Pastor Mike Impact Ministries

“I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together." David is hiding in the cave of Adullum after he barely escapes from the Philistines at Gath, and at the same time he is fleeing from the wrath of King Saul who is deter...

Today we will begin looking at one of “my favorite” chapters in all the Bible! I have probably quoted more verses from Psalm 34 in my private devotional and prayer times than from any other chapter in Scripture. Especially in times of suffering, disappointment, discouragement, and being overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being a husband, a father, and a pastor, I have found great comfort and...

It might be today that you feel like the Psalmist in Psalm 142:4 when he said, “Look on my right hand and see, For there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul.” The New Living Translation Bible says it this way: “I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.”  W...

"The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations." Where should we go for help with decisions and difficulties of life? Where do you go to get help or counsel to take care of something that is broken and needs fixing? When my heating system quit working here in t...

"By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." The more I look at and study this chapter, the more it...

This morning as I was preparing for this chat I kept thinking how the Bible is the oldest Book in history, actually is all eternity, because it is His Eternal Word! (John 1:1-3). As far as humanity is concerned the Bible has survived the ages like no other book. Yet the Bible never grows old! This Bible is His Story, History! When you read and study the Bible you find it has all the answers to all...

"Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy. For the word of the LORD is right, And all His work is done in truth.” Psalm 33 begins with a call to worship the Lord, to rejoice in the LORD and praise Him with music. This call to worship included both instruments and people singing! Yesterday we talked about the people who are called to this worship and praise service. They are thos...

“Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful. Praise the LORD with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy." Today, we will begin to look at Psalm 33. This is one of the few Psalms that does not have a title or inscription at its beginning. We are not sure who wrote it, but most B...

"Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” David begins this Psalm talking about the blessedness or happiness of the man who has his sins forgiven! And now he ends it with some instructions from the Lord and speaks of the joy of the person who has a hear...

"You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah” David begins this Psalm with praise and thanksgiving proclaiming the blessings of forgiveness (vv. 1-2). He then tells of how miserable he was when he tried for over a year to hide and cover his sin (vv. 3-4). In 2 Samuel 12, we read how the Lord eventually sent the prophet Nathan...

Yesterday I said that the most joyful, happy, blessed person around is the one who knows that he is forgiven, and his sin is covered and gone (vv. 1-2). Today, I want to talk about the most miserable person around. It is the person who is a believer but has sinned and, in his pride, will not admit it or confess it, but tries to cover it up. The lost person really does find and have pleasure in the...

I am convinced that the greatest human emotion that a person can experience is the sense or the knowledge that they have been forgiven! And that God loves and accepts me! I will never forget the day, February 21, 1971, in Cincinnati Ohio, on the church property of Landmark Baptist Temple, at the house of Dr. Harold Rawlings, around 4pm in the afternoon, when I fell on my knees and confessed that I...

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.” Today I am attending a memorial service at the Tabernacle Church in Danville, Virginia, for Dr. Lamarr Mooneyham, a dear friend that I met at Lynchburg Baptist College, now called Liberty University. Lamarr, along with his wife...

We see from the title that David is the writer of this Psalm. Also, from the title we learn that this is a Maschil Psalm. Some scholars put this Psalm in the category of the penitential psalms. But others believe that it is a Maschil psalm, the first of thirteen such teaching psalms in the Hebrew hymnbook. (see Psalms 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, 142). The word Maschil has been interpreted i...

In Psalm 31 David is describing the physical, mental, and emotional roller coaster that he has been on when his son Absalom turned the people against him and tried to take over the kingdom of Israel. But David did what he always did when he was in trouble, he cried out to the Lord and put his trust in Him. This is what we read about in the first 18 verses of this chapter. In these last verses 19 t...

"But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me. Make Your face shine upon Your servant; Save me for Your mercies' sake. Do not let me be ashamed, O LORD, for I have called upon You;" There is a verse in Proverbs that says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; Bu...

Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth." From the title we immediately learn that this is a “Psalm of David” that he wrote to give to the “Choirmaster” or the “Chief Musician” to be sung by the Levitical choirs during worship. The emphasis is on trusting ("taking refuge") in the Lord, no matter how difficult the circumstances might be (vv. 1, 6, 14, 19). David...

"You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” It seems like there are some lessons in life we must keep learning over and over again. As I read and think about the last verses of Psalm 30, I am reminded that one of the...

"Sing praise to the LORD, You saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” Do you ever get discouraged with being discouraged? Well, that has been my experience over the many years with my own Christian life and spiritual journey. We say or do something an...

"Sing praise to the LORD, You saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” The title of this Psalm informs us that David is the writer of it. It also tells us that David wrote it as a song to be sung at the dedication of the temple. Some translations say h...

“ Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, Give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty." Yesterday we talked about the “Awesome Voice of God”....

We go from the silence of God in Psalm 28 to the powerful voice of God in Psalm 29. It is almost like David is saying, “It might appear that God is silent at times in our life, but I want to remind you that the God of Glory thunders and speaks with a loud, powerful and mighty voice”! There are a number of ways in which we can look at this psalm. First, we can see in it a present thunderstorm. Davi...

Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, Give unto the LORD glory and strength.  Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty. This Psalm was written by David and seems to be a...

The title that I would give to this entire Psalm is Silence, Prayer, Praise and Patience. Yesterday we talked about the “Silence of God”. In the devotional Utmost for His Highest, January 19 devotion, Oswald Chambers said, “Abraham went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all self-sufficiency was destroyed; there was no possibility left of relying on common-sense ways. Those year...

“To You I will cry, O LORD my Rock: Do not be silent to me, Lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications When I cry to You, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary." Today we will begin looking at Psalm 28. From the title we know that David wrote this Psalm, and it appears that once again, David found himself in difficulty...