In His Word 4-26-10

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath! May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for I rejoice in the Lord. Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth; let the wicked disappear forever. As for me—I will praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Psalm 104:33-35

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sin to him; yes. Sing his praises. Tell everyone about his miracles. Exult in his holy name; O worshipers of the Lord rejoice! Search for the Lord and His strength, ad keep on searching. Psalm 105:1-4

My heart is confident in you O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises. Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. Psalm 57:7-8 (NLT)

While I live I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Psalm 146:2

I will sing praise with my whole being; I will sing praise! I love waking up with a song in my heart and praise on my lips. You cannot start your day wrong this way. Whether you forgot to do the dishes last night or your boss has a pile of paperwork for you to do, nothing is too hard to tackle when you have His praises in your heart and on your lips. Sometimes, when I can’t sing aloud because I am in public, I find myself drumming a tune on my leg or a table that has to do with the praises I am thinking in my head. God can hear our thoughts, so we can sing praises without making a sound. He can hear us sing praises. Sometimes while thinking on the wonderful things He has done, I know I must have a huge grin on my face. I wonder what people think as I wander around with a silly grin like someone in love? Well I am in love! I am in love with the Lord!

In Psalm 104 this morning I was reminded of how much He has done; how much planning He put into creating our world. In the news we hear constantly how people are responsible for keeping the world in good condition. There is a certain amount of truth to this, but God has planned for floods and famine at just the time He needs to bring us back to His presence.

Throughout the history of Israel we can see that God could have wiped out the whole lot, but He forgave them. Why? Because they turned their hearts toward home! They returned to their first love, they repented and were obedient to love and follow His direction and commands. When they did what was right in the sight of God they prospered. When they did “what was right in their own eyes” they failed.

Is God so fickle that he would stop doing what he has always done? Does He not today place things in our paths that cause us to draw nearer to Him? Both good and bad happen, but how we use that bump in the road shows where our hearts are.

Our God wants us to sing His praises. He wants us to do as David and rejoice at all He has brought us through; at the forgiveness He gave us at just the time we needed it; and at the love He lavished upon us when we were alone in the world. David sang praises with his whole being - heart, mind, soul and strength! That is what I call my whole being. In everything we do, we need to sing praise by doing it for Him, in His honor, to give Him glory. In everything we do!

Laundry—as unto the Lord.

Dishes—as unto the Lord.

Teaching—as unto the Lord. (Whatever the age you teach).

Pastor—as unto the Lord.

Garbage collecting—as unto the Lord.

Secretary, administrative assistant, etc.—as unto the Lord.

Whatever we do, we give Him praise if we do it as unto the Lord!

So what does it mean to do something as unto the Lord? To do it as if it is for the Lord alone. Do it as if He is our boss. Do it as if He directed us to it. Do it as if He personally asked us to do the task. Whatever the Lord has put before you, it is there for His purposes to be accomplished. Why not do it for His glory, as unto Him and give Him praise for it?

Dear heavenly Father, help us to do the even the minute things just for you. Help us to praise you for the small things as well as the miracles you do in our lives. Help us to praise you in all things. Let us sing praise with all our whole being today! In Jesus' name, amen.

Suggested Readings: Psalm 104:1-35; Psalm 105:1-45; Psalm 146:1-10; Psalm 108:1-13; Psalm 149:1-9.

In His Word 4-19-10

These are the words I heard in my head as I awoke this morning:

When I look into your holiness, when I gaze into your loveliness, when all things that surround become shadows in the light of You. When You find the way of reaching my heart, when my life becomes enthralled in Your love, I worship You Lord…”

I climbed out of bed with a heart of worship, a mind of worship and eventually a voice of worship as I sang out His praises. It was a good way to start my day!

I began thinking on when, why, and how people worship today. I wondered about how other people worship, and when we should worship. Then I studied it and here is what I found.

When do we first start to worship Him?

Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him. John 9:38

When we believe in Jesus, we worship Him. Pretty simple isn’t it? We try to make things so complicated at times and want to put together a team to worship the Lord. We think we have to get together with other believers before we can worship the Lord. We think we have to be in church to worship Him.

Where do we worship Him?

Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool — He is holy. Psalm 99:5

He is with you always because He has been given to you. This means we can worship at His footstool right here where we are. If we are in the car, we can worship Him there. If we are in our cubicle at work, we can worship Him there. Now you may be asking, “How do I worship Him?”

How do we worship Him?

You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:22-24

Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Psalm 150:24

We worship Him by giving Him glory, by our praise, and by living our lives for Him. When we put our trust in Him we are worshiping Him in Spirit and in Truth. When we walk daily thanking Him for all good things in our lives, we are worshiping Him. We worship Him with our mouths or with our hands, with our praise or with our hearts.

With what do we worship Him?

I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore. Psalm 86:12

Sometimes it is hard to feel like worshiping because things are going rotten in our lives because of choices we make. I want you to know that is when we need to praise Him the most. Count your blessings. Name them. Share what God has done in your live, and ask His forgiveness for the things you have done. Then praise His name and you will be worshiping Him!

Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. I have hated those who regard useless idols; but I trust in the LORD. Psalm 31:4-6

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John 14:16-18

Why do we worship Him?

