Sunday, November 10, 2013

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY

Suggested Reading: Psalms 143-144

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

 

Here is the ancient marketplace of Ephesus. These pillars once stood proudly as a testimony to the success of the commercial centre of the city. Man's accomplishments eventually crumble into ruin, but God's great building, His living stones, His people, are built to last forever and ever.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verses: Psalm 144:15

Happy are the people who are in such a state;

Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!

Psalm 143 is the kind of prayer we all need to pray when we are in distress. David prays, “Hear my prayer, O Lord!” “Answer me speedily!” “Do not hide Your face from me!” “Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning!” (could this blog be an answer to that prayer?) “Cause me to know the way in which I should walk!” “Deliver me, O Lord!” “Revive me, O Lord!”

Psalm 144 is delightful! King David asks the question, “What is man?” David’s answer is “a breath,” and “a shadow,” but man also has the potential to be “Happy” during our brief time here on earth. This question, “What is man?” is quoted in Hebrews chapter 2 in the New Testament. We may want to take time to meditate on these words given by the writer to the Hebrew people. We’ll find that Jesus is the greatest joy of all!!! (click here). David prayed, “Bow down Your heavens, O Lord, and come down!” (144:2a). God did come down! We can sing with great happiness, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!”

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, there is a one word prayer I pray daily, “HELP!” I am confident You heard my prayer in advance of my time on earth, and You have come down to me in the Person of Jesus Christ, in whose Name I pray. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

My daughter, Elaine Stacey, gave me a gift of a book called, “Happy, Happy, Happy.” It’s the story of the Robertson family. Perhaps you’ve seen the reality TV series called, Duck Dynasty. Phil Robertson, at one time, was an alcoholic who met Jesus and Jesus made him a new man. I’m praying that this same encounter will happen in the life of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford! In Phil’s book I read the facts, whereas in the TV show the producers water down the testimony of Jesus that this family want to share with the whole world. The producers even put in “bleeps” to make out that they were swearing. The Robertsons are quite upset at this and when they are not edited, they make it clear that they don’t swear! Here’s an interview with Jase, Phil’s son, that aired on 100 Huntley Street earlier this year (click here). Phil has lived to see his children blessed as David prayed, “Sons as plants, and daughters as pillars!” (Psalm 144:12).

Yours for being able to say with Phil, “Happy, Happy, Happy!”

David

P.S. Norma-Jean bought me the shirt I’m wearing in the picture below, and my grandson, Nathaniel Shaheen, put on a beard for the photo! My hat is a gift from Chief Sunrise, a great first nations leader from the North West Territories. The Chief, with the name, “Sunrise,” shows the “Reality” of Psalm 143:8, God’s “Loving kindness in the morning.”

40 thoughts on “Sunday, November 10, 2013

  1. Awesome photo of Nathaniel and you, David–you look fantastic!

    I am not familiar with the Duck Dynasty, however, watched the clip–very interesting. Praise God they know the Lord and are bringing others to Him through their show. In the way God has designed and calls them to, they are singing a new song to You, O God; on a harp of ten strings, they will sings praises to You.

    “I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, “Lord, this causes me such heartache.” To talk that way makes me such a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me, without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Doing this creates for me my own “cozy world within the world,” and God will not be allowed to move me from it because of my fear of being “frost-bitten.”

    May we all be filled with joy for our Lord, today; singing and shouting praises to His glorious name! Blessings, fellow saints–so happy we can share the gift of this blog, together, and celebrate the glory of our risen King!

  2. Amen, Beverlee. You look great, David. My brother who had a stroke watches Duck Dynasty. Special blessings on you, Carole as you go through the waters of baptism. Scott, The Lord loves you and knows all our anxieties and we are with you too. Praying your words will fall upon good soil tomorrow, David. Lord help us to cast all our care upon you as we worship you today. Amen!

    • Yes, indeed, bless you, Carole on your special water baptism–praise the Lord! Thanks for the reminder, Ger–you are really good at that! Bless you!

  3. Happy are the people who s God is the Lord
    I ve seen duck dynasty and knew they were christians and happy to see the picture of you Davidwith your grandson you look great may everyone o this blog have a merry heart it isthe best medecine a broken spirit dries up the bones
    So praise God witha merry heart today and every day inJesus name amen

  4. Praise the lord!
    David great fun photo , you look great. We are so glad the prayers are being answered. Huum… yes Duck Dynasty …. I have seen it. As you know David, Jerry and I and his family and friends sort of have our own Duck Dynasty here in Seelelys Bay. I loved the clip. I e:mailed it to my self and some friends.
    This testimony is the answer to Jerry’s prayer. He has been sharing his faith with his family, some just don’t want or bon’t under stand the relavence of Jesus.
    All week while hunting with his brothers Jerry was witnessing for Christ.
    This has been an on going saga since Jerry’s conversion in the fall 2008.
    Jerry’s family are good hard working folk, they are kinda like the Duck Daynasty folks with out the beards. Jerry is going to show this testamony to his friends and family.
    Also we were so happy happy happy to learn that the bleeps are not swear words. Thank you Jesus. Amen! You see there has been talk that the money and fame is changing them, that they are being corrupted. Now I can defend there
    Position with the truth.

