August 28, 2009
The phrase "Praise the Lord" is so common, isn't it? We hear it so often that we just sort of take it for granted. We say it often and sometimes without really even thinking about it. Sometimes half-heartedly without even really meaning it. So casually.
I was thinking about that today and started looking up a few scriptures about praising God. I came across some that I found interesting because they were not about people praising God. It's normal for us to think about people (human beings) praising the Lord but we don't often think about inanimate "things" praising God.
Psalm 148 in particular caught my attention. Starting with verse 7 it says, "Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, ...." Wait a minute. What does that say? Does it say that even the things in the sea, the lightning and hail, the snow and clouds, the winds, the mountains and hills, the trees, the animals, and the birds all know how to praise the Lord? It sure does!!
That's amazing! It's not just people who praise God; other living things (and some not so living) do too! Stop and think about that for a while. That is seriously incredible and not something that we normally even think about. That stirred me up a bit and so I began looking in some other places too and, surprise, surprise, I found many other scriptures that speak to the same thing.
Psalm 96: 11-12, "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;..." Whoa! Here we go again! The sea, the fields, the things growing in the fields, the trees? They are ALL jubilant and rejoicing! Wow!
Psalm 97:1 & 6, "The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. ......."
"The heavens proclaim his righteousness,...."
Psalm 98: 7-9, "Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord,..." Wow! Rivers clap their hands and mountains sing!
Isa. 55:12, "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Trees clap their hands too!
Even the ever-so-popular scripture, Psalm 150:6 says, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." Did you catch that? Everything! It doesn't say everyone. It says every THING.
In addition to that, Psalm 90:2, says, "Before the mountains were born....." It doesn't say created here. It says born!
I think all of this is really amazing and very interesting. Something to think about for a while. All of creation, everything, is praising God!
When Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully praising God in loud voices. The Pharisees told Jesus to make his disciples be quiet. In Luke 19:40, Jesus said, "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." He was saying that if people didn't praise him, then even the rocks would!! The rocks!!
It looks to me like ALL of creation is praising God! Am I? Are you? Enough?
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Blinded Eyes
August 20, 2009
Did you know that the eye is like the lamp of the body (Mat. 6:22)? It lets the light in. Without a properly functioning eye, there can be no light and, therefore, no physical sight. In the same way, there can be no spiritual sight (or vision, insight, discernment) without the Lord removing the veil from our spiritually blinded eyes. Mat. 6:22-23 reads in full like this, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then, the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" That darkness is extremely great and life-threatening! Darkness is definitely not a good thing!
Prior to salvation, we are spiritually blind. In fact, it is impossible to understand the things of God until that veil causing this kind of blindness has been removed. The god of this age (satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they CANNOT see the light of the gospel (2Cor. 4:4). God is the one who lets light shine out of the darkness and makes his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Christ (2Cor. 4:6).
Those who don't submit themselves to Jesus remain under satan's influence. Satan himself blinds their eyes to the gospel so that they may not be saved. That's his biggest job. Keep people in darkness. That's a bad situation, isn't it? Thank God there is a solution to the problem though. Believers can bind satan's activity through intercessory prayer and by preaching the gospel in the power of the Spirit (Acts 1:8). It is critically important to do this so that people may hear, understand and choose to believe and then be saved. When our unsaved loved ones are critically ill, we don't hesitate to pray for their healing. We should be equally concerned about their eternal future and intercede for them in the power of the Holy Spirit regarding their salvation.
2 Cor. 3:16 also refers to the veil covering the spiritual eyes or hearts. "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." That's good news, isn't it? Submit to the Lord, give your life over to Him so that you may live in Him forever, repent of your sins, invite Jesus to come into your heart and life and to just take over! Oh yes, and then be obedient to His commands. All of them! Obedience is mandatory. Study the things of God. Read His precious Word. Listen to Word oriented, Bible believing ministers of the gospel, pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you in ways that you will understand. He will absolutely do it!
Listen to this. In Psalm 119:18 David asks God, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." David wasn't physically blind. He just recognized that he needed help right then from God in understanding God's laws. He knew and understood that the things of God were wonderful and he wanted God to show him the many wonderful things in His Word; His law. Even David saw that his eyes were spiritually blind from time to time!
