Thy Word Have I Hid In My Heart

A couple of years ago the Lord inspired me to create an Encouraging Scripture Promise Wall Calendar based on my Encouraging Card Collection. I loved my calendar for it would encourage me each morning with a promise from God’s word.

Whenever I was discouraged all I had to do was look up at the scripture on my calendar; somehow the Lord always used the bible verse to speak to my heart.

The promises in the Bible give us hope. And no wonder, for our God is “The God of hope.”(Romans 15:13)

The next year, I had three calendars printed.

I hung one in my kitchen, one at my work chair, and one beside my bed.

Anytime I felt sad or discouraged I would look up at one of my calendars, depending on which room I was in, read the bible promise, and be filled with fresh courage.

This year the Lord inspired me to create a new Wall Calendar featuring twelve comforting Bible Promises, one for each month of the year illustrated with my scripture paintings and collages.

He impressed upon me the importance of meditating upon His word every day, reminding me of Jesus’ words in Matthew 4:4 when tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread during His wilderness Temptations. Jesus fought the temptation with scripture:

“It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

In rebuking the devil with scripture, the Lord Jesus was teaching us how to fight the enemy: with His word. In Ephesians 6:17 Paul wrote “to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” as a vital part of our spiritual armor against the deadly attacks of our unseen spiritual foe who is out to destroy our soul.

Knowledge of God’s word is not only vital to our survival as believers in spiritual warfare, but the Psalmist said, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” Psalm 119:11

The promises of God comfort and give us hope, keep us from going astray, aid us in defeating our spiritual enemies, and they also guide us in the Lord’s paths of righteousness.

 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:10
 

“Every word of God proves true…” Proverbs 30:5

The Apostle Paul wrote that we grow our faith by nourishing ourselves with a steady diet of God’s Holy Word. For it is our spiritual food, that will help us grow closer to our God if we will make it our daily habit to read it and obey it.

In this way we will learn to understand the Lord’s will for us, to discern His voice in our hearts, and find out what pleases and displeases Him.

This year the Lord has inspired me to study and meditate on the bible promises on my calendars each month in a new way.

Each morning I plan to meditate on the bible promise for the month and pray about how it applies to me and where I am on my life’s journey with the Lord.

I’m going to ask the Holy Spirit to teach me new insights as I study the scripture more in depth along with other bible study tools, like the Strong’s concordance, the Matthew Henry Bible Commentary, and my Study Bible.

I plan to pray over the scripture throughout the month and ask the Lord to teach me new things about that promise each day. I have learned that we can never exhaust all of the riches to be found in God’s holy word!

“In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:3

I hope by studying God’s promises in this way, that by the end of each month I will have memorized each of the bible promises featured on the calendar.

By the year’s end, if I meditate on these verses daily,  then I will make them all my very own, for the Lord has shown me that this is one very good way to hide His word in my heart and make it my treasure.

I would be so honored if you would get one of my scripture calendars and join me in studying God’s promises each day.

May the Lord bless you!

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Help me to hide Thy word in my heart every day. Please use Thy word to help me become more like Thy Son Jesus Christ. Help me to always obey everything that You teach me from Your word, so that it doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other. I ask that You let Your word be my treasure now and for always. Thank you, Lord, I love you, In Jesus mighty name, amen.

For more information about my Bible Promise Calendar and Encouraging Scripture Promise Calendar see my Etsy Shop Listings below: (Links will take you to my Etsy Shop.)

2018 Comforting Bible Promise Calendar

The 2018 Encouraging Scripture Promise Calendar

Thy Word Have I Hid In My Heart, Unto The Least Of These  © 2017 SD Harden All rights reserved. Scripture Paintings (Thy Word Is a Lamp To My Feet, Thy Word Have I Hid In My Heart, Faith Comes By Hearing © SD Harden 2017 All rights reserved./ Scripture Quotations KJV Bible/ 2018 Comforting Bible Promise Calendar & 2018 Encouraging Scripture Promise Calendar © SD Harden All Rights Reserved.

