Tag: weakness

From Despair to Praises to God!

Every rose bush has it’s thorns but we celebrate the beauty of the flower.

Focus is the key.

In our broken world, I have choice. You have choice. We all have choice to focus on the thorns or the rose.

I might start my morning strong in believing my Lord, but often, dark clouds of trial and hurt, pain and sorrow come quickly to cover the Son’s warmth and love by noonday.

The praise to God in my heart flies away leaving me flat and despairing.

I become cut up by the thorns of life and forget to be careful in my thoughts. I forget to enjoy the rose.

As a believer in Christ, I’m tested. We’re tested. We pray for this when we ask of God to:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” Psalm 119: 23,24.

The Lord is faithful to answer my request. He shows me . . . Impatience. Inner destructive dialogue of myself and others. Stubbornness. Unbelief. Hatred.

The beauty of the Lord is: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” 2 Timothy 2:13.

Let’s choose to change our mind when we’re flooded with troubles and tempted with thoughts that destroy, and instead choose to grow in the grace of our Lord and in knowledge of Him.

How? We’ll proclaim aloud His glory from His Word and grow in believing:

Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
    he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples in his faithfulness Psalm 96: 13.

Do I believe He will? Do we believe God?

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary Psalm 96: 4,5,6.

Do I believe He is? Do we believe?

For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land Psalm 95:3.

He is the great King above all gods.

How can we despair in the midst of praise?

Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.

Can we say together? Has our faith increased? Yes, we will:

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
    The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity Psalm 96: 7-10.

I will focus in the morning. I will re-focus at noon. Join me in desiring to have a song the whole day through:

Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Psalm 96:1-3.

Jesus is the rose:

“I am the rose of Sharon,
The lily of the valleys” Song of Songs 2:1.

Can we help each other keep our eyes on the Rose? Together, we win.

Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care Psalm 95: 6.

Amen. Amen.

Let me know if you joined me in proclaiming, “In Jesus name, Amen.”

In time of need: Hymn-Therapy

I had salvation, believing what Jesus did for me on the cross, but, at a time of sickness and dread, I opened a hymnal on the shelf.
“Be Still my Soul,” He spoke to me that day, “the Lord is on thy side.“(1)
His arm reach out in love and His hand took hold of mine. My Savior met me in the cold, dark hour and ministered life to me through a hymn.
“He is on my side.” My heart was revived.
The words ministered to me, the truth of His love and faithfulness, when all my mind kept rehearsing before, “Won’t He give me a break?”
I came to know the Lord with contemporary choruses of praise. Though God allowed great brokenness and loss within my life, He faithfully ministered greater light and life, and His presence in my time of need. I would never exchange a moment of it, not for anything.
This hymnal proved to be a treasure chest of hope, life, and promise. The Spirit moved me with increased faith as my mind thought on His  Almighty power.
Today, I write, in the face of a battle, with enemies of Overwhelmed and Fear, and Discouragement lurking. I find a Charles Wesley hymn written around the armor of God in Ephesians 6, published in 1749.
God’s therapy, or counseling session for me, is that my mind think on words like these:
Soldiers of Christ, arise,
And put your armor on,
Strong in the strength which God supplies
Through His eternal Son.
Strong in the Lord of hosts,
And in His mighty pow’r,
Who in the strength of Jesus trusts
Is more than conqueror.
“Strong in the strength which God supplies,” because He can clearly see, I am not strong, in and of myself, I am tired and weak. God counsels with direction that I must meet:
Stand then in His great might,
With all His strength endued,
And take, to arm you for the fight,
The panoply of God;
That, having all things done,
And all your conflicts passed,
Ye may o’ercome through Christ alone,
And stand entire at last.
I will admit, the word panoply was not in my vocabulary, so I looked it up. The dictionary spelled it out in this way:

pan·o·ply
noun
1. a complete or impressive collection of things.
2. a splendid display.
3. a complete set of arms or suit of armor.
“Stand then in His great might,” yes, I must take hold and clothe myself with all that’s true, and the collection of “armor” God has equipped us with.
We don’t “wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6, KJV, speaks solid and clear of who our real enemy is. We must fight and remember Who it is that is with us handing us all we need to win:
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (2)
The hymn inspires and exhorts. Actively reaching out a Hand to pick me up:
Leave no unguarded place,

