Intro to Rhythms of the Word
We started She Reads Truth a year and some change ago with the sole goal of women truly reading the Bible together and allowing the Lord to grow and shift them through it.
When we pick up this amazing offensive weapon (Ephesians 6:17 , Hebrews 4:12) that God has given us to fight for our freedom and for those around us, we have to not only look at it but also look through it and enter into what it says and what it means for us.
These scriptures are some that are super meaningful to our writers, and we want to hear from you – What is God speaking to your heart from them? Our encouragement is to sit in God’s Word – do a little background study, figure out the context, draw it out on paper, meditate on it, talk to your sister or your friend about what it means, answer the questions, or maybe just read it – for the first time or for what feels like the first time.
Get in the rhythm of reading the Word and recognizing that it is His truth for you, today.
Day One: Thirsty for His Presence
Text: Psalm 143
Hear my prayer, O Lord;
give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
2 Enter not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.3 For the enemy has pursued my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me;
my heart within me is appalled.5 I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah7 Answer me quickly, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
I have fled to you for refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
on level ground!11 For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant.
Have you ever been truly soul-weary, parched and desperate for the Lord? How does it make you feel to hear David, a biblical hero and strong man of God, describing these same feelings?
When was the last time you mediated on all God has done and allowed the reality of His good works to quench the dryness of your soul?
If you or someone you love is spiritually crushed and sitting in darkness, won’t you pray through this Psalm of David and ask the Lord to pour out His presence and peace even now? His love is steadfast and His grace sufficient.
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39 thoughts on "thirsty for His presence"
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Father God – bless these friends on SRT, Teach us to do your will ps 143:10.
Ladies, thank you for sharing. I too have lost my way and SRT is a tool the Lord has provided to begin our journey back home.
Enjoy your day. God bless each of you.
Teresa
Praying for God,s peace in your friends life. May He bring forgiveness and love to her family. Praying He will open their hearts to His love, giving them hope that all things are possible through Christ. Praying that God will show you how to comfort and support your friend and to give you strength as you lift her up. In Jesus name
For some reason, after reading this the song "Your Love Oh Lord" by Third Day popped into my head.
i let the email from srt sit in my inbox for the last day or so somehow knowing that i needed to read it and get back into a rhythm of seeking God's presence throughout my day (before reading this series title). i have also been reflecting on how i have seemed to have lost my footing as of late and am desiring to honor God with where i am while wanting so much to be somewhere else (geographically, relationally, life stage) but being at a complete loss of how to really do that. so ps 143 – particularly vs 10 spoke words of hope, encouragement, and conviction. i have felt drawn to the phrase i have seen around lately about " live expectantly without expectation"…and have been praying for God to show me how to embark on that. ps 143 seems to be an excellent foundation for embarking farther on that journey.
(and to the post above mine…i am also an "ang" and your entry is exactly where i am – freaky!!:))
The last two years have been a whirlwind as a relationship ended yet it has been hard for me to move on and feel peace about it all. Recently I have been in place of loneliness and my trust in God and where He has me right now has made me weary. I so desire to be out of this so called “desert”, for my heart to finally fully heal, for new relationships to be cultivated, and pure joy in Christ to come back into my life. I humbly ask for prayer ladies, which is so hard to ask. I desire what Psalm 143:10 says, for God to teach me to do His will.
I never thought Christians were supposed to get depressed. We have the joy of The Lord,right? But lately I’ve really struggled. Verse 7 really spoke to me. Even great men of God went through times of depression and fear! Lord, I am trusting you! V.11 because of your faithfulness bring me out of this distress. I am your servant. James 4:7 resist the devil and he will flee from you, come close to God and He will come close to you. Thank you Jesus for your word and your promises!
David seems to be in desperate straits and so he cries out to God; he asks God to hear him, to listen to him! And, not only to hear, but to answer. We've all been there, or, at least I have been. He calls on God to answer him, and knows that he can do that because he knows of the faithfulness of the God he serves. I think that sometimes when we are feeling overwhelmed, we have a difficult time remembering that the Lord is faithful ; we have to remind ourselves. I think that David does that here. He says," I remember…I meditate…I muse" and so in his longing for God, he stretches out his hands to God…..in prayer again. I can picture him doing that, arms outstretched, palms up. He needs God! And he needs an answer quickly, he is sinking and he knows it. "Let me hear" from You. How beautiful that he now affirms his trust.
