In my study this morning, I began in Romans 12, verse 9 "let love be without dissimulation...". Now some of you may know what dissimulation means, but let's look it up anyway [okay, I dont know what it means, so stick with me while I LOOK IT UP] lol.
All I had at the time was websters dictionary, so I climbed into it, and there it was. 'dissimulate = to conceal under a false appearance. dissemble = to put on a false appearance; to conceal facts'.
So this verse reads 'let love be without a false appearance'? Verse 10 'be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love'.
Then as I was reading these verses, the Holy Spirit brought to mind scriptures where it talks about the last days and the lack of love. So i turned over to 2 Timothy 3:1-2 where it says 'In the last days....Men shall be lovers of their own selves....'. So we can rest that in the last days, it means people will love themselves more than they love others. They will be selfish, not caring for their fellow man MORE than they care about themselves. It will all revolve around them, me, myself and I as I learned as a child. ME ME ME!
Do you know anyone like that today? Come on! Admit it! You do, dont you? Well duh, we all do, dont we? We all know some of those people that the whole wide world revolves around them for one reason or another. I dont like dealing with those types, as no one else does, but I am glad to see them. They remind me of myself, once upon a time. It shows me how great God's grace and His mercy was on me to change.
Now. Do you believe we are in the last days? So many of us do, yes. Well, then it's safe to say that since in the last days people will be lovers of their own selves would be the norm, wouldn't it? It seems to be. Yet, to be in obedience to God's word in Romans 12 about 'loving without false appearance' would mean that we will have to be pushing against the flow of loving ourselves more than loving others. In the last days everyone will have this all over them, and we have to push against it to obey what the Spirit of God is telling us to live our lives like. Verse 10 in Romans 12 finished out saying 'in honour preferring one another'. Whoa. It references Philippians 2:3 where it talks about 'in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves'. Why in lowliness? Can you esteem someone else better than yourself when you're walking in a haughty spirit? Or all puffed up in pride? Lowliness of mind is a mind that doesn't think more highly of itself than it ought to. There's a scripture against that as well. Danger Will Robison, Danger!!!! [remember that show? My favorite Martian? I LOVED THAT SHOW!] Well, it is dangerous, because God says pride comes before a fall. So, we esteen OURSELVES better than another person, and we will definitely fall. God says it, it will happen. Bank on it. Well, dont just bank on it, take my word for it. I had such a pride problem in my life all along my 15 years of Christ following. Boy did it take God a long time to break that. I can now say, though I have to keep that weakness of the past under the blood of Jesus Christ [thru prayer] and under the control of the Holy Spirit [thru yielding], I am free of thinking of myself like that. WHEW! Boy were those hard knocks on the head. To fall is one thing. For everyone to witness you fall, is a total other creature. Wow! and Ouch!
When I later looked in Strongs exhaustive condordance, I found that dissimulation means simply put 'pretend and hypocricy'. so when God told us 'let love be without pretending, esteeming others better than ourself', He meant it.
We are in the last days. We all have the flow against our Christian walk to become selfish DAILY, MOMENT BY MOMENT. There is a smell of selfishness in the streets. It's horrid. We have to push against that temptation all the time to be aware of our fellow man, to place value on people, take up their burdens and help them. It's a choice ya'll. We chose to do it, not pretending.
God knew in this day and time we would need His help more than ever. He says to yoke up with Him, learn of Him, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Two that yoke together, pull together. When a young ox gets pulled out of the pasture to train to pull, they place him with an older, wiser, more trained, well mannered animal. They yoke their necks together with a wide strong piece of wood. There's no gettin away. But Jesus said 'take my yoke', it's a choice. Chose you this day whom you will serve. Yoke with Him, take on that walk seriously. He says learn of me. Learn what you can of me, because I'm your life saving chance. Learn of me like a young ox looks to the older wiser stronger ox to teach him. That's where the term 'kicking against the goads' was coined. The goads are the strong buckboard piece behind the legs of the animals that is attached to what they are pulling. The young ox cannot stand the pressure of the yoke against his neck after hours of pulling. He cant stand it. It gets on his nerves, makes him restless and ancy. He just has to rebel and let it out. So he kicks. He kicks against the only thing he can reach. Arent' we like that? Aren't we just like that young strong untrained ox in OUR lives. We are yoked with Jesus, but I think we have on a pretend yoke. We pretend we are yoked with Him, training with Him, reading His word, bowing our heads and praying and feelin good about it. But we are exposed when God instructs us to do something we do not like. KICK. He demands our attitude to change to be more loving and less selfish. KICK. He expects us to return a kind word to someone that just snapped our head off. KICK. Why is it we are kicking against the pressure?
Jesus says come to me those of you that are burdened and heavy laden. We are pretending to be a pulling animal and doing our duty of this mission of the Gospel and we try to do it in our own power, our own emotion, our own effort, we are weary, tired, worn out, sick and tired of being sick and tired. Jesus says come to me and I will give you rest. I will take your yoke of pretending and place my will around your neck of love, My love He says, and I will love through you to these I am asking you to love without pretending. My yoke is easy He says. My burden is light. I will take this heavy pack off of you, and place it on Myself, He admits, and give you a life that is easy to carry. I .... will do it through you.
So when He says 'let love be without pretending' He's saying let Me love through you. Then ..... it will be real!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Notes
Seems like what's mostly being posted these days are notes from me, with the occassional serious download note from the Lord.
I've been studying, but I"m not posting. I will share what God is showing me for today, for instance.
I am currently ministering to a single Mom that had to flee her home with her 11 year old daughter. Not many of you know, that last May I had the same experience. When someone threatens your life, your whole world changes. You're trapped. But what's worse, is you're trapped in your own home. Everything normal suddenly becomes abnormal. This person will have before now been showing red flags, but until they threaten to hurt you, you just begin to pull away, one day them not even knowing who you are. But the day they threaten your life, your safety, your whole world turns ON YOU! You dont feel safe in anything you do.