    Just want to ba

  5. Amen to all the comments today and Carole as you go through the waters of baptism may you be blessed and all those who are their to see your obedience to God. Bless you sister in Christ.

    Great picture, and I learned the hard lesson not to judge a book by it’s cover, when I first saw the advertisement for Duck Dynasty. Then I saw the interview on Huntley St. Sure changed my mind. Too bad the media has to add things to make out they are swearing. I pray they stand their ground and seek to have that stopped.

    It’s good to be HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY in The Lord.

    Didn’t get to service today, nursing a very sore throat and did’t want to pass it on, but just watch Dr. Charles Stanley……wonderful sermon in seeking God during our trials….I think it was meant for me.

    THank you Pastor David for the nourishment in The Word. You look great and will be praying for your upcoming trip. Blessings fellow saints.

    Scott…..we love you in Jesus!! Missing Janet too…..praying you are feeling a little better.

  6. Sorry about that I am on an Android it is a touch screen and it plays tricks on me. As I was saying I just want to back up a it and say Scott I too value your comments as I value all of the comments made on this blog . When I read
    about your dry spell my heart was addened and I prayed.Scott you are a man of God your heart knows the truth , Jesus. Some times Satan tries to do a number
    on us, but course all we have to do is turn our focus to Him…Jesus and it all melts away, all of the anxiety and dought turns to peace and love.
    I was not on the blog every day and have not read every comment or I would
    have noticed your absents. Your comment are a valuable contrabution to this blog and you are loved by all of us.

    Brad Just want to say Hi and let you know I appreciate your honesty and I
    know you are also loved by all of us on this blog.

    Peace , love and prayers to “all” !
    Marla 🙂

  7. Oh dear this messed up worse than I thought you see I was posting a comment
    When in the middle of it it posted its self, or at least it appeared that way.
    Then I posted the fallow up and it should have come up under the first part.
    But I see it is not there. Oh well ….I will ad it shortly. Sorry
    M. 🙁 lol

  8. Here is the first part
    David love the photo where’s your beard? Lol , you look great we are all so happy happy happy our prayers for you are being answered.

    I have seen Duck Dynasty it is very popular around this ” neck of the woods”
    David can a test to this fact that here in Seeleys Bay On. we live the Duck Dynasty
    life style. This is red neck heaven lol I say that with much affection.

    Next Saturday we are invited to a Wedding that is theamed around……YES!
    Duck Dynasty. We attended the stag and doe. It to was theamed around Duck Dynasty what fun it was to watch the soon to be Bride and Groom in their
    Camoe and deards,” the bride did not sport a beard” lol, as did many of the men there.

    I was so glad to learn that the bleeps are not swear words. There has been talk that the money and fame is corrupting them. Now I can defend them as true
    believers in Jesus. I e:mailed the interview from the link on this blog to my self and to some friends and family who are not believers , I think they will watch this interview in its entirety .Praise the lord ,this testamony is exactly what we have been praying for.Just yesterday while out deer hunting Jerry was trying to speak to his brother Greg about Jesus, but Jerry said” I just don’t seem to be able to reach Greg” . I think Greg and his family just might be willing to watch this Duck Dynasty Interview most of them have been to the Boots and Hearts music festavals . God is so amaseing, his timeing blows mine mind.

    Please pray that Jerry will be able to conveay the message of Christ with the use of this testamony and save those in his family who are not saved.
    ThankYou! xxoo
    M.

  9. So sorry…. when I red back over the first posted part of my coment I noticed
    that it was so flawed in the gramer. As I said this is not a computor. It is very touch sensative and seems to have a mind of its own. If you have used one you will understand why I say this.I will try to be more careful.

  10. I to will be praying that Davids plea to Mayor Ford gets through to him.
    I saw the sad state Mayor Ford was in during his rant. I saw the vidio on Fox News on the Sean Hannity show . It grieved my heart so deeply for him.
    But there is hope and this can all be turned around and used to further God kingdom and change many lives , perhaps some of the Mayor’s personal friends and aquaintants also need help in thia area. He is not likely alone . He had to have become involved in this through an out side source, through temptation.
    So this is a much bigger picture, we are only seeing the tip of the ice burg.

