My Version

God’s voice is shouting out his presence,
Stop and listen,
Truth is God’s gift to his children,
We don’t need to try to find the answers,
God gives them to his children,
Stop and listen.

Each day is an opportunity,
To hear more of God’s words,
I love seeking to understand daily,
To sift out the lies that begin,
When I forget to listen.

I love my Father’s honesty,
He sees my heart,
His truth pierces any lie,
Everything is exposed to him,
There’s no point pretending,
I look forward to his approval.

Tomorrow is a fresh start,
The day will begin with a shout from God,
As the sun begins its daily trek,
I will stop and listen,
With my heart open and ears pricked,
Ready to hear my Father’s words.

My Version

When I pray my broken hearted prayers,
I know my failures are obvious,
Thankfully God sees more than this,
Beyond my shortcomings,
He saw my desire was to serve,
I never ceased in that desire.

This was rejected by the liar,
He closed his heart against me,
Daily acts of violence were committed,
Lashed unceasingly,
By a continuous contemptuous glare,
My daily work became torture,
I curled up and sought to die.

From the confusion,
I heard a Voice,
It quietened my anxious heart,
Words that offered protection,
Confronting the lies,
Showing them for what they are,
Futile rebelliousness against God,
The Voice speaking order and calm,
Love’s words offering truth and trust,
“You are my child – I see you –
What I see calls me to love you more”

My Version – For when I feel inundated by haters.

Hate’s storehouse,
Distributes vindictiveness freely,
Anger accumulated,
Burns indelibly into my heart,
It creates a seething ferment,
Of malicious words aimed directly at me,
My dear enemy’s storehouse is full,
The hot poking iron of his anger,
Is burned into my heart.

Out of hate emerged a destructive plan,
Of retaliation and hurt,
Disguised as caring,
The evil intent is clear,
The lie seeking alliances,
To wreak more havoc in my life.

I wait for your Voice to be heard,
Love’s storehouse accumulates justice,
When truth creates order,
It shames hate and anger and malice,
Hate’s words will quickly fade,
When truth is all that’s heard,
Anger will be in the past.

My dear enemy will be completely disarmed,
No longer able to cling to past weapons,
Lies no longer heard by anyone,
Truth’s Voice will be heard by everyone.

My Version of Psalm 79 – For when you feel very stupid.

Lord, my past is so shameful,
My stupidity reaches to the heavens,
I spend all day counting what I have done wrong,
But, you don’t do this to me,
Your count keeps going back to zero,
Totally forgetting all my past mistakes.

My dear enemy doesn’t do this,
He takes delight in pointing out what I have done,
He piles stupid on stupid,
To show me my idiocy,
Over and over he has circled,
Looking to make the final blow,
To find one more stupid thing,
That will destroy my life.

God’s way is so different,
He circles to wrap his arms around me,
Not to point out my stupidity,
His arms are loving and his voice is soft,
Affirming me, whispering love sounds,
That comforts my pitiful weeping.

Here’s what God’s says will happen –
My dear enemy is going to feel very stupid,
When God sees the damage he sought to do,
God won’t take it lightly,
He will show the enemy who is right,
He won’t get away with it,
My enemy will receive his dues,
And, it won’t be pretty for him,
When God let’s loose,
With the loving anger of a protective dad.

I love feeling safe with Dad,
I pray that my children will see God’s work,
And that they will have the same trust,
Because they know how God delivers.

 

My Version of Psalm 29

God’s creative voice is all around,
He uses it as his megaphone,
Why don’t we hear it’s message?
Everywhere I look creation is speaking of its author,
Saying this is the Creator’s work!

A beautiful sunrise that shatters light over the earth.
An awesome storm with ear splitting thunder,
The ocean’s relentless power breaking down the earth’s edge,
The sunset reminding of the sun’s fiery daily journey.

Then God chooses a life,
He chose my life and to love me,
Daily power witnessed,
Becomes my strength,
In the midst of creation’s relentless activity,
My God whispers, “enjoy”.

Lot’s more Psalms: (Click here)

My Version of Psalm 26

God sees every part of me,
There is no stone unturned in my heart,
God you know I have followed you for years,
Seeking to be an obedient child,
Wanting to follow in my Father’s footsteps.

You showed me that the bully is a liar,
Incapable of speaking truth,
I had to stop listening to their sweet sounding lies,
To be able to hear your hard truths.

Breaking free from the bully is hard,
They are clever in their deceit,
They know how to charm – then destroy,
My best weapon is to put God first,
It disarms deceit,
All the bully can do is run in circles,
Making lots of noise.

Resistance is futile when God is put first,
– Light against fog,
– Hope against depression,

The right choice is obvious,
Waking to praise brings hope,
There’s no cover up – Praise fills my life.

My Version of Psalm 25

Every day there are new things to learn,
I pray this morning for humility,
For the wisdom to see the things that I don’t know,
That today may become a day of discovery and wonder,
Not stuck in the same old rut.

Why do fearful cowards surround me?
They don’t want to face who they are,
Instead they prefer to attack me,
They focus all their energy on my downfall,
Wielding their hate weapons,
All day they seek to find new words,
To create despair in my life.

Surely God sees all this?
He knows everything,
He can see the haters hearts,
And, he must see my heart.

I stopped and was still,
God’s voice broke into the stillness,
His voice breathed love,
My friend, My Creator,
He saw the deep wounds inflicted by bullies,
Loving hands wrapped around me,
His embracing action a balm to the hate words,
Love spoken heals the abuse.

God is faithful to me,
He doesn’t cave into hate’s demands,
He is not swayed by its accusations,
He never deviates from love,
I want to follow him everywhere,
Listening to his voice,
Learning new things daily,
Seeing hate’s voice quietened by love,
Knowing that he has my back.