Fear is the main engine the enemy uses here, of course. His plan is for you to open up to fear. With a threat on your life, or your childs life, you pretty much open up and let fear come in to reside. Once you leave your home, fear is with you wherever you go. You dont think straight, act straight, you even have dreams that aren't straight. Once you open up to fear, it pretty much has the wheel on driving you to make decisions you would not have made before.
To insure me that He was near, God gave me a scripture that was somewhat odd to the 'normal' environed person, but went straight to my heart. The day I left began a path of guilt and shame. Guilt and shame have no part in a normal environment, but when your world is opened to fear, guilt that you ran too soon, or wasn't strong enough to tough it out begin to bombard you. Yes, a person that is codependent will indeed have a hard decision here. They are not always drawn to the abuser, they are sometimes guilted to go back. Shame is a natural feature in this too. Once the initial fear is subsided you move toward thoughts of 'why did this happen'. You have thoughts like 'I just cant have a good relationship' and 'everyone is going to know now' and 'I cant tell them I've had to leave'. All this is normal behavior for someone that's been threatened. However, typically someone that's being threatened has lived a life of verbal abuse, controlling behavior from the partner and they have had to endure hardship emotionally for quite sometime before the threats begin.
The scripture God gave me that broke the hold of all guilt and shameful thoughts was Matthew 6:25 when Jesus said 'is not THE LIFE more important than meat and the body more than raiment?'. What the Lord was telling me is my life is more important than my clothes I left behind, my pictures I left behind, even my puppies I left behind. THE LIFE and saving it from harm is more important than what I left behind.
If there is someone you come in contact with that has had to flee their home to make a new home somewhere else, please show them kindness. Let them know you really really do care about them. Give of yourself and your stuff. Show them the love ..... of Christ~
I've been studying, but I"m not posting. I will share what God is showing me for today, for instance.
I am currently ministering to a single Mom that had to flee her home with her 11 year old daughter. Not many of you know, that last May I had the same experience. When someone threatens your life, your whole world changes. You're trapped. But what's worse, is you're trapped in your own home. Everything normal suddenly becomes abnormal. This person will have before now been showing red flags, but until they threaten to hurt you, you just begin to pull away, one day them not even knowing who you are. But the day they threaten your life, your safety, your whole world turns ON YOU! You dont feel safe in anything you do.
Fear is the main engine the enemy uses here, of course. His plan is for you to open up to fear. With a threat on your life, or your childs life, you pretty much open up and let fear come in to reside. Once you leave your home, fear is with you wherever you go. You dont think straight, act straight, you even have dreams that aren't straight. Once you open up to fear, it pretty much has the wheel on driving you to make decisions you would not have made before.
To insure me that He was near, God gave me a scripture that was somewhat odd to the 'normal' environed person, but went straight to my heart. The day I left began a path of guilt and shame. Guilt and shame have no part in a normal environment, but when your world is opened to fear, guilt that you ran too soon, or wasn't strong enough to tough it out begin to bombard you. Yes, a person that is codependent will indeed have a hard decision here. They are not always drawn to the abuser, they are sometimes guilted to go back. Shame is a natural feature in this too. Once the initial fear is subsided you move toward thoughts of 'why did this happen'. You have thoughts like 'I just cant have a good relationship' and 'everyone is going to know now' and 'I cant tell them I've had to leave'. All this is normal behavior for someone that's been threatened. However, typically someone that's being threatened has lived a life of verbal abuse, controlling behavior from the partner and they have had to endure hardship emotionally for quite sometime before the threats begin.
The scripture God gave me that broke the hold of all guilt and shameful thoughts was Matthew 6:25 when Jesus said 'is not THE LIFE more important than meat and the body more than raiment?'. What the Lord was telling me is my life is more important than my clothes I left behind, my pictures I left behind, even my puppies I left behind. THE LIFE and saving it from harm is more important than what I left behind.
If there is someone you come in contact with that has had to flee their home to make a new home somewhere else, please show them kindness. Let them know you really really do care about them. Give of yourself and your stuff. Show them the love ..... of Christ~
Saturday, April 17, 2010
You are not alone
So many of us try to get to God ..... on our own. We try we try we try, but there is so many wrong things we do, we seem to climb a step and because of wrong moves we feel we have to take two or three steps back down. But God says 'you can not get to me on your own.It's up to me to bring you up higher once you have lowered yourself'. We say 'Lord, what do you mean by this? I'm told over and over to reach and reach and try to come up where you are'. But I tell you today, unless you humble yourself, you will not be able to see Him. He is not a God that can be acheived. He is not a statue that He can be chiseled. He is living, loving and a holy God. Only through us lowering ourselves and telling Him 'I'm only here to worship you Lord', can we then be lifted up and into His arms.
Lowering yourself is a simple act. It's knowing you can do nothing, say nothing, it is a heart thing. Be simple and act accordingly. Just sit and know that He is God ..... and we are not!
let us pray:
God we do this, this very moment. We bow our hearts before you. We can do nothing to earn a position with you, an audience with you, yes You inhabit the praises of your people, but if your people are not humble you cannot hear their cries. We humble ourselves before you now Lord. We take off this mask and give it to you. It's not worked for us in the past, and especially before you Lord, it does not work. We give it to you, but ask, in it's place give us the heart of glory, the heart of cleanliness, the heart that will reflect a face full of your Son, Jesus Christ. And in His precious name we will ask these things......Amen~
Lowering yourself is a simple act. It's knowing you can do nothing, say nothing, it is a heart thing. Be simple and act accordingly. Just sit and know that He is God ..... and we are not!
let us pray:
God we do this, this very moment. We bow our hearts before you. We can do nothing to earn a position with you, an audience with you, yes You inhabit the praises of your people, but if your people are not humble you cannot hear their cries. We humble ourselves before you now Lord. We take off this mask and give it to you. It's not worked for us in the past, and especially before you Lord, it does not work. We give it to you, but ask, in it's place give us the heart of glory, the heart of cleanliness, the heart that will reflect a face full of your Son, Jesus Christ. And in His precious name we will ask these things......Amen~
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Let's Be Stirred
There are many many times we get of into a mindset that is not pleasing to God. However we feel to deal with it, sometimes we even deal with it wrongly. We have too many things on our plate, we have no time for God, we push Him unknowingly to the background and MARCH ON FOR JESUS.
