give to this job had made it harder to do justice to my other two full time jobs: being field leader for more than forty people, and being one of the lead elders in the church plant.
I had talked about quitting my teaching job a number of times, but Barbara had always encouraged me to stay until the Lord made it clear I should leave. Well, this was pretty clear.
Then we got news that the German school would no longer allow us as a fellowship to meet there. It seems they had had a visit from the police also and were given the worse possible picture of us as a terrorist group.
After this, we received a notice from a man, saying he had bought our apartment and was giving us a week to move out. Although this had nothing to do with our arrests, it was the hardest blow—one coordinated by the devil. To be attacked on all sides from without was painful, but when you have your base snatched from under you, that is really difficult.
We praised God for this, however, asked for His help, and I immediately began looking for a place to move to. However, at that time of the year there were few possibilities, for most people move after school is out in June.
I called the real estate agent representing the new owner and he came to talk with us. After spending half an hour with us, he said, “Excuse me, may I use your phone? I need to make a call.”
He went out in the hall and we heard him say, “There is no way we can throw these people out. They are foreigners, fine people. Let’s allow them to stay until you can resell the apartment.”
The owner agreed! We could now praise God again, this time after receiving His wonderful answer.
I was not the only one with fall-out. Orin was again shamed before his family. At work he was ostracized and demoted. His trips to do construction inspection, which had provided him with extra pay, were taken from him. This, however, did not stop him from pressing on in his faith.
Harry and Ivan, who had moved up to the Black Sea Coast with a German business partner, had also been arrested, along with the German. At the end of their interrogation, instead of being released until their next hearing, the judge put all three of them in prison. They remained there until their trial date three months later. The Black Sea Coast tended to be more nationalistic and religiously conservative, so it was no surprise that they were treated more harshly when identified as believers.
My being fired was followed by another shock. In May the prosecuting attorney had decided he had enough evidence after all and was putting all of us who lived in the capital city on trial.
We were being charged with “doing propaganda,” a serious crime under local law. This meant we were accused of seeking to achieve political goals that were subversive and illegal. The prosecuting attorney was asking for a seven-year prison sentence for each of us.
Jul, Woohan and I met with some other workers to discuss what to do. Obviously this was too serious a charge to go without a lawyer, or with an unqualified one. The suggestion was made to hire the high profile lawyer who had won a number of cases for the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
He said he would defend us—for $30,000! We actually considered hiring him and put out the word for financial help. However, after prayer and further talk we saw that this was trusting in a clever lawyer, not in God. So we spent further time in prayer for guidance.
Jul had an English student who had just finished law school, a bright fellow who was willing to stick his neck out to defend us. He also suggested that one of his professors, a well known legal expert, should write a paper laying out the legal framework for our position.
We all agreed this was a better route to follow, even though the price for the paper was a bit steep, $5000. One thing that convinced us was that this paper would be useful to us in ways that went beyond just this trial.
Our first hearing came up in May. The twelve of us were ushered into a dark, cavernous courtroom, our footsteps echoing off the high ceiling. We were told to sit in the box for the accused. At the front of the room and seated high above us were the three judges. They looked down at us and smiled, chatting among themselves.
First they took our personal information. It was quite difficult for the stenographer to get down the names of the fathers and mothers of the Korean, Swedish, English, German and American defendants!
Then the charges were read “Doing propaganda with political intent,” to which we all pleaded, “Not guilty.” Our lawyer handed the court clerk his defense and the paper from his professor. A date was set in July for the second hearing and we were dismissed.
As we filed out, then next defendant was led in, a rough looking man wrapped in chains fastened with a padlock, and accompanied by four guards with sub-machine guns! He was obviously a dangerous character.
Now we understood why the judges had smiled when they saw us. We looked like a flock of little sheep compared to the typical defendants that were tried in this courtroom for “severe penalty crimes.”
 