Non believers will never understand the things of God; the scriptures; his Word; Him. Unless and until they are "saved" that is! But even we believers need help from time to time and can ask God to just open up our spiritual eyes so that we might understand what He is saying to us. We need to do that from time to time and especially when we are having some trouble discerning what it is exactly that He is trying to tell us because we just don't want to miss what God has to say to us! It's too important.
Did you know that the eye is like the lamp of the body (Mat. 6:22)? It lets the light in. Without a properly functioning eye, there can be no light and, therefore, no physical sight. In the same way, there can be no spiritual sight (or vision, insight, discernment) without the Lord removing the veil from our spiritually blinded eyes. Mat. 6:22-23 reads in full like this, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then, the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" That darkness is extremely great and life-threatening! Darkness is definitely not a good thing!
Prior to salvation, we are spiritually blind. In fact, it is impossible to understand the things of God until that veil causing this kind of blindness has been removed. The god of this age (satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they CANNOT see the light of the gospel (2Cor. 4:4). God is the one who lets light shine out of the darkness and makes his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Christ (2Cor. 4:6).
Those who don't submit themselves to Jesus remain under satan's influence. Satan himself blinds their eyes to the gospel so that they may not be saved. That's his biggest job. Keep people in darkness. That's a bad situation, isn't it? Thank God there is a solution to the problem though. Believers can bind satan's activity through intercessory prayer and by preaching the gospel in the power of the Spirit (Acts 1:8). It is critically important to do this so that people may hear, understand and choose to believe and then be saved. When our unsaved loved ones are critically ill, we don't hesitate to pray for their healing. We should be equally concerned about their eternal future and intercede for them in the power of the Holy Spirit regarding their salvation.
2 Cor. 3:16 also refers to the veil covering the spiritual eyes or hearts. "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." That's good news, isn't it? Submit to the Lord, give your life over to Him so that you may live in Him forever, repent of your sins, invite Jesus to come into your heart and life and to just take over! Oh yes, and then be obedient to His commands. All of them! Obedience is mandatory. Study the things of God. Read His precious Word. Listen to Word oriented, Bible believing ministers of the gospel, pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you in ways that you will understand. He will absolutely do it!
Listen to this. In Psalm 119:18 David asks God, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." David wasn't physically blind. He just recognized that he needed help right then from God in understanding God's laws. He knew and understood that the things of God were wonderful and he wanted God to show him the many wonderful things in His Word; His law. Even David saw that his eyes were spiritually blind from time to time!
Non believers will never understand the things of God; the scriptures; his Word; Him. Unless and until they are "saved" that is! But even we believers need help from time to time and can ask God to just open up our spiritual eyes so that we might understand what He is saying to us. We need to do that from time to time and especially when we are having some trouble discerning what it is exactly that He is trying to tell us because we just don't want to miss what God has to say to us! It's too important.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Seeking God
August 14, 2009
I remember during my B.C. (before Christ) days wondering about God every once in a while. I wasn't raised in a Christian home. Far from it. Just the opposite really. Fortunately, my non- believing mother did not really force her views on any of us in the family. It just wasn't discussed. My mother was a very strong "old school" school teacher in Arizona before I was even born. She was also an AVID reader and reading meant everything to her. She was determined to instill the love of reading into her four daughters. I am very thankful to her for that. When I started first grade in California which is where we lived by the time I was born, my mother was livid when she discovered they did not teach reading by phonics in the public schools. She was so upset that she yanked me out of that school as fast as she could. Only trouble is.......the only other school she could find to put me in where they taught phonics was a Christian private school. Ironic, isn't it? See? God had a purpose and a plan for my life even way back when I was six years old.
I stayed in the Christian school through the fourth grade. So I learned about God there and experienced His love through my precious Jesus-loving teachers and school principal. My foundations began to be formed by the Lord. We memorized scripture, we listened to and read Bible stories, we learned about the love of Jesus. Everything we did in school was centered around the Lord. Once I learned how to read well, my mother stuck me back into the public schools in fifth grade in order to save money. I'm sure it was a financial burden on the family then to have me in a private school. No church, no Sunday school, no family devotions, no family prayers, no nothing about God in our house from then on. Naturally, I drifted on into the secular world pretty easily. But, I never totally put God out of my mind. He was always there in the back corners of my mind I guess. But definitely on the faraway back burner!
