I Want To Praise The Lord

I am so thankful to the Lord for the time we shared together this morning.

As I looked into the book of Psalm's containing songs and words, praising God.

I asked, "Lord what is praise really" and He answered back, "It is words, songs and  expressions of love for me and to me."

I begin to read one of the chapters and meditating  on the words,  found myself drawn into deeper meditation.

As I went in deeper I found myself praising the Lord, drawn into his very presence. There I was, captivated by his presence, saying to Him" how wonderful and beautiful You are my Lord."

"You are like the warm sun light on my face, and it feels so good, your peace is like a calm, gentle moving stream that flows in the midst of strong towering mountains that remind me of your strength and I feel safe and secure. I am with you and as we float down the stream and you caress my face with your gentle touch, looking deeply into my eyes with such love and tenderness, I feel my heart melt like wax,"  and  He said to me, " I love you with an everlasting love, I will never leave you nor forsake you" and I knew His words to me were true. Then He gently touch my lips saying " you,  I have fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are My works," and my soul acknowledged that His words were true. We continued to float down the stream and I felt the gentle breeze blowing around me, I said to my Lord, " the gentle breeze reminds me of your gentleness in how you handle me. and I smell the delightful fragrance of you carried on the wings of the wind, and am delighted by the aroma that makes me cling to you the more. I feel the warmth and security of your arms around me as you delight in my praise." As I sang songs to Him of His

goodness, I could see the delight in His face, in His smile, as He  listened to my songs and words of love and adoration. looking  pleasingly into my eyes He said, "Now what is it that you would like my love" As you have delighted me with your praise, and  have opened my heart towards  you, making me ready to lavish you with the desires of your heart, ask of me what you will." I replied back 

 "I so enjoyed the love we shared, as I gave to you, praise, and you give to me all that I need.

"I excitedly await our time again together my love, My Lord"

This is what happens when we spend time praising the Lord.

Psalm 22:3 " But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel."

It is this experience of praising the Lord, that has my mind made up, that I want to praise the Lord.

What Do They Perceive About You?

In life we cross paths of many people, some of them we take notice of, while others we give very little attention to.

There was a woman of Shunem,  the bible refers to her as the Shunammite woman.

In the book of 2Kings 4:9 this Shunammite woman speaks to her husband saying " Behold now,

I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.  Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick, and it shall be when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither."

This woman had taken notice of the man Elisha, she had seen him passing through her town often.

There must have been something about the man Elisha that made her perceive him as a man of God.

What had she experienced through her senses that gave her this perception of him?

When you are going on in your day, what might people perceive concerning you?

Our perception of someone or something is formed by our senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling.

If you are a child of God, what might others take notice of concerning you that would give them the perception that you are a child of God?

Can they see the light of life, spoken of in John 8:12 shining forth through you? "...I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Do they hear the wonderful words of God being spoken out of your mouth  that draws them in to a desire to know more and experience the God of whom you speak?

Romans 10:17 "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God."

Do you serve them the delightful tasting nourishment of God's word, so they may taste and see that the Lord is good,  as writen in Psalm 34:8?

Are they able to experience the wonderful aroma of his presence that you wear, as you put on Christ? the aroma  in 2Corinthians 2:15 "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish."

Have you given them  the opportunity to feel the love of Christ, at work in and through you, the love which is commanded, we share with all man kind?  as written in John15:12 "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you."

There is one other sense which helps us in our perception, and that sense is the sense of discernment.

The Holy Spirit at work in us is a discerner, it is something you just know, because the Holy Spirit has revealed it as truth, as He (the Holy Spirit) leads us in all truth (John 16:13)

1Corinthians 2:12 " Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit whom is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."

Again I ask, What do they perceive about you?

 

 

 

Set Free To Truly Live

I had lived in a state of depression far too long, finally after becoming sick and tired of  feeling sick in tired, I made a decision. I had known the Lord for years, or so I thought.
Truth of the matter was, I didn't know the Lord at all, I just knew of him and what I had heard others say. Some of what I heard I truly believed while other things, I guess I just thought I believed, and yet some of what I heard I couldn't even imagine how it could at all be true.
Could a God so good, just, and perfect, love someone like me? Romans 7:24" O wretched man that I am! who will deliver me from this body of death."
I had done so much that wasn't  good, I had been unjust, unforgiving, unloving and all the other things which did not please God. How could he love me? How could he forgive me? Why would he even listen to someone like me?  In my thought process I needed to get myself together before I could even approach him seeking forgiveness, let alone his love, but how could I get together, where would I start?  I had been this way for so long. Romans 7:19" For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
Then he brought to my remembrance, John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." I believed in Jesus and who he was, but I needed to know him, not know of him, but know him for myself. I needed a relationship with him. John 8:12 "...I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." I was not following the Lords example, I wasn't following his instructions. I was doing my own thing, my own way not thinking about the commitment I had made in my earlier years publicly in the church, declaring him as my Lord and savior. All this time I only made him my savior, but in order for me to experience LIFE, the good abundant life he gave me. I needed to allow him to be my Lord, I needed to give up my plans, and my ideas of what I though was living, and allow the light he provided for me to see the way, as he directed my path to real life. When I received that revelation, I was truly free from depression, shame guilt and all those things that had weighed me down, and kept me from living.
John 8:32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Praise God! I am now free to truly live,