#psalm 139:17

[tom4jc]

February 9, 2024 Memory Verse

[dwuerch-blog]

Our Surrendered Feet

I’ve shared before about my morning routine of sending early morning text messages to my children every day. Now, I’ve added on that early morning routine a “group” text message to my grandchildren. Those text messages are intentional. I want my children, (including spouses) and grands, to know they are in my heart and on my mind in my prayers. But, more than me sending out love and blessings to…

[faithfullyfound]

God and Insecurities

God placed this on my heart to talk about so I'm going to share.

I know sometimes it often feels hard to feel beautiful. Throughout middle school and parts of high school, I felt ugly and unwanted. I watched many boys and girls have crushes on my friends, and I watched my friends go through relationships. I saw them being complimented and desired. When I would hang out with my friends people would come up to them and compliment them saying, oh you're very pretty/beautiful while I was happy for my friend I was also envious and a little disheartened that no one came up and said that to me. It can be easy to pick apart your looks and wonder why no one likes you. It can be easy to zone in on your nose, weight, eyes, hair, etc. and feel ugly. As a black girl in predominantly white spaces, I began to feel insecure about my hair and other Afrocentric features. But our worth and beauty are not determined by the attention of others. Psalm 139 is a beautiful passage, outlining how well God knows you in the present, future, and before you were even born. God created you in His image. The creator who made the most beautiful animals, flowers, mountains, oceans, stars, planets, etc. made you not those in His image.

When you feel ugly or even just mediocre, remember who made you.

Psalms 139: 13-14 "For it was you who created me in my most inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise you because I know I have been beautifully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderous I know this well."

Christian boy or girl, man or woman, know this God loves you, whenever He looks at you He thinks that you are very good. A masterpiece, His wonderful creation.

The world's beauty standards are constantly changing. In the 90s it was in to be super skinny and now it's in to be super curvy and even get BBLs. Do not feel you need to keep up with the world's standards when just by existing in your own body you are keeping up with the Lord's.

(Proverbs 3:15-17 "She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.")

[walkswithmyfather]

“‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy.’” —Acts 2:17‭-‬18 (NLT)

“If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever— the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.” —John 14:15‭-‬17 (AMP)

“For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings. He makes them turn from doing wrong; he keeps them from pride. He protects them from the grave, from crossing over the river of death.” —Job 33:14‭-‬18 (NLT)

“Who Is The Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is God living inside of you, speaking into your thoughts and leading you closer to Him. He's always encouraging you to not only do the right thing but also the God thing. He's there to help you make choices and take actions that will change your life.”

“Who is the Holy Spirit?” By Switch (Life.church):

“Picture this: You’re on a road trip, and you’re mindlessly scrolling through Instagram with music blaring through your headphones. Suddenly, you pass through the middle of nowhere and you lose your cell signal. Sure enough, Spotify cuts out, the music stops, your feed is frozen, and you’re left to your own thoughts. No music. No more texting. In the midst of your technological desolation, you remember the car has a radio. With the tap of a button, music fills your car.

Radios feel like magic. In desolate places where smartphones are useless, a reliable, old radio can tap into the invisible signals all around us and fill our silence with music. At the turn of a knob, you can shuffle from Ariana to Drake. Maybe even mix in a little Luke Bryan—maybe not. No buffering. No dead batteries. Just voices pulled from thin air.

The Holy Spirit feels sort of magical too, maybe even a little spooky. He’s everywhere. He’s watching you read this right now. Weird, right? The air around you is filled with the invisible noise of God’s voice, and like a radio, you were built to hear it and relay His thoughts to people through your own words and actions.

Most people miss this, but God wants to speak to you. Did you catch that? He wants to speak to you, and He built you to hear His voice. He doesn’t usually speak out loud, but His voice comes from inside of you. It takes practice to learn how to separate your own thoughts from His voice, and different people hear Him in different ways.

