Praise The Lord

"Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights!  Psalm 148:1

CREATOR
Order came to chaos. Stars sprinkled on a velvety sky. Mountains lay like sleeping giants waiting to be awakened. Creator God, You paint the morning skies in blue, pink and purple and then, as the sun begins to descend to take its rest, brilliant orange, red and gold flows from Your brush.. Rainbows paint the sky after rain, a reminder of a promise made. Oceans roar, running streams sing over rocks, and waves gently caress the shores. Cattle graze, bird’s fly, Cheetahs run; each listening and waiting for their Creator’s song and for that day when the lion and the lamb will sit side by side, again.

"The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,' says the LORD."   Isaiah 65:25

PURPOSE GIVER
You looked past worthlessness, brokenness and fear. You gave purpose, wholeness and peace. Empty lives are filled. The outpouring of Your love lifts us from the mundane, from meaningless lives, giving a direction and vision for life with sacred purpose. You are stronger than our problems and You help us overcome. All-seeing and all-knowing - nothing is hidden from You. You are ever vigilant. You neither slumber nor sleep. 

"Behold, He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."  Psalm 121:4

SAVIOUR
A King came as a Servant. The meek overcame the strong. Humility overcame pride. Light shone into the darkness. Limitless, unending love. Eternal life instead of death. Stony hearts made malleable. Grace given to the undeserved. Mercy poured out like a flood. Cleansing blood! 
Jesus, LORD!

"I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no Saviour."  Isaiah 43:11

FRIEND 
Sing the highest praises and dance with joy and abandon. Tell everyone what You. LORD Jesus Christ my friend, have done for me, that I may introduce them to Your salvation and they, too, may call You friend. Then they can know how to live in the grace given and in turn be graceful, and encourage the weak, the confused, the friendless - just as You have encouraged and strengthened.

"No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."  John 15:15

Joy is the melody in my heart because I am Yours and love for You soars through every part of my heart, mind and spirit. It takes me to places that. for now, I can only dream.  Your Agape love for us pushes away disobedience, stubborn pride, lies and bad habits. It replaces them with truth and joy in spite of trials, obedience in spite of fear,  and humility in the face of unending faithfulness.

"Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow."  Jeremiah 31:13
 

Creator, Purpose Giver, Saviour, Friend, Lover of my soul, Shepherd, Father. I can go on and on, but for today, this will be enough. I know tomorrow there will be another list giving Adonai, Abba Father, the praise He is due.

"And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."  Isaiah 35:10

by Eve Montano

Compassionate Father

“The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The LORD is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him. For He knows how weak we are; He remembers we are only dust.”  Psalm 103:8-14 (NLT)

God, our Abba Father, is tender and compassionate to those who fear Him. Not fear as we think of it in human terms where we are frightened of “Father” as the disciplinarian. How many of us heard, when we were children and disobeyed Mom, “wait until your Father gets home!” How we dreaded his arrival and the punishment to follow. We knew we’d pushed Mom too far when our fate lay in Father’s hands.

The Hebrew word used here is “Yara.” It describes this “fear” as causing astonishment and awe…to hold someone in awe, reverence, honor and respect. Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who is worthy of all honor and reverence, loves you and me.

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me saying, ‘Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3

Love is the motive for everything He does…in the world…in the nations…in you and in me. Difficult times stretch our faith and strengthen us. Joyful times give us rest. Even had He never given us the promises we learn from the Bible, we can trust Him because He is good and He loves us.

Soon we will celebrate our earthly fathers with a day set aside for honoring them. May we not forget to honor our Heavenly Father…every day.