But this should not be so, friends. This should not be happening in our lives. Sometimes, as He did with the Israelites in the bible, God will allow things to come into our life to awaken us, to move us, and stir within us a desire to see Him move. It's times like these we should hit our knees, ask and desire mostly to seek His forgiveness.
Recently in two bible studies I'm in, besides the one He called me into, whew, wow, talking about no real time with facebook friends [I've begun to feel like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, not being able to join in any reindeer games lol]. But God began showing me the life of a real friend, a devoted friend. You can walk a harsh season in your life and a friend will walk with you, pouring their time and heart into your world. Then that season seems to be over, and you go separate ways, or you're not calling and emailing and texting every day. Then 6 months down the road you hear they are in a crisis, or a hard place in their life. Or you hear someone bad mouth that person, talking as if that person is not who they profess to be. What should rise up within us is loyalty. That same loyalty they showed us months ago, should arise within us to hold the torch for them.
Well after God was bringing these thoughts and random wonderings for about a week, He then took all those thoughts and turned them toward Him. He showed me THIS was the reason He told the Israelites to 'remember' Him. He would tell them to place a memorial of stones near a river He made dry so they could walk across and tell their children. He told them to begin on an annual anniversary of a death filled event to 'remember' how He protected them and to reinact that night year after year.
God was showing me He ..... is our friend too. He's walked with us during difficult times and poured into our lives on days when we didn't even know if we COULD get out of bed and face our circumstances. All the nights with our sick child, with us crying out to Him and He healed our baby. That loyalty He showed to us, that true friendship of being there through thick and thin. He says 'remember me' and have my back too.
In 2 Peter 3:1-4,8-9 it says "This 2nd epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance; that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour [His friends taking up for God]: knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since our fathers have died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance".
What I believe God has been opening up to me in the last couple of weeks is true friendship, and extending that friendship back to Him. We have all had God come to our aide. And God is saying there will be scoffers regarding His return and we're to have his back by remembering what the prophets and even the apostles have told us; His return is soon.
Why has He waited so long? His loooooooongsuffering is why, not willing that any should perish, but that ALL, even the scoffers, should come to repentance.
If you have gone through a season of paying attention more to other friends and not cultivating your friendship with God, take this weekend to talk to Him about that. Tell Him you're sorry for that. Tell Him you WANT to be a loyal friend, and that you want to take up for Him, as He's taken up for you.
Have a wonderful weekend ya'll~
But this should not be so, friends. This should not be happening in our lives. Sometimes, as He did with the Israelites in the bible, God will allow things to come into our life to awaken us, to move us, and stir within us a desire to see Him move. It's times like these we should hit our knees, ask and desire mostly to seek His forgiveness.
Recently in two bible studies I'm in, besides the one He called me into, whew, wow, talking about no real time with facebook friends [I've begun to feel like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, not being able to join in any reindeer games lol]. But God began showing me the life of a real friend, a devoted friend. You can walk a harsh season in your life and a friend will walk with you, pouring their time and heart into your world. Then that season seems to be over, and you go separate ways, or you're not calling and emailing and texting every day. Then 6 months down the road you hear they are in a crisis, or a hard place in their life. Or you hear someone bad mouth that person, talking as if that person is not who they profess to be. What should rise up within us is loyalty. That same loyalty they showed us months ago, should arise within us to hold the torch for them.
Well after God was bringing these thoughts and random wonderings for about a week, He then took all those thoughts and turned them toward Him. He showed me THIS was the reason He told the Israelites to 'remember' Him. He would tell them to place a memorial of stones near a river He made dry so they could walk across and tell their children. He told them to begin on an annual anniversary of a death filled event to 'remember' how He protected them and to reinact that night year after year.
God was showing me He ..... is our friend too. He's walked with us during difficult times and poured into our lives on days when we didn't even know if we COULD get out of bed and face our circumstances. All the nights with our sick child, with us crying out to Him and He healed our baby. That loyalty He showed to us, that true friendship of being there through thick and thin. He says 'remember me' and have my back too.
In 2 Peter 3:1-4,8-9 it says "This 2nd epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance; that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour [His friends taking up for God]: knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since our fathers have died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance".
What I believe God has been opening up to me in the last couple of weeks is true friendship, and extending that friendship back to Him. We have all had God come to our aide. And God is saying there will be scoffers regarding His return and we're to have his back by remembering what the prophets and even the apostles have told us; His return is soon.
Why has He waited so long? His loooooooongsuffering is why, not willing that any should perish, but that ALL, even the scoffers, should come to repentance.
If you have gone through a season of paying attention more to other friends and not cultivating your friendship with God, take this weekend to talk to Him about that. Tell Him you're sorry for that. Tell Him you WANT to be a loyal friend, and that you want to take up for Him, as He's taken up for you.
Have a wonderful weekend ya'll~
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
An Encouraging note from ME!
I just want you to know, this morning, that no matter what you are going through, God cares about it. No matter how hurt or frustrated you've become, God cares about it. So many talk about 'casting your care upon the Lord', but what does this really mean? What....does it mean?
