God's glory

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 (7:03 a.m.)

Awesome God of Glory,

One look outside just an hour ago and I was immediately reminded of Your glory. Psalm 19:1-4 sums it up wonderfully.

“Heaven is declaring God's glory; the sky is proclaiming His handiwork. One day gushes the news to the next, and one night informs another what needs to be known. Of course, there's no speech, no words - their voices can't be heard - but their sound extends throughout the world; their words reach the ends of the earth. God has made a tent in heaven for the sun.”

Oh but it's not only the beauty of Your natural world that pours forth out of this psalm. Continuing I read, “The LORD's Instruction is perfect, reviving one's very being. The LORD's laws are faithful, making naïve people wise” (v.7).

Verse eight tells that Your “regulations are right, gladdening the heart”, Your “commands are pure, giving light to the eyes.” While verse nine reminds that “Honoring the LORD is correct, lasting forever. The LORD's judgments are true. All of these are righteous!”

Father God, I am so blessed to be considered one of Your children. As I continue reading of the desirability and sweetness of Your laws (v. 10) it's the end of verse 12, the beginning of 13 and all of 14 that I pray for myself right now.

“Clear me of any unknown sin and save your servant from willful sins. Don't let them rule me. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to You, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Blessed Lord God, thank You that this morning it was the sheer beauty of Your sky that brought me directly to Your Word. Let me use and reflect Your glory well this day. I love You. Thank You. Amen.

(310 words ~ 8:05 a.m.)  

providence

Monday, August 26, 2013 (7:06 a.m.)

Awesome, Glorious, Omnipotent God,

Thank You! Things went wonderfully well yesterday. Plans and ideas fell into place. So of course, today it is easy to come to You with praise and thanksgiving.

The songs we sang in church lent themselves to producing genuine praise, chills and even some tears in me. But Father, I'm asking You to teach me to live in the Truth of Your goodness and grace regardless of the external circumstances.

Yesterday we learned about Your providence through a teaching of Acts (23:11-35) entitled “The Invisible Hand of God”.

providence: the protective care of God; timely preparation for future eventualities; from Old French and Latin words meaning 'foresee, attend to'; see PROVIDE.

provide: make available for use; equip or supply someone with something useful or necessary.

You do that for us. Again and again. I confess that far too often I don't eagerly, readily or willingly yield to Your provisions in my life. Going even further, many times I'm not even aware that it's really You at work. Oh, but when the end result is made clear and Your glory shines through that's when I praise You.

Father, I ask that You would continue Your work in me that I would come to truly thank and praise You in the midst of circumstances. Two songs come immediately to mind. ♫You Never Let Go♫ and ♫It Is Well with My Soul♫

Songwriters who have experienced Your providence through the years share deeply that it's not only in the happy times that we are to trust and believe in Your divine intervention. Whether it's ♫peace like a river♫ or ♫sorrows like sea billows♫ because of Your providence, it IS well with our souls!

YOU, the promise of Your Son's return on our behalf, are the ♫light that is coming for the heart that holds on♫ Father how I ask that I would live this day as though I wholeheartedly believe exactly that!

Oh how I love, thank and praise You! Make Yourself clearly visible to all I encounter this day. Truly I long to share Your Truth, Your faith, Your hope, Your love as I walk through any valley fully believing that Your perfect love casts out all fear (1John 4:18).

Work in and with and through and for me this day, Dearest Dad. I love You and I absolutely thank You. Amen.

(401 words ~ 8:15 a.m.)

"Praise the Lord"

Sunday, August 25, 2013 (7:32 a.m.)

♫Praise Him, Praise Him...

... Praise Him when the sun goes down♫

Blessed Father God, thank You that the very first thing I thought to do this morning was to sing to You. Thank You that the mindset truly is to bring You praise and glory. Why am I so incapable?

How is it that while my intentions and desires are to think and feel and be and do all the things that will bring You glory and honor and praises, my mind flits off in such a myriad of directions?

I look. I read. I hope. I search. I ask. I wonder. I seek. I try. I complicate. And then I start over again. “Praise the Lord”. I read it in subject titles. Psalms. Commentaries. Hymns.

I look to You Blessed Father. Asking that You would take my heart and soul and mind and strength and make them Yours. Do in and with and through and for me all that which I cannot possibly do myself. Work all the things together for Your good (Romans 8:28) that I would truly come to worship and adore, glorify and “praise the Lord” as You so richly and rightly deserve.

I love You so very much Dearest Dad. Thank You for blessing and protecting me (Numbers 6:24 CEB). Thank You for making Your face shine on me and being gracious to me (v. 25). Thank You for lifting Your face to me and granting me peace (26). Thank You for calling me to “Praise the Lord” this morning.

Use me well this day. Teach me. Grow me. Live in and through me. Empower and enable me to truly “Praise the Lord”! I love You. Thank You. Praise You. Amen.

(293 words ~ 9:01 a.m.)

thanksgiving

Saturday, August 24, 2013 (7:42 a.m.)

Grumble, Growl, Snarl, Hiss, Boo,

Honest to YOU that's my heart at this moment! You have given me blessing after blessing and still I persist in the negatives. How will it ever change? Or will it?

Talk to me Father. I truly ask You here to straighten me out!

For the better part of two hours much earlier, my plan was to come out here and go through the motions. I was going to put on a happy face and fake my way through this. Why would I want to pretend with You?

The phrases, “Act as if” and “Fake it 'til you make it” come to mind. Is that really something You would ever have me do? You are good. True. Loving. Kind. Would You really have me pretend? Talk to me Father. Straighten me out I pray.