Many years went by and I eventually moved to Kentucky. Yep, the Bible belt part of the nation! Thank God for those so-called Bible belt states! My Kentucky in-laws were all Christian; many of my new friends and co-workers were too. I didn't have a personal relationship with the Lord. Heck I didn't have any kind of a relationship with Him. But, I kept hearing about Him everywhere I went. Even in the shopping malls. I remember one day trying on clothes in a department store dressing room and overhearing the women next to me in the next room talking about the Lord. People were so friendly there too. Different from my whole life living in the Los Angeles area.
I began to wonder who this "God" really was? Or IF He really was at all. I was working at a university there and I had recently accepted a promotion into a new department. Guess what? It was an ALL Christian department as it turned out. All five of my co-workers were Christian! Before too many months went by, I began to sort of seek God just a little bit. I was pretty cautious about it. Pretty slow. Didn't want to do anything too drastic you know. Much too intellectual for that. But, I can distinctly remember one day saying, "God, I don't know if you're even real but if you are, could you sort of show yourself to me in some way. Make me know that you're real. You probably aren't and I'm probably just talking to myself here but at least I have an open mind about it. If you ARE really there then I definitely want to know you."
Well you can probably guess the ending to this story. Suddenly, out of what seemed like nowhere, God stuff (what I now call "Godincidences" began to happen to me. I mean every time I rounded a corner, or turned on the radio or the TV or talked to someone or picked up a book or magazine, it was all about God and, for some reason, all this God stuff was actually interesting to me for the first time in my life. Even I, the intellectual that I thought I was, began to realize that all this stuff cannot possibly be coincidental. So I began to seek God a little more earnestly. I purposely read books about Him (you know me, the avid reader because of my mother). I know. I should have been reading the Bible; not books ABOUT God. But, you know what? All those Christian books actually worked. They did indeed lead me to the Lord. Well, the Holy Spirit really did the leading but all the books and reading and Christian co-workers sure helped! To make a long story a little bit shorter, I finally "got it" and accepted the Lord as my very own personal saviour. The "veil" lifted from my eyes because I had accepted the Lord on faith. That was about 23 years ago. I am so thankful I prayed that prayer that I didn't even know was a prayer at the time. "God, if you're really real, show me, etc...." He did and I am ever so thankful. It's been an incredible journey ever since.
God's perfect Word tells us to seek him:
I Ki 22:5: "...first seek the counsel of the Lord."
I Ch 28:9: "....If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will
reject you forever."
Ps 34:10: "...but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing."
Ps 119:2: "Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart."
Ps 119 :10: "I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands."
Pr 8:17: "I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me."
Heb 11:6: "....he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
These are just a few of the many scriptures that have to do with seeking the Lord. Read them; look up some more. Read the entire scripture. Notice, in some cases, the "other" half of the scripture. For example, in I Ch 28:9 above it says, "If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." Whoa! Pretty important to read it all, isn't it?
Every word of God's Word is true. It's all real. You can take it literally. What he says, he means and he always keeps his promises. If you know him, you already know this. If you don't know him, you might be a little skeptical. Take a chance. Do what I did. I was a little skeptical too. But, I was willing to "give it a try" so to speak. God wasn't offended by that. He knew my heart was right. I was full of doubt - full to overflowing with doubt. But I really did want to know if it was possible that God really might be real. I asked him to "reveal" himself to me (not in those words) and so he did. What he did for me, he'll do for you too. It was all so simple really and so outright amazing! God is wonderful. Don't miss out on knowing him. Seek him. Just ask him to reveal himself to you too. He will. I know he will. What he does for one, he'll do for another. He is so amazing; so merciful; so good; so kind and so perfect!