  11. Scott: I have so missed your comments each day. After reading Pastor David’s teaching I always then went to read your blog. You write such amazing thoughts and bless me with your words. I know what it is to be in the place you have been in, I have had times like this recently due to health problems. My faith is what sustains me and I know yours will also sustain you. David I am praying every day for the mayor and that the Lord will take all this “garbage” and use it for His glory. I pray you are able to connect with him. Thank you David for your faithfulness.

  12. Thanks David …for being among so many other things …so joyful in the face of your trials and for leaving the curtains open on the window of your life and especially for living your life in a way that needs not hide or be ashamed of anything. Thanks for boldly praying for rascals like Rob Ford and for acknowledging his human potential in Christ. I wonder if his life was ever dedicated to the Lord and whether that could be done in proxy even so late in the game. I would like to ask of you the great honor of having you pray for my son Josh at 3rd yr medical student at McMaster in Hamilton and lost to our family last year following a revelation he made to us his parents and his siblings by email on his way home from having spent 2 weeks visiting us here in Winnipeg. We were celebrating our 5th 10th and 35th anniversaries. We were totally unaware of his struggles or involvement in the political and moral dilemmas on sexual orientation that have infected our nations here and abroad. The greater shock was to find out that 30% of the students in the Christian school-middle yrs where he attended for grades 5-9 have made the same declaration – several of which are young women. My Joshua was conceived against medical advice and following a prophetic word concerning him. Over the years it has been spoken over his life by several of his educators that he would one day be either a neurologist or the Prime Minister of Canada. God help us all as we take time to reflect on Remembrance Day and may we know that there is another war being waged under our noses while we were dozing. God bless us and show how to fight the good fight of rescuing from darkness this generation of young people who feel disposable as human beings and whose image of what family means has been shattered.

    • Hi Janice. Prayers for you and your son, Josh. Our families and their relationship with the Lord are so important. May God lead you forth in peace. May God intervene in the life of your son, Josh. We can only love our children as the Lord loves us – unreservedly, unconditionally – and constantly surrendering them to God evey time we think of them or find ourselves stressing. For me, the pressures of life just push me down further on my knees – keeps me worshipping, praising and surrendering to the Lord – praying for the fulfillment of perfect plan for us and our children’s life and destiny. “O Lord, hear prayer! Hear the prayer of evey heart who love their children so much and are burdened for their spiritual well-being, in Jesus powerful Name!” Samuel

  13. Thank you Davud for your faithfulness in spreading the Good News. I learned in church this morning., that a faithful servant of the Lord iin Sauda Arabia is going to receive 500 lashes on Thursday. Could you and fellow bloggers pray that The Lord will give him strength to endure the pain. Thank you in advance , blessings
    Eleanor

  14. Yes Lord I pray you intervene on behalf of the person who is to receive the 500 lashes…Lord you are able to stay the hand of the man who is assigned to deliver the lashes…and in particular that You O Lord dull any pain that would be inflicted… I pray this in Your Mighty Name JESUS!!!

    Thank you David Mainse for introducing us to Duck Dynasty as a ministry of the Lord!

  15. David M…wonderful photo of you and grandson. Going through the Psalms has been a ‘happy happy happy’ time. 🙂 So much ‘good stuff’ in all of the Psalms, and the little bites you fed us each day helped us ‘chew’ on those little gems so to apply to our lives.

    Scott: It was wonderful to see a post from you yesterday. 🙂 You have been missed. Thanks for sharing the video…yes..we do need Him…every hour of every day. Whatever you are going through, I pray you will feel His arms of love wrapped around you, His healing touch meeting the need, and His peace gently filling your soul.

  16. The Holy Spirit has touched my heart with God’s love through the many encouraging words from you, my blog-buddies. I am grateful that Jesus is always there as a solid rock for our lives and a compass for our journey. We need only to keep our eyes focused on Him so that He might lead us to our eternal home. God bless, I pray that everyone reading David’s blog will realize what a true gift this is for us and for those searching for God’s truth in their daily living. Amen.

  17. Thank you Beverlee for your post, and I say Amen to your prayer Irene for Eleanor’s request. Oh, God perform a miracle for this precious servant of yours. Hold him in your loving arms until this storm is past. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

  18. All of us are flawed and if God needs to make us forget our own names to humble us, He will. This is the problem with even christians. This is why God let Satan put a thorn in Paul’s side. If a man has the intelligence of Pierre Trudeau or Henry Kissenger but does not have dependance on Jesus, he has nothing. Even the apostle Paul had to be humbled by God. This is part of how we start to seek or continue to seek His ways.

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