Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good
morning. It is Wednesday, January tenh twenty twenty four. Hello, my
name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is your
Daily Portion where we give you Gun's word every single day, and today is
no exception. We are continuing in our New Lessons study series through the Book
of Psalms, and our caption for today is from Despair to Hope, From
Despair to Hope. We'll get into that in just a moment, but first
I like to say welcome to you and ask you please please. If you
are on social media or on YouTube, go ahead and click that share button.
You're watching on television, you are listening on the radio or listening on
a podcast. Please find a way to be creative and sharing this with your
friends, your colleagues, people with whom you exercise, and maybe even travel
on the road in taxis and buses, because we are looking to spread this
great news of the Gospel into all the world for a witness, so that
Jesus Christ soon will come. We're looking forward to that day. Uh yeah,
let's go ahead and pray, and then we will get underwagh Father and
Heaven. Thank you for giving us this new morning and for the privilege we
have to still be alive in this new year. Father, I'm asking you
to give us new lives, new mind sets, teach us hope in Jesus's
name, I pray, Amen and Amen again. Okay, there is a
harsh let me say reality. There are times that we humans despair, yes,
and they are even There are even songs that talk about God hearing our
despairing cries. And so what we need really and truly is hope. It's
hope. We need hope. How do we receive hope? Yes, if
you have an opportunity, please, or I should say make an opportunity,
like make the time to go back to the Book of Psalms. You've heard
me make allusion to this chapter often Psalms chapter forty two, where the Psalmist
is talking about his hopelessness and how he should transition from this despair to hope
fullness. Right, yeah, when you have an opportunity, please go there
and then share it your Daily Portion dot com once you join the online community,
share what you would have gathered there. But we want to we want
to transition our mindsets to hope full nests. And as usual, we're going
to use a passage of scripture as our backdrop. And today we're using chapter
thirteen of the Book of Psalms, and I will begin at verse one.
Okay, we won't read all of the verses. I hope you do in
your spare time, but let's see what we can glean in these few moments
that we have here the Book of Psalms, Chapter thirteen and verse one,
How long wilt thou forget me? Oh Lord? Forever? How long wilt
thou hide thy face from me? And so now we are sitting squarely in
a space of maybe despair or feeling of hopelessness, or just like when we
read when we were reading from chapter twenty two, maybe the psalmist is feeling
forsaken. Now what should this individual do? What should I do? What
should you do? If this is your reality? The first thing is to
acknowledge your feelings. Acknowledge your feelings. Don't behave as if or act as
if this is not true, because maybe you've assigned some moral value or something
to it and said, well, this is displeasing to God because I am
feeling forgotten. I am feeling like he's hiding his face from me, and
I shouldn't be feeling this way, and therefore I'm going to act like that's
not my reality. No, the first thing that we need to do is
to acknowledge our feelings and then begin by expressing your deepest worries and fears to
God. Notice I said to God, there are a lot of individuals who
have a complaining spirit. Or if not, whatever you're going through, you
have a habit of going to humans first. I know, I know there
are people out here who can be of service to you. Hopefully I am
in some ways of service to you. Hopefully you have friends and some relatives
or other acquaintances that in moments of despair, they are of service to you.
But you absolutely. I must absolutely not come to a human being first.
I need to go to God first and say, God, this is
what I'm feeling, this is what i'm facing, these are my experiences.
And then continue that honest discussion and then listen for his voice so that you
will know what to do next. And I say listen for his voice.
He may not speak to you audibly, but listen and pay keen attention to
how he will direct your path because he promised that if in all of our
ways we acknowledge him, we bring him into all of our thought processes,
all of our decisions, all of our feelings, then he will make our
paths straight. He will direct our paths. So that's the first thing.
The second comes from the Book of Psalms, chapter thirteen and verse five,
where it reads, but I have trusted in thy mercy. You see the
transition here. Remember our caption was from despair to hope. Right, so
you have forgotten me? How long will you hide your face? Now let's
see. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in
thy salvation. And so now the Bible writer is saying that, yes,
I have felt this way, this is my reality. But you know what.
I trust in your mercy, that unmerited favor, that which I do
not deserve, the many times I have sinned against you, the many times
I have just been a human Like every day, I'm a human being,
and human beings are naturally just not on the same page with God. And
yet I am still here. Yet I can still have the privilege of entering
into the family of God and then one day coming into the heavenly kingdom for
a thousand years. And then after those years are finished, Yes, I'm
fast forwarding. Then the meek will inherit the earth. You know what,
God, I trust you. I trust you, and therefore my heart shall
rejoice in thy salvation. Notice the Psalmist did not say I trust you,
and once you have resolved my issue, then I will rejoice. This individual,
you and me, we have the privilege to in the moment that we
recognize God's mercy, in the moment that we have chosen to trust him,
we can rejoice. Even though sometimes things are going to be difficult and sad.
Sometimes we will feel dejected, rejected, and be despondent. We can
begin to be glad in our spirit. Why because we know that God has
our best interest at heart at all times, and so we want to shift
our focus to God's faithfulness. That is the action item. Shift your focus
to God's faithfulness. It's not about what you're going through. It's not about
what is happening based on some outside influence, no or stimuli or trigger.
It is about can God? Is your God able? Huh? Is your
God able to fill in the blank positive thing deliver you? Is your God
able to continue in this trial with you? So that you can know that
you are not alone like those three young men who were thrown into the fiery
furnaced furnace under Nebuchadnezzar, or Daniel who was thrown into the lions den,
or Stephen who was stoned only because he did what God said. You see,
so shift your God, your focus to God's faithfulness. Right, move
from focusing on yours to reaffirming your trust in God's love and power to redeem.
Now we're going to verse six really quickly of chapter thirteen the Book of
Psalms. I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with
me. We thank God that now we can transform our despair into praise.
Let your prayer journey. Mirror this transition in verse six and say God,
I praise you because you have been good to me. And then, of
course we continue to seek the Holy Spirit's guidance through the entire process from despair
to hope. God is for you of a wonderful day us. Thanks for
joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been
your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,