Casting is throwing. Throw it on Him. Throw it .... onto HIM, JESUS CHRIST. Right now, whatever you're dealing with, what ever is plaguing you, or frightening you. Some of you are so frightened, that you can hardly move. You're just moving so causiously through your day, hoping no one can tell.
Well, God can tell. He's sending me right now, this very moment, to tell you to call on Him, holler to Him, to let Him know you need Him. He wants to help you. Let's pray:
God that's what we do right now, is call on you. We ask you for your mercy for us, for you are merciful, powerful, loving, conquering, mighty and victorious. Nothing has the power to overcome YOU. We need you, God. We need your touch, your breath, your power to cover us, Lord. We ask, in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, to come down, take control, as we throw these stinking things to YOU. That's what they are doing to our lives, is stinking up our lives. Take it Lord. Take it right now, but the power that is Yours. We love you Lord. Wrap your love around us, Lord. Take us down the path of peace. Let your peace guide us today and forward, for we need you. We give you honor, we give you praise. For you are our light in the darkness. There you ARE. There you ARE, Lord. We can see you now. Thank you Lord. Thank you for sending your Son to save us, to rescue us. We accept right now His help. In His name, Jesus......AMEN!!!! if you need prayer, message me at thinnylouwho@yahoo.com and I'll pray with you and help in anyway I can! May God richly bless you TODAY!!!
Casting is throwing. Throw it on Him. Throw it .... onto HIM, JESUS CHRIST. Right now, whatever you're dealing with, what ever is plaguing you, or frightening you. Some of you are so frightened, that you can hardly move. You're just moving so causiously through your day, hoping no one can tell.
Well, God can tell. He's sending me right now, this very moment, to tell you to call on Him, holler to Him, to let Him know you need Him. He wants to help you. Let's pray:
God that's what we do right now, is call on you. We ask you for your mercy for us, for you are merciful, powerful, loving, conquering, mighty and victorious. Nothing has the power to overcome YOU. We need you, God. We need your touch, your breath, your power to cover us, Lord. We ask, in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, to come down, take control, as we throw these stinking things to YOU. That's what they are doing to our lives, is stinking up our lives. Take it Lord. Take it right now, but the power that is Yours. We love you Lord. Wrap your love around us, Lord. Take us down the path of peace. Let your peace guide us today and forward, for we need you. We give you honor, we give you praise. For you are our light in the darkness. There you ARE. There you ARE, Lord. We can see you now. Thank you Lord. Thank you for sending your Son to save us, to rescue us. We accept right now His help. In His name, Jesus......AMEN!!!! if you need prayer, message me at thinnylouwho@yahoo.com and I'll pray with you and help in anyway I can! May God richly bless you TODAY!!!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
(Study 7) Random Encourgements from the Lord today
In my quiet time with the Lord this morning, I knew I did not have my joy. Joy is not my 'closest' friend. Joy still lives with me, but I leave before joy gets up, and I'm home way after joy has gone to bed. Joy is from my time with the Lord. I've let thoughts creep in during my time with Him, and not spent the 'quality' of time with Him that He's asked for, and He's deserved, and I've needed. So this morning, I got real with Him, and talked to Him about this. But in the past, I've been all about His Spirit, and very little about His Word. So as I told Him that this moring, I asked Him would He show me about Himself in His Word to me. I want this in the spirit and in His word too. I want a well-ordered heart as we learned about in Wednesday nights meeting at New Life Church-Heber Spring (my church) this week.
The past few studies, we have been in 2 Peter. So I opened the bible and began near where I've left off in my reading, and one particular scripture caught my eye. But I want you to look at these verses with me in your bible. So I'll wait while you go get yours, so we can look together at how the Lord is wanting to encourage us today. So go get it!
K. You got it? Okay great! Open it up to 2 Peter 2:9 first. "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations..." I began to think this through. Since the Lord knows how to deliver us when we're tempted, He knows how, then we need to go to Him while tempted to let Him show us how to move out of the temptation. He knows how. He's the one that delivers. He's the one that has the path out. He's the one with the know how. Makes sense, then, to get 'close' to the one that knows how, huh? It does, doesn't it? It doesn't make a lick of sense, while in the temptation, to talk to friends that have the same issue. It doesn't make sense to just go on through it alone either (tho He's never left us, always with us, we can go thru it without acknowledging Him, therefore never allowing Him to help us. Make sense?). Since the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, then Lord, we need to come to you.
This scripture references Psalm 34:17, so let's turn there. "The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Verse 18: "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit". A humble spirit, a spirit that wants His will, contrite, humble.
It refereces verse 6 also. "The poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles". This references verse 4 just above it: " I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears". King David is the writer of this Psalm, and he was speaking of himself in verse 4 and then calling himself the poor man in verse 6. Now we all know King David was not a poor man in money, he was a rich king. But King David was a humble man, of a contrite spirit. He valued God above all things. But even as we are, King David was a human being, no matter how close to God, was lured away from His duties of going to war, and stayed home, and one particular day was gazing out his window and saw a woman bathing and had impure thoughts of her and called for her to come to him. Her Husband was about his duties of war and on the right path, but King David was out of order, out of routine, staying back and shirked his duties, and began sinning with this woman. We know David was not always, then, humble. For sinning is truly rebellion against God. Rebellion is pride, as we saw with Lucifer, the angel of praise in Heaven rise up in pride and take so many other angels with him. It ... is sin, and punishable. And if we are not doing what 'our' routine is, time alone with God and time with Him in His word, then we too open ourselves to being lured away as David was. But .... as he wrote to God in verse 6 "this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles". David knew the Lord knew how to deliver him. And cried out to Him to help Him. The Lord did just that, as He will in our lives. God cannot resist the cries of a righteous person. Remember how we've studied out that it's not our righteousness, but God's Sons' righteousness we accept as ours. We have traded places with Jesus Christ, and live alive unto God as Jesus would. It's the righteousness of Christ that God cannot resist. How do we stay in this righteousness? Through continually accepting what Jesus Christ did for us and walking in obedience to God. God cannot resist a person [man or woman] that walks like this. This .... is humbleness.