Father, we thank You for Your love that has no end. Thank You for Your lovingkindness, Your mercies that are new every morning. We pray Your blessing on our earthly fathers, that they will be willing to be molded into the image of Jesus, to hold their families close to their hearts and guide them with love and wisdom. We ask this in the powerful Name of Jesus, that You may be glorified. Amen

by Marilyn Allison

Hungry Like London

"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." 1 Peter 2:2-3

I ended up with a pet fish last month. I say "ended up", because I did not want, ask, or like this fish. I actually do not like fish unless they have been grilled, fried or baked. I certainly do not like them looking bored in a bowl on the kitchen counter. But my sweet eight-year-old daughter has her daddy wrapped around his caring finger. So when the two of them ran into the pet store to grab dog food, she came back to the car proudly carrying a fish in a cup.

"Mommy! Me and Daddy bought you a pet fish!"

"Oh? Why?" (Probably not the response she wa hoping for. Mom fail.)

"Because! Isn't he so pretty? And, he was on sale!"

Well, then, if he was on sale...I would love to have another dirty animal to care for (on top of the dog, the bunny, and two leopard geckos).

"Oh, thank you, Sweet Girl. He is super pretty."

Ugh!

I have a horrible history with pet fish. Seriously. Once I literally cooked my goldfish. I didn't realize my mom had just washed the dishes with burning hot water. I filled a cup unknowingly with scalding water and carefully transferred my goldfish into it so I could clean his bowl. Within seconds, this poor fish was turning upside down, his scales looking white.

I cooked him...dead. Poor fish. I don't even remember his name.

So here I was, once again with the task of caring for a gilled creature. His name is London. My daughter is right. He is really pretty. London is a Betta fish with long, flowing fins circling all around him.

Two weeks in, London got sick. He sulked at the bottom of his bowl. He stopped eating. His fins looked burdened and heavy. He had weird white spots. I actually felt sad.

Google search seemed indispensable to me at that moment. I needed to find out if I could help London. I felt such responsibility to keep this fish alive.

For one thing, it was a gift from my daughter.

Secondly, I wanted to somehow redeem myself for murdering what's-his-name all those years ago.

I literally googled, "What to do if Betta fish gets sick." I went to the pet store, bought special water drops for his water. We prayed for him as a family at dinner. (No joke.)

While washing dishes a few days later, something caught my attention. A bright blue, poetic-like thrashing called me to London's bowl. He was at the water's surface, fins fanned out, dancing all around his body. He was hungry! I was so excited!

I dropped one small fish food pellet in at a time. He literally jumped up out of the water to catch the first one. He was ravenous. He shimmied and waited intently for more. He was healthy again.

Believe it or not, God's Spirit spoke to me as I fed this silly little fish. He has been chasing me down with a verse from the Psalms for months. I mean, it's been in the random worship songs I chose to listen to for the first time, and every podcast I've decided to turn on. My daughter even wrote her own devotional using the same verse. When I cleaned out the garage last week I randomly opened a devotional and on the top of the page was this same verse...again.

"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." Psalm 34:8

My response to His prompting through this verse had been, "Yes, Lord, I know You are good. You are so good."

But, as I watched how breathtaking this fish was when he was hungry, deeper truth whispered to me. Just as London had become gorgeous in his hunger, we are gorgeous in our Father's eyes when we hunger for Him. He is longing for us to hover at the top of every moment, intently waiting to receive from Him.

In order for me to truly taste the full goodness of God, I must first be hungry for Him. Not just hungry, but ravenous. Ravenous for His Word, His presence, His direction, His love. I must be swimming to the top of my prayer life, jumping out in faith to taste His goodness.

If God looks upon me and I am sulking at the bottom of my day - with no desire to taste His goodness, no desire to be nourished by His Word - it is an indication that I am spiritually sick.

How can we taste of God's goodness if we are not coming to His table to eat? And, why would we come to His table if we weren't hungry? We are not called to come to His table as an afterthought. We would not insult a host by filling up on a meal we cooked ourselves before we went to their home for dinner. In the same way, we owe God our full appetite.

What had I been filling my soul with BEFORE coming to the Lord's table? Was I leaving only enough space in my spiritual stomach for a small sampling of the Lord's goodness?

