Saturday, August 4, 2012

Praise the Lord With All I Am

Today I am not having the best day. I woke up not feeling well at all. Things just haven't been going as planned. Then as I laid in my bed I thought about all the things I had been blessed with from the moment I woke up. The first blessing I was given was the blessing of life. God gave me the blessing of waking me up. The second blessing he gave me was after he woke me up I received an email from someone who makes me feel special, but also makes me feel special in the eyes of God. It makes me think of the song "Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord". One of the lines in the song goes "every blessing you pour out I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say". Even though I woke up not feeling good, it's a good day and I will praising the Lord even in the darkest of days. This is because He loves me and He cares about me and keeps blessing me beyond what I can even fathom... Today I read Psalm 31-35. Here is how the Word of God has effected me today.


Psalm 31:5  "Into your hands I commit my spirit: redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth". The first thing that caught my eye was the first part of this verse where the author writes "Into your hands I commit my spirit". I knew that these words were spoken somewhere else in the Bible so I did a little research. I knew they were also words from Jesus, I just was not sure where they were found. I found out that these words are also found in the gospel of Luke. The context of those words is Jesus on the cross dying and he says to the father "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. When he had said this, he breathed his last". Even though these words are not said in the same context, when Christ says those words it is kind of like us committing our Spirits up to the Father. That should have been us on that cross. We should have been the person committing our spirit to the father. When I read through the Psalm, David goes on to say "redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth". When we commit our spirit to the Father, we are asking God to take our old spirit (life) and redeem us and give us a new, clean spirit (life).


Psalm 32:5 "Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD' and you forgave the guilt of my sin". This Bible verse has really hit home the past couple of days. I have had past sins that I have not wanted to acknowledge. I have forgave the person that created those past sins, but I never really forgave myself for what has happened. This passage makes me realize that I need to be very open and honest with God. Even though He already knows all of the sins I have committed and all the sins I have yet to commit, He still wants me to come to him and lay it all down at his feet. I have done many things that have caused guilt and shame in my life and God says that my sins are forgiven through the death of His son on the cross. This gives me some hope to live in and live by.

Psalm 33:11 "But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations".  No matter how much we may want to do things our way, God's plan will always prevail. God has a purpose for all of our lives and his purpose will be forever in the hearts of all the generations......Jeremiah 29:11 enough said.


Psalm 33:13-14 "From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind: from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth". I have spoke about this idea/concept a few times in my earlier blogs. God looks down from heaven and sees everything we have done, are doing, and will do in the future. You can not hide anything from God. You may be out with your friends drinking or smoking hoping your parents don't find out. I think that your parents are the least of your worries. God knows exactly what you are doing. You may be hanging out with your boyfriend/girlfriend and you start messing around or you have sex and you feel guilty. It's because God has seen what you have done and has seen your sin. You feel guilty because you know it was wrong. After reading this verse I thought to myself "Oh crap!!! I have done some bad stuff I didn't want God to know about and now he is sitting up on His throne and He knows exactly what I have been doing". If you are reading through this verse, it should be a wake up call. It was a wake up call for me. Whatever you are doing in private is not so private because God is everywhere.


Psalm 34:1-3 "I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together".  Can anybody say COMMUNITY WORSHIP!!!!!YES PLEASE. The first verse goes off what I said earlier in the intro. Even in the bad times I will praise His name .It will always be on my lips. No matter what I am going through. I will proclaim the name of the LORD. There are no questions to ask.


Psalm 34:18 "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and save those who are crushed in spirit". I have been one of those people who has been brokenhearted. I have been one of those people who has been crushed in spirit. Yes God is all around us and He is always with us, but He is even more close to us when we are brokenhearted. He is even closer when we feel like there is no other place to turn.


There are a couple of chapters I did not take Bible verses from. This does not mean they were not important or anything like that. It just means that they did not hit me as much as what these verses do. I would encourage you to read through all of the chapters. There may be things in there that will hit you. I would like to hear about the verses that hit you and how they may have hit your or impacted your life. Remember that even in the bad times, you need to praise God. He has given you blessings, you may not have realized it. Even bad things in your life can be blessings. Laura Story has a song called Blessings and I would love for you to take time to listen to the song. It is a song that has impacted my life and I hope that it will impact your life. Blessings on your day :)









 



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