Then my eyes fell on Psalm 32:10-11: "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy. (there's my joy!) all ye that are upright in heart". Then on to Psalm 33: "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright"
"Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings".
"Sing unto Him a new song...". Let's stay here for a moment. Let's examine what our song has been lately. Have we had an encouraging sound coming out? Have we? Have we been uplifting and encouraging for others to hear, for the LORD to hear? Have we? Here the Lord says.....SING......A NEW SONG.
sing.....SING.....sing......SING......sing a new song:
O Lord, we SING.....we sing Lord. We sing of Your mercy. We sing of Your strength. We have none Lord. We have no strength Lord. You ARE our strength.
Sorry, I just had to. I think my JOY is showing! hahahaha.....I just wanted us to sing a new song to the Lord. okay....what else does this Psalm say about all this?
"play skilfully with a loud noise"
"For the word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth".
"He loveth righteousness and judgement: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord". Again, let's look at this one. Thoughts come to my mind of all that's going on in the world today as I read this. Do we see the Lord's goodness? Or do we see the evil in the world? Are we perpetuating the goodness of the Lord and therefore see the goodness of the Lord as the earth is full of it? If this scripture says the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord, then the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. The word of the Lord is right as it says in the verse above. So if we're not seeing the goodness of the Lord that is full in the earth, then perhaps we need to be closer to the Lord, and hang on that vine and become full so we can see the goodness of the Lord and extend it to others. Amen?
"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth". Remember that's how He made man a living soul? (Genesis 2:7 "and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul") He scooped up some dust and formed a man, laying him on the ground infront of Him. Lifeless was this dust. No breathing, no sound, like a clay model that a potter forms, lifeless. But He didn't leave him in that condition. He breathed into him. His breath warmed the insides of that man form. His breath swirled inside, making lifelessness breathe. He breathed into his nostrils the first CPR ever recorded. He brought him .... to life.
He made the hosts of the Heavens this way too.....by the breath of His mouth.
"He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses". What comes to mind is the storehouse on farmville in facebook. lol. The Lord has a storehouse. He places things in His storehouse at a mere thought.
"He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap" references Exodus 15:8, so let's go there. The heading of these scriptures in Exodus refer to the story of Him taking the Israelites across the Red Sea, so let's see what the Lord is saying "and with a blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as a heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. There's God's farmville storehouse; the heart of the sea. lol. Did you know God had a storehouse in the heart of the sea?
Psalm 33:8: "Let all the earth fear the Lord".....let's talk about this fear. This fear isn't the fear like we'd think about being scared of getting hurt, or fear of the unknown, or someone jumping out and scaring us kind of fear. No this is the fear like when you were in Jr High and your Father tells you to go cut a switch off the tree, that you were going to get a whoopin 'kind of fear'. You knew he loved you, so he wasn't going to kill you. lol. But you had reverence or awe that he had the power, the authority, to whip the hide off your tail. Right? That kind of fear. This is talking about us revering the Lord, knowing He has all power and authority to do what He would like to do, when He liked to do it, and where to put it once He'd done it. But He stays within the bounds of His word that's He's put into place. I love that about Him. He's spoken a promise and He keeps it. We dont hear alot about revering someone these days. This is a mark of character, fearing or reverencing the Lord.
"....let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him"
"For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast'
"The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: He maketh the devices of the people of none effect"
"The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations". I believe right here is a clue of why the bible has come out unscathed through out all these years, why it has lasted and survived all the ages since the scriptures were brought together in one place. Because 'the thoughts of His heart (the bible you hold in your hand right now) the thoughts of His heart to all generations'. Amen?
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance"
"The Lord looketh from Heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men"
"From the place of His habitation He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth:
He fashioneth their hearts alike; He considereth all their works"
"There is no king saved by the mulitude of a host [an army]: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength"
"A horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength"
"Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that (what?) fear Him (reverence Him), upon them that hope in His mercy"
"To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine"
"Our soul waiteth for the Lord: He is our help and our shield"
"For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name" MY JOY!
"Let they mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee". Amen!
Please let me know your thoughts. If you'd like to praise the Lord, do so in the comments. Let's all share what we're thinking....
The past few studies, we have been in 2 Peter. So I opened the bible and began near where I've left off in my reading, and one particular scripture caught my eye. But I want you to look at these verses with me in your bible. So I'll wait while you go get yours, so we can look together at how the Lord is wanting to encourage us today. So go get it!
K. You got it? Okay great! Open it up to 2 Peter 2:9 first. "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations..." I began to think this through. Since the Lord knows how to deliver us when we're tempted, He knows how, then we need to go to Him while tempted to let Him show us how to move out of the temptation. He knows how. He's the one that delivers. He's the one that has the path out. He's the one with the know how. Makes sense, then, to get 'close' to the one that knows how, huh? It does, doesn't it? It doesn't make a lick of sense, while in the temptation, to talk to friends that have the same issue. It doesn't make sense to just go on through it alone either (tho He's never left us, always with us, we can go thru it without acknowledging Him, therefore never allowing Him to help us. Make sense?). Since the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, then Lord, we need to come to you.
This scripture references Psalm 34:17, so let's turn there. "The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Verse 18: "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit". A humble spirit, a spirit that wants His will, contrite, humble.
