I hope you have a blessed week so far. Do you have a desire to experience greater joy and peace in your life? Want to stop riding the emotional roller coaster, being enslaved to your feelings? We want to start to really walk by faith, right? David, in Psalm 34, encourages us to cultivate 4 habits that will help us to live lives filled with joy, peace and faith. In this Psalm, which happens to be one of my favorites, David encourages us to do 4 things: Bless the Lord, Seek the Lord, Fear the Lord, and Trust the Lord. If we are going to consistently experience joy in our lives that's not predicated on how we feel or our circumstances, we have to make a habit of blessing the Lord daily. David put it like this: I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad - Ps 34:1-2. Blessing the Lord, means to speak good of Him. You brag about how His goodness, His greatness, His power, or His mercy. You talk about who He is and what He does. David was committed to praise. His commitment to praise and bragging about God was not just during the times when things were going well but at all times. David's praise got so good to him he invited others to join him (O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together - Ps 34:3). Now the truth is we are not going to wake up everyday excited, and sometimes things happen that frustrate and discourage us. But if after we talk to the Lord about our frustrations and disappointments, we start to thank Him for hearing us, thank Him for blessing us, thank Him for keeping us... If we cultivate the habit of blessing the Lord to ourselves and then to those around us, we experience the joy of the Lord which is our strength. We have to fill our mouths with praise instead of our problems. Praise has the ability to change our countenance. (Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praise unto our God; for is pleasant and praise is comely - Ps 147:1). In other words, praise looks good on us. David encourages to bless the Lord daily and to also seek the Lord daily. Everyday we must seek the Lord. Look to Him and for Him in His word, believing that we will find in Him everything we need (I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears - Ps 34:4). There is something about that word seek that carries a greater sense of urgency and determination to find that which is sought. There is nothing casual about seeking (And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart - Jer 29:13). Daily cultivating the habit of looking for God in His word with a sense of urgency and an expectancy to hear from Him will break us out of religion and usher us into relationship. We experience a deeper level of fellowship with Him (O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him - Ps 34:8). When we cultivate the habit of seeking the Lord, it is like indulging in an all you can eat buffet instead of just standing around and admiring how good the food looks. After we have blessed the Lord and sought the Lord daily, we are encouraged to fear the Lord. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him - Ps 34:9. Fearing the Lord means to reverence Him, to stand in awe of who He is. It means to be so overwhelmed with the greatness of God we are left speechless. Daily we are to fear God, to worship Him (ascribe His worth). Our fear of the Lord drives out all other fears and ensures that He will provide what we need (...Blessed is man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments - Ps 112:1). David encourages us to bless the Lord, seek the Lord, fear the Lord and finally trust the Lord. No matter what happens we must daily put our trust in the Lord knowing He is in control and has our back (The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants: and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate -Ps 34:22). If we commit to daily bless the Lord (speak good of Him), seek the Lord (look to Him and for Him), fear the Lord ( stand in awe of Him, worship Him) and trust the Lord (put our confidence in Him), our lives will be filled with joy and pleasing to the Lord! on this journey with you, Diane p.s. no matter what happens daily practice and commit to bless the Lord, seek the Lord, fear the Lord and trust the Lord. Not sure how to get started? Ask the Lord to help you. It's good to still be on the journey with you. Looking at the lives of those who have finished well encourages us to stay the course. The Apostle Paul modeled for us the importance of being passionate, persistent and persuaded while on the journey. Passion is defined as the powerful and compelling desire for something. It energizes and motivates us to pursue the object of our desire. Passion consumes us. Paul was passionate about knowing Christ. ( ...I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ - Phil 3:7). He was so compelled by the precious and priceless privilege of knowing Jesus Christ intimately that everything else seemed worthless in comparison. His passion became his purpose (That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death - Phil 3:10). Wow to be so passionate about Christ that every other pursuit can't begin to compare to our pursuit to know Him deeply. Paul's relationship with Christ was not casual. His relationship with Christ was everything. Now that is living just for His glory! Can we be honest? Developing a passion for knowing Christ like Paul is an area in which we all need work. Paul's passion for knowing Christ made him persistent in his spiritual pursuits. Persistence is needed to finish the course. (Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus - Phil 3:12-14). Refusing to allow past failures and successes, or present obstacles to hold him back, Paul was determined