Where Angels Dance

“Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens!

Praise him from the skies!

Praise him, all his angels...

Let every created thing give praise to the Lord,

For He issued His command, and they came into being.”

Psalms 148:1-6 NLT

If someone had said to me back in 2008 that in the next nine years I would publish nineteen music albums of original music I would have told them that they were insane.

Yet unbelievably I have just published my nineteenth music album.

 “Where Angels Dance,” features vibrant worship instrumentals that were all inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Music was never one of my gifts growing up, nor did I ever want anything to do with any of the performance arts.

I was passionate about Art. I never sat down without a pen and sketchpad.

I had taught art, worked as a freelance artist, written and illustrated my own books, and earned my college degree in art & writing. I was certain that God had called me to be a children’s book author and Illustrator.

One day I fell asleep after taking my dog for a walk.

I dreamed I went to Heaven.

There I saw angels and saints dancing before Christ’s Throne.

They were joyfully worshiping the Lord.

Beautiful music was playing in the background as they danced.

When I awoke from my dream, the music was echoing in my mind.

The Lord spoke to my heart, “You can play that song.”

The keyboard that my sister had given us was in front of me.

I felt compelled to try even though there was no reason I should have any hopes of playing that beautiful song from my dream.

Except that the Lord had said I could. And if God said I could, it must be true since He can’t lie.

But what if I was just imagining that God said it?

The only way to find out would be to try…

I sat down and played that song. It was amazing but somehow, I just knew how to do it.

My version wasn’t as lovely as what I had heard in the dream, but it sounded similar.

When the Lord taught me how to play the piano, it was purely by faith. All He asked of me was that I believed His word to me, “You can play that song.” After I played that one song, He said, “From now on you can play any song I teach you. Just believe.”

“He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast.” Psalm 33:9

Though I had never wanted to be a musician before, suddenly, I loved worshiping God with this beautiful new gift.

Then the Lord asked me to SHARE the praise music He’d taught me to play.

I froze. It was one thing to play these songs that sounded amazing to me just for the Lord in my worship time, but quite another to make them public.

FEAR & DOUBT reared their ugly heads and whispered, “You know absolutely nothing! These songs only sound good to you because you don’t know anything at all about music. You are only an artist, you aren’t really a musician. No one will listen to this music from God and everyone will make fun of you.”

It was then that I decided, “Maybe the Lord wants me to take piano lessons.”

However, after going through three piano teachers and never being able to quite finish even one beginner book because reading notes was such a challenge for me, I finally realized it was not what the Lord wanted for me.

“For we walk by faith and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

One teacher looked at a printed musical score from an original composition from the Lord and just shook her head, mystified. “This is way beyond you.”

“But I created it, I mean, God created it through me,” I said.

One great thing did come of my piano lessons though. I loved learning the music scales! Somehow that is the one thing that I could master and the Lord helped me use this knowledge to compose many prayer songs.

Yet my music from the Lord sounded very different from other contemporary Christian music.

I had to come to terms with the fact that its true Creator, the risen Lord Jesus Christ who lives in my heart, was composing His music through me just the way He wanted it.

I had to trust Him that it was good enough.

This was going to take a significant leap of faith and courage.

When I had been working as a professional artist, I would never submit anything unless it rose to my “perfectionist” standards.

To me, my piano prayers were a beautiful gift from the Lord that I played back to Him in worship. They did not have to measure up to any human standard of musical taste or preference for I knew that Jesus had made them, loved them, and accepted them.

Now the Lord was asking me to share His songs with the public who did measure its music to a standard. I had no idea what those musical standards were. I had no real musical knowledge.

“Oh Lord, I’m just an artist, not a real musician. Do You really want me to share Your songs?”

