The Gatekeeper’s Song

I have been writing about singing into barren places and enlarging our habitations over at Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood on Saturdays this summer as we are studying Isaiah 54 together. So, this week it should have been no real surprise when those lessons began looking me right in the face.   All the words, all those promises, that I am telling you to invest in and to believe are ringing in my ears.  I can hear my heart reminding me that in order to speak the truth, I need to live by it and I need to stand in it, all the time.  In order to encourage you, when it may be hard to sing with joy in the melody, I need to be real with you and tell you that I understand.

 We need to learn to sing like gatekeepers.

This week has had a few days when singing a symphony of promise included a few flat notes in the composition of my song.  Honestly, I experienced a bit of momentary forgetfulness when I looked at the circumstance rather than speaking (or singing) into the situation with truth.

We need to be doers of the Word, not just hearers.

I haven’t forgotten what I read, but I am reminded of that place in scripture that tells us it is so easy to forget our own image when we walk away from the mirror. We are actually missing the importance of obedience (hearing and doing) when our actions resemble this pattern.

But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to Truth]. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who  looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;  For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [ who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing(his life of obedience). ~ James 1:22-25

Obedience is the key to our ability to sing the chorus, the melody, and the main verse harmoniously. It is the open door to the blessing which actively changes situations right in the middle of our journey.

I realized that my lack of obedience in many areas: prayer, speaking in faith, and acting in truth, allowed the emotion  to govern my attitude, rather than faith to activate me forward.

Immediate obedience opens the door to hope united in harmony with faith, binding my soul to the Word of God and the promises He has already prepared in advance for my claim. When my words line up with His Word and my ways line up with His ways, I can expect the chaos to disintegrate and the joy to be full again.

  {Do you ever miss a beat in the melody you are singing?}

I realized that this week when I allowed disappointment to get a foothold, it was because I had let myself think too much about the things that I was looking at, rather than remind myself  of the truth God is always speaking.  So I went to the Word, and, as usual, I was not surprised that He provided the answers there for me to receive.

Singing a Psalm of Praise releases showers of blessing in the arid deserts of our hearts.

The Book of Psalms often restart my floundering heart, and with great reason since they are a collection of prayers and praises to God.  When we are forgetful of the things we read or images we see, a song often opens up the memories to remind us of what we actually know.

So, camping in the book of Psalms is exactly where I found myself this week. Resting, remembering, and rejoicing in the amazing truths and continual blessing that comes from a life spent with God.

I want to take you to Psalm 84 today:

How lovely are you tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!

My soul yearns, yes even pines and is homesick for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out and sing for joy to the living God

 Yes the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young –  even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God

 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence; they will be singing Your praises all the day long. Selah

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You; in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

Who passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs; the early rain also fills the pools with blessings.

They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appears before God,

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.

Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of Your anointed.

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather be a doorkeeper and stand at the threshold in the house of my God, than to dwell [at ease] in the tents of wickedness.

For the LORD God is a Sun and a Shield; the Lord will give grace (for the present) and glory (favor for the future). No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in You!

Friends, being reminded of the words and the hope I have been sowing into hearts of women who, like me, are longing to see their barren places become fertile fields ripe for the seeds only God can sow, I also remembered that Hope, Truth, and Righteousness are bound solely in Him and His Word.  I was encouraged by a dear friend to remember the words I spoke directly to her in a time she was seeing a different image than the one from the mirror and she challenged me, in fact, she called me out, and reminded me to speak truth into every situation.  I have to be a doer not just a hearer!

I was grateful for these reminders:

• to rebuke those things that are not planted by the LORD.
• to trust in the supernatural power of the omnipotent and fully capable Holy God to both save and redeem each area I give to Him, in faith.
• to rejoice and sing a Psalm of praise and honor to the God who is worthy of reverence.
• and finally, to know, in my head and heart, that it is far better to be a gatekeeper on the threshold of the house of God, than to dwell anywhere else in tents that are not established by righteousness.

Be encouraged to sing like a gatekeeper who dwells in the House of the Almighty.

Whether or not the situation changes immediately, Hope floods in at the moment the gates are opened by the songs of praise we sing.

When difficulties arise, Truth cultivates  our hearts to be actively involved in the sowing.

When the disappointment attempts to steal joy, His Righteousness reminds us where we rest.

I have been singing all day long, and I am praying you are able to go from strength to strength today and that your heart would be bound in the promises of His Holy Word, so that you would be blessed and encouraged as you sing like a gatekeeper, praises to the King.

Blessings!

Linking up with:

Jen @Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood

Sybil @Make a Difference Mondays

Beth @Three Word Wednesdays

Jennifer @Tell His Story

Holley@Coffee For Your Heart

Rebekah @Words of Life Wednesdays