Warren W. Wiersbe - Prayer, Praise & Promises: A Daily Walk Through the Psalms

T his book grew out of my ministry at Back to the Bible Broadcast . I began a four-minute devotional program called DynaMoments , which local radio stations could drop into their daily schedule. My aim was to go through various books of the Bible and focus on one key truth in each broadcast. It wasnt the easiest broadcasting Ive ever done, but the Lord blessed our efforts.

We discovered that the series on the Psalms was especially appreciated by the listeners, so we published a series of DynaMoments booklets to meet this need. Then it was decided to publish the meditations from the Psalms in a more durable book, and Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan, assisted us in the project.

When Back to the Bible Broadcast stopped publishing books, they put the DynaMoments meditations from the Psalms on their website to help believers in their daily devotional time. There were calls for a more permanent edition, and Baker Publishing Group kindly agreed to bring out this new edition under their imprint.

It always rejoices authors when they hear that something they have written is being used by the Lord to encourage His people in many parts of the world. I trust that this new edition will have a wide and effective ministry. My thanks to Back to the Bible Broadcast for granting me the publishing rights and to Chad Allen at Baker Publishing Group for his valuable help in bringing out this new edition.

May these miniature meditations enlighten and encourage you and enable you to do the will of God faithfully from your heart.

Warren W. Wiersbe

Psalm 1:12

Separated and Saturated

T wo of the most popular words in the Christian vocabulary are bless and blessing . God wants to bless His people. He wants them to be recipients and channels of blessing. God blesses us to make us a blessing to others, but He has given us certain conditions for receiving blessings.

First, we must be separated from the world (v. 1). The world is anything that separates us from God or causes us to disobey Him. Separation is not isolation but contact without contamination. Sin is usually a gradual process. Notice the gradual decline of the sinner in verse 1. He is walking (Mark 14:54), standing (John 18:18), and then sitting (Luke 22:55). Becoming worldly is progressive; it happens by degrees. We make friends with the world; we become spotted by the world; we love the world, become conformed to it, and end up condemned with it. Lot is an example of someone who became worldly. He looked toward Sodom, pitched his tent toward Sodom, lived there, lost everything, and ended in sin.

Second, we must be saturated with the Word (v. 2). Whatever delights us directs us. We saturate ourselves with the Word by meditating on it. Meditation is to the spirit what digestion is to the body. When we meditate on the Word, we allow the Spirit of God within us to digest the Word of God for us. So not only do we delight in the Word, it becomes a source of spiritual nourishment for us.

Enjoy the blessings God has for you and allow Him to make you a blessing to others. (A third condition, being situated by the waters, is the topic of our next devotional.)

God desires to bless us, but we must meet His conditions for receiving blessings. By staying separate from the world and keeping saturated in the Word, we may expect Gods blessings. Resolve to meditate on the Word of God and obey it. He will make you a blessing to others.

Psalm 1:36

Are You Situated by the Waters?

A tree is a blessing. It holds soil, provides shade, and produces fruit. The godly are like trees, with root systems that go deep into the spiritual resources of Gods grace (v. 3). But sadly, many professing Christians are not like trees but are like artificial plants or cut flowers with no roots. They may be beautiful for a while, but soon they die.

A tree needs light, water, and roots to live. We all have resources upon which we draw life. The question we need to ask ourselves is, where are our roots? The person God can bless is planted by the rivers of water. We must be careful not to be like Christians who are dry and withered and depend upon their own resources. They are like tumbleweeds, blown about by any wind of doctrine.

To have the blessings of verse 3, we need to meet the conditions of verses 1 and 2. That is, we must first be separated from the world and saturated with the Word to be situated by the waters.

God desires to bless us, but we need to meet certain conditions to receive His blessings. We bear fruit only when we have roots, and we must draw upon spiritual resources to bring forth fruit in due season. To bear the fruit of the Spirit, we must allow the Spirit to work in us and through us.