Suddenly I realized I could say, “Yes or no, Lord,” to His beautiful gift.

But then, He had laid down His life for me. He had said to His Father when faced with a humiliating, agonizing death on the cross just to bear all my sins, to be made a curse for me so that I might have eternal life with Him, “Father, not My will but Thy will.”

He knew people would make fun of Him, scorn Him, reject Him, that He would even have to face the cold dark waters of death, the stench of hell where His beloved Father, from whom He had never been separated could not come. He faced all of this to pay the ransom for my soul.

How could I, if I truly loved my Savior, not lay down my life, my will for Him? How could I not share His songs, come what may?

True love lays down its life for Jesus.

I realized then, it’s not about me, or my will, but what God wants to do through me, even if I end up looking like a fool.

Love obeys her Lord and Savior no matter what He asks her to do for Him.

The most amazing thing I’ve learned through this experience is that God would choose an ordinary sinful woman like me, saved only by the almighty grace of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and say, “Here is a gift. All you need to do is receive it by faith.”

Just like the gift of salvation He offers each of us in Christ.

And then it terrified me that He would take that same ordinary Christian woman, and say, “Now use that gift for My glory!”

I’m not perfect, far from it, nor is any of my music.

But God uses imperfect vessels.

God up and turned me into a musician for HIS glory-not mine.

He put in me a gift I knew absolutely NOTHING about.

How I thank the Lord for the way He has used the gift of music to lovingly humble me in all of my other gifts.

"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us." Ephesians 3:20-21(The Message Bible)

Most of the music the Lord gives me is inspired by the Bible.

The songs all begin as prayers, and I will praise the Lord forever for giving me this wonderful way to worship Him.

This music is very special for it truly is a gift from God. It never ceases to amaze and humble me how He plays His music through me.

My fervent prayer is that many people  will be  blessed and encouraged by this gift of God’s music. For all of the songs are essentially prayers ascending to heaven in a musical form breathed into life by the God who lives in me.

The Lord Is My Light And My Salvation ~ Piano Solo ~ 

"Where Angels Dance Original Piano, Guitar, & String Instrumentals"

Available on iTunes, Amazon, CDbaby, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and more...

The Angel Song ©

Suzanne Davis Harden performs her original song that came from a dream of Heaven where she first heard a more beautiful version of the song.

Prior to the dream she was not a musician, but a visual artist & writer.

After her dream, the Lord gave her the gift of music to glorify Him.

He enabled her to play the song from Heaven. She called it “The Angel Song,” for in her dream, angels & saints were dancing around the Lord’s Throne to this music.

Since her dream, the Lord has given Suzanne close to 2000 original musical compositions and hundreds of prayer songs for His glory.

She has only published a small fraction of these.

She has committed all funds from her music to charities in the Body of Christ.

My Child, All Will Be Well~ A Comforting Video Lullaby

"My Child, All Will Be Well" ~ A comforting piano lullaby featuring a piano solo from my album "At The Mercy Gate © 2016.

May the Lord use this short music video to  encourage your hearts. God bless you all!

love in Christ,

Suzanne

Do Not Be Fear, Do Not Be Afraid ~An Encouraging Scripture Prayer Song V...

"Do Not Fear, Do Not Be Afraid" is a prayer song from my recent album "Paths of Hope."

It's featured on this video as a comforting musical backdrop to many bible promises that encourage our hearts to remain strong and trust God during dark times when we may be tempted to worry and fret.

May the Lord use this video to bless and comfort all who may be struggling with fears and anxieties. God's word is a sure antidote for fear, and brings peace and hope as we walk through every shadow valley on our journey to Heaven. You remain in my prayers always.

Love in Christ,

Suzanne

You Say...

 

You Say…

You say that you’re a pile of dung

That in the meadows lay

I say that you’re a cherished soul

For whom I died to save.

You say that you’re an accident;

Your mother’s foul mistake,

I say that I planned your life

And I love all that I make.

