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Showing posts with label Praise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Praise. Show all posts

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Faith IS the Victory

Faith is the Victory.

Our faith is what is tested when the waves of doubt and despair announce themselves at the open door of our heart and mind.

Do we live within the world and fall prey to how the world lives and conducts its business?

Success -- failure ... a fine line exists.

We all live in the world, but we who have been reborn - not recreated, but born anew from old ways to new ways, from without to within, from alive to sin to dead to sin and alive to Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, we are not of the world.

We take up residence in the world, just as Jesus did when he walked the streets of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and elsewhere (Acts 1:8). But our residence is not permanent. We come, we stay awhile (to us it may seem a long or short time), and we go.

Life is not permanent. Do we "curse God and die" (Job 2:9) as the wife of Job said to him in the midst of pain and suffering when Job did not know why?

Struggles do come and stay awhile and go.

The timing is ALL in God's hands, not ours.

How we cope with the struggles and calamities that strike us from every side and angle tells, shows others where our faith is, where our strength to go on comes from.

When Job was beset with problems did he blame God? He did not understand the why of any of it. But he did not curse. Instead, he praised and worshiped the Almighty.

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)

Satan can only destroy us if we allow him to.

Our covenant, our pact has been made with the Lord God above.

He sees everything. Nothing escapes Him. He sees all our ways. He sees our destruction, our disasters, false statements made to ourselves and another. He sees the steps we make backward and forward. He sees our integrity and our lack of it.

God knows everything and it is His purpose, His plan for us that is vital, NOT how much we know, not how our plan or purpose goes.

Faith is the Victory.

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not faith in me.

What can "me" do?

We think we can do much, but it is only what God has enabled us to do that is real and comes to fruition.

Remember what God's servant Paul says in I Corinthians 15:58, "be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Faith IS the Victory. .... the assurance of things hoped for in great anticipation, but not seen.

We must persevere .... in Christ. 

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Praise lightens burdens

Praise can lighten your heaviest burden.

"Bless (adore, thank) the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, o my soul, And forget not all His benefits;" (Psalm 103: 1-2)

"I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord." (Psalm 104: 33-34)

"Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." (Psalm 106: 1)

We cry out to the Lord in our trouble.
He saves us out of our distress
He sends His word and heals us
He delivers us from our destructions
He calms our storms
He blesses us
(Psalm 107: 19-20, 29, 38)

"Whoever is wise will observe these things, And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord." (Psalm 107: 43)

Why do I not understand?
Am I foolish
Do I not
Am I not

Help my understanding
for I do not
at all
know why
the "be fruitful and multiply"
did not
was not

How do I understand
How do I get past

I continue to seek Lord.
Heal my sorrow.

That was this morning.

It is evening now.

It dawned on me ... everyone can "be fruitful and multiply." The Lord hears our heartfelt turmoils and is there. He is always there. I need to be where He is. Heal me Lord Jesus.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths." - Proverbs 3:5-6