He lifts up his soul to God and says twice in the next few verses " teach me. " And then, " revive me, for the sake of Your name. I see myself in this Psalm. I have been desperate, I need God to teach me; we all need to meditate on the Word of God, just as David did. David knows that he can be honest with God and he is. And, so can we/ I be!
Psalm 143 truly spoke to me this morning. I must remember to be more like David, lying naked before The Lord. He already knows the things we are going through; I sometimes believes He desires to hear that WE NEED HIM.
We spend so much time pretending that everything is fine when it really is not. The Bible tells us that in our weakness He is made strong. I will not try and fix situations that are “God jobs”!
When the enemy comes in like a flood, Jehovah Nissi will be my banner (standard). I thank God for His faithfulness and loving kindness. I can always run to His throne in time of need!
@ Leslie…LOVE THAT SONG!
Praying for my little sisters ([email protected])
that you both will continue to let their light shine. God is most assuredly watching and listening. (Mark 10:14) Word of God says… “and a child shall lead them”. (Isaiah 11:6)
Praying for you Beverly…He knows the plans He has for YOU; to prosper you! (Jeremiah 29:11)
Also praying for you and your husband Nicole.
@Ibukun…praying you also “rest in Him” this weekend and continuing in the days to come.
V. 11: Lord, let me live so that people will praise you (NCV). Yes, David meant live in the most literal sense. My physical life may not be threatened, but oh I am clinging to this as a prayer tonight. Lord, let me LIVE! Let me live fully for you so that others will praise Your name.
This chapter makes me remember how desperate I was in sickness. I would cry out to the Lord to heal or to take me from this earth so that I could escape my disease. I longed for Him to rescue me from the darkness my life had become.
Then, I started a new treatment, I gave myself to the Lord, and I was healed. Now I have a different kind of longing. I long to know Him and know His Word better than I know myself. Reading scripture and learning how much the Lord loves and provides for me is the new thirst that I cannot quench. But this thirst comes from a place illuminated by His light, a place of healing and hope that I had never imagined. She Reads Truth is helping me quench that thirst to know Him! He is leading me on such an amazing journey!
In the words of verse 8- Lord, show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.
This month has been a whirlwind of emotions for me. From being out of school because Lecturers in Nigeria are on strike to working full time 9-5 (usually 6. Who am I kidding). I’ve been busy up to my neck. So much that I haven’t had the time to indulge in an hour long time with God in the mornings. I’ve been financially insecure, I’ve worried and despaired and cried and trusted. Still, God has been God. I’m so thankful it’s a weekend and I can get some time way to relax, spend more time with God, etc.
The one verse that really spoke to me today was verse 10. ” Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.”
Will be meditating on this for the rest of tonight and even tomorrow. Blessings on all you ladies!
I love reading Psalm. I have a big highlighted square around this chapter. I have to agree with a few others about verse 8. It is one of the verses that really jumps out at me. I have made some recent decisions after many months of prayer. But, like before, I am getting told from those around me that I shouldn't go and how much I am needed here. I feel like God is really calling me to do this and this is where he needs me. It can be hard to finally feel like you have this answer and direction from God only to be told by others just how wrong it is. But I know that God knows better than they and I will place my trust and faith in him.
The parched and weary land… Oh, I am quite familiar with that place. I have been in the 'wilderness' for a year now. Ever since moving to a new city with my Husband, I have felt lonely (so far from home!) and I have found it challenging to get a job in my desired field. Also, the culture has been an adjustment (culture shock!). I have fought, kicked and screamed, but lately I have felt God drawing me into His presence. (Similar to the Israelites, He has been removing my pride and really showing me Himself.) And in spite of it all, I feel He is asking me to trust His Faithfulness and to, in turn, increase my faithfulness and patience too.
I applied to a job (at the organization I have always wanted to work in this new city) just over a week ago. I know that getting a job at this organization would be a MIRACLE – really totally from God! I am qualified, but not from the area which is unfortunately a hinderance. BUT God is bigger and if this is in His plan then I know it will succeed. I ask that you please pray for me and this opportunity. As hard as it would be, working there would give me an opportunity to love – as I seek His grace and guidance – a culture and people I have a hard time loving. And in an organization that I love to support (it makes me feel comfortable and at home as strange as that sounds for a job environment…) This is why the rejection has hurt so much – One: I always thought it would work out a lot sooner; and Two: this organization type is my heart.
