Psalm 95
Regardless of worship style, these four principles are to be considered:
Accept, Don't Neglect God's Invitation
Verses 1,2,6
-Come
Set aside, gather together, worship Him
-US
Corporate worship with other believers
Participate, Don't Just Watch
Sing
Thanksgiving
Praise
Bow down
Kneel
God is the audience of worship and praise
This not a feeling
It is you givintg
Focus on God, Don't Focus on Yourself
Centered on God and who He is
Not about you or me, our feelings, our needs
Know He is God - He is Holy!
Stop, Don't Harden Your Heart
God will turn His back on us if we do.
Exodus 17 think on the Jews, complaining - they failed the test!
If we grumble and complain, we miss the point of being transformed!
Showing posts with label Praise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Praise. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Monday, December 2, 2013
Nature of Friendship
Having lost most of my friends last year and most of my acquaintances as well, because I was willing to risk all to do what God told me - and would do so again - I have contemplated the nature of friendship this year.
In years past, friend or no friend, all was meaningless to me - but God had to change me from what I knew to this unknown I slosh through. But, it had to all happen at once, my nature to be changed, my friends to desert me - the timing perfect. And yet ...
God knew and God provided - a friend, a teacher, an equal. When I sat stunned and betrayed, part of me was still trying to work through the mystery of this. Do not ask me, God's ways and timing are not my own. I still marvel and wonder where ultimately all will be found ...
He gave me what He knew I would need and it caused me pause to contemplate much about life, being a human being, about me and about God. In there is the concept of friendship in all of its manifestations.
Proverbs 17:17 - a friend hurts when your hurt.
It takes God's LOVE at all times to be able to be a friend when times are hard. Hard times show you whom your true friends really are. And I contemplated that as i saw a slow parade through my room in ER's CCU during the wait for surgery and then the recovery. Those whom were not my friends evaporated and were not to be found. And yet, I know, because I do know, though some think themselves enemies of me, they will figure it out and return to find my friendship will not have changed.
Consider Job 6:14, a friend should be there for you - even if you decide to abandon God! That is commitment and love being spelled out.
Proverbs 27:6 -A real friend will say what needs to be said, even when it hurts you. They will confront you with the truth. Everybody needs a real friend - flesh and blood - someone whom will have faith in you, even when we have lost faith in ourselves.
Proverbs 22:24 - avoid the angry man, his ways will rub off on you!
A real friend will bring out the best in you. They will encourage you, they will stand, when others fall away.
Whom you choose as friends is extremely important, pick the wrong ones and you will become like them and waste years until you wake up and realize how you have been played.
Pick the correct ones and you will be encouraged into becoming the best that you can be - and perhaps - even more!
So across this past weekend, a time of reflection and thanksgiving, I am saddened that those whom I counted as friends for decades - were not. I rejoice for those whom have been so during that same time period and as I have been tried by fire, stood there with me, and suffered as well, then encouraged me to be what I could still be. Then I rejoice for the new friend, I never could have foreseen, never could have understood and can only marvel at God and wonder, "What is He still up to?"
In years past, friend or no friend, all was meaningless to me - but God had to change me from what I knew to this unknown I slosh through. But, it had to all happen at once, my nature to be changed, my friends to desert me - the timing perfect. And yet ...
God knew and God provided - a friend, a teacher, an equal. When I sat stunned and betrayed, part of me was still trying to work through the mystery of this. Do not ask me, God's ways and timing are not my own. I still marvel and wonder where ultimately all will be found ...
He gave me what He knew I would need and it caused me pause to contemplate much about life, being a human being, about me and about God. In there is the concept of friendship in all of its manifestations.
Proverbs 17:17 - a friend hurts when your hurt.
It takes God's LOVE at all times to be able to be a friend when times are hard. Hard times show you whom your true friends really are. And I contemplated that as i saw a slow parade through my room in ER's CCU during the wait for surgery and then the recovery. Those whom were not my friends evaporated and were not to be found. And yet, I know, because I do know, though some think themselves enemies of me, they will figure it out and return to find my friendship will not have changed.
