A Psalm I keep returning to is Psalm 63 (please read the Psalm and testimony after)
A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.
1 O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
9 They who seek my life will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.
10 They will be given over to the sword
and become food for jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God's name will praise him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
I remember when I was taking a children's club in my local village some years ago and there was a woman who was the school cleaner and she hated the fact that there was a Christian club with most of the school children in attendance. Well, she did her utmost to have the club stopped. She even told lies to the Director of Education so that the club would be closed down. This woman was a practising witch! One afternoon whilst I was studying the Bible for the club, I read this Psalm and verses 9 - 11 were illuminated by the Holy Spirit. At the same time, I had a thought that the phone was going to ring and it would be the school cleaner. Within 30 seconds of this happening, the phone rang and it WAS her! She was raging down the phone and told me she had reported me to the Director of Education and that she would get the club closed down. I was shaking when I came off the phone. That night was club night and I had to pass her on the way to the school and her face was grey with anger. I ignored her snide comments as I passed her and continued on my way. That night, the hall floor was soaking wet - the cleaner had deliberately 'soaked' the floor so that we could not use the hall! I had to phone the Head Teacher to ask if we could use a classroom instead and he agreed to this. That same night, after the Head Teacher agreed to let us use a classroom, teenagers crept into the school whilst we were in one of the classrooms and set off the fire alarms! That's it I thought - we will lose the school venue for sure. However, God works all things together for good and the Head Teacher came up to the school to turn off the alarm and was shocked to see how wet the hall floor was. He seen for himself that the cleaner was trying to sabotage the club and we never lost the venue and we never had any more problems with the cleaner either. About a month after this, the cleaner took unwell and 3 weeks later died in hospital. Her sister told us she was screaming in the end and shouting at something at the end of her hospital bed.
This is not the end of the story ...... the same night the club was having the problems mentioned above, something wonderful happend - the Spirit of God fell on the meeting and many of the children present that night accepted the Lord as their Saviour.
Not long after this, there was a bad car accident and one of the children (who on that night had himself accepted the Lord) was killed. I was heart broken - he was a lovely child but I knew his soul was safe. This child was apparenty speaking to his family about Heaven before the accident and they thought this strange. Perhaps God was using him (new Christian as he was) to witness to them - they will never forget whatever he was sharing about I believe.
This whole period of time taught me that it is a fearful thing to try and halt the works of God and that God does work all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.
1 O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
9 They who seek my life will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.
10 They will be given over to the sword
and become food for jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God's name will praise him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
I remember when I was taking a children's club in my local village some years ago and there was a woman who was the school cleaner and she hated the fact that there was a Christian club with most of the school children in attendance. Well, she did her utmost to have the club stopped. She even told lies to the Director of Education so that the club would be closed down. This woman was a practising witch! One afternoon whilst I was studying the Bible for the club, I read this Psalm and verses 9 - 11 were illuminated by the Holy Spirit. At the same time, I had a thought that the phone was going to ring and it would be the school cleaner. Within 30 seconds of this happening, the phone rang and it WAS her! She was raging down the phone and told me she had reported me to the Director of Education and that she would get the club closed down. I was shaking when I came off the phone. That night was club night and I had to pass her on the way to the school and her face was grey with anger. I ignored her snide comments as I passed her and continued on my way. That night, the hall floor was soaking wet - the cleaner had deliberately 'soaked' the floor so that we could not use the hall! I had to phone the Head Teacher to ask if we could use a classroom instead and he agreed to this. That same night, after the Head Teacher agreed to let us use a classroom, teenagers crept into the school whilst we were in one of the classrooms and set off the fire alarms! That's it I thought - we will lose the school venue for sure. However, God works all things together for good and the Head Teacher came up to the school to turn off the alarm and was shocked to see how wet the hall floor was. He seen for himself that the cleaner was trying to sabotage the club and we never lost the venue and we never had any more problems with the cleaner either. About a month after this, the cleaner took unwell and 3 weeks later died in hospital. Her sister told us she was screaming in the end and shouting at something at the end of her hospital bed.
This is not the end of the story ...... the same night the club was having the problems mentioned above, something wonderful happend - the Spirit of God fell on the meeting and many of the children present that night accepted the Lord as their Saviour.
Not long after this, there was a bad car accident and one of the children (who on that night had himself accepted the Lord) was killed. I was heart broken - he was a lovely child but I knew his soul was safe. This child was apparenty speaking to his family about Heaven before the accident and they thought this strange. Perhaps God was using him (new Christian as he was) to witness to them - they will never forget whatever he was sharing about I believe.
This whole period of time taught me that it is a fearful thing to try and halt the works of God and that God does work all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