My Version

My constant cry to my God is “help”.
The haters are circling,
I am on my knees,
Well aimed kicks,
Are coming from every direction,
It feels like the end is too close,
I am at the end of my strength,
I feel like giving up.

But, In the face of defeat,
I will trust my God,
He knows what to do with haters,
He turns their arrogance into shame,
They begin to attack each other,
In their rage they lose all sense,
Their angry spit spraying malice,
God turns the destruction intended for me,
And the haters destroy themselves.

Destruction by hate is a terrible death,
I have felt its painful lash,
But when God let the haters loose,
And they turn on each other,
It becomes a bloodbath,
Their bloodlust has no friends,
It revels in destruction.

I can watch the final battle from safety,
My scars completely healed,
Now life is praise, continuously,
The pain a distant memory,
I am safe forever.

My Version of Psalm 59

Contempt burns in my enemy’s eyes,
Their eyes haven’t seen love’s light,
They are dark pits,
Seeking to drag me into their pain,
They are ingenious in their scheming,
Planning to inflict their pain on me.

Their word vomit is continuous,
The stench of their breath,
Warns me that they are coming,
They think no one can smell it,
But, I know when they are near,
It smells like a dead animal left in the hot sun,
The unmistakable smell of death.

God is going to clean up the vomit,
Disinfectant’s sting will be a painful rebuke,
To the pride vomit stench,
My enemy loves his own stink,
But, my room will smell like a fresh garden,
Promising fresh life born in fertile soil.

My Version of Psalm 129

Lies told about me accumulated,
I was confused and uncertain about truth,
These lies created deep wounds,
Injuries that threatened my own life,
I came so close to giving up,
The lies twisted truth and I gave up on myself,
I wanted to die because the pain was constant.

My scars are a testimony to God’s provision,
They are truth’s witness,
To the winner,
The lies are now obvious,
Everyone can see God’s provision,
Blessing is not for the liar,
It’s clear that God sees truth,
He healed my wounds.

My Version

Humility led me down to greatness,
I sought to follow you God,
Sometimes I thought you were going the wrong way,
You seemed to take wrong turns,
But, I learned to trust you,
I discovered rest,
Now, when you seem to stop for too long,
I know that it’s for my sake,
I have stopped being a back seat driver,
I have learned to love the scenery along the way.

My version

Dear God my life is a testimony,
To your belief in me,
I am just a minute speck in time,
My life was a futile attempt to be important,
But, all my efforts left me depressed,

Forgiveness is what unfetters my life,
I waited too long to understand this fully,
My God was always waiting for me,
Love oozes from God’s being day and night,
He seeks me out,
To embrace me – with a bear hug,
Oh how I love his smell!

[huzzaz id=”sons-of-korah” vpp=”12″]

My Version

Lord I have lost my joy,
I feel like I don’t belong,
Regret is all around me,
Yearning for what was promised,
But, living in a world that hates God,
Means my enemy’s voice is loud in my ears,
They scream at God – mocking him,
Thinking that God doesn’t hear.

God’s day is coming,
Every vicious word heard,
God has not forgotten me,
Even when I am in the midst of strangers,
Mockers will be humbled by God,
God will make all things right.

My Version

My starting point each day is God,
It begins with goodness,
I can’t wait to wake up and begin my praise,
Thoughts that centre on God,
Make me feel warm inside,
My stomach stops churning,
I am totally secure,
God’s love in certain.

My Version

Skilled liars play with the truth,
Using words that disguise true intent,
Destruction is all around them,
Its dust obscures any glimpse of truth,
Reason doesn’t even get a glance.

Wait – their fate is assured,
God is coming down like a ton of bricks,
Smashing their glass houses,
They will disappear into nothing,
Futility is the battle they chose,
Because God’s hand is sure and strong,
With little tolerance of poisoned tongues,
Their fate is already set,
God doesn’t forget what is done to the least,
Promise is waiting for those who seek truth.

Disappointment is a constant companion,
Opposition seems to dog every step,
Love isn’t my natural response,
To those who use confusion as their weapon,
Even those on my own side are difficult,
Saying one thing but doing another,
They should be sticking up for me,
But, they are blocking my light,
I can’t see a way forward,

What will I do?
I will find ways to praise God,
I won’t give up,
My praise will show the way forward,
Worry will be put in its place,
Praise will lead others,
Praise is unstoppable,
Praise will celebrate my delight in God.

My Version

My life is full of Incessant activity,
I feel like I am on a treadmill,
Working really hard but getting nowhere,
Tiredness is the constant cry of my world,
I want to get some really good sleep,
However, it eludes me because there’s more to do.

But, rest is waiting for me,
It’s God’s gift to his children,
Those who are worn out by the treadmill,
God’s way first brings us a cool drink,
It refreshes as if I had worked in the sun all day,
Then he keeps bringing me cool drinks,
Whenever the day gets hot,
His hand is outstretched with a full glass.

I’ve tried lots of ways to find rest,
Increased efficiency wasn’t the answer,
It worked for a short time,
Then I was back to where I started,
the only way was to return to God,

I found the answer –
It wasn’t by doing more,
Or by trying to be better at what I do,

No.

It’s simply by trusting God,
Admitting that I couldn’t succeed on my own,
I have my own room in God’s house,
I love it because my Father spent time creating it,
No more worry about where I will live,
It’s completely paid for,
A home built for eternity.

My Version

Lord, I have reached the end of this path,
I need you to point me in the right direction,
Opposition has drained me,
Haters words are cruel,
They delight in seeing my pain,
Desiring to declare my weakness,
and use it against God,

I know I sound pathetic,
Asking for help again,
The victim of my own choices,
Don’t you desert me too God,
Let me see that again you rescued me,
I want to shout this message out,
God hates the haters.