The verse for 8/9 is Psalm 8:9, "LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" NIV
Even the name of our Lord is wonderful! His power and might fills the earth. He created the heavens and the earth. If we had a clear understanding of just who He is and what He has already done for us, we would be awestruck. We should be.
Let's look at how our Lord qualifies for such dubious honor. Majesty is described as sovereign power, authority, or dignity...check! Another description says majesty is greatness or splendour of quality or character...check! To be majestic is to have or exhibit majesty...check! Yes, I think our Lord not only qualifies, but He IS majesty; He IS majestic. His very name has more authority and splendour than we can fully comprehend. I believe that with all my heart and I fully worship Him and His Majesty!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
History Lessons
The verse for 8/8 is Job 8:8, "Just ask the previous generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors." NLT
Job's friends may not have had a lot of wisdom in Job's situation, but this verse was an exception. Not for the reasons they were presenting, but, in general, it is wise to look at the history of previous generations. We tend to repeat mistakes. The Israelites did it over and over. While I am not of Jewish descent, I can certainly relate to repeating mistakes like the Israelites did.
God has been so good and faithful to me, yet there are times when I forget just how good He is. I tend to become stubborn and try to do things my own way. I'll walk with Him for some time and then I'll try to walk ahead of Him, or not follow where He leads me. I think I would be wise to look at previous generations and learn from their mistakes. Job might have been blameless, but I'm not that innocent. Maybe I should take his friends' advice for my own good and learn from it. It could help me from making a few mistakes of my own.
Job's friends may not have had a lot of wisdom in Job's situation, but this verse was an exception. Not for the reasons they were presenting, but, in general, it is wise to look at the history of previous generations. We tend to repeat mistakes. The Israelites did it over and over. While I am not of Jewish descent, I can certainly relate to repeating mistakes like the Israelites did.
God has been so good and faithful to me, yet there are times when I forget just how good He is. I tend to become stubborn and try to do things my own way. I'll walk with Him for some time and then I'll try to walk ahead of Him, or not follow where He leads me. I think I would be wise to look at previous generations and learn from their mistakes. Job might have been blameless, but I'm not that innocent. Maybe I should take his friends' advice for my own good and learn from it. It could help me from making a few mistakes of my own.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
You'll know it when you see it
The verse for 8/7 is from Song of Solomon 8:7, "Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his offer would be utterly scorned." NLT
There are not a whole lot of verses from Song of Solomon that I would venture to elaborate on. This book is pretty passionate and involves a lot of honest dialogue concerning romance and marital love. King Solomon, known for his wisdom, pinned the lyrics in this poetic book, but God gave Solomon his wisdom and God allows us to see glimpses of His perfect love for us through these passages. I'm certainly no expert at understanding or explaining godly love...but I want to be. I'm pretty sure that the kind of love God has for us, and wants us to have for Him and for each other, is inexpressible in human terms. But I heard a very humble and wise man say once, "You'll know it when you see it." I think he was right.
Love is bigger than explanation. It can be seen, felt, and heard, but not often explained. The only way we can truly know how to love and be loved is through experiencing the love of our God. Even then, our human minds and bodies have a hard time wrapping our arms around this thing called love. God's Holy Spirit is the lens through which we get a glimpse of love. When we accept the love of Jesus and enter into a true relationship with Him, His Holy Spirit lives within us. It is only through Him that love can grow and illuminate our senses. Does that sound natural? It's anything but...love is purely supernatural. But we will know it when we see it, if we use the proper lenses.
All I know is that love is a word and an emotion that gets thrown around a lot, but is much less likely to be grasped and understood. God created us to experience true love. It's bigger than all of us combined. I want to learn how to love like God wants me to love. That not only means loving Him and those that are easy to love. It also means loving those that are less easy to love. But that is what our wise and wonderful God has called us to do. I think if we can get past what we want to do, and surrender to what He wants to do in and through us, we might begin to experience His kind of love.
My kind of love is so limited. God's love is perfect. As I spend time with Him and study His character and His ways, God teaches me more and more about real love. I'm learning day by day, minute by minute. Knowing God, is loving Him. Knowing God better, is loving Him better. Knowing God completely, is loving Him completely. That's what I'm aiming for. Am I there? No, but through His Holy lenses, I'm beginning to know love when I see it. And when I see it, God is always right in the middle of it.
There are not a whole lot of verses from Song of Solomon that I would venture to elaborate on. This book is pretty passionate and involves a lot of honest dialogue concerning romance and marital love. King Solomon, known for his wisdom, pinned the lyrics in this poetic book, but God gave Solomon his wisdom and God allows us to see glimpses of His perfect love for us through these passages. I'm certainly no expert at understanding or explaining godly love...but I want to be. I'm pretty sure that the kind of love God has for us, and wants us to have for Him and for each other, is inexpressible in human terms. But I heard a very humble and wise man say once, "You'll know it when you see it." I think he was right.
Love is bigger than explanation. It can be seen, felt, and heard, but not often explained. The only way we can truly know how to love and be loved is through experiencing the love of our God. Even then, our human minds and bodies have a hard time wrapping our arms around this thing called love. God's Holy Spirit is the lens through which we get a glimpse of love. When we accept the love of Jesus and enter into a true relationship with Him, His Holy Spirit lives within us. It is only through Him that love can grow and illuminate our senses. Does that sound natural? It's anything but...love is purely supernatural. But we will know it when we see it, if we use the proper lenses.
All I know is that love is a word and an emotion that gets thrown around a lot, but is much less likely to be grasped and understood. God created us to experience true love. It's bigger than all of us combined. I want to learn how to love like God wants me to love. That not only means loving Him and those that are easy to love. It also means loving those that are less easy to love. But that is what our wise and wonderful God has called us to do. I think if we can get past what we want to do, and surrender to what He wants to do in and through us, we might begin to experience His kind of love.