It refereces verse 6 also. "The poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles". This references verse 4 just above it: " I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears". King David is the writer of this Psalm, and he was speaking of himself in verse 4 and then calling himself the poor man in verse 6. Now we all know King David was not a poor man in money, he was a rich king. But King David was a humble man, of a contrite spirit. He valued God above all things. But even as we are, King David was a human being, no matter how close to God, was lured away from His duties of going to war, and stayed home, and one particular day was gazing out his window and saw a woman bathing and had impure thoughts of her and called for her to come to him. Her Husband was about his duties of war and on the right path, but King David was out of order, out of routine, staying back and shirked his duties, and began sinning with this woman. We know David was not always, then, humble. For sinning is truly rebellion against God. Rebellion is pride, as we saw with Lucifer, the angel of praise in Heaven rise up in pride and take so many other angels with him. It ... is sin, and punishable. And if we are not doing what 'our' routine is, time alone with God and time with Him in His word, then we too open ourselves to being lured away as David was. But .... as he wrote to God in verse 6 "this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles". David knew the Lord knew how to deliver him. And cried out to Him to help Him. The Lord did just that, as He will in our lives. God cannot resist the cries of a righteous person. Remember how we've studied out that it's not our righteousness, but God's Sons' righteousness we accept as ours. We have traded places with Jesus Christ, and live alive unto God as Jesus would. It's the righteousness of Christ that God cannot resist. How do we stay in this righteousness? Through continually accepting what Jesus Christ did for us and walking in obedience to God. God cannot resist a person [man or woman] that walks like this. This .... is humbleness.
Then my eyes fell on Psalm 32:10-11: "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy. (there's my joy!) all ye that are upright in heart". Then on to Psalm 33: "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright"
"Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings".
"Sing unto Him a new song...". Let's stay here for a moment. Let's examine what our song has been lately. Have we had an encouraging sound coming out? Have we? Have we been uplifting and encouraging for others to hear, for the LORD to hear? Have we? Here the Lord says.....SING......A NEW SONG.
sing.....SING.....sing......SING......sing a new song:
O Lord, we SING.....we sing Lord. We sing of Your mercy. We sing of Your strength. We have none Lord. We have no strength Lord. You ARE our strength.
Sorry, I just had to. I think my JOY is showing! hahahaha.....I just wanted us to sing a new song to the Lord. okay....what else does this Psalm say about all this?
"play skilfully with a loud noise"
"For the word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth".
"He loveth righteousness and judgement: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord". Again, let's look at this one. Thoughts come to my mind of all that's going on in the world today as I read this. Do we see the Lord's goodness? Or do we see the evil in the world? Are we perpetuating the goodness of the Lord and therefore see the goodness of the Lord as the earth is full of it? If this scripture says the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord, then the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. The word of the Lord is right as it says in the verse above. So if we're not seeing the goodness of the Lord that is full in the earth, then perhaps we need to be closer to the Lord, and hang on that vine and become full so we can see the goodness of the Lord and extend it to others. Amen?
"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth". Remember that's how He made man a living soul? (Genesis 2:7 "and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul") He scooped up some dust and formed a man, laying him on the ground infront of Him. Lifeless was this dust. No breathing, no sound, like a clay model that a potter forms, lifeless. But He didn't leave him in that condition. He breathed into him. His breath warmed the insides of that man form. His breath swirled inside, making lifelessness breathe. He breathed into his nostrils the first CPR ever recorded. He brought him .... to life.
He made the hosts of the Heavens this way too.....by the breath of His mouth.
"He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses". What comes to mind is the storehouse on farmville in facebook. lol. The Lord has a storehouse. He places things in His storehouse at a mere thought.
"He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap" references Exodus 15:8, so let's go there. The heading of these scriptures in Exodus refer to the story of Him taking the Israelites across the Red Sea, so let's see what the Lord is saying "and with a blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as a heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. There's God's farmville storehouse; the heart of the sea. lol. Did you know God had a storehouse in the heart of the sea?
Psalm 33:8: "Let all the earth fear the Lord".....let's talk about this fear. This fear isn't the fear like we'd think about being scared of getting hurt, or fear of the unknown, or someone jumping out and scaring us kind of fear. No this is the fear like when you were in Jr High and your Father tells you to go cut a switch off the tree, that you were going to get a whoopin 'kind of fear'. You knew he loved you, so he wasn't going to kill you. lol. But you had reverence or awe that he had the power, the authority, to whip the hide off your tail. Right? That kind of fear. This is talking about us revering the Lord, knowing He has all power and authority to do what He would like to do, when He liked to do it, and where to put it once He'd done it. But He stays within the bounds of His word that's He's put into place. I love that about Him. He's spoken a promise and He keeps it. We dont hear alot about revering someone these days. This is a mark of character, fearing or reverencing the Lord.
"....let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him"
"For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast'
"The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: He maketh the devices of the people of none effect"
"The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations". I believe right here is a clue of why the bible has come out unscathed through out all these years, why it has lasted and survived all the ages since the scriptures were brought together in one place. Because 'the thoughts of His heart (the bible you hold in your hand right now) the thoughts of His heart to all generations'. Amen?
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance"
"The Lord looketh from Heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men"
"From the place of His habitation He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth:
He fashioneth their hearts alike; He considereth all their works"
"There is no king saved by the mulitude of a host [an army]: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength"
"A horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength"
"Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that (what?) fear Him (reverence Him), upon them that hope in His mercy"
"To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine"
"Our soul waiteth for the Lord: He is our help and our shield"
"For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name" MY JOY!
"Let they mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee". Amen!
Please let me know your thoughts. If you'd like to praise the Lord, do so in the comments. Let's all share what we're thinking....
Monday, February 15, 2010
(Study 6) You Have a Specific Purpose (part two)
1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light".
We established in part one that we are chosen. Not were chosen, where we could have missed our only opportunity, but we are this chosen generation.
