Affirmations for walking in purpose and wisdom. God created you for a reason. Your life is not an accident and your steps are not random. He has a plan for you, a purpose that brings glory to Him and fulfillment to your heart. Today as you listen to these affirmations, let them remind you that God is leading, guiding, and equipping you for everything He has called you to do. Listen for the affirmation, then repeat it after me, and then I'll read the scripture that it comes from. God has a purpose for my life and I walk in His plan. Jeremiah 29-11, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. I trust in the Lord to guide my steps. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways submit to Him and He will make your path straight. I seek wisdom and God gives it freely. James 1-5, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you. God is directing my steps and I do not walk alone. Psalm 37-23, the Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him. I am a light in this world shining for Christ. Matthew 5-14, you are the light of the world, a town built on a hill cannot be hidden. God has prepared good works for me to do today. Ephesians 2-10, for we are God's handy work created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. I am equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3-17, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. I walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1-8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Al Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. I will walk in faith, not in fear. 2 Timothy 1-7, for the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. 3 God's word lights my path. Psalm 119-105, your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. I choose obedience knowing God's ways are best. Due to Ron Me 5-33, I walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land you will possess. I live with purpose and do not waste my time. Ephesians 5, 15, and 16, be very careful than how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. I am called to make an impact for God's kingdom. 2 Matthew 28, 19, and 20, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. I have the mind of Christ and seek his wisdom daily. 1 Corinthians 2, 16, for who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ? I am a vessel for God's work. 2 Corinthians 4, 7, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that all surpassing powers from God and not from us. I will not grow weary in doing good. Galatians 6, 9, let us not become weary in doing good, for the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. God's purpose for me cannot be stopped. Job 42, 2, I know that you can do all things, no purpose of yours can be thwarted. I do everything for the glory of God. Galatians 3, 23, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. God is using my life to accomplish his plan. Romans 8, 28, and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. I am bold in sharing the gospel. Romans 1, 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. I walk in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5, 25, since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. I remain steadfast in my calling. 1 Corinthians 15, 58, therefore my dear brothers and sisters stand firm, let nothing move you, always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor and the Lord is not in vain. God will finish the work he started in me. 1 Philippians 1, 6, be confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. I live with an eternal perspective. Colossians 3, 2, set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. I press forward in my faith knowing my reward is in heaven. Philippians 3, 13, and 14, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining forward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Father, thank you for calling me to a life of purpose. Help me to walk in wisdom today, seeking you in all I do. Give me clarity where I need direction, courage where I need boldness, and a heart that is always ready to serve you. Let my life bring you glory. In Jesus' name, amen. I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go deeper, just keep listening. Your Bible study episode is coming up next. As we spend time listening for God's voice, there are moments when he invites us to step out of our normal routines and to follow him more intentionally. Bible Study Live is an in-person Bible study experience that I've built around traveling with that kind of purpose. We gather to open scripture together, to pray, to learn and walk through the Bible in community, all while being fully present in these meaningful places. We've recently added a second location, and many of the spots are already filled by alumni who've gone on previous trips with me before. Because of that, space is limited. If you've been sensing that God may be inviting you into a deeper season of growth, I'd love to have you join us on one of this year's trips. You can learn more at Biblestudylive.org. Hey friends, I'm Rachel Grohl, and I'm your host for the Hearing Jesus podcast, where I help you to know God and to make him known. Because we live in a world that is broken and fallen because of sin, there are times in our lives where we are up against something truly evil. And what we see in Psalm 54 is this beautiful example of a prayer from David when he is actually being chased by Saul and Saul is after him to kill him. And yet we see David go to God, not just with this prayer, but also this confidence and knowing that God can intervene on his behalf and then giving praise to God when he does. And so it's my prayer that Psalm 54 can become the model for you when and if you're faced with something similar. I pray this episode blesses you. Today we are in Psalm 54, starting in verse 1. Psalm 54 is a Psalm that is written by David and it's written in a season of his life when he is being pursued by Saul and he is hiding. And so I'm going to go ahead and actually read a couple verses that will kind of shed some light on the situation that was going on at the time that David wrote this. And this is one of the Psalms that we have really good records of the timing and the context when it was written. So we're going to go back to verse Samuel. And if you want to just listen along that's fine or if you want to read along it is in chapter 23. And I'm going to start reading around verse 19. And again this is when Saul is pursuing David and David is hiding from him. It says, the Zephyts went up to Saul at Gibbeh and said, is not David hiding among us in the strongholds of Haresh on the hill of HaKilah south of Jeshimun? Now, O King, come down whenever it pleases you to do so and we will be responsible for handing him over to the king. And then in verse 21 Saul replies, it says, the Lord bless you for your concern for me. Go and make further preparation. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information that I will go with you. If he is in the area I will track him down among the clans of Judah. And so you can go ahead and read on all the way through verse 29 is that story. But essentially what's happening is David is in hiding. And what we see in Psalm 54 is really a prayer for help that David makes. And I think it's also a model for prayer for anyone who's trusting God and is facing a situation of danger or disaster. And so what we see is David is the psalmist, is asking God for help. And he is not just asking God for help, but he is expecting that God will respond with this amazing rescue and healing power. And today what we experience as believers is the benefit of the Holy Spirit as he responds. The scripture talks about how the Holy Spirit is our helper. He responds and he sends us help and he is our encourager. And so this prayer, Psalm 54, is the model for us to use when we're facing some sort of danger like that. David is hiding in the wilderness now. And as we just read, what we're seeing is Saul going after him and trying to find out where he is and sending his men out to find him. And so there's a pursuit of David. And what we know is that Saul is trying to kill David. So when there's this whole situation that's going on at night, the outcome, what we see in that story is that it really turns out in David's favor eventually, when he and his nephew sneak into Saul's camp at night, they steal his spear and his water jar and they escape to safety. And he leaves Saul, you know, think about this. David is being pursued by Saul because Saul wants to kill David. And David sneaks into Saul's camp when he is sleeping, takes his spear, and what Saul realizes is that David could have killed Saul right then and there. He was asleep. He didn't even know that he had come in. And so Saul is realizing and his army really is realizing that David could have killed him while he slept. And what we see in David is that he refused to do that because Saul was king. He was the anointed king at the time. And David's integrity and his future success really kind of rested on this test of whether or not he was going to act ruthless like Saul was or if he was going to act in line with God's standard. And I love this example we have because here's David's heart. Even though he's faced with death, he is allowing God, he's trusting God to deliver justice and to deliver retribution. He's not taking it into his own hands. So what we're seeing like in verse three, it says, strangers are attacking me, ruthless men seek my life, men without regard for God. But then in verse four, we see this underlying reason that he's even praying in the first place because he understands that God is his helper. Verse four says, surely God is my help. The Lord is the one who sustains me. David has this confidence of knowing that when we pray to God, it's not like we're just hoping that something will happen. We can have confidence in knowing that God is good and God does good. And in a relationship with him, he's dependable to work on our behalf. One of the things that I think is also important to point out is for me in my own life, I have been tempted not now, but when I was younger, I have been tempted to pray to God when I'm in the middle of the trial or in the middle of the struggle. And then I am quick to forget God when the situation has worked out. And what we see is in verse seven, David is giving God the credit for delivering him. He says, for he has delivered me from all my troubles and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes. David is giving that credit to God. And I think that's so important when we're going through a situation that we're not just praying to get ourselves out of the mess that we're in, but that we're also praying a praise and thanksgiving prayer. And we're in this posture of thanking God and giving him credit when he does get us through those seasons. There's also two things that I want to point out about God's name in verse one, 54 verse one, it says, save me, oh God, by your name, vindicate me by your might. And so there's a reference to God's name here, which we're going to do a whole series on the names of God. But there are two terms. And again, there's this one, then there's one in verse six, it says, I will sacrifice a free will offering to you, I will praise your name, oh Lord, for it is good. There's two references to God's name, the name of God. And in verse one, it calls on God, David calls on God, and he says, by your might. Of course, we know that there were different names of God that were used depending on the circumstances or who was addressing God. But the point here is that he is using the name of God that represents the mighty power of God. And so he uses the name Elohim. So it doesn't say that in most of your translations that you're probably reading now, but if you look at the original text, it would have been Elohim, which is the mighty God. And then, of course, we see that again in verse six, where it's talking about Elohim, the mighty God, the powerful God. And I love that because it's such a picture of this personal aspect of prayer that David has with God, where it's not based on some faraway, unknown God. That's not what we're talking about here. It's a closeness that David has with God so much so that he can call on specific aspects of God's character and God's nature. And that's, I think, the example that we see. I often pray to Father God, Abba, Abba Father, because that's the relationship I have with him. But there are different times where we can call on the different aspects of God's character and nature, especially when we're going through something difficult. David is being very real here. I mean, in the beginning, it's a prayer where he is praying to God for deliverance. And at the end, he is praising God that the deliverance has come. But yet in the middle, his worship or his prayer, he's acknowledging the reality of the fact that evil is at work in his personal life. And as much, I say this all the time, as much as God is real, we have a very real enemy that is trying to work in the midst of this world as well. And it would be a disservice to our spiritual lives to ignore that or pretend like that's not happening. Instead, the tactic is to come to God and ask him for his help, because that's the only way, I mean, that's the only real power that is going to overcome that evil anyway. But that's the only real way that we're going to have help to overcome the things, the evil things that are going on in our lives. I think that brings us to this really important point where while we