Consider Job 6:14, a friend should be there for you - even if you decide to abandon God! That is commitment and love being spelled out.
Proverbs 27:6 -A real friend will say what needs to be said, even when it hurts you. They will confront you with the truth. Everybody needs a real friend - flesh and blood - someone whom will have faith in you, even when we have lost faith in ourselves.
Proverbs 22:24 - avoid the angry man, his ways will rub off on you!
A real friend will bring out the best in you. They will encourage you, they will stand, when others fall away.
Whom you choose as friends is extremely important, pick the wrong ones and you will become like them and waste years until you wake up and realize how you have been played.
Pick the correct ones and you will be encouraged into becoming the best that you can be - and perhaps - even more!
So across this past weekend, a time of reflection and thanksgiving, I am saddened that those whom I counted as friends for decades - were not. I rejoice for those whom have been so during that same time period and as I have been tried by fire, stood there with me, and suffered as well, then encouraged me to be what I could still be. Then I rejoice for the new friend, I never could have foreseen, never could have understood and can only marvel at God and wonder, "What is He still up to?"
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Redo?
Do you ever face a situation and wonder, " What is God trying to tell me here? " ?
As some of you know, I adopted four Russian orphans back in the 1990's, whom are now all adults, some with their own families now.
God led me to try and help the daughter of a friend, and well , yeah, that one went very badly. Though the book is not closed, except in her mind.
Then God brought my "niece" along and she accomplished what daughter tried to do. I am so terribly proud of her.
Yet, before all of them was a young Welsh girl whom came to me for help and legally there was nothing I could to help her other than be a mentor, much as I did with daughter in her earlier years. And, she faded away into the black hole of culture, so adept at consuming innocence.
And tonight, I had a message from her on facebook, asking if I would be willing to meet with her ..... Is this a redo from God? A chance to correct a mistake I may have made decades ago by not filling in for her one (mostly missing) parent? I felt tremendous guilt at the time because I did the "right thing" and rebuffed her approaches, turned her to other women in the church, asked for prayer and did what I thought was right. But, what happens when all drop the ball? It happened to her, it happened to my daughter, it happened to my niece.
When the family fails, when the church fails, when the individual believer fails - someone has to pick up the pieces and it will either be an ill prepared servant trying to do the right thing or someone from the culture preying upon the young.
She is a part of the burden I have carried for decades. The knowledge I could have at least tried but allowed others to talk me out of a Christian duty which then went unanswered by anyone.
Of course, now that I think on it, I had just been shafted by a foster child, when this Welsh girl came along. So, it was a might easy to not do the right thing. Just as daughter played with my head and made it easy not to do the right thing for my niece....
I can still see the torment in my niece's eyes as she tried to express her frustrations to me/ with me - when I knew all along but had done nothing and that was wrong of me.
Perhaps something the Christian Church needs to relearn, as I did: if you can not make yourself vulnerable - at risk - for others, then you never will reach the lost and hurting. You and your faith have just become worthless.....
As some of you know, I adopted four Russian orphans back in the 1990's, whom are now all adults, some with their own families now.
God led me to try and help the daughter of a friend, and well , yeah, that one went very badly. Though the book is not closed, except in her mind.
Then God brought my "niece" along and she accomplished what daughter tried to do. I am so terribly proud of her.
Yet, before all of them was a young Welsh girl whom came to me for help and legally there was nothing I could to help her other than be a mentor, much as I did with daughter in her earlier years. And, she faded away into the black hole of culture, so adept at consuming innocence.
And tonight, I had a message from her on facebook, asking if I would be willing to meet with her ..... Is this a redo from God? A chance to correct a mistake I may have made decades ago by not filling in for her one (mostly missing) parent? I felt tremendous guilt at the time because I did the "right thing" and rebuffed her approaches, turned her to other women in the church, asked for prayer and did what I thought was right. But, what happens when all drop the ball? It happened to her, it happened to my daughter, it happened to my niece.
