¹A psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.

² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.

³ For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong. ^[a]

⁵ They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.

⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.

⁷ From their callous hearts comes iniquity ^[b] ;
the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.

⁸ They scoff, and speak with malice;
in their arrogance they threaten oppression.

⁹ Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.

¹⁰ Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance. ^[c]

¹¹ They say, "How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?"

¹² This is what the wicked are like—
always carefree, they increase in wealth.

¹³ Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴ All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning.

¹⁵ If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed your children.

¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me

¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.

¹⁹ How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!

²⁰ As a dream when one awakes,
so when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.

²¹ When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,

²² I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.

²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

Wow, It has been rather a great day today. Lets talk about Yesterday night first.I had a great talk with Yiwei and talking about continuing Spiritual Buddy(SB) from where we started the other time. I guess this time is for real and I pray that we will grow stronger together as we learn to help one another here and there. Other talking to her yesterday, I had online guitar playing Caleb, hahaha, so cool. It was fun, and I was rather hook onto the song “God is the strength of my heart”. I kept singing non-stop and his family heard it, so malu.LOL!! What a nice bro in Christ. Just joking.

Recently this few phrases keep coming to me, “The JOY of the Lord is my strength. God is the strength of my heart”. I thought to myself “Haha, how true can that be mans”. But I guess what the Lord has been telling me these few days is that “Hey Hephzibah, you need Me. Please stay focus on Me and you will find JOY and strength to move on with your everyday life. Stop being so distracted all the time. You have to learn how to focus on me.” Even the sermon today by pastor PN, he talked about [Faith that can maximize the impact]. He said something that hit straight to me of what the Lord has been telling me these few days, “When you focus on God, you will have increasing FAITH and you will not be limited by what you have or what you can do. But if you keep focusing on your problems, your faith will be decreasing and you will be bounded by limitations.” It is totally true. It reminds me of the revelation I saw as I was sharing my problems to Isaac yesterday. God just pop in “The Joy of the Lord is my strength” into my mind and I understand it not just merely just this phrase but rather the in depth meaning of it. When we focus on God, we receive the JOY from Him and this JOY we have will be our strength to help us to overcome all the problems we face in life. Make sense right!!!

We just have to keep our focus on Him and everything will turn out right. Continue to stick on close to the Lord and He will deliver you of anything that comes in your way. Nothing will ever be too difficult because you have the one who is above all the things of the earth. He will make a way; He will make a way for you. Hold on to what last and let go of what doesn’t last. Hold on to the good rather then the bad. Do not take the easy way out in life, because it will take you to a dead end. Therefore live your life according the Word of God and tap onto God for strength in every circumstance. =) Cheers!