Psalm 150

Psalm 150

Let All Things Praise the LORD

¹ Praise the LORD!

Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!

² Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

³ Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
⁴ Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
⁵ Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!

⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD!

Seems fitting that my psalm for the beginning of this journey would be Psalm 150; a declaration of praise to God, recognition of His sovereignty and greatness; His right to receive praise. Praise is a beautiful thing. It is not only a "gift" of sorts to my Father, who has done so much for me throughout the week, the most notable being that He kept me alive through all of the difficulties I have been having with my heart, it is also very uplifting. Fred Hammond was very accurate when he said "It's in your praise!".

It's hard, especially when we are in the middle of it all, what ever "it all" is, to feel like there is any "quick fix". In truth, there usually isn't, but there is a way to encourage oneself to hope. Something that God put inside us responds to our praises of Him. It's swells up. Where we felt desolate we feel encouraged. I know it is a simplistic explanation of the actual change, but bear with me here. It is nearly impossible to expound on feeling. As a Christian i am not supposed to be ruled by my emotions anyway, but to a point, I must be accept their intrinsic involvement in my life.

 God created me to respond in a very human and therefore emotional way. Being a "good Christian" doesn't dictate a disciplined, emotionless life. On the contrary; I am to be perfect as my Father is perfect (As He who calls you is perfect you also be perfect in all your conduct 1Pet 1), and my Father is passionate, jealous, loving, compassionate and so much more. Therefore, my emotions are not anathema to my goal of becoming closer to Him; a lack of control of those emotions however is.

There are many times in an average day where I struggle to control my emotions. There is hurt from my past, frustration with my 4 yr old, disappointment with my 16 yr olds choices, concern and even fear about our financial situations, but being a Christian, I have the tools available that are necessary to control, not negate, not quench, but control those emotions. God has never, in any way, said to me "Child, i want you to stop feeling..." this or that. Rather when I take my situations, my emotions to God He shows me, like through a magic mirror, the truth of the situation. He enables me to feel different. I don't always have time, in a given situation, to seek Him out and sit before Him while He instructs me. Because of this, when I see that I am losing it, I praise.

Praise opens up our spirit. It is a form of communication with the spiritual realm. It would be awesome if we could be open to the spiritual all of the time, and i am sure there are those who are far further in their walk with our Father than I who are. Never the less, I am not. I do not exist in a place where, at a moments notice, I can ask the Lord and hear His answer. But when I praise, when I speak my faith aloud or in song, I open that part of me that is spirit and enable it to drink from the connection to the infinite. Imagine it this way:

There's a woman in a room, it's an ordinary room in an ordinary house. Ordinary things are happening all around her, her children are being ordinary children. There is something so maddeningly mundane about the scene it makes you want to throw something chaotic in the midst of it just to feel like something is happening. Then something does happen; as she moves through the room color starts to drain from her. Not like she is sick and getting pale, but like she is somehow drying up, emptying a little with each move she makes. She helps this one with homework, gets her husband a drink, goes to the kitchen to make dinner, tells that one to take out the trash, all the while, as she serves and directs her little world she is becoming stale, brittle.

A child comes to her as she stirs the pot on the stove and she reacts harshly. The child walks away, but another comes to ask a question, she shoos this one away. Her husband says something and she snaps back. She steps over to the sink, turning her back for a moment on her life. You can see regret overtake her features. She is nearly empty now. There's a hollowness within that cannot be filled by the glass of water she now drinks. She stops and begins to whisper. The words are unintelligible to you, never the less, something begins to happen. Her words open a window to the heavens.



This is how I view praise and it's refreshing work in my life. No matter how one praises the Lord, genuine praise, thanksgiving, declaration of faith, confession of hope, these things open up that part of us that communes with the spiritual realm and enables us to more directly receive from the one who passionately desires to be our Everything. Praise the Lord :)

http://youtu.be/6KV4glz5FXY from me to you....may your praise fill your soul to overflowing today

Psalm 43

Psalm 43

Prayer to God in Time of Trouble

 ¹ Vindicate me, O God,
         And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
         Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
 ² For You are the God of my strength;
         Why do You cast me off?
         Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
      
 ³ Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
         Let them lead me;
         Let them bring me to Your holy hill
         And to Your tabernacle.
 ⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God,
         To God my exceeding joy;
         And on the harp I will praise You,
         O God, my God.
      
 ⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul?
         And why are you disquieted within me?
         Hope in God;
         For I shall yet praise Him,
         The help of my countenance and my God.

God never abandons us. Never the less it can sometimes feel as though we are alone in this fight to the finish line. Here the psalmist asks the question "Why do i go mourning because of the oppression if the enemy?". This is a good question to ask. If we know, even when we don't feel it that God is the God of our strength why does the oppression of a weaker enemy cause us anxiety, fear and grief? I think that this psalmist recognized that we sometimes lose sight of whats real for the sake of whats relative.

How did he get out of this emotional funk he had gotten into? He took his feelings to God. He came to God honestly, without pretense, and laid out how he felt to the Almighty. He did not reason it out in his own understanding, but instead reasoned with God and that's when the truth of the situation came to light. At that point he didn't wallow in his mistake or revel in the revelation, he put his understanding in to action and set by seeking God's way to enable him to break free of the irrational pattern of fear and hopelessness he had been trapped in by the enemy.

The psalmist cries out to God his Strength as the Leader of his rebellion against the enemy that would oppress him. He says "lead me..." believing wholeheartedly that if he asks such a thing of his God, his God will be happy to provide. God is all to happy to not only reveal the truth of our situation to us, but provide a way out AND enable us to get there! He asks God to lead him with His light, to show him the way out of the darkness that his mind has gotten itself into. "Give me light Father," he says, "so that i can put one foot in front of the other on the right path until i come into a place where i am before You, where You are all i see. Then i won't be complaining anymore, I'll be standing in Your presence praising Your name."

When we cannot find our way out of the maze that is our own minds, when reason and circumstance just don't match up with our faith and we are left feeling confused, lost and alone, we do not need to "get a grip" as the world may tell us to do. That is the time when we need to let go. Let it all go to God in prayer, reasoning it out with our Father so that Truth can shine it's light into my life regardless of what is happening within me or without me.

O Sweet Spirit, remind us what a Friend we have in Jesus. Remind us to give Him our all, even in our mess and ask Him to set to rights the confusion and darkness in our minds. Then i will praise Him. Then i will fly, run, walk to His side and worship at His feet saying "O God, my God."

The psalmists final words are of encouragement to himself. God will come. Help is on the way. Don't fear. Don't grieve over your condition anymore child of the King. Put your hope in what will remain; Jesus Christ and His grace. This is what lifts me up. This is what gives me strength to keep on. Bless the Lord!

Faith

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

For me this means that when I look at a situation that I feel is hopeless, or that I am struggling to see the hope in; a friend who is dying, a child who is on the wrong path, a spouse who is struggling with debilitating sin, I can be sure, God is at work. I can be certain that even when I see nothing, something is happening. Because my faith is in someone who is so much greater than the sum of all human knowledge, I'm not going to "get" it. I'm not. Trying to is ego at work. Being certain and being sure is what that faith entails.

 It's not so much a choice as a revelation. It's not so much that I have to choose to believe what I don't see, it's that it's there, and I can put my trust in it even though I don't see it. I know it's there. God has proven Himself to be faithful and true many times in my life. Why would He stop now? That's not what His Word says He will do. His word says that He who began a good work in me is faithful to complete it. (Phil 1:6). My part is to remember the facts, not worry about the faith. Faith is a gift of God. He gives it freely, He wants us to be able to embrace the Truths He teaches so that we can enjoy both a fulfilling life here on Earth and then an eternity of joy in Heaven. It's the facts, having begun in the Spirit are we now being completed by the flesh? Of course not.

When I accepted Jesus as my Redeemer, when I recognized my sorry state as a slave for sale in need of a new Master, One who would not just use me for His pleasure, but care for me, protect me, lead me, I was purchased by the blood of Christ, not something corruptible or unstable in it's value. Jesus Blood payed for my soul. (1Pet 1:18-19) His Spirit began a work of sanctification in my life, changing my behavior, by changing my understanding of how things are. That wasn't done by any feat or reasoning ability of man. It was the revelation of Jesus by His own Spirit that began this amazing journey in my life. He taught me that I could rely on God, I could trust in His Word. I, who I am, who I will be in eternity, my true self, began with the instruction of the Holy Spirit in my life. How could I possibly be completed by any means of myself?
Faith is being sure that God cares about the hopeless seeming situations in my life and certain He is at work in them even when I don't see that work. I will and it's always worth the wait.