Well hello everyone. Today is a good day to have a good day. Amen. I'm David Ansel and I just want to welcome you to this daily devotion. I'm sitting here with my pastor and my sister Sherri Morris. Amen. All the way from... Isn't it awesome? Yeah. We're here in Soldotna, Alaska. Soldotna, Alaska. Where God is alive, his creation is beautiful. What a wonderful day we are having in Alaska. And we just want to share it with you and share this wonderful devotion we're taking you through the Bible this year, one day at a time. One day at a time. One day at a time. Sweet Jesus. Amen. Amen. That's it. One day at a time. And that's what God expects just for you just to give him even just a little bit of time every day. And the more you do,

the more hungry you're going to be for more of his presence. Amen. You're going to love this. Spend time with the Lord in the secret place and getting to know the Lord and in such an intimate way, which is incredible.

What's our honor to present this daily devotion to you. We just want to welcome you if you haven't been here with us so far, but we're just going through the Bible, like I said, one day at a time.

It's the one year Bible, so it's a part of the Old Testament, a part of the New Testament, and Psalms and Proverbs each and every day.

Pastor will be taking you through Psalms, breaking it down verse by verse, which is wonderful. Yes. And I'll be taking you through Proverbs every day. So I've just been telling you guys where you're at.

We're on day four. Yeah.

You're in Genesis chapter eight, starting in verse one, you're going to read through chapter 10 to verse 32 in Matthew chapter four, the New Testament, Matthew chapter four.

Start in verse 12 and read to verse 25.

And in the Psalms,

pastor is going to take us to chapter four verses one through eight. Yeah, this is really good. So I'm going to read down to verse four and then we'll comment on verse four.

The Bible says,

answer me when I call God of my righteousness.

You have relieved me in my distress. Isn't that wonderful? Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. You sons of man, how long will my honor be treated as an insult? How long will you love what is worthless and strive for a lie?

But know that God has set apart the godly person for himself.

That's really good. You should underline that in your Bible.

The Lord hears when I call to him, tremble and do not sin.

Meditate in your heart upon your bed and be still. I'm going to comment on that.

This is Perry Stone's commentary Bible.

Search your heart before you sleep at night.

Be certain there's no sin in your life before you close your eyes.

Amen.

In the King James, it says, stand in awe and sit not commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still.

Okay, verse five.

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and trust in the Lord. Commentary here, it says, under the law, sacrifices included numerous animal, grain and meal offerings.

David, however, emphasized the importance of a true sacrifice being this praise and worship from a righteous heart accompanied by sacrifices of joy and thanksgiving.

And you can read on in that in Psalm 107, verse 22. I love it. We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. Amen. I love that. God wants us to bring a sacrifice of praise, David.

Okay, so we're going to go on to verse six. Many are saying, who will show us anything good?

Lift up the light of your face upon us, Lord. Now, in verse six, as lifting up the phase, as lift up thou up the light of thy countenance is reference to the favor of the Lord as in the blessing of the high priest who would ask the Lord to make his face shine upon thee. And you can go to Numbers 6.25. Dave, would you look up Numbers 6.25 for me? Because this is like, this is a blessing that I think that you would really love to hear. Numbers 6.25.

And we're almost done.

Numbers, that's all right.

6.25.

That gives you time to look it up too.

Make sure you have your notebook and your Bible and your coffee or whatever you're drinking at this time, your tea.

Amen. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. And what's the whole, the whole... May the Lord show his favor and give you his peace.

Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you, make his face shine upon you. That one, it's so good. So we're going to go to verse seven. You have put joy in my heart more than when their grain and new wine are abundant.

Gladness is mentioned 40 times in the English translation of the Old Testament. The word used for gladness is in Psalms is S-M-C-H-A-H, Shemach, something like that, and means to be glad or joyful.

In Judaism, the Torah, the first five books of Moses is read on an annual cycle. When the cycle is completed and new cycle begin, it's called the Shemach Torah, meaning rejoicing in the Torah. Amen. Rejoicing in the word of God. And finally, verse eight, in peace I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, Lord, have me dwell in safety, which I love that. In nature, a sheep can only rest when its surroundings are at peace. Here the favor and goodness of God bring rest and good sleep. Amen. Isn't that good? Oh, I love the word of God. So good. Amen.

