Birds of Praise

I woke up to a chorus of praise this morning coming through my open window. As the sun rose, the birds began their day with a joyous song of praise to their Creator. My heart too, bubbled up with praise as I heard them. My heart heard the call to join in with all of creation in praise to our God.

Praise the LORD.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him! Psalm 147:1

I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom. Psalm 145:1-3

I was pondering Psalm 136 the other day. I've been intrigued by it for many years. It tells the story of our great God and how he delivered the people of Israel out of bondage. After each phrase, the refrain "for his steadfast love endures forever," is repeated time and time again. Could you imagine telling a story of a happening in your life and inserting "for his steadfast love endures forever" mid-sentence throughout the telling of it? I was wondering why the Psalm was written that way. I think I might know.

Maybe it's because that's the whole point of all of life. "His steadfast love endures forever." In all His greatness, and majesty, and splendor, it's His faithful love that makes Him worthy of praise. We can marvel at His power and His beautiful creation, but if we miss that God loves us with an unending, unwavering love... that's simply.... very sad...empty...meaningless.

God loves us. God loves us. God loves us. And He always will.

Maybe being called a "birdbrain" isn't as bad an insult as intended... for even the birds know that it's fitting to praise Him. :)

God is...

For the past few weeks,  I have been in contact with four or five young girls who are struggling with deep issues in their lives.  One has told me she has tried God and it didn't work.  Another can quote scripture to me but has not been in church since she was a child.   Another one tells me she is mad at God.  She blames Him for her current rebellion.  Another is dealing with the loss of her mother and trying to stay strong in the Lord but is at a very dry place in her life. 

Two of these girls are dealing with sexual abuse that happened before the age of 15.  Both have been doing drugs to cover the pain they can't deal with.  Two have lost their mothers before the age of 18.  Another, was given up for adoption at birth and is struggling to find her true identity.  To cope with her feelings of uncertainty, she finds comfort in alcohol.  One young girl I have been talking to is 15.  She has a baby who is over a year old and is in foster care.  She says she has not had anything to drink in about four months and is trying to get her life on track again.  

Sometimes, all I can do is listen to these young woman when they call me or email me.  I cannot take away the sorrow they are feeling, but I can tell them what God has done for me.  Hearing what God has done in the life of someone else, often encourages us and we realize if He did it for them, He can do it for us.   Sometimes, all we need to know is that someone has been there and we are not alone in what we are going through.  

As we walk through the pages of the Bible... we read story after story of God's faithfulness.  As we read the scriptures and get to know Him... He is our lifeline. He is our hope.  He is our joy, He is our peace.  He is our contentment, He loves us.  He has always been with us, through every trial and every sorrow.  He has guided us through the darkness of night and the deep depression that overcomes us at times.  He was with David, Ruth, Paul, John, Job, Peter, James, Martha, Mary.  He is... and always will be.  The hope that we have is through Jesus and our relationship with Him.  He is...

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.  1 John 1:5 

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us.  For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything. 1 John 3:19-20

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  1 John 4:16

A new mind, please.

Yesterday....my mind was causing me alot of trouble.  If I could have gone to IKEA and bought a new one... I would've.  I love IKEA...everything seems so simple, new and fresh there. 

Anyway....money can't buy you a new mind.    

So,  I am in the life-long process of 'renewing' my mind, which is exactly what Jesus prescribes for a mind that is causing us trouble, which in my case, seems to happen alot.

I have learned that pretty much everything I do or say, begins with a thought that starts in my mind.  If my thoughts aren't based on truth or what is good and right...you can usually count on my emotions, attitudes and actions following in the same direction. 

Romans 12:2 says

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

But what does that look like?  How do we become transformed by the renewing of our minds?

Without writing a book here, the simplest way I think about it is this:

Out with the old...and in with the truth!

We've 'renewed' alot of things in my life.  Currently, we are renewing an old tent trailer we bought on Craigslist.  For its age...its in pretty good shape...structurally, everything is fine, but it needs a good cleaning...some of the older things in it need to be pulled out and some new things need to be put in.

Don't let your mind think whatever it wants to.  Listen to your thoughts, write down what you hear.  If what you hear in your head doesn't line up with God's truth....if it's not good and right, confess it and get rid of it, and then replace it with his truth.  Write out a bible verse that relates to what you are battling in your mind and carry it with you or post it all around your house...meditate on those words instead, say them out loud and pray the words from the verse asking God to renew your mind and believe Him to do it.

Philippians 4:8 says

Finally, brothers, (or sisters) whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

Let us seek the Lord daily to renew our minds....believe me, its worth it.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Don't allow your mind to listen to lies....Seek the truth.

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth, will set you free." 

 John 8:32

What are you hoping for?

I've been thinking about hope.

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

Definition of assurance: Full confidence; freedom from doubt; certainty
Definition of conviction: A fixed or firm belief; the state of being convinced

Allow me to paraphrase accordingly:
Now faith is having full confidence and certainty of the things that you hope for, being convinced of the reality of the things you cannot see.

Unfortunately our English language is limiting, at least in the way we use the word "hope" today. We say we hope the weather is nice for the weekend. According to the biblical definition, that is not hope at all. Hope without a known end, is just a wish, with no satisfaction or peace attached to it. If you are not fully convinced that what you hope for will come about, you are making a wish.