Thank You Father! I ask. Honestly. And You answer. With Truth. Your Truth. The Truth of Your Word. The Truth of the ages!

Searching “Life Recovery Topical Index” I was looking for 'pretense' and found “PROMISES”. Reading the lengthy list that followed, I saw “Step 11 – Finding God”. Turning to Psalm 105, I was again reminded to “Thank the Lord for all the glorious things He does” (v.1a).

Much earlier this morning I had been wholeheartedly singing of all I was going to do, left over from yesterday's unfinished prayer. My plan was to ♫enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart; enter His courts with praise; say, “this is the day that the Lord hath made”; rejoice, for He hath made me glad♫

Each one of those sentiments was based on something I was going to do. ♫I will...♫ Thank You Father for reminding me that it's by seeking 'through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out' (Step 11, of 12). It's not through my own power and strength that I get to love You as I do. It's because of Your love for each of us.

I confess to getting caught up in mistakes of the past. There's all the woulda, coulda, shoulda's that seem to compound daily when left unchecked. I look in this Psalm, reading the comments below and am reminded that I am not the only person to “grow impatient with our slow progress”.

As I sit here, brought nearly to tears once again by records of Your goodness and grace, how I truly thank You for all You have done in my life. I absolutely seek You for the strength I need today. And I wholeheartedly ask You to fulfill Your promises of hope and victory.

You are so incredibly good. Why I insist on allowing my focus to be taken off that Truth I will never truly know. Thank You for reminding me! Thank You for all the glorious things You do! Thank You for being my God. My Father. My very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).

Thank You for Your promises to listen when we pray (Jeremiah 29:12) and to be found when we seek and look for You in earnest (v. 13). Deuteronomy 4:29-31 affirms this Truth. The words jumping off the page right here are “and listen to what He tells you” (v. 31b). This is where I desperately need Your help Dearest Dad! It's not only in the listening that I have trouble. It's in the hearing and the obeying as well.

Have Your way with me this day. Empower me to Your good and to Your glory. I love You. I long for that to be evident in all I say and do this day. Be my focus. Let ♫the things of earth growing strangely dim In the light of Jesus' glory and grace♫

Thank You for the privilege of being honest in Your presence. I love You. Amen.

(662 words ~ 8:53 a.m.)

gates, courts, praise

Friday, August 23, 2013 (8:07 a.m.)

Most Holy God,

Upon awakening, my mind replayed thoughts, mistakes, judgments, projections and started repeating them as though a rolodex was continuously spinning. I believe You intervened on my behalf. A choice became evident. I could continue being drug down by my own thinking OR I could ♫enter Your gates with thanksgiving in my heart... enter Your courts with praise♫

practicing

Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (6:55 a.m.)

Father God,

I'm here this morning practicing. The question I have is just what am I practicing? Showing up? Being here?

I want to practice “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23a). Is it in my power to do so? The beginning of the verse says, “But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us”.

I confess Father, I don't know what it's really like to have the Holy Spirit control my life. Truly I believe I'm still trying to follow some archaic set of rules that will make it happen. I am more than convinced that is NOT the way it works.

So once again, here I am asking You to speak to me. Teach me. Guide me. I want to be present with You. Yes. I don't want to jump through hoops. Dot i's, cross t's. Show me Father...

And then You did! Searching Your Word. Looking from this verse to that section and Your peace settled right here within me. Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”

But it goes so much deeper than that! “Cease striving”. “That's enough!” “Calm down, and learn”. “Stop fighting”. “Let go of your concerns! Then you will know that I am God.” “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.” “Stop your striving and recognize that I am God!” “Be quiet”. “Be still, be calm, see, and understand I am the True God.”

With this I breathe in more deeply. I relax. I trust. I believe. I ask that You would make Yourself even more obvious to me this day.

I love You, Father. I long to serve You well this day. Make it so I ask. Thank You Father. I love You. Amen.

(317 words ~ 8:47 a.m.)

action plan

Tuesday, August 20, 2013 (8:15 a.m.)

Loving Father God,

This morning I want to talk to You about the importance of having an action plan. We've been taking some health classes and it keeps getting mentioned. Never have I witnessed a better example of having a plan of action and putting it into practice than I did yesterday.

Driving home from a very nice time away, the good driver that the husband is saw a horrific accident take place right in front of him. He stayed calm. Didn't over react. Took appropriate action. He put on the flashers, slowed down, changed lanes, accessed the situation and drove on. Safely. Why? Because he had been properly trained and practices good driving habits.

Father, thank You for the action plans of others yesterday. As we approached the scene, some (witnesses I presume) had pulled safely to the right side of the highway. One very young man stood ahead of his vehicle calmly directing traffic into the slower speed lanes. Various people had approached the overturned van with helpful intentions.

Blessed God, thank You for such a reminder of the good of humanity. The kindness of strangers willing to stop and be helpful. Tears fill my eyes once more just thinking about it.

Father, thank You that even the idea of having an action plan I get to bring back to Your Word. Directed to read in second Corinthians again this morning, I get to learn what You have to say about the choices we have every single moment of our lives here on earth. Our life with You is not just happenstance. We must admit our powerlessness in helpless situations and come to You for help.

That is exactly why I am before You again this morning! Confessing that change is not easy. Asking that these habits that die so hard would be replaced by healthy, positive traits. I look to You, Your Word and the power of Your Holy Spirit for the confidence and motivation to set up an action plan that will bring glory and honor to Your most holy name.

Father God, I love You and I truly long to serve You well. Work in and through me this day to that end. Thank You for ALL You do on our behalf. I love You. Thank You. Amen.

(389 words ~ 9:09 a.m.)