But, ultimately, my prayer is that His will be done in my life. I know His ways are far greater than mine, and His path way more wonderful than any I could imagine.
I am humbled, broken, hopeful.
I appreciate your prayers, ladies. :)
I WILL pray for you, sweet Beverly! Rest in Him
Thank you, ibukun! I appreciate your prayer and kind words.
Sent up prayers for you, Beverly. We went through a very "parched" time in relation to jobs and in a new city a few years ago. He quenches. He comforts. And we thank Him for that!!
Thank you for your encouragement and prayer! I know that I, too, when this season is over want to also encourage others going through similar experiences. Maybe that is why these times happen, so that we can help others in need.
Thank you so much for this post. I've been following and reading SRT from the very beginning.
I often wonder how SRT comes up with such meaningful and powerful conclusions to the book or passage being read and studied.
This is my opportunity to do the same with these scriptures. Ephesians 6 10-19 is one of my favorites. This is my chance is go deeper and really understand why I love it so much, other than knowing I'm protected by it.
I love SRT and I pray you continue to do what God has called you to do. Thanks for helping and blessing me to see things more from a spiritual sense than a natural.
I don't post often, think this may be my 3rd or 4th time. Um more of a watcher and reader than I am a commenter. Thanks for helping me come out that place and enter this place of security in God's Word. Again may God bless everything SRT put their hands to do.
Would love to come to the meet and greet, but can not afford at moment. I recently opened a Transitional Recovery home for homeless women, and women coming out of prison. Working on my 501(3) C and believing God for the grace to for what He's called me to do. God bless and I love SRT!!!
Lynda
This was such a great thing for me to read today. I didn’t just get one thing from the verses I was actually touched by them in a whole. David is praying the way we all should .. He is pouring everything out. From fears to foes he is laying it before the Lord. Sometime it takes everything going wrong for me to pray like this. I always feel better after I literally feel recharged . I wonder if this is how we are meant to come to the Lord. Not with just little quiet prayers here and there, but laying our heart and soul at his feet.
Just said a prayer for her. I know what it's like to live in a home that has strayed away from the Lord. I pray that they may open their hearts to the Lord's grace and that they may allow Him to heal them :)
Thank you so much :)
Hello sisters, August has been a hectic month for me and it has taken me away from reading His Word daily. I have been praying the Lord that I might get back into shereadstruth reading plans and this wonderful community and my prayers have been granted. I am working my way through the fourth part of Women in the Bible and I have started this Rhythms of the Word plan at the same time. Then again, one can't have too much of His holy Word, can one? :)
On Monday, I am starting a new job after having gone back to university for two years. Can I humbly ask for your prayers that the Lord may be beside me in this new season of my life? I pray that the Lord may indicate me the path I should walk (Psalm 143:8) and help me ease into it.
May your day be blessed and full of His healing grace :)
What an appropriate passage for me this morning. Especially verses 7-11. My husband and I are going through yet another time of faith testing. It seems the sky has been pouring rain since April and my enemies are fear, anxiety, worry, hopelessness, frustration and doubt. I am ready for a miracle. I am weary and my heart cries for the Lord to show Himself. What I forget to do is remember what He has ALREADY done in my life as proof of His faithfulness. He has brought me out of the muck and mire before, what makes this time any different? He is the same yesterday, today and forever. "Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you." (Psalms 143:8 NLT)
Verse 8 spoke to my heart, especially the last part. "Reveal to me the way I should go because I long for You." I need to seek God's face and His ways not so that my this or that will turn out well, or that the circumstances of my life will fall into place as I think they should. I need to seek His ways because I long for HIM, not the right set of circumstances. To be pleasing to Him and to honor His name. I guess it's just a different way of saying I should seek His face and not just His hand.
Blessings to all…
Persecuted, overwhelmed, desolate . . . Satan just pushes us to the throne of God. I love this! Satan thinks he's winning, but when God's hand is upon us, our trials will only draw us closer to Him as we cry out for deliverance; Lord remove these afflictions, draw me closer to You, teach me the ways I should walk. Very thought provoking devotion. It's not necessarily the request for God to take away our problem(s), but through it — to draw closer to Him, do His will, and be conformed to His image.