Well, let's go on to Proverbs chapter one, verses 20 through 23. Amen.

This verse indicates that God will pour out his spirit when people repent. Wow.

Peter understood this principle when he instructed the Jews. "Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out." That's good.

"When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." In Acts 3, 19,

true repentance is always followed by a refreshing. Wow. I love that. "Repentance is the road that leads to the outpouring of the spirit." Whoa. Oh,

repentance. I believe that is the key. That's when you know revival's taken place. I had someone come up to me the other day at the altar and brought a mother-in-law,

a daughter-in-law, and a mother-in-law, her mother-in-law, and her daughter-in-law. They came to the altar and said, "We want to make peace with one another. We want to repent, and we want to have a good relationship." Wow. Yeah, that was powerful. That's God moving. That is God moving. That's revival. That is. When people ask, they repent.

And when you forgive, the Bible says, and we've been doing a study too on the secret of the secret place,

that if you use the Lord's Prayer as a frame, framework for your prayer time, when you go into prayer, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done here on earth as it is in heaven." But when you go into your prayer time and you go into "Hallow it be your name," you're going into worshiping. You are a mighty God, worthy of honor, worthy of praise. Oh, Lord, we love you. We glorify you. You go into the... You know, he's going to inhabit the praises because the Bible says he inhabits the praises of his people. But Jesus gave us this prayer to really go by. And it really can help you to pray. I pray this over my children, over my children's children, my grandchildren. But I go into "Hallow it be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done here on earth as it is in heaven." And I do the same thing with my children. I'll pray that over my children. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in their lives here on earth. And then we go in, give us this day our daily bread. Thank you for the provision of the Lord, Almighty God. Thank you that you provided. And then forgive us of our trespasses. Forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Yes.

That's pretty powerful. Jesus tells us to do that. And so when we can repent and then forgive those even that have sinned against us, have you ever thought about who you have sinned against?

Well, sometimes that's pretty powerful because that man, that's a tough one. So forgiveness and repentance goes a long way in God's mind and in his heart. Yes, it does. So when we can forgive, that was a powerful time when we were able to have that. I just, I started to weep. I said, this is powerful. This is so great.

When someone is doing this, you know, they want to mend relationships. Let's come to the altar. Let's come and ask God to bless our relationship. I mean, you know, like a Naomi and Ruth, you know, let us, we want to have a relationship. We've been at odds, you know, for all these years. We want to make it right.

So it was pretty powerful.

Wow. That was pretty powerful. Well, let's go. Okay. Into verse 20. Okay. Chapter one, verse 20.

Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square. Amen.

She calls to the crowds along the main street to those gathered in the front of the city gate. Thank you, Jesus. How long you simpleton.

Will you insist on being simple minded? How long will you mockers relish in your mocking?

How long will you fools hate knowledge?

Come and listen to my counsel. I'll share my heart with you and make you wise. I love that. Say that last one. I'll share my heart with you. Make you wise.

Wow.

That's powerful. What a great.

Love it. So Dave, we're going to go into a devotion today called created a created place of security. God has created us a place of security. So we're going to go into numbers chapter 23, verse 19. And if you have your Bibles turn to numbers chapter 23 verse 19. Dave, I'll have you read.

God is not a man that he should lie. Praise God.

Nor a son of man that he should repent.

Has he said and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken?

And will he not make it good?

That's good.

You must look to the word of God to find answers, direction and comfort in times of trouble. Come on. That's we have to have direction.

We have to have comfort. But if you've been in that secret place, if you've been in that time with the Lord,

and you you you can rest and know that no matter what storm you're you're going through, no matter what you might be going through, God is there. Yes.

Sometimes people get to know God when they're in a storm.

Absolutely. If you could get to know God before the storm. What peace shall have in the storm. Yeah, that's so good.

So in Psalm 91, it uses the term refuge.

So spiritually, it means to look to the Lord for security from dangers.

Amen. The secret place could only be made by the Spirit of God.

Say it again. The secret place could only be made by the Spirit of God because it goes beyond being in the favor of God, Dave.

That's right. It goes beyond that.