We established also in part one to be a royal priesthood means; of a foundation of authority, holy to give sacrifices. Well Peter is calling us this as well, because the new testiment is for all to learn how to live under grace, and since Peter, then, is talking to us, calling us a priest that sacrifices, how does that relate to us in 2010?
In Hebrews 13:9-16 it says "Be not carried about with various strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein".
Here the writer of Hebrews is wanting to establish that the laws written regarding meat and the many other laws have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Seveal laws were given to the Israelites by God in addition to the 10 commandments. In these laws God was very clear on what meats to eat, what to leave alone and even so far as to point out certain parts of meats were to be sacrificed on the alter while the rest of the animal was to be burned outside the camp. During this era the Israelites' obedience pleased God, and with following the instructions it 'rolled' their sin forward one year. These instructions profited them.
Here in Hebrews 13:9 the writer is making it clear following those laws no longer profits man because 'it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace' instead. This is where the scripture comes to life in Romans 6:14 '.....for ye are not under the law, but under grace'.
for our spirit: Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, payment for us to have a new spirit, to become whole spiritually.
for our soul: The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. We no longer have to be plagued in our mind, our will or our emotions, with fear, failure, fret, regret. Total peace is available for us for a soul that is whole.
for our body: With His stripes we are healed. We have total healing available for wholeness in our body. We do not have to walk around broken and diseased. We have available to us total wholeness.
All this is recorded in that one scripture, total wholeness for our entire being. So we received so much more than just a way to Heaven upon salvation. We received wholeness. This scripture shows how that healing and wholeness was brought to us, through what Jesus went through for us. The way I think of what happened at salvation, was that our unborn spirit traded places with Jesus' full sized, filled Spirit. We became whole in our spirit. That we traded our hurt, tattered, disfunctional soul, with Jesus' Godly, pure, loving whole soul. And our broken down, unhealthy, diseased body traded places with Jesus as He went to the Cross, us rising in newness of health and wholeness in our entire bodies.
We traded places with Him. He took our sin, we took His righteousness. He took our tortured, anxiety ridden minds, and we took His peace. He took our diseased bodies, and with the stripes that were laid on His healthy body that was marked up with 39 stripes, all 39 diseases known to man were provided with healing. We .... traded places with Jesus in all counts. (Praise Moment: thank you Lord Jesus. You took what should have been ours, and you took it willingly. Thank you for giving back so much to us. Thank you so much!)
This was all provided through Jesus Christ willingly dying in our place. This is the good news, the Gospel. That's why 'it is a good thing for the heart to be established with grace'. So we learn, get established.
Back to Hebrews 13:12-16 "wherefore Jesus also, that He may sancify the people [that's us] with His own blood, suffered outside the gate [Calvary]. Let us go forth therefore unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate, forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased".
This is the sacrifice of the royal priesthood spoken of in 1 Peter 2:9-10. We are a chosen generation, chosen to do what? We are a royal priesthood, sacrificing what? "that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. [THIS IS WHY WE PRAISE HIM!] Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God.
Let's stop there; have you ever felt alone? Well, you aren't. You're one of God's people. Have you ever felt like you didn't belong? Well, you do! You belong to the family of God. You're His people. Here's proof. That's why we are to go to Church, to be with all His people, our spiritual family. Is everyone in your earthly family healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually all at once? Well neither is your spiritual family. You know as your earthly family matures and grows, so does your spiritual family. No one in the Church is perfect because they are still growing and changing and moving foward [or should be]. Do not look to people only, they will disappoint you. You have to look to your Heavenly Father, you are part of God's people.
You have purpose as a royal priesthood, offering the sacrifice of praise which is the fruit of your lips, giving thanks unto God.
Have you ever wondered why it's called the 'sacrifice' of praise. There are songs that have been built around that one phrase 'sacrifice of praise'. One tune is very uplifting and lilting with a melody that imparts a jig in your heart, let's sing it; "We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the House of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise into the House......of the Lord. And we offer up to you, the sacrifice-s of thanks-giv-ing. And we off-er up to You, the sacrifice-s of love". That was fun wasn't it? If you knew that song, your toe even tapped a bit as you sang it in your head, now didn't it? Didn't it? Dont fib, I can just see you bouncing your toe a little as you sang it.
Let's switch gears for a moment, what if, let's say, that you're not having such a good day. You're having a really hard time with your bills, and your child gets sick and needs to go to the doctor and it's somewhat serious and an auditor calls saying they want to schedule some time to go over everything with you, and your boss calls and says he's going to have to lay you off, and your Mom is getting worse, needing to go into a nursing home and has no money, but may need to come stay with you instead. This is stress. This is moving into crisis. This is not a toe tapping, lilting, head bobbing kind of day.
This is why God told this Psalmist, David, to write that it's a sacrifice. God says if you will sacrifice your emotion and praise Me, I will be honored and be glorified. I will have access to your soul and be able to lift you out of what you're moving into. But if I allow you to walk through this and you sacrifice the fruit of your lips to praise Me, I can lift you out at just the right moment and the lions mouth with be closed, you wont get burned, not even sienged, and you wont even smell like smoke. I'm telling you, I may even promote you to 2nd in command, if you will just give me this sacrifice of praise, the sweet fruit of your lips. Not lip service, but true true worship, showing Me your love, I will truly move in your behalf.
We have a purpose; to give thanks and honor to the one that took our sin, our turmoil, our tradegy and gave us in return, His life. He even told us in John 10:10 "I came to give you life, and life more abundantly". Let's give Him the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our own lips!
We established in part one that we are chosen. Not were chosen, where we could have missed our only opportunity, but we are this chosen generation.
We established also in part one to be a royal priesthood means; of a foundation of authority, holy to give sacrifices. Well Peter is calling us this as well, because the new testiment is for all to learn how to live under grace, and since Peter, then, is talking to us, calling us a priest that sacrifices, how does that relate to us in 2010?
