1
00:00:01,199 --> 00:00:05,559
Most of us eat every day,
some of us too much, because yesterday's

2
00:00:05,639 --> 00:00:10,480
food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do

3
00:00:10,599 --> 00:00:15,039
some of us expect yesterday's portion of
heavenly manna, the word of God to

4
00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,879
keep us through today's challenges. On
this program, we are going to change

5
00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:25,039
all of that. Let's experience God's
words today and receive the power we need

6
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:30,839
to live healthy, vibrant lives.
Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,

7
00:00:31,039 --> 00:00:34,399
author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Good morning, Good morning, Good

8
00:00:34,399 --> 00:00:39,840
morning. It is Wednesday, January
tenh twenty twenty four. Hello, my

9
00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,799
name is El David Harris. I
am your host, and this is your

10
00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:47,200
Daily Portion where we give you Gun's
word every single day, and today is

11
00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,439
no exception. We are continuing in
our New Lessons study series through the Book

12
00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:57,399
of Psalms, and our caption for
today is from Despair to Hope, From

13
00:00:57,479 --> 00:01:02,479
Despair to Hope. We'll get into
that in just a moment, but first

14
00:01:02,479 --> 00:01:06,000
I like to say welcome to you
and ask you please please. If you

15
00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:08,840
are on social media or on YouTube, go ahead and click that share button.

16
00:01:08,879 --> 00:01:12,920
You're watching on television, you are
listening on the radio or listening on

17
00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:18,159
a podcast. Please find a way
to be creative and sharing this with your

18
00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,239
friends, your colleagues, people with
whom you exercise, and maybe even travel

19
00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:26,159
on the road in taxis and buses, because we are looking to spread this

20
00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:30,239
great news of the Gospel into all
the world for a witness, so that

21
00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:36,359
Jesus Christ soon will come. We're
looking forward to that day. Uh yeah,

22
00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:40,760
let's go ahead and pray, and
then we will get underwagh Father and

23
00:01:40,799 --> 00:01:45,040
Heaven. Thank you for giving us
this new morning and for the privilege we

24
00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:49,000
have to still be alive in this
new year. Father, I'm asking you

25
00:01:49,079 --> 00:01:55,519
to give us new lives, new
mind sets, teach us hope in Jesus's

26
00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:00,719
name, I pray, Amen and
Amen again. Okay, there is a

27
00:02:01,359 --> 00:02:07,159
harsh let me say reality. There
are times that we humans despair, yes,

28
00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:12,599
and they are even There are even
songs that talk about God hearing our

29
00:02:12,879 --> 00:02:19,360
despairing cries. And so what we
need really and truly is hope. It's

30
00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:23,520
hope. We need hope. How
do we receive hope? Yes, if

31
00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:28,000
you have an opportunity, please,
or I should say make an opportunity,

32
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:30,599
like make the time to go back
to the Book of Psalms. You've heard

33
00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:38,800
me make allusion to this chapter often
Psalms chapter forty two, where the Psalmist

34
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:46,360
is talking about his hopelessness and how
he should transition from this despair to hope

35
00:02:46,439 --> 00:02:51,280
fullness. Right, yeah, when
you have an opportunity, please go there

36
00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,360
and then share it your Daily Portion
dot com once you join the online community,

37
00:02:55,759 --> 00:03:00,479
share what you would have gathered there. But we want to we want

38
00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:06,439
to transition our mindsets to hope full
nests. And as usual, we're going

39
00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:12,680
to use a passage of scripture as
our backdrop. And today we're using chapter

40
00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,960
thirteen of the Book of Psalms,
and I will begin at verse one.

41
00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:20,360
Okay, we won't read all of
the verses. I hope you do in

42
00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,280
your spare time, but let's see
what we can glean in these few moments

43
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:28,560
that we have here the Book of
Psalms, Chapter thirteen and verse one,

44
00:03:29,039 --> 00:03:34,759
How long wilt thou forget me?
Oh Lord? Forever? How long wilt

45
00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:43,000
thou hide thy face from me?
And so now we are sitting squarely in

46
00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:47,400
a space of maybe despair or feeling
of hopelessness, or just like when we

47
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:53,439
read when we were reading from chapter
twenty two, maybe the psalmist is feeling

48
00:03:53,919 --> 00:03:58,599
forsaken. Now what should this individual
do? What should I do? What

49
00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,319
should you do? If this is
your reality? The first thing is to

50
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:08,639
acknowledge your feelings. Acknowledge your feelings. Don't behave as if or act as

51
00:04:08,719 --> 00:04:15,839
if this is not true, because
maybe you've assigned some moral value or something

52
00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,879
to it and said, well,
this is displeasing to God because I am

53
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:26,480
feeling forgotten. I am feeling like
he's hiding his face from me, and

54
00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,319
I shouldn't be feeling this way,
and therefore I'm going to act like that's

55
00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,560
not my reality. No, the
first thing that we need to do is

56
00:04:33,639 --> 00:04:42,439
to acknowledge our feelings and then begin
by expressing your deepest worries and fears to

57
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,439
God. Notice I said to God, there are a lot of individuals who

58
00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:53,600
have a complaining spirit. Or if
not, whatever you're going through, you

59
00:04:53,759 --> 00:04:58,879
have a habit of going to humans
first. I know, I know there

60
00:04:58,879 --> 00:05:02,199
are people out here who can be
of service to you. Hopefully I am

61
00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:10,160
in some ways of service to you. Hopefully you have friends and some relatives

62
00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:14,920
or other acquaintances that in moments of
despair, they are of service to you.

