Hmmm...what to do, what to do?

As, I lay in bed last night talking to the Lord about where to begin the New Year in His Word for all of us, He immediately said to me, “Psalm. Begin in the Psalms.” That’s what we’re going to do. We are going to spend the next several months slowly going through the book of Psalms. There are 150 beautiful Psalms, so it’s going to take us some dedicated time to get all the way through them. I know you are probably thinking, “there’s no way I can do that!”- I was thinking the same thing and even asked the Lord if He was sure that’s what He wanted us to do- guess what He said- YES!. I’m going to ask each of you to commit to spending at least 30 minutes (you are more than welcome to spend more time in the Word- in fact, I encourage it) a day reading the “Psalm of the day”. Each day or so we will read a Psalm and mediate on it. There will be some Psalms that we’ll spend more than a day on. I’ll have questions for you at the end of each post to help you dig in more or thoughts for you to ponder. You can print out the blog post if that makes things easier for you; just copy and paste it into a blank Word document. This is a big commitment I know, but God is calling us to step up, to stop making excuses for the sin in our lives, to stop being so lazy, and to allow Him to transform us into the Godly women He so desires us to be. So, grab your Bible, notebooks and pens, a good cup of coffee and get ready to dig into God’s Word. I can’t wait! Here we go.

A Little Bit of History on the Psalms
The entire collection of Psalms is entitled “Praises” in the original Hebrew text. There are 150 Psalms written by Godly men meant to bring about the proper praise and worship of God. The Psalms were Israel’s (God’s chosen people) ancient, God-breathed hymnbook. The background for the Psalms is twofold: first, they show us God’s hand in creation and history, second, the Psalms tell us the history of Israel. The Psalms cover a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from heavenly worship to earthly war (John MacArthur). The book of Psalms is the largest book in the Bible and is the most quoted Old Testament book by New Testament authors.

Here are a few things I’d like each of us to do before we begin this journey together. First we are going to pray a prayer of commitment to the Lord giving Him this time. Second, there are some things I’d like you to do to make the most out of this time:

1. Set aside at least 30 minutes a day of uninterrupted time to focus your thoughts on God and His Word. This may mean you have to get up before your family, turn off the TV, talk less on the phone, spend more time at home, etc. Do whatever you need to do to spend at least 30 minutes of alone time with God everyday.

2. Get a journal or notebook to write down what God is teaching you or questions you might have.

3. Buy yourself some index cards to use for Scripture memorization. As we go through the Psalms, write down verses that speak to you and begin committing them to memory.

4. Find someone to join you on this journey who will hold you accountable to the commitment you’ve made. It’s always easier for me to commit to something when I have a friend walking with me. We can all be an encouragement to each other by posting comments on the blog sharing what the Lord is doing in our lives.

5. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray everyday before and after you read the Psalm of the Day. Pray that God speaks to you in new ways. Pray that He reveals to you areas in your life that need a little housecleaning. (When He does reveal those areas to you, make sure to get them cleaned up in a jiffy J) Pray that God will transform who you are right now and grow you to be more of the Godly women He desires you to be.

Father, how we praise Your Name. You are our Jehovah, the Lord. Thank You that You are a personal God who loves us where we are, but refuses to leave us there. You desire for us so much more than we could ever begin to imagine. You always have our best interest in mind. As we embark on this journey through the Book of Psalms, we commit to You right now that we will set aside time each day to spend with You; time in Your Word, time in conversation with You, and time listening to You speak. Teach us new truths from Your Word that we may hide in hearts so we can be the Godly women You’ve called us to be to the precious ones You have placed in our lives. Father, I ask on behalf of each of these women, myself included, that You would place in our lives a Heart Friend to join us in this journey; someone to walk with, someone who will encourage us when we are struggling, someone who can strengthen us and hold us accountable to this commitment we are making. It is my prayer that our lives would be transformed more into the image of Your Son, our Savior, through the digging in of the Word. Precious Lord, we love You and we give You all praise, honor, and glory. Bless our time in Your Word.