In Hebrews 13:9-16 it says "Be not carried about with various strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein".
Here the writer of Hebrews is wanting to establish that the laws written regarding meat and the many other laws have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Seveal laws were given to the Israelites by God in addition to the 10 commandments. In these laws God was very clear on what meats to eat, what to leave alone and even so far as to point out certain parts of meats were to be sacrificed on the alter while the rest of the animal was to be burned outside the camp. During this era the Israelites' obedience pleased God, and with following the instructions it 'rolled' their sin forward one year. These instructions profited them.
Here in Hebrews 13:9 the writer is making it clear following those laws no longer profits man because 'it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace' instead. This is where the scripture comes to life in Romans 6:14 '.....for ye are not under the law, but under grace'.
What is grace? Grace is the unmerited favor of God. When in our sin, deserving to die, because the wages or payment of sin is death, God sent His lamb, Jesus, to die in our place and the sin was not moved forward a year, but removed as far as the east is from the west [Psalm 103:12]. Why wouldn't he say as far as the north is from the south? Because if you go north long enough, then you begin heading south! God wanted to paint the picture of our sin being removed from us, gone. The day we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, our sin is removed and our soul becomes as white as snow. And at that very point what becomes available to us is wholeness: Isaiah 53:5 says wholeness becomes available to us:
for our spirit: Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, payment for us to have a new spirit, to become whole spiritually.
for our soul: The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. We no longer have to be plagued in our mind, our will or our emotions, with fear, failure, fret, regret. Total peace is available for us for a soul that is whole.
for our body: With His stripes we are healed. We have total healing available for wholeness in our body. We do not have to walk around broken and diseased. We have available to us total wholeness.
All this is recorded in that one scripture, total wholeness for our entire being. So we received so much more than just a way to Heaven upon salvation. We received wholeness. This scripture shows how that healing and wholeness was brought to us, through what Jesus went through for us. The way I think of what happened at salvation, was that our unborn spirit traded places with Jesus' full sized, filled Spirit. We became whole in our spirit. That we traded our hurt, tattered, disfunctional soul, with Jesus' Godly, pure, loving whole soul. And our broken down, unhealthy, diseased body traded places with Jesus as He went to the Cross, us rising in newness of health and wholeness in our entire bodies.
We traded places with Him. He took our sin, we took His righteousness. He took our tortured, anxiety ridden minds, and we took His peace. He took our diseased bodies, and with the stripes that were laid on His healthy body that was marked up with 39 stripes, all 39 diseases known to man were provided with healing. We .... traded places with Jesus in all counts. (Praise Moment: thank you Lord Jesus. You took what should have been ours, and you took it willingly. Thank you for giving back so much to us. Thank you so much!)
This was all provided through Jesus Christ willingly dying in our place. This is the good news, the Gospel. That's why 'it is a good thing for the heart to be established with grace'. So we learn, get established.
Back to Hebrews 13:12-16 "wherefore Jesus also, that He may sancify the people [that's us] with His own blood, suffered outside the gate [Calvary]. Let us go forth therefore unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate, forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased".
This is the sacrifice of the royal priesthood spoken of in 1 Peter 2:9-10. We are a chosen generation, chosen to do what? We are a royal priesthood, sacrificing what? "that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. [THIS IS WHY WE PRAISE HIM!] Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God.
Let's stop there; have you ever felt alone? Well, you aren't. You're one of God's people. Have you ever felt like you didn't belong? Well, you do! You belong to the family of God. You're His people. Here's proof. That's why we are to go to Church, to be with all His people, our spiritual family. Is everyone in your earthly family healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually all at once? Well neither is your spiritual family. You know as your earthly family matures and grows, so does your spiritual family. No one in the Church is perfect because they are still growing and changing and moving foward [or should be]. Do not look to people only, they will disappoint you. You have to look to your Heavenly Father, you are part of God's people.
You have purpose as a royal priesthood, offering the sacrifice of praise which is the fruit of your lips, giving thanks unto God.
Have you ever wondered why it's called the 'sacrifice' of praise. There are songs that have been built around that one phrase 'sacrifice of praise'. One tune is very uplifting and lilting with a melody that imparts a jig in your heart, let's sing it; "We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the House of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise into the House......of the Lord. And we offer up to you, the sacrifice-s of thanks-giv-ing. And we off-er up to You, the sacrifice-s of love". That was fun wasn't it? If you knew that song, your toe even tapped a bit as you sang it in your head, now didn't it? Didn't it? Dont fib, I can just see you bouncing your toe a little as you sang it.
Let's switch gears for a moment, what if, let's say, that you're not having such a good day. You're having a really hard time with your bills, and your child gets sick and needs to go to the doctor and it's somewhat serious and an auditor calls saying they want to schedule some time to go over everything with you, and your boss calls and says he's going to have to lay you off, and your Mom is getting worse, needing to go into a nursing home and has no money, but may need to come stay with you instead. This is stress. This is moving into crisis. This is not a toe tapping, lilting, head bobbing kind of day.
This is why God told this Psalmist, David, to write that it's a sacrifice. God says if you will sacrifice your emotion and praise Me, I will be honored and be glorified. I will have access to your soul and be able to lift you out of what you're moving into. But if I allow you to walk through this and you sacrifice the fruit of your lips to praise Me, I can lift you out at just the right moment and the lions mouth with be closed, you wont get burned, not even sienged, and you wont even smell like smoke. I'm telling you, I may even promote you to 2nd in command, if you will just give me this sacrifice of praise, the sweet fruit of your lips. Not lip service, but true true worship, showing Me your love, I will truly move in your behalf.
We have a purpose; to give thanks and honor to the one that took our sin, our turmoil, our tradegy and gave us in return, His life. He even told us in John 10:10 "I came to give you life, and life more abundantly". Let's give Him the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our own lips!
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