psalm 31. placed in my lap on the day when there were exactly 31 days left on this mountain in the philippines. on a day that I wasn’t quite sure how much longer I could fight.
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prophetic prayer is powerful y’all. a concept that was honestly foreign to me before the world race, but has become an integral part of life these days. simply sitting down and asking the Lord to give me words. to use me as a vessel for Him. the other night use girls got together and prayed over and for each other. and God moved.
“beloved daughter. you are a warrior in Christ but don’t forget you are also a daughter that can draw close and seek Him as refuge. you don’t always have to fight. let God fight your battles and cling to his side during those times ‘this is how I fight my battles.'”
“psalm 31. you know his steadfast love, now rejoice in it. you trust his timing, you trust that all good things come from him only – so now live in this freedom of truth.”
the first third of the psalm is very much a plea. a cry for help. phrases like “come quickly to my rescue, keep me free, deliver me Lord.” very blatantly a call for action from a dark place. a few weeks ago that is where I was. a dark place with a big cry for help. fighting for a glimpse of God and His Goodness. in a way i was making God’s fight my own. taking it upon myself to pull me out of the dark place.
in the second third of the psalm i see a circumstance and a response. the circumstance being “I am in distress… my strength fails… I am forgotten.” a circumstance that sounds rather hopeless. very lonely. yet the response is something so simple. “but I trust in you Lord. I say, ‘You are my God.'” the response is trust and praise. the afflictions do not disappear, but the confidence that God is a delivering God surpasses all circumstance.
the final third of the psalm is the deliverance. “how abundant are the good things… you heard my cry for mercy… praise be to the Lord for he showed me the wonders of his love.”
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God is teaching me so much about surrender. and the freedom, yes freedom, that comes with total surrender. when I am in the dark place yet able to have the faith to say “I trust you God. You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in the spacious places of your Spirit,” that is when I will walk into a true sense of freedom. I’ve been meditating on verse 15 specifically. “Hour by hour I place my days in your hand (MSG).” Continual surrender reaps continual, not circumstantial, freedom.
lay it down, and then lift it up. place the days, the circumstances, into the Father’s hands. and then turn your face heavenward in praise. praise coupled with thanksgiving produces a spirit of gladness. and with this gladness we can walk out of the dark places. so here is to walking out of the dark places. not by our own fight, but by the Lord’s.
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we have a short four weeks left here in San Mateo on the mountain. it is going to fly by everyone. prayers for presence. pray that we finish strong. pray that we praise. as always sending all the love from a mountain in the philippines.
-emma