I remember during my B.C. (before Christ) days wondering about God every once in a while. I wasn't raised in a Christian home. Far from it. Just the opposite really. Fortunately, my non- believing mother did not really force her views on any of us in the family. It just wasn't discussed. My mother was a very strong "old school" school teacher in Arizona before I was even born. She was also an AVID reader and reading meant everything to her. She was determined to instill the love of reading into her four daughters. I am very thankful to her for that. When I started first grade in California which is where we lived by the time I was born, my mother was livid when she discovered they did not teach reading by phonics in the public schools. She was so upset that she yanked me out of that school as fast as she could. Only trouble is.......the only other school she could find to put me in where they taught phonics was a Christian private school. Ironic, isn't it? See? God had a purpose and a plan for my life even way back when I was six years old.
I stayed in the Christian school through the fourth grade. So I learned about God there and experienced His love through my precious Jesus-loving teachers and school principal. My foundations began to be formed by the Lord. We memorized scripture, we listened to and read Bible stories, we learned about the love of Jesus. Everything we did in school was centered around the Lord. Once I learned how to read well, my mother stuck me back into the public schools in fifth grade in order to save money. I'm sure it was a financial burden on the family then to have me in a private school. No church, no Sunday school, no family devotions, no family prayers, no nothing about God in our house from then on. Naturally, I drifted on into the secular world pretty easily. But, I never totally put God out of my mind. He was always there in the back corners of my mind I guess. But definitely on the faraway back burner!
Many years went by and I eventually moved to Kentucky. Yep, the Bible belt part of the nation! Thank God for those so-called Bible belt states! My Kentucky in-laws were all Christian; many of my new friends and co-workers were too. I didn't have a personal relationship with the Lord. Heck I didn't have any kind of a relationship with Him. But, I kept hearing about Him everywhere I went. Even in the shopping malls. I remember one day trying on clothes in a department store dressing room and overhearing the women next to me in the next room talking about the Lord. People were so friendly there too. Different from my whole life living in the Los Angeles area.
I began to wonder who this "God" really was? Or IF He really was at all. I was working at a university there and I had recently accepted a promotion into a new department. Guess what? It was an ALL Christian department as it turned out. All five of my co-workers were Christian! Before too many months went by, I began to sort of seek God just a little bit. I was pretty cautious about it. Pretty slow. Didn't want to do anything too drastic you know. Much too intellectual for that. But, I can distinctly remember one day saying, "God, I don't know if you're even real but if you are, could you sort of show yourself to me in some way. Make me know that you're real. You probably aren't and I'm probably just talking to myself here but at least I have an open mind about it. If you ARE really there then I definitely want to know you."
Well you can probably guess the ending to this story. Suddenly, out of what seemed like nowhere, God stuff (what I now call "Godincidences" began to happen to me. I mean every time I rounded a corner, or turned on the radio or the TV or talked to someone or picked up a book or magazine, it was all about God and, for some reason, all this God stuff was actually interesting to me for the first time in my life. Even I, the intellectual that I thought I was, began to realize that all this stuff cannot possibly be coincidental. So I began to seek God a little more earnestly. I purposely read books about Him (you know me, the avid reader because of my mother). I know. I should have been reading the Bible; not books ABOUT God. But, you know what? All those Christian books actually worked. They did indeed lead me to the Lord. Well, the Holy Spirit really did the leading but all the books and reading and Christian co-workers sure helped! To make a long story a little bit shorter, I finally "got it" and accepted the Lord as my very own personal saviour. The "veil" lifted from my eyes because I had accepted the Lord on faith. That was about 23 years ago. I am so thankful I prayed that prayer that I didn't even know was a prayer at the time. "God, if you're really real, show me, etc...." He did and I am ever so thankful. It's been an incredible journey ever since.
God's perfect Word tells us to seek him:
I Ki 22:5: "...first seek the counsel of the Lord."
I Ch 28:9: "....If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will
reject you forever."
Ps 34:10: "...but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing."
Ps 119:2: "Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart."
Ps 119 :10: "I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands."
Pr 8:17: "I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me."
Heb 11:6: "....he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
These are just a few of the many scriptures that have to do with seeking the Lord. Read them; look up some more. Read the entire scripture. Notice, in some cases, the "other" half of the scripture. For example, in I Ch 28:9 above it says, "If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." Whoa! Pretty important to read it all, isn't it?