The other thing about this is that one rarely, if at all, hopes for bad things. We don't hope, even in the wishful sense, for negative outcomes. We hope for good things. Hope is the certainty that good will come to us. Faith is having hope, being fully confident that the promises of a good God will come about, being fully convinced of the certainty of the things we cannot see, but know are true because God has said it.

Is your faith based on the assurance that the good things God has promised will come to pass? Do your words and your actions come from walking in that kind of confidence? May God grant us this kind of faith, that we will know that we know that we know that what he says is true and will not disappoint us.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13

Today I got a speeding ticket. I was completely zoned out driving on a road that I could drive with my eyes blindfolded. I've driven this road so many times in my life and have never encountered a police radar trap on there yet. Speed limit is 60 km/hr but I was clocked in travelling at 85 km/hr. My kids were in the van with me and I had tuned them out and allowed myself deep in thought when I saw this crazy guy waving at me.... only to find out he was the police officer pulling me over. I gave no story or excuses but apologized and accepted responsiblity for my mistake. I have no idea how fast I was going but I am trusting he did his job and is judging me accordingly.

This hasn't sat well with me all evening since I got this ticket. $136 is an expensive consequence to a rule I chose to break. I had a great opportunity to explain to my children that when we choose to break rules that the consequences can be costly. Adults as well as children sin and make choices to sin.

This is what the LORD says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
"I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you what is best for you,
who directs you in the way you should go.
If only you had paid attention to my commands,
your peace would have been like a river,
your righteousness like the waves of the sea."
~ Isaiah 48:17-18

This got me thinking about rules. Why does Jesus give us the Bible? Does he give it to us so that we can read it and twist things to make it work for us? Even though the street had a speed limit of 60 km/hr I chose to cruise down the street at my own speed that I felt should be the speed limit. We can't take the Bible and pull things out so that it fits our life. The Bible is, and always will be the infallible, unchangeable Word of God.

Most of us can "cruise" through all the Bible stories and retell them because we've heard them so many times just like I drove the road so many times in my life. We can zone out like I did while driving and go through our daily walk with Christ, not paying any attention to those around us until something catches our attention and catches us in disobedience and we end up with consequences to our sin. Consequences to sin can be costly. They can even get us a seat in hell if we turn our backs on God.

Why does God give us rules? He gives us rules to help us, His children, avoid the pitfalls and dangers of life. The rules are for our good, to keep us safe from things that we might not realize that could harm us. God wants us to enjoy life and include Him in our life and let Him lead us so that we will be following the safest and best path.

I live with regrets... "if only" I had been paying attention.... "if only" he had let me off on this one.... "if only" it wouldn't have happened... "if only"...

I would not have been taught the lesson I needed.

Just like there's speed signs to keep us safe on the road, God has His Word to keep us safe in our walk with Him. God wants us to pay attention to Him!... to his rules... He does it because He loves YOU!

Follow the Father

As for man, his days are like grass,

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.  Psalm 103: 15-16

Man is like a breath; 
      

his days are like a fleeting shadow.  Psalm 144:4

“Time flies.” How many times have you heard this said? Or…“There aren’t enough hours in a day.” Our days are like a fleeting shadow. We flip the page of the calendar and wonder where the month has gone.

So what do we do about that?

Follow the Father… today. Listen to His voice and walk with Him… today. Discover the joy of being in that kind of relationship with the One who knows all things and is the giver of Life. Discover the joy of daily walking with the One who loves you completely. And when you look back over your days and don’t know where time went or remember what you did, it won’t really matter because you’ll know that you followed the Father – your Father – one day at a time.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. Ecclesiastes 3:11-14

though I am weak...yet I am strong

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.  The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.  The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.   Psalm 145:13-14

Years ago, my husband and I had the honor of seeing a man in our remote community come to Christ.  He walked away from everything that He had known to follow Jesus.  His people, his friends, his family... could not believe that he had turned his back on his ancestral religion.  He studied the Bible faithfully with my husband.  Soon his wife started coming to our home.  She wanted to study the Bible too.  She had seen a remarkable change in her husband.  Both decided to follow Jesus.  Everyday they would come to our home and read and study the Bible.  We were so excited!  Word soon got out into the community of what they had done.  One day, the man came to our home.  He was driving erratically and could hardly get the car to stop.  He did not look well.  "Something is wrong," he told my husband. "I am losing feeling in my legs."  As we helped him, out of his car and into ours, my husband drove him to the doctor's office.  After the doctor examined him,  he said the man needed to get to the hospital right away.  We lived in a small town and the only ambulance was in use and not available.  "Can you drive him?" the doctor asked.  Two hours later, they reached the hospital.  It would be the last time this man and my husband would walk together.  Just before entering the hospital, the man's legs began to give way and my husband had to hold him up.  He was later diagnosed with a tumor on his spine.  Some said it was because he had left the old ways... But, he was never to walk again and died within the year.  My husband cared for him as a baby in his last months.  He was baptized and stayed strong in the faith until his death.  I do not recall him ever questioning why this happened to him.  We have been blessed to see his grandchildren come to Jesus.  

 Because he put his hope in God's unfailing love, he now has family that will one day join him.  He suffered immense pain before he died... but he never gave up and he never let go of the promises of God.  His strength left his body but his spirit remained strong.  

We may be the link that brings our children, our grandchildren, their children to the saving grace of Jesus.  May we walk strong in the faith and not waiver.