to continue to press toward his spiritual goals. Paul was persistent and determined to make spiritual progress because he was persuaded that no power, being, or occurrence past, present or future would be able to drive a wedge between the love that Christ had for him (For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord - Rom 8:38-39). This journey involves challenging us to change and the honest examination of our hearts before God. If we are serious about living just for His glory, we have to be willing to ask Him to change our desires and rearrange our priorities. So Lord help us to have a greater passion for You. Begin Lord to create in us an unquenchable hunger and thirst for You. Lord create in us a desire to know You deeply. Don't allow us to be satisfied with a casual relationship with You. Lord help us to be passionate, persistent and fully persuaded! on this journey together, Diane p.s. photography is one of my passions. I read about it all the time. I practice it to develop my skill. I spend money on it. I am energized when I talk about it with others. What is your passion? This week let's ask the Lord to help us to make Him our greatest passion. Isn't it amazing how we can be moving forward on this living just for His glory journey and seemingly out of nowhere, this uninvited and most certainly, unwelcomed travel companion called trouble shows up. We are often surprised and unprepared when it joins us. Naturally our first reaction is to panic. After we panic, we fight. After we fight, we run. The Word of God let's us know that we should not be surprised when trouble shows up because it is a part of this life (...In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world - John 16:33b). We are not only warned that we will have trouble, we are told that everyone who puts their trust in Jesus Christ should learn to expect it (Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you - I Pet 4:12). Since we know trouble will join us, what can we do to avoid that overwhelming sense of panic every time it arrives? Understanding that God is present when trouble shows up; God has purpose in allowing trouble; and God has a specified period of time for how long the trouble will last is key to changing how we respond to it. God is present. As soon as trouble shows up we need to remember that the Lord is right there with us (God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble - Ps 46:1). The psalmist lets us know that God is not some distant and unconcerned God; but rather, He is a personal and a present God, who is mighty and a well proven Help when we are in trouble. He is in the midst even when we face what seems like cataclysmic circumstances (Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea...God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that is right early - Ps 46:2,5). Not only is the Lord a present Help in trouble but He protects us so that the trouble can't overtake us (For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock - Ps 27:5.) So, when trouble comes let's just start talking to Jesus because He is there! The Lord is present when He allows trouble to join us, and He has a divine purpose for it (Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations - I Pet 1:6). The Lord will order trouble when He has determined something is needed in our lives that only trouble (trials) can develop in us. He uses it to purify our faith. (That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ - I Pet 1:7). He has a divine purpose and design for the trouble He allows, which is developmental in nature and not punitive (But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you - I Pet 5:10). When the Lord allows and sometimes sends trouble to travel with us, He is trying to work something in us called character or work something out of us called sin. Trouble is God's way of taking what we know in our head about this spiritual life and applying some heat so that we not only know it, we live it. We can't know that God is the God of all comfort, unless we are allowed to experience some discomfort. We can't really know He is a keeper until we are placed in situation where we need to be kept. There is no testimony without the test. Trouble is God's divine development tool to build character and mature our faith. When trouble comes we don't have to panic, fight or run because the Lord is present, and He is working out His purposes in us. The good news is trouble will only last for a specific period of time (trouble don't last always). (...weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning - Ps 30:5). Trouble is for a season (I Pet 1:6) and only lasts a while (I Pet 5:10), but we must allow patience to finish her workout (But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing - James 1:4) . We are challenged on this journey to respond to trouble not with panic but praise. Our praise is in response to what God is doing in us through the trouble (For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory - II Cor 4:17) and (Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience - James 1:2-3) and (And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulations worketh patience; And patience, experience and experience, hope - Rom 5:3-4). Lord help us to count it all joy! traveling with you, Diane p.s. take some time to read psalm 46 this week and every time you encounter trouble big or small, practice not panicking, fighting or running; instead remember the Lord Jesus is present, and He has a purpose. Ask the Lord to help you to see His purposes in the trouble you are experiencing. Is He building character in or cleaning sin out? |
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