No weakness of the soul,
Take every virtue, every grace,
And fortify the whole.
From strength to strength go on,
Wrestle and fight and pray,
Tread all the pow’rs of darkness down
And win the well-fought day.
Yes, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (3) This is it! This is my therapy session with a hymn. This is direction, hope and how I will keep a sound mind.
I will speak this hymn and clothe myself with the armor of God that the faith God increases in me can pass any test. How about you? Has this hymn touched you?
Let us praise God before the “Red Sea is parted.” Let us praise God ever-more. To God be the glory, Strong in the strength which God supplies
Through His eternal Son.
Strong in the Lord of hosts,
And in His mighty pow’r,
Who in the strength of Jesus trusts
Is more than conqueror. 
(1) Katharina A. von Schlegel, 1752
(2) Ephesians 6:14-17, NIV.
(3) Ephesians 6:18.
 

Tune me again Lord, and again . . .

“Tune it up. It’s flat.”
When an instrument’s out of tune, it  brings about a stop. Before moving on, it’s got to be tuned.
So, with a turn of a peg, or a bit more complicated maneuver, an instrument is brought back to position, that harmony may once again be brought to the ear.
If it were only that easy for the human race.
Our hearts go out of tune. Sometimes by our own hard strums, but also by outward bumps and hits.
But who can tune a heart?
We try, and we fail. The task is too hard.
Words were penned way back in 1757. Robert Robinson wrote a familiar hymn. A turning of the head, can prove to any stubborn heart—remedy and hope for today.
Read aloud, or sung alone, there’s something supernatural when we desperately need a new tune.
Let it go, and let the sound out.  Speak with me old words, that perhaps they are our help to turn our head and tune our heart.
Come Thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing/Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet/Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy unchanging love
A battle rages.  Our eyes haven’t been fixed upon the mount. We forgot that with God, streams of mercy never cease. Our eyes haven’t sung melodious psalms. We forgot that unlike any man, God’s has unchanging love.
 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” Luke 22:31,32 speaks clearly words that we feel are our reality.
The hymn. The hymn. Let’s remind ourselves of God’s faithful presence and peace:

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here there by Thy great help I’ve come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

Our hearts can’t believe in any love like this. So we will continue to read aloud, our remedy, God’s bliss:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let that grace now, like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

God, help us!  Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Here is the turn that will bring back the harmony again:
“Here’s my heart Lord,
take,
and seal it,
seal it for Thy courts above.”
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” Luke 22:31,32. 

"We will never understand, but Prince of Peace we cry out to YOU!"

When I think of children losing their daddies and mommies and even grandmas to terror in this day…A new song we sing to You Jesus, …a new song we sing, today…
“How can I think on what is a good report when terror has stolen from my very own heart?
Pour down more, than words can ever express, Dear Lord Jesus, the children are crying, we suffer unimaginable stress!
Prince of Peace, the Great I AM – I cry to You, I will NEVER understand. Lift us Jesus, in Your gentle Hand. Hold us near to Your heart, NOW! Like never before, pour out Your grace on us – make our beds, wipe our tears, Dear Lord Jesus be ever so near!
’cause what I know, that “Jesus loves me so,” I can’t even hold on to…all this You know.
But Your Spirit is present, Faith will not fail…It’s Christmas time, ‘Immanuel’-God be with me! Be with me now, and our family: “Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay, close by me forever and love me, I pray…” though I am bleeding and weeping and hurting so deep, so deep inside- Jesus, I love You. I will worship You still.
“Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good…” Your Good word has told me,… so I cling to You, as I should! There is nothing in the world for me, but Your Voice and Your  gentle touch… I will cling to You in my pain – You know all about it…during the Passion and death on the cross.
I will Remember You, as ‘You prepare a Table before me in the presence of my enemies’.  Table of Communion, the broken bread and blood that You shed. You are God. You are all Might.
“I love Thee Lord Jesus, please hold me real tight, and Comfort me now…Be the  Light …to my night.”