Our mighty God is not an appetizer.

He is not a sweet dessert to finish our day with.

His very Word, His presence, His love is to be the bread that sustains me all day, every day. Nothing else. The more we eat, the more our stomachs stretch. The Lord will only fill us with what we have made room for. The more we come to be filled by Him, the greater and fuller the filling will become. Our stomachs will grow, our appetites will multiply.

As we become more ravenous for the Lord, those around us take notice. Just like London's movement at the top of his bowl made me put down my sponge and watch.

London is healthy, full of color and life. This is how God intended him to be.

God has designed His children to make the world stop and stare. The world should look at God's children and ask, "What are they so hungry for? What makes them so passionate that they would jump up out of the mire of life to reach for more?" And, when they ask, we will have an answer for them. Not only an answer, but we will pull up a chair and invite them to taste and see that the Lord is good.

by Jenna Masters

 

Beautiful

"You are altogether beautiful my darling, There is no blemish in you,"
Song of Solomon 4:7

These are the words spoken from King Solomon to His bride, but as I read them they were whispered in my heart by my Lord who loves me. 

When depression came to visit, all the things I loved to do became a burden. The fact that I now limp screamed into my head, instead of my being thankful that I can still walk. “Old, wrinkled and unimportant” wiggled its way into my subconscious. Even while combing my hair I thought “Why bother? No one is going to notice”. But God … 

For the first time in months I started to write today. You see, in my depression I had stopped writing. Instead I jotted notes here and there in my journal. But Jesus reminded me what He said to me when He first gave me this gift of writing and love for His Word and His people. "Eve, even if only one person reads what you write you be faithful to encourage that person. Remember you are doing this for Me". I am incredibly thankful and humbled that He didn't take away His gift but gently reminded me to get to work. 

He also gave me the precious gift of understanding how He sees me. He doesn’t care about my age, only that He chose me. He alone is perfection and He reminded me that He lives in me. The perfect, beautiful Lamb of God lives in me. Because I am His, this is how Father God sees me - spotless, without blemish, and beautiful. I can’t smile any wider. 

God just gives and gives without measure and I will never take that for granted because God loves and loves and loves!

"He has brought me to His banqueting table. His banner over me is love."
Song of Solomon 2:4

My precious sisters, I hope none of you will suffer depression. But, if you do, remember - God is for you, He sees your pain and understands it. In His eyes you are His beautiful bride!

by Eve Montano

A Lesson From Sheep Dipping

"...thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." Psalm 23:5b

Our family has made several road trips these past weeks. We'll be making another one this week, too. On these trips, we get to observe lots of sheep in the fields and on hillsides.

On our latest trip, all the sheep we saw on our cross-country drive were freshly shorn. It's the time of year when they are herded into pens and their wool is clipped off. After this happens, the shepherds have to "dip the sheep." For this purpose, some use large barrels and some use wooden structures, depending on how many sheep they have and how big they are.

It's kind of sad to watch because the sheep don't understand the process or the purpose. They usually fight the shepherd - kicking and wiggling - so the shepherd has to wrestle them tight and shove their head into the solution.

It's important that the entire body of the sheep be submerged in the solution, which is a mixture of some kind of oil and water, meant to protect the sheep. The oil has healing ingredients for any cuts or open wounds from the shearing. It also keeps them from being bitten by insects, and the odor deters predators.

This reminds me of how we often react when the Lord takes us through a process we don't understand so He can anoint our heads with oil. Sadly, we are often like sheep, fighting or resisting the process. We end up delaying (or possibly missing) many good things He has for us. Either way (easy submission or the struggle of wrestling with Him), nothing can thwart His plans for us. They are always for our good and our protection (Romans 8:28). I have learned one of the good things about getting older: you learn to fight Him less.

Lord,
Help us not to resist when You want to "anoint our heads with oil" because it is then that our cups are made full.

by Coleen Jejeran, Missionary to Romania