All that I am…

Psalm 103:1-5 (NLT) – you should really read this.  It’s good.

I am renewed thinking and meditating on all the Lord has done for me.  “Let all that I am praise the Lord…” is a repeated phrase all throughout the 103rd Psalm.  I’ve been thinking of this passage since I read it this morning.  It’s been gnawing at me… penetrating beneath the exterior and seeping into the depths of my heart.

v2 “… may I never forget the good things he does for me.”  I am a very forgetful person.  How difficult it is to remember all that He has done.  Why does it seem so easy to remember the bad stuff or the stuff He doesn’t do?  He has been good to me… very good.  Why he has, I’ll never fully understand.

What does it mean to praise him with “all that I am”?  I fear if I try to answer this now, it will only be a surface, “Christian” answer.  There is so much more meat on this bone.  This is going to take some time to digest….

God’s Will will Prevail

I read 2 Chronicles 10 this evening.  In this chapter the -boam boys were chatting.  Jero- came to Reho- and asked for mercy.  Rehoboam asked the elders for advice and they said that he absolutely should give them mercy; lighten their load.  They told Rehoboam that if he did the other -boam and all of Israel would ove him.  Well, Rehoboam didn’t like this so he asked a bunch of his friends what they thought.  They suggested that he go harder on Jeroboam and the others; this is what he did.

When he Reho- told Jero- that he was going to increase the work and get mean, all of Israel except Judah left.  They decided not to follow Rehoboam.  Now, I find it interesting that Reho- went to the elders, received wise counsel and then ignored it to do what he wanted.  He then went and got his friends to agree with him.  Would he have lost the majority of his kigdom had he listened to the elders?  The answer is… YES!  He still would have lost the majority of his kingdom.

Verse 15 tells us that all of this happened so that the Lord could fulfill His word.  If Rehoboam had listened to the elders, I believe that the verses following would say something like… “And Jeroboam and all of Israel believed that Rehoboam was weak.  They knew that he would be swayed by the requests of others, they lost respect for him and decided to go their own way.”

The point is, God is sovereign.  His will will prevail.  We have choices that we make, but God’s will will be done on earth.  Now, his perfect will was that Solomon did not begin worshipping false gods.  He had to bring punishment to Solomon’s line for his sin, but in His mercy and because of His committment to David, he allowed Rehoboam to reign over Judah.

It is sometimes difficult for me to understand how God uses choices and circumstances to accomplish His will rather than simply manipulate things.  I guess at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter.  All that matters is that I obey his statutes, Hs commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies.  And, that I remember that He alone is God!

Book O’ Jude, part I

So I was reading the book of Jude and I have to be honest, I didn’t think there was much to it because it’s only a page or two long. But as I read it, Father opened my eyes to a few things. In verse 3, the author says, “although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” Two things stuck out to me: First, that he was eager to write about salvation, but he felt differently. Reading that, I think Father moved him, changed his mind. Then the author was willing to be moved for Father’s will. The other thing that stuck out was that he felt he had to urge people to contend for the faith. I have always felt as though there are times when I should enter conversations in order to “defend” my beliefs, but to “contend” for something gives another impression. Contend: to struggle in opposition, to strive in rivalry, to strive in debate. Am I the only one who has never thought about defending the faith this way? Reading the definition, and seeing it in the context of verse 3 fires me up to learn the word for the purpose of contending for the faith.  Verses 8-10 compare Micheal the archangel and his conversation with satan, to the godless men and the way the way they speak. As I read how the godless men ”speak abusively against whatever they do not understand,” I was reminded of Ephesians 4:15, ” Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” It made me think of the words I choose, not just with strangers but with my friends and family. It inspires me to think before I speak not because it’s an old saying but because I don’t want to be like the godless men. I only made it through the first part of the book, but I’m pretty sure tommorrow I’m going to finish it, unless Father tells me otherwise.

Holy Fear Moment

So I read Leviticus 26 this morning.  I am not sure If I have never read it or it just has hit me differently than ever before.  But I joke you not as I was reading this I began to have this feeling, I guess the best way to describe it is a holy fear of God, and I began to tear up at the thought of what that looks like now, and how if God is still the same yesterday today and forever and He can not change than this characteristic is still true for today.  I got nervous and scared and awed, and this chapter just really hit home with discipline and obedience for me.  This whole chapter, this whole punishment was brought on by disobedience.  And I guess  the reason I think it was a holy fear as opposed to just fear is because I understand the underline meaning in what God is doing.  God punishes His children 6 different times, but what that means to me is He doesn’t go straight to death for their disobedience and pride (19 I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze).  There is this unspoken grace of God that gives them one more chance, and then another one and another one, and He continues to make it worse and worse for them with the understanding if you will stop with your prideful ways repent and change this whole thing ends and I will live with you and speak to you (But in spite of their behavior, while they are among their enemies I won’t reject or abhor or destroy them completely. I won’t break my covenant with them: I am God, their God. For their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I, with all the nations watching, brought out of Egypt in order to be their God. I am God.” )  6 different times He allows them to end this punishment and yet doesn’t because He loves them enough to give them more chances and emphasize , by the means of increasing punishment, His love over them by not taking them straight to death by the hands of their enemy.  As I began to look at this chapter and my own life I got a real gut check on things that I don’t honor God with, things that I have not revered like God talks about in the beginning of this chapter (14-17 “But if you refuse to obey me and won’t observe my commandments, despising my decrees and holding my laws in contempt by your disobedience, making a shambles of my covenant, I’ll step in and pour on the trouble:)  This was just a good time for me to remember who He is and what He will do if I just obey, and then what He will do if I choose not to.  It was a good reminder and appropriate for this time going into this start up of this thing we are doing, and just reminding me and giving me this reverence for Him this morning as I sat and pondered what He said. 

Dad my heart is obedience and humility.  Help me break my pride and  continue to show me the disobedient places in my life that I may repent and change my ways not for the sake of the punishment but because I dont think I could not live without you or have you speak to me.  Father pour out your grace over me today.

Boldness??

I was reading 2 Cor. 10:3-6 which is the first scripture I have to memorize, so I wanted to see what it was about.  In verses 1 and 2 Paul says that he is bold in his letters but meek and gentle in person.
At first I didn’t think much of that but the more I read it became evident to me in verse 2 how much Paul wants to be bold to them in person but he realizes that ” we may battle against flesh and blood but are weapons are not carnal”.  He likes whats the point in being all bold to you in person and jumping on you when you have been talking crap about me.  He even “begs” that he would not be bold to those who are calling him weak saying he is walking according to the flesh.  You can see that he really wants to get on’em but he also knows that it would do nothing to further the Kingdom and I figure would possible ruin his witness.
I too find myself wanting to get on to someone to talks about me as being weak or that I am not walking the way I say I am, but really that is not my job to do so.  For me to argue against them would actually make them right.  For vengence is not my but Gods and I am only living for a audience of 1, HIM.