Finding Praise

Psalm 1:1-3 NKJV

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

I was reading something recently and the author mentioned how the Psalms was a good place to see patterns of praising God. I went to the first psalm which I had memorized years ago and never thought of it as a psalm of praise. I just saw it as a contrast between the godly and the ungodly, as well as a psalm that gave the benefits of meditating on the Word. However, when I went to it this time, I saw praise in it for the first time. When the psalmist talked about the benefits of delighting in the Word of God and meditating in it continuously, He was actually praising God - bragging about how God’s Word is so beneficial. He contrasts the benefits of the godly with the consequences of being ungodly (verses 4-6). If God’s Word has all those benefits, and being like God (godly) brings rewards, that means God and His Word are ALL THAT! Praise the Lord!

While men slept

Matthew 13:24-25 NKJV

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

This parable talks about how the enemy waited for a convenient time when nobody was paying attention to come in and corrupt a field. We must realize that much of what the devil has done in our lives, families, communities, cities, states and nations is a result of God’s people sleeping. We must awake and increase our prayer life and press to walk in sync with the Holy Spirit more and more. Ephesians 5:14 tells us to wake up if we are sleeping. Paul is not talking about physical sleep but spiritual sleep. What are we seeing changed for the good as a result of our actions? What are seeing get worse because we are not paying attention and therefore doing nothing to prevent it. Let us awake and pray so we can hinder the work of darkness where we live.

Mysteries of the Kingdom

Jeremiah 1:11 NKJV

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?

I recently had an inner vision in which I saw the garden at my mailbox. The plants were rearranged. As I wrote down what I saw, I understood what God was communicating to me. After that, my eyes opened to the fact that everything we see speaks to us. One of the functions of nature is to minister to our mental and emotional health. The psalmist said (Psalm 19) the whole creation speaks to us. This makes it important for us to create an environment inside and outside of our homes that will speak to us in a positive way. A picture of a spider on the wall will say something quite different from a dove in the same place. A cluttered space will say something totally different from an organized space, depending on our personality. In the same way, we must realize our words create pictures in our minds and affect the way we feel. So let us ask the Lord to help us improve our physical surroundings so they will say what He wants them to say to us. Also, let us order our conversation correctly so we will create images in our minds that will help and bless us. At the same time, we will bless those around us. What do we see? If it is not doing something positive, we must change it.

How to Bear Good Fruit - Real, Not Artificial

Mark 10:18 NKJV

So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

I was out of town recently and caught myself conversing with my husband in an agitated manner. I thought to myself, “Why are you acting like this? You can do better.” And I realized that I was very tired and therefore irritable. I prayed, got myself together and apologized to my husband. I asked God for forgiveness for failing that test. When we are tired, we can become irritable and behave in a manner we thought we wouldn’t because we thought we had grown past that. What Jesus said to the young man in Mark 10:18 becomes clear at a time like this. I knew I needed some rest, but I was also reminded me that we’re not any good without God. He’s the only one who is good. When we are good, we are reflecting the character of God that is in us. When we seem to go backwards we’re showing what we are like outside of Him. Galatians 5:22 tells us that goodness is a fruit of the spirit. Jesus said that He is the Vine and we are the branches. Branches do not produce fruit. Branches bear the fruit that the vine produces. If we become detached from the Vine, the only fruit we can have is artificial fruit. We can glue on some fruit but it will not be the real thing. When we spend quality time with the Lord, when we charge ourselves up praying with the spirit, good fruit comes out automatically because we are sucking juice from the Vine. We don’t have to force it. We never advance to the point where we no longer need the Lord because we are good on our own. So let us rest and refresh ourselves physically, but let us also stay mindful of the importance of being refreshed in Christ continually for He is our goodness.

What Do Tests Have To Do With Joy?

James 1:2-3 NKJV

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 

James said that we could count it all joy when we ran into tests knowing this….. We cannot consider it a joy to go through a test if we don’t know this….The test is an opportunity to grow spiritually. But it is not the test that makes us grow. It is our attitude during the test, our response to the test, and our perspective after the test. We don’t know where we are until we are tested. If we really want to grow, we use the test. We allow the Lord to teach us and train us. If we do not do well, we strengthen ourselves and prepare for the test we know will come again so we can pass it the next time. Our response at the end is not “Here we go again!” It’s “Here we grow again!” We count it all joy.

Invitation - Accept or Reject

John 14:27 NKJV

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Many times when we feel afraid, we are not in a state of fear. We simply have an invitation. Our response and the quickness of our response will determine whether or not we enter a state of fear. Jesus gave us an invitation to enter a state of peace. He asks us to reject the invitation to fear. He told us not to allow our hearts to be troubled. Hence we are informed that we have a choice. There are things we can do to enter a state of peace. We can become enveloped with God’s peace. There are things we can do to enter a state of fear. Those things will cause us to become tense and enveloped with fear from demonic forces. Let us ponder how this happens and the next time we get an invitation, let’s respond based on the state we wish to enter. Know that just like the devil uses images to make us feel afraid, God has images to give us peace. So when the devil offers a picture, ask your Heavenly Father for an picture. He will counteract the negative image and allow us to experience peace instead of fear.