God's Faithfulness - Psalm 89

I was reading Psalm 89 today - in this psalm, there are 6 declarations of God's faithfulness, and I claim them for your life and mine:

v1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.

The Lord wants us to to keep going in the things He has called us to - keep declaring his great faithfulness to all - young and old. rich and poor. His faithfulness comes out of our mouths! Sing and speak of His great faithfulness!

v2 For I have said, "Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens."

God's faithfulness reaches to the heavens - everything from earth to the rest of the universe is dripping with the touch of God. He is seen in us, through us and in everything He has created. His faithfulness is faithful!

v 5 And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord, Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints

He wants us to declare His faithfulness to one another - let people hear what great things He has done and boast in Him.

v8 O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty like You O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds you.

Everywhere God goes, and every part of Him is clothed in faithfulness - Surely, He has surrounded us with His faithfulness as we are His dwelling place.

v26 But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him and in my name his horn shall be exalted (NLT …and by My authority he will grow in power)

The Lord spoke this over David, but He also speaks it over each of us today - Because of His faithfulness and mercy working in our lives, He is able to trust us with his power and authority. As we live in mercy, faithfulness and under His authority, the power of the Lord will grow in us!

v33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail (NLT But I will never stop loving him nor fail to keep my promise to him.)

The Lord is speaking of His faithful covenant with us - it cannot be taken from us - His love will never fail and His promises will last forever.

One more verse really jumped out at me as I also read this psalm from the Message Bible:

v 15 - 18  Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise, who shout on parade in the bright presence of God.

Delighted, they dance all day long; they know who you are, what you do - they can't keep it quiet!

Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us - you've been so good to us! We're walking on air!

All we are and have we owe to God, Holy God of Israel, our King!

Oh my goodness!! Is that wonderful or what!!?? We are blessed when we know the passwords of praise that open up a parade of God's presence throughout the land. I want to be a part of that parade! This parade is God on display in, and through us wherever we go! When we know His presence we can't keep it quiet. Also, His vibrant beauty has gotten inside us - we are consumed with Him and all else fades in comparison. How good He is to us - how wonderfully good.

How good He is - what favor He grants us all right now!

Thank You Father!! Let's just worship!

Authority, Anointing, Ability

Yesterday (HERE) we saw the incredible ministry of Bezalel - the man chosen and called by God to create and prepare every piece of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness (Exodus 31:1-11). 

David also chose his worship team carefully (1Chron.15:16, 17, 19; 16:41; 25:1–8). When we are chosen by God for any ministry at all, we need these three attributes - it is absolutely impossible to be successful if any one of these attributes is missing from your life:

Authority — This affects our position in ministry. The Lord honors the leadership structures that are in place in your church. There is no way you can walk into any ministry without being given the authority to minister. You must be given authority - you can never just take it. You are given authority so that you can serve God's people - never for the purpose of lording it over people. The more authority you have, the more of a servant you should be. Anyone in Christian ministry who has been given authority, must be in the business of equipping and releasing to their call. We don't have authority to take, but to pour into God's people and make way for their success.

Anointing —  This affects our power in ministry. I have a long series on the anointing: HERE. There are 3 anointings we need to walk in: The anointing of water (the Word of God washes us and prepares us for the other 2 anointings); The anointing of oil (go HERE for the ingredients of the anointing oil); and the anointing of blood (HERE). It is the blood of Jesus that seals the anointing on our life.

Ability — This affects our productivity in ministry. It is no good to have the authority and anointing to minister, but to lack the skills to do the task you have been assigned to. David's musicians and singers were expected to be skillful and to go through training:

1 Chron. 25:1

Moreover David and the captains of the army

separated for the service some of the sons of Asaph,

of Heman, and of Jeduthun,

who should prophesy with harps,

stringed instruments, and cymbals.

And the number of the skilled men performing their service was:

verse 7

So the number of them, with their brethren

who were instructed in the songs of the Lord,

all who were skillful, was two hundred and eighty-eight.

Please note that it is not enough to be skilled in the practical details of your craft - we must also be skilled in the spiritual and prophetic aspects of our ministry. In verse 7 (above) David's singers were also instructed in the songs of the Lord, or prophetic songs.

It is quite useless to have any 2 of these without the 3rd - these three work together:

Ability without anointing brings pride

Anointing without ability is ignorance

Ability and anointing without authority brings frustration

Authority and ability without anointing brings legalism

Walk Into Greater Authority

There are 7 times in the Bible where we are told to "walk in" something. If we do walk in these things, we will gain new authority in our lives as we are pleasing to the Father:

7 ways for you to walk into greater authority

• Walk in faith Rom. 4:12

• Walk in the spirit Gal. 5:25; Eph. 4:1;

• Walk in love Eph. 5:2

• Walk as children of light Eph. 5:8, (v9 shows the three things that define light); 1 Jo. 1:7

• Walk in wisdom Eph. 5:15; Col. 4:5

• Walk in obedience 2 Jn. 1:6

• Walk in truth 3 Jn. 1:3–4