You say that you’re a nothing,

Your life's an empty hole,

But I gave to you a purpose

When I gave to you your soul.

You say that I don't love you,

That God does not exist,

That I cannot hear your prayers

Wouldn't answer if I did.

May I say that I see you,

I see your every tear,

I'm just as real as you are,

And always very near;

Although you cannot see Me,

I'm ever by your side,

I made you to walk with Me

In love, and joy and light.

Not in the darkness of self hate

Nor the spell of devil lies,

I died to free you from his chains

To give You love and life.

Open up your heart to Me,

I'll give to you new eyes,

You will see as I see you

A cherished jewel of Mine.

You will see yourself anew

And I will give you peace,

Love and joy will fill your heart

The darkness then will cease.

    

You must walk by faith, My child

If you would gain new eyes,

To replace your hate with love,

Your darkness with Christ's light.

Come to Me, oh come believe,

Your sorrow put away,

I say that you’re a cherished soul,

For whom I died to save.

"You Say" © 2017 SD Harden All Rights Reserved. 

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, may all who read this prayer poem and these scriptures hear Your voice whispering in their heart that You cherish them more than they could ever comprehend. May You help them know that their life has infinite value, that You make no mistakes, that You love all that You create, that You allowed Your only Son Jesus Christ to suffer, bleed and die like a criminal on a Roman cross of execution over 2000 years ago to prove it so that we all might be forgiven and live forever with you in love and peace. Thank You, Lord, In Jesus' name, amen. 

 ^"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17 (NIV)

Prayer Poem "You Say..." © 2017 SD Harden All Rights Reserved. Scripture Pictures Courtesy The Bible App" by SD Harden using personal photos from AZ, & LA, and SC, also including space photos from Pic Collage/ / Scripture Translations ERV ©, NLT, © NIV ©

“But I will hope continually, 

and will yet praise thee more and more.” ~Psalm 71:14

Hope Yet More And More

In You, Oh Lord, I trust,

To You, Oh Lord, I pray,

You will answer me

Though I may have to wait.

Lord, You are my Shelter,

You hide me from the storm

I'll bring to You a sacrifice

Of praises, love and joy.

Oh Lord, You are my hope,

Despite the bitter night,

You are my holy lamp

Making all my darkness light.

Oh Lord, You made the night,

The sea, and every storm;

In You my soul will hope,

And praise You more and more.

Oh Lord, You are my hope,

My Holy God of Truth,

My everlasting Shelter,

I’ll ever wait on You.

In You, oh Lord, I trust,

My soul You’ll not forsake,

I’ll hope in You forever, Lord,

And sing Your praise always,

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

 (Prayer Poem & Scripture Painting) © 2017 Suzanne Davis Harden All Rights Reserved.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Thy gift of hope You give to us when we go through dark tunnels of fear and doubt; storms of affliction and pain, seasons of waiting on the answers to our prayers like the Israelites in the wilderness waiting 40 years for their Promised Land. 

Thank You for the comfort of Thy word that assures us that You never fail, You never lie, that You never break a promise. 

Psalm 146:6 assures us that You keep every promise forever, even as You did for Your Hebrew children in the ancient desert sand so long ago. 

Thy word tells us that You have no favorites; what You did for them, You will do for Thy children today who are trusting and waiting on You. 

May You give us grace to trust You, to believe in all Thy promises, to wait patiently for Thy plans to unfold, for Your plans for each one of us are good, if we will only wait on You to fulfill them. 

Thank You, Lord, we love You, in Jesus' name, amen. 🙏

Prayer song from "Paths of Hope~ Peaceful Prayer Songs: Calming, Peaceful Vocals: May the Lord use this song to bless and encourage your heart, and fill you with rivers of His hope.

God Is Our Refuge~ Psalm 46~ A Comforting Music Video

God Keeps Every Promise Forever~ Peaceful Scripture Video