My kind of love is so limited. God's love is perfect. As I spend time with Him and study His character and His ways, God teaches me more and more about real love. I'm learning day by day, minute by minute. Knowing God, is loving Him. Knowing God better, is loving Him better. Knowing God completely, is loving Him completely. That's what I'm aiming for. Am I there? No, but through His Holy lenses, I'm beginning to know love when I see it. And when I see it, God is always right in the middle of it.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Perfect Timing for Praise and Prayer
For 8/5 and 8/6, I'm sharing Nehemiah 8:5-6, "Ezra opened the book. Every eye was on him (he was standing on the raised platform) and as he opened the book everyone stood. Then Ezra praised God, the great God, and all the people responded, "Oh Yes! Yes!" with hands raised high. And then they fell to their knees in worship of God, their faces to the ground." MSG
Jerusalem had been broken, physically and spiritually. Nehemiah was burdened to rebuild in both realms. After rebuilding the walls of the city, he turns to bringing real life into it, through spiritual renewal. As the priest, Ezra, translates and explains the long neglected word of God to the people of the city, a light bulb comes on and revival breaks out. People start confessing their sins and worshipping God. They become resolved to bring the nation's wayward conduct in line with their covenant relationship with God.
In God's perfect wisdom and timing, there is a national call to prayer tomorrow, August 6th, in our own country. The Governor of Texas issued an invitation for others to join his state in calling out to our God in prayer for the problems that plague our individual states and our country. I could not be more supportive of this symbol of surrender and cry for help to the One who holds the world in His hands. I've written about this before and mentioned how this call to prayer has met with much criticism. I just have to shake my head at the utter confusion the enemy has caused in the minds of people.
Our world has become so confused, that people who are calling on God to heal this land are called radical extremist. The people who are coming together for prayer are not hurting anyone; they are just seeking God's hand in our problems. I can see why this would be threatening to the devil. Right now, he's watching the leaders of this country run around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to come up with human solutions for human problems. What a novel idea for someone to suggest that we come together in prayer and seek answers from God. No wonder the devil is shaking is his boots and shaking up our world. He is really afraid that we will tap into the one thing that can defeat him...God's power.
Just like the people in the book of Nehemiah, we can rebuild our country. We can turn to God for our help and recognise His power to heal our lives and our situations. Some have said that this call to prayer is divisive. Their purpose for saying so was to be politically correct and adhere to this world's view of universal acceptance of anything. For very different reasons, I have to agree that the very nature of the cross is divisive. You see, the cross of Jesus, it's cause, and it's victory over sin and death, will always demand that people either accept this Jesus who died for them, or reject Him. Yet, we have to choose to be with Him or against Him.
I stand with those the world has labeled extremists. I'm an extremely blessed child of an extremely powerful God. I will call on His name and believe that only He has the power to save us from ourselves and our enemies. This is the perfect time to pray that He will hear from His people and heal us, and our land. As they did in the book of Nehemiah, we can become people who are resolved to bring this nation's wayward conduct in line with our covenant relationship with God, our Creator. This is a perfect time for God to revive His people and this country. Let our response be "Yes!" Let's stand together in prayer and praise and watch God move.
Jerusalem had been broken, physically and spiritually. Nehemiah was burdened to rebuild in both realms. After rebuilding the walls of the city, he turns to bringing real life into it, through spiritual renewal. As the priest, Ezra, translates and explains the long neglected word of God to the people of the city, a light bulb comes on and revival breaks out. People start confessing their sins and worshipping God. They become resolved to bring the nation's wayward conduct in line with their covenant relationship with God.
In God's perfect wisdom and timing, there is a national call to prayer tomorrow, August 6th, in our own country. The Governor of Texas issued an invitation for others to join his state in calling out to our God in prayer for the problems that plague our individual states and our country. I could not be more supportive of this symbol of surrender and cry for help to the One who holds the world in His hands. I've written about this before and mentioned how this call to prayer has met with much criticism. I just have to shake my head at the utter confusion the enemy has caused in the minds of people.
Our world has become so confused, that people who are calling on God to heal this land are called radical extremist. The people who are coming together for prayer are not hurting anyone; they are just seeking God's hand in our problems. I can see why this would be threatening to the devil. Right now, he's watching the leaders of this country run around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to come up with human solutions for human problems. What a novel idea for someone to suggest that we come together in prayer and seek answers from God. No wonder the devil is shaking is his boots and shaking up our world. He is really afraid that we will tap into the one thing that can defeat him...God's power.
Just like the people in the book of Nehemiah, we can rebuild our country. We can turn to God for our help and recognise His power to heal our lives and our situations. Some have said that this call to prayer is divisive. Their purpose for saying so was to be politically correct and adhere to this world's view of universal acceptance of anything. For very different reasons, I have to agree that the very nature of the cross is divisive. You see, the cross of Jesus, it's cause, and it's victory over sin and death, will always demand that people either accept this Jesus who died for them, or reject Him. Yet, we have to choose to be with Him or against Him.
I stand with those the world has labeled extremists. I'm an extremely blessed child of an extremely powerful God. I will call on His name and believe that only He has the power to save us from ourselves and our enemies. This is the perfect time to pray that He will hear from His people and heal us, and our land. As they did in the book of Nehemiah, we can become people who are resolved to bring this nation's wayward conduct in line with our covenant relationship with God, our Creator. This is a perfect time for God to revive His people and this country. Let our response be "Yes!" Let's stand together in prayer and praise and watch God move.
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