For it is written, "You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve." Matthew 4:9

Because He is your Lord, worship Him. Psalm 45:11

We worship Him, because He is. We worship the Lord because He lives and because He created us, this world, the flowers, and so many things worthy of our praise toward Him. But what does it mean to truly worship? To adore Him, to revere, admire, love, respect, and be devoted to Him. When we listen to His wisdom and do what His Word says. We worship Him. When we think about how much we love and adore Him, we worship Him.

Do you see how you can worship Him wherever you are today? Think on these things! Give God the glory, the respect and the honor He deserves and you will worship Him today!

Dear Heavenly Father, we worship You today for You are our God! Remind us today of all the wonderful things you have done in and through us that we may worship you more! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Suggested readings: Psalm 99:1-9; Habakkuk 3:1-19; John 14: 1-31; Isaiah 66:1-24; Psalm 86:1-17.

In His Word 4-12-10

Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? John 4:9-11

She didn’t know.

Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” Acts 11:16-18

They didn’t know.

But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:22-23

What we know.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?” “Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:29b-36

The Jews didn’t know, the Samaritan woman didn’t know, that He came to save them from their sin. He came to heal them of their sickness; that they could see. But they had no way of understanding that they needed to be forgiven and set free of their sins until they received the Gift of God.

And yet, He let us know. He chose to tell us the truth and to give us the gift of salvation because He loves us. He knew us and yet He still chose us.

What now? When you get a gift, what do you do with it? Do you leave it lying around for a while or do you rip into it and get it out of the box and put it to use? Of course we all would probably say we open it up and use it, but do we really? Are we really using the gifts God has given us?

Do we really even understand what a gift it is or what gifts He has given us? How do we use this Gift of God, which is eternal life? We use this Gift by giving it away, by telling others how they can receive the same gift, by passing it on.

Many of you have no doubt seen the movie Pay It Forward. God paid it forward big time! He gave us forgiveness, salvation from our sins and our selfishness, and all without asking for anything but love in return. God said, ”If you love me keep my commandments.” I say if you love Him you are keeping His commandments. How? You obey His Word. In loving Him, we can’t help but follow Him.

The first commandment is to love Him and have no other gods before Him. If we love Him, we will walk in His truth. We will walk in His love and we will walk trusting Him with all we worry about. We will trust God to take on our finances, our fears, our hunger and our tears. If we really know what we have, our lives will become what He planned for us.

Life does not always come at us easily. Sometimes it slams you into a brick wall, and sometimes it drops you in the mud. Either way that it hits you, you will get through it if you just trust Jesus to pull you out of the mud, and to patch up the cuts and bruises we suffered by hitting the bricks. Peace is in the package, the Gift of Grace. When we trust him and ask for what we need, we will find peace.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Matthew 7:7 

He is just waiting for us to ask Him to help us with our daily desires, problems and fires. Let’s give it up to Jesus today. Give it all to Jesus.

Dear Heavenly Father, we give to you all our desires, our dreams, and our hurts and pains. We thank you for accepting them and fixing things so that we can walk in peace. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Suggested readings: Deuteronomy 4:1-40; Romans 11:1-36; Romans 6:1-23; Acts 11:1-30; John 4:1-11

In His Word 4-5-10

We go in and out of our days doing what we think is right. When do we know it is enough? How do we know if we are walking right with God? “It’s a feeling we have in our hearts,” some may say. "It’s when things are going right; no problems." Still others may say that if all is going right then we are not in the right place with God because we are not giving the devil enough trouble to bother with us. So what is our purpose in this world? What is our meaning for life? Is it to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth or have we outgrown our purpose in this world?

What does God want from us? When will He return? Do you find yourself asking, “When God, when?” or “Why God, why?”

I often wonder if we have read too many novels and seen too many movies, because we see people jumping at the slightest hint of the enemy advancing. The thing that bothers me is that Christians are not jumping to run to battle, but to run away as if they do not have the Power they have at their disposal. Or perhaps they don't know they have the Power. Do they not know that we have within us the power of God Himself? The Holy Spirit is with us always. With only the name of Jesus and a little bit of faith, we can do almost anything.

"So why should I worry? Why should I fret? I have a mansion builder who’s not through with me yet," as the song went years ago. I came into life with Christ when it was a good thing not to worry. We have the Word of God to study, to show ourselves approved and not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God!

Do you believe Jesus is Lord?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16

Do you believe He is your healer?

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38

Do you believe He is your maker?

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. Psalm 95:6

Do you believe He is your power?

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 1 Corinthians 2:4-6

Do you believe He is your Father?

But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. Isaiah 64:8

Do you believe He is your deliverer?

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. Psalm 34:17

Do you believe He is your Guide?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Proverbs 3:5-6

Do you believe He is your Peace?

And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: "Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!" 1 Samuel 25:6

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6

Do you believe He is listening to your every call and will answer as He sees fit?

Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3

Or, are you walking in unbelief, wondering why God has not done what you wanted. Are you wondering why your life, let’s just put it bluntly, is rotten?

Then Peter opened his mouth and said, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem , whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” Acts 10: 34-43

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to die for us, to cleanse us from our sins, to grow us up to be more like You. Thank You Lord for guiding us, healing us, directing us, showing us how to live in this sorrowful world of sin and death. Help us to keep our eyes on the prize, on You Lord, knowing that You truly are the Author and the Finisher of our faith. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Suggested readings Jeremiah 33:1-26; Acts 10:1-34; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Isaiah 64:1-12; Romans 8:1-39.