Because you see us protection over every single area of your life. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. You spend your days in companionship and fellowship with your father and your friend. Yeah, boy.

That's good.

I like to spend time with my dad.

Do you? Yes. And so he loves to spend time, you know, with us,

my my physical, you know, my natural father here, but in heaven, even much more, he loves us. Yes. And he wants to spend time with us and he wants to protect us. As a father, you want to protect your family, right?

And so while your righteous, while your your righteous fear of the Lord grows,

your closeness and familiarity develops as well. You get to know him as close as you get to dad. You know, when he's going to look at you when that's not right.

He didn't even have to raise his voice with me. I mean, all he had to do is look at me and I knew I better shape up, you know, quickly.

So I mean, you know what I'm saying?

So this next part, because in this place,

no matter what the world throws at you,

no matter what the scheme that the devil can work up, yeah,

nothing can pull you away from the protection and the love of the Lord. That's so good.

Isn't he wonderful?

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Isn't Jesus my Lord?

Wonderful. I love it. I haven't seen years of her what's recorded in God's word. Isn't Jesus my Lord?

Wonderful. Amen.

He puts a song on your heart. He always does, doesn't he? Yes, he does. And we're aging ourselves by singing these old songs. But you know what? They're goodies. Yes. Oldies but goodies, right? In this place, no matter what the world throws at you, no matter what the scheme the devil works up, nothing can pull you from the protection and the love of God. That was powerful, Dave. That is. We only get there by spending time. Now, listen, the only way that we get there is by spending time with the Lord in prayer. And in reading the word of God, that is what's going to draw you close to him. He says, "Draw close to me, I will draw close to you." We meditate upon the Lord. We go into that secret place. We shut the door. We go find a place with him. And he's there.

He is there. And it's powerful. It's powerful. So when we do spend our time seeking him, he makes himself known to us.

And I like that. I like that.

Yeah, I like it. So much.

He shows himself to be present and active in our lives.

And our faith grows like crazy. Yeah. How do you say? How do you say? Expedentially. Expedentially.

He is a true, faithful God and a place of security, David. That's what he is. Wow. Yeah. He who dwells in the secret place shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Amen. We may still have troubles.

And Jesus promised that trouble would come, but we won't be knocked off of our feet when it does. Amen. Because we know who's got our back. Who has us? Who's got our back? If you've been dwelling in the presence of God, if you've been living under the covenant of God, if you've been living under that, to me, sometimes we can get rebellious. I want it my way. I don't know. You know, sometimes we want it that way.

We just get so, I don't know.

Sometimes we just need to be reminded. Yes, we do. How wonderful God is. Amen. We'll be able to stand strong.

Praise God, Dave. Knowing where we have put our trust. Yes. Sometimes it takes a strategy or a major upheaval before we get serious, really serious about seeking God. But God promises that if we call upon Him,

He will answer and He will deliver. I like that. You know, it comes to my mind when you were saying this is like,

sometimes it takes certain things, you know. But some may trust in horses.

Some may trust in chariots. But we will trust in the name of our God. If you go to Romans chapter 10 verse 13, the Bible says, "He is faithful and true for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Isn't that a miracle? Yeah, it is. Isn't that a miracle? He made a way. Yeah. No matter where you are. No matter where you live in this world.

If you call on the name of the Lord,

you will be saved. Do you know a time in your life where you've had to cry out to God to help you? I mean, it could be when you were a little kid or some hunting trip, if you got lost or anything like that. Do you remember any specific time where you've had to call on God for help? I don't have the time in this program to tell you, but this is what I can tell you. When you call on the name of the Lord,

it doesn't matter, like I said, where you are.

He is there.

He is there and He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. Amen.

And I think that we should just take this opportunity right now. Let's just talk about Jesus.

Tell me about Jesus, Dave. Can I tell you about Jesus? Tell me about Him.

Jesus changed my life.

He can take you from a nobody to a somebody in a split second of time.

Because right now, if you're not following Jesus, you don't have hope.

I like to ask this question to everyone that I'm around.

Where are you going when your body dies?

And can you answer that question?

Because if you can't answer that question, is the most important question that you need to be able to answer.