On the July morning of our next hearing a good number of our fellow workers and other believers gathered in the court building to show us support while we waited in the hall to be called into the court room.
We were all in good spirits, feeling very upbeat and positive. Barbara said it felt like a holiday. Months later when we were able to get some of our back mail we found out why.
Our group had called for a worldwide day of prayer and fasting for us on this date. The Lord was answering their prayers and giving us joy in the midst of pressure.
When our turn came, we filed in and sat in the defendants’ box. After the call to order, the prosecuting attorney stood up.
“I have concluded that these people have done nothing outside of the framework of the law, ” he said. We looked at each other in surprise. This was the man who opened this case against us!
He continued. “Under the law they have the right to choose a religion, to learn about their new religion, to form a congregation, to worship together and to propagate their religion. Therefore I recommend they be declared not guilty.”
The judges conferred with each other and then declared the case closed. We walked out like people in a dream. Not only had we been protected, but our rights were clearly stated in a legal court document.
This was a great answer to our prayer for God to give us conditions conducive to the spread of the gospel. The whole experience seemed to break the spirit of fear that had hung so long over all the believers.
In addition, now we knew what it was like to be jailed, unjustly accused, fired and maligned in the papers–and it wasn’t so bad! The court decision gave the believers much more certainty concerning the legality of what they were doing and this opened a new era for us.
 
Picture, after our release, Barbara with one of th elocal women who was also “inside” with us.
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Psalm 105:3

“Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!” Psalm 105:3
 
These are commands, giving us opportunities to choose between obedience in praise, or rebellion in complaining. And we CAN obey in praise, not because of our situations, our strength of will or our freedom of choice, but because of who YOU are, Lord Jesus.
 
You are the God of Glory, the King of kindness, the Potentate of power, Lord of Love, Ruler of Righteousness, Paragon of Perfection, Judge of Justice, Light of life, Wonder of the world and Savior of sinners, especially of all those who believe.
 
You are the Focus of eternity, the Fulfiller of prophecy, the Finisher of time, the Final Solution to sin and evil. In you all comes together, all holds together, all works together. In spite of its twisted and cursed condition, the universe continues to operate as you hold the stars in their places, the planets in their orbits, the atoms in their makeup, the details of our lives in line, the timing of events in sequence and the tide of evil in check.
You are the One to rejoice in, the One to glory in, the One to rest in. What a privilege, what a possibility, what a power, to be able to choose to praise you in and for all, to glorify you, thank you and revel in you at all times.
 
“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in your presence, ever praising your name” (Ps. 89:15). To acclaim you, to acknowledge your presence and power in all that happens–this is a wondrous privilege we can practice every day. In our weakness, we can seek your strength; in our ignorance we can seek your knowledge; in our foolishness we can seek your wisdom; in our smallness we can seek your great presence.
 
You, Lord Jesus, are truly worthy of worship, of glory, of honor. We exalt you today by choosing to prolifically praise you, to seek you and your strength in persistent prayer, to practice your presence in our thoughts and attitudes, to honor you in our words and work.
 
Prayer: “May you be richly, powerfully, visibly exalted in my life today as I choose to live for your glory by praising you in all. Amen.”
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Psalm 31:21-22

 
 
Psalm 31:21 “Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.”
[More than once David was trapped in a city (1 Sam. 23:7-13), but each time, in the midst of David’s danger, you, Lord, defended him, you acted to keep him safe when all seemed lost, when he appeared to have no way out.
So you do with us, when we are trapped by tragedy or loss, difficulty or destruction (such as Barbara’s present depression), negativity and evil, you are there, and you show us your wonderful love by giving us a way out. To paraphrase Psalm 46:5, God is within us, we will not fall, He promises to help us at break of day–that is, after the longest, coldest part of the night.
You are the God of hope, who stands ready to “fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in you so that our lives can overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13). Help us to trust before your help comes.]
Psalm 31:22 “In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from your sight!’ Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.”
[What seems to be an impossible situation for us is changed when we remember that you are there, Lord, that you are acting behind the scenes and will do what is best. I think of the times we were threatened with expulsion from the country we were working in, but you heard our cry for mercy, Lord, and kept us there for many years more, in spite of the opposition and plans of high ranking men.
You always are prepared to act at the right time, and you often give us the privilege of going by faith for a while, believing you when we have no outward evidence, and thereby giving you greater glory before all.
 
Help us to do that daily obeying, your call to:”Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Ps. 50:14,15).]
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