can't ignore evil, we also don't have to be controlled by the evil in our lives, where it's not like we're powerless to just you know, lie down and take it. Instead, we serve a God that very much wants to intervene on our behalf. And what we see in this Psalm is we understand that evil, at least in the biblical sense, is also studied in line with the worship of God in our own lives. From the beginning of scripture to the end of scripture, what we see is that we serve a God that is in the process and in the details of triumphing over evil. He has already defeated evil. That's why he sent Jesus in the first place and Jesus accomplished that task. Now we are still living in this, the scholars would call it the already not yet. The fight has already been fought. It's already been won, but it's not yet realized here on earth. And so what we are left with is this fallen world that has sin and evil as part of it. But we are thankfully not alone in that, that we have a God that is very much at work in our lives and very much is wanting to be part of the process of triumphing over evil in our lives. And you know, thankfully, most of us are not going to be where David is at running for our lives where there are evil people, ruthless people trying to kill us. But we encounter evil in all sorts of ways. I mean, there, I say this all the time, you can't even turn on one news cycle without hearing all of the social evils in the culture today. And maybe it's not even something as big as that, maybe it's something more personal where somebody has slandered against you, or there's been various injustices against you and more. I, you know, when you're in the public eye, you will almost inevitably be vulnerable to public opinion. And this was years ago, I had made a decision that was unpopular with some of my staff, and at the time I was, it was not ministry based, I was, I owned a private business, and it was due to budget constraints. And I had to reduce the hours of some of my staff. And the clients were not happy with that because they of course had their favorite staff members or whatever. And it was really just based on the economy at the time. But because of that, I had one individual, one woman who accused my business, not even me, but somebody within my business of doing something that was just completely out of character. And thankfully, we had video cameras and the whole system set up and we proved that she was wrong. But that, that interim, that period of time where I was sitting with these slanderous accusations, it felt terrible. It felt like, man, this goes against the very integrity of who I am, the way that I've run my business for years. This is just not like, okay, Lord, I've been trying to do your will and to, to be a faithful Christian business person. And yet I'm still slapped with, with this. And, and I think that's the reality for most of us. It's not like we're setting out and, and antagonizing people or getting ourselves in situations where we're somebody's trying to kill us. But what does happen is that there are things that despite our best efforts, we still fall victim because we live in a fallen world. So we fall victim to certain evil situations. So whether it is slander or there's an injustice done to you or somebody in your family, I think many of us, if we've been around long enough, have an understanding of what that feeling is. When we feel like we're just up against something that's bigger and heavier and darker than, than, than we feel like we can handle on our own. And that's the point where we need to come to God and say, okay, I need some help. And also trust that he is big enough to help us out of that. So given those insights, I'm going to reread Psalm 54 for you starting again in verse 1. Save me, O God, by your name, vindicate me by your might. Hear my prayer, O God, listen to the words of my mouth. Strangers are attacking me. Ruthless men seek my life. Men without regard for God. Surely God is my help. The Lord is the one who sustains me. Let evil recoil on those who slander me in your faithfulness destroy them. I will sacrifice a free will offering to you. I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me from all my troubles and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes. God, we thank you that you are a God that longs to intervene on our behalf and that we can have hope with the knowledge that you are in the business of triumphing over evil. It's, it's the undercurrent of the entire theme of the Bible where you are a God that defeats the enemy. So Lord, we ask for that in our lives and those moments where we are facing the evils of this world, whether it is something big or something seemingly small, whether it's injustice or slander or just the overwhelm of the culture that we're in today. Lord God, I pray that you would remind us of this psalm, an example we have in David, to not just pray for help, but to have confidence that you are big enough to handle the things that we're facing, that we can lean into your power. And when we are recognizing that we are powerless against the evil of this world, that we would remember that you are not. In fact, that's the very reason why you sent Jesus. So Lord, I thank you for the way that you continue to reveal yourself and that the powerful name of God would be a reminder to us that you are able. It's in Jesus' name, we pray these things, amen. In the... The Hearing Jesus podcast is so excited to partner with Compassion International. We believe in Compassion's mission to release children from poverty in Jesus' name. I've seen the impact myself through the letters and the updates that I've received as a sponsor. It's not just changing the lives of children, it's changing entire families, whole communities, always through the local church and always in Jesus' name. When you sponsor a child, you ensure access to quality education, medical checkups, healthy food, clean water, and most importantly, the love of Jesus, delivered through a church in their community because of a generous, caring sponsor like you. And you can speak life, love, and hope to your sponsored child through personal letters that you'll exchange. I hope you'll join me in sponsoring a child through Compassion today. All you have to do is pull out your phone, open up a text, and text Hearing Jesus to 83393. You'll get back a text with a picture of a child who is waiting for a sponsor and a link to sponsor that child. You can also go to compassion.com forward slash Hearing Jesus to choose a boy or a girl to sponsor. When you sponsor a child, we will send you a copy of She Hears Learning to Listen to Jesus, My Bible Study, as a token of our thanks for investing in the life of a child. Thank you for joining me in sponsoring a child through Compassion today.