Verse 5 ministers to me. As I've stated before that I was on a 3 year journey with my elderly parents until they went home to be with the Lord… He was with me every step of the way…. I called out to Him daily for wisdom on what and how to proceed to do the best by my mom and dad… Almost on a daily basis I am reminded of each step He took me through. Then it also brings me back to before the 3 years and all the ways the Lord answered my prayers and pleas. Not always in the manner or time I thought but in His time which is always perfect.
Thank you Lord for loving me and hearing my prayers and giving me wisdom. Help me this day to be a blessing to others especially those of my own household.
I find myself completely overwhelmed by his faithfulness today! I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face remembering all the many ways he has carried me through, and realizing that I truly have no reason to fear it worry whatever may come because he has never nor will never forsake me. He tells us the way we should go-may his good spirit lead us in the way we should go all the days of our life.
….His love is steadfast and His grace is sufficient – love!!!
So many times I catch myself, realizing I tried it again on my own.. I'm in such desperate need of Him!
In those times I can only run back to the father, stretch my hands out to him, thirsting for him, because I know, I'm desperate for Him and lost without Him!! http://youtu.be/4gs_qlCWrPk
At the end of the day he's the only one that matters..
I love this song! It wraps it all up :)
Verse 10 speaks to my need to walk humbly and seek out the Lord's will for me….because as a type A control freak that's really hard for me. But it is essential to His work because He is God and I am not.
I think I actually find it a little difficult to take what David is saying seriously. It seems to me that he's just having a moment. A moment of desperation, one where he wishes God would just appear before him and give him the answer he's looking for. It's almost like he's mocking God, in a "You say you'll give me answers, well, give me answers!" kind of way. He seems to have forgotten, temporarily, that most of the time, that's not exactly how it works. In his moment of desperation and panic, he wants an easy out. God doesn't always give us an easy out, but of course it doesn't mean he loves us any less. And I'm sure David will see this, when it takes a step back and gains some perspective. And that's what this verse reminds ME to do. Don't shout at God to appear and give me the easy answer. Trust him to reveal it in His own divine time.
verse 8 jumped out at me, too. That is really all you need to get started on a journey of faith.
I remember …..I meditate ……I ponder ……I stretch out my hands to you…… My soul thirsts for you….. Feeling so encouraged and loved this morning by my Father in heaven! He hears our prayers. Yes He does.
Verse 8 really struck me this morning. I need his unfailing love. I need him to show me his way. I can feel lost at times, tossed around by the seas and storms of life. Only Jesus can rescue me, and show me the way. I have to put my trust in him daily.
The Lord is always with you, Tricia! I pray that you may trust Him and turn to Him. He will show you the way, you must only let Him; He will fight for you, you need only be still.
Verse 4 struck me… Especially when I looked at a few other translations.
I have given up hope, and I feel numb all over. (CEV)
That was me. That was where I was when I found the SRT community. David trusted God to be the one who would save him from his distress. Being with you all, my sisters, has taught me that trust and faith. I believed before, but now I have a first hand experience that God saves!! I understand the thirst David speaks of! I thirst for His word and for His presence in my life everyday.
Great choice of scripture today!! Thanks, Amanda and SRT!
Oops… Finger too happy…
Thank you Lord, that the same ear that heard David , hero, man of Gods, prayers is the SAME ear that hears our prayers…. How awesome is that!!!! Lord my God how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Ps8:9).
Amen.
I love you ladies. Have a good and God blessed day whatever you do.
Just in case you were wondering how i knew the words to the song….i wrote it….kidding…..! ….it was a remake of an old song from way back when..x
Morning ladies.
Recently i was singing along to a song on the radio, my grandson turns to me seriously and says “how do you know the words to that song, it’s only been out a few days”….. Dah!!!!! I don.t know what kids think, i.ve never been one…..right? LOL.
Seriously though, life has been happening …..forever…
I had blood issues before the hysterectomy….woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment…forever…
Rivalry…Jacob and Esau… Cain and Abel….forever..
I serve my God better than you…Martha and Mary…forever…
Love…. Song of Solomon … Full of beautiful words…. Forever
My point….our cry out prayers… Our small prayers… Our need prayers… Our praise prayers… Our thankful prayers… Our loving prayers have probably been prayed before, in different countries, different languages, all sorts of situations ….
Thank you Lord that you are the same yesterday. Today. Forever… Thank you Lord that the same ear that heard David, hero, man of Gods prayers, is the same ear