And God,

being God,

gave us so much grace and loved us so much

that He gave us His only begotten Son. His name is Jesus.

He sent Him to be born of a virgin.

To die on a cross for our sin, but to be raised from the dead. Amen.

And lives eternally in heaven.

And His word tells us that whosoever believes in me shall not die, but have everlasting life.

Now, a lot of people say, "Well, you just have to be a good person and do good things." And God is such a good God that, you know, as long as you're living a good life and being kind and nice,

then surely you're going to make it to heaven.

But that's not what this precious Bible tells us. The Bible tells us there's only one way,

and narrow is that way. That's right. But broad is the path that leads to destruction.

So when you hear people say, "Well, you got to do this or you got to do that," you can look into the perfect word of God and find where it says in John 3 16, you've seen it in every athletic program across the world. For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believes in me shall not perish, but have everlasting life. So today, I want pastor to take a few moments with you, tell you more about the love of Jesus,

and give you an opportunity to give your heart to Him. And I promise you, when you do, this book of life will come alive to you, and you will just,

thank you, you'll just be amazed as the word of life jumps, the words of this book, jump off the pages and start to minister to your heart and change you. Amen. I was thinking about, we just came out of the Christmas season,

and I was thinking about the shepherds,

how they were in the fields,

and how there were an angel of the Lord stood near them. It wasn't up in the sky, it was right near them.

And it was shocking to them.

And here, he's given them a great miracle story, and then all of a sudden, their eyes were opened up to a host of Heaven's armies, and they were saying, "Glory to God in the highest."

And I was thinking about that, and how it was so profound to them.

Here is the Savior of the world that came for us. And then Jesus grows up, and He goes to the cross, and He takes all of our sins.

He takes them to the cross, everything in Him. He took our punishment that we deserved on Himself. He died for all the sins for everyone in the world. All we have to do is receive the Lord. But can you imagine being the ones that had come to the grave,

and the stone was rolled away, and there was an angel of the Lord there, bright and shiny like lightning, you know, this bright light, and here there's, again, angels are announcing an incredible thing.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

He died on the cross, He rose from the dead, and He's coming back in that same manner. He's coming back to get us. But the only way to Christ is to ask Jesus to come into your life, and come into your heart, to forgive you of your sins. He covers us with His precious blood. We can't do anything. We can't get saved by works. It's by God's grace. And we just have to humble ourselves and say, "God, I need you. I'm a sinner. I need a Savior to forgive me. Please forgive me of all my sins. Come to my life. Come into my heart. Forgive me, Lord. I believe that you died on the cross for me." That's a big thing. Sometimes you don't feel like you're worthy of that, and we're not. Like God loves you enough to feel like you are worthy because He wants to spend eternity with you.

All you have to do is say that prayer and believe it with all your heart. You might not feel something, but then you might.

Then you need to get baptized, Dave, and then it doesn't stop there. You've got to get yourself in the Word, and you've got to get yourself, this is like what we're doing. You fill yourself with the Word. You prepare yourself to grow in the Lord. Yes, reach out to us. We want to help you with it. It doesn't end right there.

And I just want to reiterate what Pastor was saying.

When you find yourself, you might be in a desperate situation like this, and you may have found this just at the right moment. Right time. And you just cry out and say, "Lord, I need you. Oh, how I need you is hard. Every hour I need you." And He will be there. He will come into your life. Amen. He will change your life. Amen. Nothing is impossible for those who believe.

Nothing. Nothing is impossible. That's right.

You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Greater is He that's in you than He that's in the world. So no, you get ahold of God, and you get ahold of His Word. And if you don't even know how to pray, sometimes just get the Word of God. Just start saying it out loud, declaring, decreeing His Word. His truth, His Word is truth. His truth, He can't lie. God is not one that can lie. So always use the Word of God and watch everything that comes out of your mouth because life and death is in the power of the tongue.

So, hey Dave, today's a good day to have a good day. What do you think? What a great day. It's a great day. What a great day to be with all of you, to share this time with you. Thank you for being here with us. We just love you. We appreciate you. So good. Sharing this day, it's going to be a good day. You just tell yourself that. It's going to be a good day today. We love you, right?

We'll see you tomorrow.

God bless you and have a great day.