63
00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:20,079
But you absolutely. I must absolutely
not come to a human being first.

64
00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,680
I need to go to God first
and say, God, this is

65
00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:29,800
what I'm feeling, this is what
i'm facing, these are my experiences.

66
00:05:30,319 --> 00:05:35,680
And then continue that honest discussion and
then listen for his voice so that you

67
00:05:35,879 --> 00:05:40,319
will know what to do next.
And I say listen for his voice.

68
00:05:40,319 --> 00:05:44,560
He may not speak to you audibly, but listen and pay keen attention to

69
00:05:44,759 --> 00:05:48,759
how he will direct your path because
he promised that if in all of our

70
00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:54,279
ways we acknowledge him, we bring
him into all of our thought processes,

71
00:05:54,399 --> 00:05:58,879
all of our decisions, all of
our feelings, then he will make our

72
00:05:58,959 --> 00:06:02,040
paths straight. He will direct our
paths. So that's the first thing.

73
00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,240
The second comes from the Book of
Psalms, chapter thirteen and verse five,

74
00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:11,000
where it reads, but I have
trusted in thy mercy. You see the

75
00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:15,519
transition here. Remember our caption was
from despair to hope. Right, so

76
00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:20,240
you have forgotten me? How long
will you hide your face? Now let's

77
00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:28,800
see. But I have trusted in
thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in

78
00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:34,000
thy salvation. And so now the
Bible writer is saying that, yes,

79
00:06:34,079 --> 00:06:38,720
I have felt this way, this
is my reality. But you know what.

80
00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,720
I trust in your mercy, that
unmerited favor, that which I do

81
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,319
not deserve, the many times I
have sinned against you, the many times

82
00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,199
I have just been a human Like
every day, I'm a human being,

83
00:06:49,519 --> 00:06:54,319
and human beings are naturally just not
on the same page with God. And

84
00:06:54,439 --> 00:06:59,480
yet I am still here. Yet
I can still have the privilege of entering

85
00:06:59,519 --> 00:07:04,240
into the family of God and then
one day coming into the heavenly kingdom for

86
00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:09,000
a thousand years. And then after
those years are finished, Yes, I'm

87
00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:13,079
fast forwarding. Then the meek will
inherit the earth. You know what,

88
00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:17,040
God, I trust you. I
trust you, and therefore my heart shall

89
00:07:17,439 --> 00:07:23,800
rejoice in thy salvation. Notice the
Psalmist did not say I trust you,

90
00:07:24,399 --> 00:07:32,439
and once you have resolved my issue, then I will rejoice. This individual,

91
00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:38,120
you and me, we have the
privilege to in the moment that we

92
00:07:38,399 --> 00:07:42,800
recognize God's mercy, in the moment
that we have chosen to trust him,

93
00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,519
we can rejoice. Even though sometimes
things are going to be difficult and sad.

94
00:07:46,839 --> 00:07:51,680
Sometimes we will feel dejected, rejected, and be despondent. We can

95
00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:58,480
begin to be glad in our spirit. Why because we know that God has

96
00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:03,399
our best interest at heart at all
times, and so we want to shift

97
00:08:03,839 --> 00:08:09,879
our focus to God's faithfulness. That
is the action item. Shift your focus

98
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:15,800
to God's faithfulness. It's not about
what you're going through. It's not about

99
00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:22,439
what is happening based on some outside
influence, no or stimuli or trigger.

100
00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,560
It is about can God? Is
your God able? Huh? Is your

101
00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:31,319
God able to fill in the blank
positive thing deliver you? Is your God

102
00:08:31,399 --> 00:08:37,120
able to continue in this trial with
you? So that you can know that

103
00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,679
you are not alone like those three
young men who were thrown into the fiery

104
00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:46,720
furnaced furnace under Nebuchadnezzar, or Daniel
who was thrown into the lions den,

105
00:08:46,799 --> 00:08:52,480
or Stephen who was stoned only because
he did what God said. You see,

106
00:08:52,879 --> 00:08:58,000
so shift your God, your focus
to God's faithfulness. Right, move

107
00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:07,080
from focusing on yours to reaffirming your
trust in God's love and power to redeem.

108
00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:13,240
Now we're going to verse six really
quickly of chapter thirteen the Book of

109
00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:16,759
Psalms. I will sing unto the
Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with

110
00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:24,159
me. We thank God that now
we can transform our despair into praise.

111
00:09:24,279 --> 00:09:28,320
Let your prayer journey. Mirror this
transition in verse six and say God,

112
00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,720
I praise you because you have been
good to me. And then, of

113
00:09:31,759 --> 00:09:39,360
course we continue to seek the Holy
Spirit's guidance through the entire process from despair

114
00:09:39,799 --> 00:09:45,399
to hope. God is for you
of a wonderful day us. Thanks for

115
00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:48,759
joining us listening. Friends. Always
remember we cannot live by bread alone,

116
00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:54,120
but by every word that comes from
the mouth of God. This has been

117
00:09:54,159 --> 00:10:00,279
your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,