Every word of God's Word is true. It's all real. You can take it literally. What he says, he means and he always keeps his promises. If you know him, you already know this. If you don't know him, you might be a little skeptical. Take a chance. Do what I did. I was a little skeptical too. But, I was willing to "give it a try" so to speak. God wasn't offended by that. He knew my heart was right. I was full of doubt - full to overflowing with doubt. But I really did want to know if it was possible that God really might be real. I asked him to "reveal" himself to me (not in those words) and so he did. What he did for me, he'll do for you too. It was all so simple really and so outright amazing! God is wonderful. Don't miss out on knowing him. Seek him. Just ask him to reveal himself to you too. He will. I know he will. What he does for one, he'll do for another. He is so amazing; so merciful; so good; so kind and so perfect!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wisdom is Supreme
August 13, 2009
I noticed something new today in God's Word. Well....it's not new at all but I noticed it in a new way I guess. Proverbs 4:4-7 says, "...Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake wisdom and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding."
God is telling me to really seek after His Words with all of my heart. If I do that, He will give me the understanding. But, not only that, He says, "Keep my commands and you will live." He wants me to keep His commands; to be obedient to Him in all ways. This is the part that we like to kind of just skim over while we're reading it but it's so important. He's telling us that if we keep His commands; be obedient to Him; that we will live. So on the contrary, I can assume that if I don't keep His commands; if I'm not obedient to Him, I won't live. Now that's a heavy duty concept! Obeying God comes first! We don't get the "goodies" (meaning life) unless we are obedient. He tells us to seek wisdom with all of our hearts and that, when we do, we will be given understanding. We will be given God's wisdom, God's understanding of life. When we gain that wisdom, it will protect us.
Godly wisdom will protect us! When we love that Godly wisdom and seek it with our whole hearts, it will watch over us and keep us safe. God admonishes us to never forget His Words and to never swerve from them. Read them; study them; follow them, do them. Be obedient to them (His Words). They are a guiding light for our lives. God says that His wisdom is supreme so we should seek it and He will give it to us. Even if it costs us everything we've got, we need to receive God's wisdom and understanding.
Even if it costs us everything? Yep, that's a hard pill to swallow, isn't it? But God said it and He means exactly what He says and He says exactly what He means. It's worth it! Well worth it! Following after God is a pleasure and a privilege. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Hmmmm.....God's Word also says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But that's a topic for another day.
Fellow Believers,
I noticed something new today in God's Word. Well....it's not new at all but I noticed it in a new way I guess. Proverbs 4:4-7 says, "...Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake wisdom and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding."
God is telling me to really seek after His Words with all of my heart. If I do that, He will give me the understanding. But, not only that, He says, "Keep my commands and you will live." He wants me to keep His commands; to be obedient to Him in all ways. This is the part that we like to kind of just skim over while we're reading it but it's so important. He's telling us that if we keep His commands; be obedient to Him; that we will live. So on the contrary, I can assume that if I don't keep His commands; if I'm not obedient to Him, I won't live. Now that's a heavy duty concept! Obeying God comes first! We don't get the "goodies" (meaning life) unless we are obedient. He tells us to seek wisdom with all of our hearts and that, when we do, we will be given understanding. We will be given God's wisdom, God's understanding of life. When we gain that wisdom, it will protect us.
Godly wisdom will protect us! When we love that Godly wisdom and seek it with our whole hearts, it will watch over us and keep us safe. God admonishes us to never forget His Words and to never swerve from them. Read them; study them; follow them, do them. Be obedient to them (His Words). They are a guiding light for our lives. God says that His wisdom is supreme so we should seek it and He will give it to us. Even if it costs us everything we've got, we need to receive God's wisdom and understanding.
Even if it costs us everything? Yep, that's a hard pill to swallow, isn't it? But God said it and He means exactly what He says and He says exactly what He means. It's worth it! Well worth it! Following after God is a pleasure and a privilege. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Hmmmm.....God's Word also says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But that's a topic for another day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)