Sometimes, the Holy Spirit sounds like thoughts in your head. Sometimes, He drops in a mental picture. Other times, He gives you a dream that just feels different. Most often, He speaks by illuminating parts of the Bible—reminding you of a verse you’ve read and helping you understand it in a new way.

When Jesus promised He would never leave us alone, the Holy Spirit was the fulfillment of that promise. When you become a Christ follower, the Holy Spirit moves in. We become His house. So, when He speaks, His voice comes from inside you. What if all this time you’ve been hearing His voice without recognizing it?

So, when you’re driving through life and your journey leads you to a dark place where you feel alone and abandoned, know that you’re never really alone. Even when nothing else seems to work, the Holy Spirit is right there with you. With only a thought, He can speak life, hope, strength, joy, and encouragement to you and over you. Even better, if you learn to listen intently, He can help you avoid some of those dark places. Over the next several days, we’ll learn who the Holy Spirit is and why it’s impossible to live a godly life without Him.”

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.” —Psalm 139:1‭-‬10 (NLT)

[thebeautyofscripture]

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with You.

Psalm 139:17-18

[oillampslit]

Where is my glasses?!

We have all heard the saying before. Someone cannot find their glasses only to realize they were on their head the whole time. Sometimes we do this with God. We are looking for him everywhere and not realizing he is closer than we think.

______________________________________________________________

7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

Psalm 139:7-10

18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Psalm 145:18

27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Acts 17:27

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

James 4:8

[jesus-is-lord-and-savior]

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

(Psalm 139:17-18, ESV)

[padderley14]

"I'm Not Good Enough" is Only One of the Lies

“I’m not good enough” is only one of the lies we tell ourselves. Moreover, this is what I told myself most of my life along with other lies like “You’re not good enough”, “You’ll never amount to anything”, “You’re too fat”, “You’re not pretty enough”, and the like. What Lies Do You Tell Yourself? I guess the point that I’m trying to make is that these are lies. So, why did I continue to believe…

[martyschoenleber]

Surprising Finds in Scripture

Working through my annual reading plan of the Bible. Today, I arrived at Numbers 1. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much. But then the Spirit of God opened my eyes to see something I have read at least 40 times over the years. It was always there; I was just blind to it—until I needed it, just an hour later. It was just before dinner and I was finishing up reading the first chapter of the book of…

[kmac4him1st]

Wonderfully Made

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Never forget this. God shaped you and still is specifically designing you. Never let someone steal your identity through peer pressure. You belong to God. Stand out and be who He created you to be.

  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They…

[daremna]

sources:

1. The Inferno, Canto 24, Gustave Dore 2. Nathaniel Orion G.K. 3. Supervert, Necrophilia Variations 4. Cassandra Clare, Dark Artifices 5. Death and the Maiden, Takato Yamamoto 6. William Shakespeare, As You Like It 7. @thatantisocialbitch 8. The Silent Voice (1989), Alfred Lord 9. author unknown 10. (the playwrights will write your names in the darkness of the sky) 11. Émile Jean Horace Vernet, The Angel of Death (1852) 12. A Midsummer Night's Dream (1937) 13. Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace 14. Eliza Crewe, Crushed 15. Yoshitaka Amano, The Endless Desire 16. Maram Rimawi 17. Farouq Jwaideh 18. Mary Shelley, Mathilda 19. Włodzimierz Błocki, Kiss of Death (1902) 20. Psalm 139:8 21. Jason Chan, Fall 22. Asmita Sengupta 23. Frederick Seidel, The Last Poem in the Book 23. Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid 24. Anne Bachelier 25. Konstantin Makovsky, Demon and Tamara

[walkswithmyfather]

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” —Psalm 139:7‭-‬10 (NIV)

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” —John 14:16‭-‬17 (NKJV)

“Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.” —Psalm 139:12 (NASB)

“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” —Proverbs 18:24 (NIV)

“God Is Near” By In Touch Ministries:

“The Lord wants you to know that you’re never alone.”

