‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ Acts 13:22 NKJV

Recently I have been studying David’s life. To study David you have to go through Samuel and Chronicles – Samuel approaches it’s subjects from an earthly point of view while Chronicles does it from a spiritual perspective – and his written psalms, and various references throughout the scriptures. I had just gotten through his psalms when I asked the Lord in prayer, “Lord, I want a heart like David’s, a man after Your own heart!” HS spoke immediately and said, “Reread and study his psalms!” So, here are a few of the lessons I picked up…

O God, when You went out before Your people when You marched through the wilderness, Selah. The earth shook; the heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. You, O God, sent a plentiful rain, whereby You confirmed Your inheritance, when it was weary. Ps 68:7-9 NKJV

I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. Ezek 34:26 NKJV

I had always heard about rain indicating the presence or blessing of God but had never seen it in the Word. But when Carl and I went out for three years, traveling to cities all over the USA to find the man of peace, everywhere we went, it rained. The first place we went – Jacksonville FL – I think seven tornadoes, with copious amounts of rain had hit the area just hours before we landed. Then the last place that year – Seattle – a typhoon was supposed to hit the area, but we prayed and somehow the area only got rain showers, showers of blessing.

The thing you learn about something like that is that the Lord is involved in everything. His hand is everywhere; He is fully conscious and connected with every detail in your life. If you will live with that awareness, receiving revelation will become much easier and on a higher plane than you have ever experienced. Lets learn the lessons of psalms!

Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. Ps 25:12-14 NKJV

And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…” Gen 18:17 NKJV

The fear of the Lord is a magnificent truth and a singularly important lesson from the psalms. Derek Prince said that he read a translation of verse fourteen that said, “The Lord confides in those who fear Him.” Hallelujah! If we can understand this great lesson of the fear of the Lord, then the Lord will confide in us His innermost secrets. He will even tell us what will happen, and how we can change the future and bend it to the will of God that brings blessing to us.

Some of the great promises of God are associated with the fear of the Lord. We must grasp this lesson and master it if we want to have hearts like ABBA’s heart.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Ps. 2:11 NKJV

But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. Ps 5:7 NKJV

Psalms teach us to worship the Lord first thing the morning. David said, ‘I will awaken the dawn with Your praise.’ I’ve practiced for years just getting outside the first thing in the morning and praising God. I sense that He really loves that time, and so do I! It sets my whole day. 

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Ps 19:9-10 NKJV

The fear and the judgments of the Lord are sweeter and more valuable than gold or honey. Suppose He heals you of a disease that saves you two million dollars in medical fees that even then may not get the job done? Are you rich because you have millions or are you rich because you have the fear of the Lord?  You don’t need the two million; you need what the two million may or may not acquire for you. So, do we seek gold or do we seek the fear of the Lord? These are the decisions of the heart that determine if we become men and women after God’s own heart!

Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Ps 31:19-20 NKJV

God has prepared for your life just as you as a parent prepared for the life of each of your children. Everything you need – physically, mentally, spiritually – has been prepared for so that you can appropriate it. Now we start to understand that the fear of the Lord involves trust in Him, even in the presence of wicked, ungodly men. I believe in intelligent faith, not blind faith. I believe in getting answers to your honest questions, answers that satisfy the questions and concerns of a hungry soul. When I teach our people to receive revelation, I tell them that when they hear something like ‘trust Me!’ as an answer to a specific question, I tell them they are hearing from their own soul, because that is what they have been taught and not the God of the Bible. When Ananias said in effect, ‘What in the heck is going on?’, the Lord gave him a clear, specific reply, not a mushy, feel good non answer.

Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.  For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” And Ananias went his way… Acts 9:13-17 NKJV

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Ps 33:18-19 NKJV

Look at the promises for those who learn to fear the Lord! During the pandemic, which was deliberately caused by American, Chinese and European sons of Belial, I understood one credible report to say that the pandemic would cause up to one hundred thirty million extra deaths by starvation. I believed it because I heard the stories firsthand. We even joked about it. “Well, we are going to fast as a family for the next week!” No, they weren’t fasting; they were starving. Even when there was food, prices went super high. So, during the lockdowns I constantly reached out to and helped our people all over the world with extra help to feed their families. Thankfully, no one died that I knew about!

The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them. Ps 34:7

San Francisco is one of the wickedest cities on earth. Incomparably beautiful in setting, its two-hundred-year history is filled with wickedness that has waxed or waned as the culture changed over the years. When Carl and I went there on outreach, I drove my truck from Oregon. I remember driving into an especially narrow underground parking structure on the University of San Francisco and having an overwhelming sense of the presence of angels guarding our vehicle. Another time Martin and I were driving fast on a clear freeway in Los Angeles. As we crested a hill, we saw on the other side that the whole freeway was jammed with stopped cars! How we stopped I don’t know, but I jammed on the brakes and called on the name of the Lord, and we stopped within inches of the immobile cars, stopping with smoking tires that had to be replaced. Thank You Jesus for angels!

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. Ps.34:8-9 NKJV

Another great lesson from psalms is about the words of our mouth and the thoughts of our heart.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Ps 19:14 NKJV

One time I asked the Lord about watching a certain movie. He said, “You can watch it but I won’t!” Busted! You either want to have a heart like ABBA’s and are willing to sacrifice whatever needs to go in your life, or not. I’ve lost a number of friends over the years through my stance on gambling. It’s a hard thing to realize the Lord is concerned about every little detail of our lives, not to condemn us but to help us. People despise the law given to Moses, but the purpose of the law was not to control peoples lives or ruin their fun, but TO KEEP PEOPLE ALIVE until Messiah came. Deuteronomy 6:24.

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. Ps 145:19 NKJV

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy. Ps 147:11 NKJV

Finally, we want to take the first great psalm and understand it’s wonderful, foundational lessons.

1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

Am I religious nut, or am I a happy believer if I delight in the word of God, and think about it all the day long? There is a testimony I heard again recently of a woman whom the Lord told to hid away in her home for three months and do nothing but pray in tongues all day long. She said that when she emerged from her home she was walking in such power that it scared her. She knew everything about everyone, and she used that knowledge to speak prophetically into people’s lives and bring them to salvation. Was she a religious nut, or delighted in God? Look at the fruit…

4 The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Ps 1:1-6 NKJV

I want to be a man after God’s own heart, like David. I will continue to pursue and study the lessons of psalms until they are in my heart like they were in David’s. Amen? Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…