“Do you ever find yourself asking the question, “Lord, where are You?” Today’s reading is your reminder that God is near, even when His presence is difficult to perceive—and even when you’re completely unaware of Him.

David reflects, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (v. 7). In asking these questions, David communicates that no matter where we might go, the Lord is right there with us. What a comfort to realize we are never beyond the reach of a God who is full of lovingkindness, mercy, and comfort.

In fact, our heavenly Father is and has been with believers every single day. We walk in the presence of the living God, whose Spirit lives in us (John 14:16-17). No matter what season of life you are in—no matter how long, short, painful, or easy it might be—God wants you to know you are never alone. What’s more, He wants you to remember that the darkness is not dark to Him (Psalm 139:12). He knows what is up ahead and will be with you as you face it.

Our faithful and omnipresent God is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). He will never leave or forsake you—on this day or any other.”

[thewordfortheday]

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them,

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I am awake, I am still with you. Psalm 139:17-18

God's thoughts toward us even outnumber the grains of sand on the seashore! What imagery. The Father, who created you and who numbered all your days, is thinking about you all the time. He never stops thinking about you...And they are not thoughts of condemnation and judgement, but thoughts of absolute love and adoration.

In our limited understanding, this is just too good to be true...but it is true.

God is thinking about you right now!

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Daily Light on the Daily Path

by Samuel Bagster

Daily Reading for June 5th

Psalm 103:14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.

Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Psalm 139:14-16 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. • My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; • Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

Malachi 2:10 "Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?

Acts 17:28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'

Psalm 103:13 Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

Psalm 78:38,39 But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; And often He restrained His anger And did not arouse all His wrath. • Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes and does not return.

[fierysword]

1 O God, You search me and know me inside out. 2 You know my comings and goings. You understand my thoughts completely. 3 You examine my ways, whether waking or sleeping, and are familiar with the habits of my being. 4 Before I speak a word, You already know it. 5 You are all around me, behind me and before me. You lay Your loving hand on me, choosing me in love. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me to comprehend. It is utterly beyond me.

7 Where could I go to escape Your Spirit? Where could I flee from Your presence? 8 Were I to go to the highest heavens, I would find You there. Were I to descend into the depths of hell, even there I would find You!

9 Were I to take the red wings of dawn and flee to the sea's utmost end, 10 even there You would be leading me, and Your right hand would hold me fast! 11 Were I to say, "I will take cover in darkness," the night would turn to light. 12 For darkness is not dark to You. The night shines like the day, and darkness is as bright as light. Waking or sleeping, I am always with You. 13 You have formed my innermost parts. You knit me together in the womb of my mother. 14 I thank You, for I am marvelously and wonderfully made! All Your works are wonder-full, as my soul knows very well. 15 You clearly saw even my bones when You made me in secret, when You wove me together in the dark depths of the womb. 16 Your eyes saw me as embryo, and before my days began, You shaped them. My whole life is written in Your Book of Life! 17 How precious Your thoughts are to me, Shaddai! How great in number they are! 18 If I were to try and count them, it would be impossible, like trying to count the grains of sand on the seashore.

Psalm 139:1-18  (feminine translation from Swallow’s Nest: A Feminine Reading of the Psalms by Marchiene Rienstra)

Possible uses of this psalm:

Reassurance of God's presence in the darkness

Pray over a blue candle to instill confidence in God's guidance

Pray to replace feelings of sadness with hope and optimism

Pray to nurture and maintain love, especially in marriage

Receive confidence and self-worth

2-3 sourced from Power of the Psalms by Anna Riva & 4 sourced from My New Everyday Prayer Book by Brother ADA 

[padderley14]

"I'm Not Good Enough" is Only One of the Lies

“I’m not good enough” is only one of the lies we tell ourselves. Moreover, this is what I told myself most of my life along with other lies like “You’re not good enough”, “You’ll never amount to anything”, “You’re too fat”, “You’re not pretty enough”, and the like. What Lies Do You Tell Yourself? I guess the point that I’m trying to make is that these are lies. So, why did I continue to believe…