When the family fails, when the church fails, when the individual believer fails - someone has to pick up the pieces and it will either be an ill prepared servant trying to do the right thing or someone from the culture preying upon the young.
She is a part of the burden I have carried for decades. The knowledge I could have at least tried but allowed others to talk me out of a Christian duty which then went unanswered by anyone.
Of course, now that I think on it, I had just been shafted by a foster child, when this Welsh girl came along. So, it was a might easy to not do the right thing. Just as daughter played with my head and made it easy not to do the right thing for my niece....
I can still see the torment in my niece's eyes as she tried to express her frustrations to me/ with me - when I knew all along but had done nothing and that was wrong of me.
Perhaps something the Christian Church needs to relearn, as I did: if you can not make yourself vulnerable - at risk - for others, then you never will reach the lost and hurting. You and your faith have just become worthless.....
Monday, February 4, 2013
Blast From The Past
I was working an antique show again this weekend, long hard hours but it helps keep beans on the table.....
So, I am in this building about 4 acres in size and there are some 5,000 shoppers plus several hundred booths set up - so a miserable pain to traverse. My booth is of course in the rear of the building and the snack bar in the front, so I get to wade through the crowd to get a lemonade and then again back. But, having battled the crowd to the snack bar, I skirt the edge of the show along the side hoping to make a faster return to my booth. It was not to be.
I was about half way back when my mind told me there was something odd - a face in the wrong place, someone I knew from the past, from another place and time, so i scanned the crowd around me to see what my mind had already. And there she was, one of "my girls" from twenty years ago.....
Holy Moley! She was not hard to miss - cotton candy colored hair with a blue touch, piercings, tatoos, pushing a baby stroller and her bright blue eyes met mine and she was in my arms faster than I could remember her name! Yeah, she was always in my top five. Not because she was troubled, or physically attractive to me, but because she possessed an honest desire to know and serve God.
So for the next 90 minutes we talked about life, the universe, her marriage and why on earth was she here! Seems husband got a job at MicroSquish, they lives about 60 miles away, she was bored and very much in need of prayer. With God there are no coincidences, He brought us together because we both need prayer in all aspects of life. He is so cool that way. It was an awesome reunion.
Later I saw her mother and talked with her for a while as well, she is over visiting and seeing the grandchildren. Seems her life is greatly in need of prayer as well. Lovely woman, she did well with her daughter.....
But, that just a taste of the beauty of this day and I will share more through the week as we go along.
:)
So, I am in this building about 4 acres in size and there are some 5,000 shoppers plus several hundred booths set up - so a miserable pain to traverse. My booth is of course in the rear of the building and the snack bar in the front, so I get to wade through the crowd to get a lemonade and then again back. But, having battled the crowd to the snack bar, I skirt the edge of the show along the side hoping to make a faster return to my booth. It was not to be.
I was about half way back when my mind told me there was something odd - a face in the wrong place, someone I knew from the past, from another place and time, so i scanned the crowd around me to see what my mind had already. And there she was, one of "my girls" from twenty years ago.....
Holy Moley! She was not hard to miss - cotton candy colored hair with a blue touch, piercings, tatoos, pushing a baby stroller and her bright blue eyes met mine and she was in my arms faster than I could remember her name! Yeah, she was always in my top five. Not because she was troubled, or physically attractive to me, but because she possessed an honest desire to know and serve God.
So for the next 90 minutes we talked about life, the universe, her marriage and why on earth was she here! Seems husband got a job at MicroSquish, they lives about 60 miles away, she was bored and very much in need of prayer. With God there are no coincidences, He brought us together because we both need prayer in all aspects of life. He is so cool that way. It was an awesome reunion.
Later I saw her mother and talked with her for a while as well, she is over visiting and seeing the grandchildren. Seems her life is greatly in need of prayer as well. Lovely woman, she did well with her daughter.....
But, that just a taste of the beauty of this day and I will share more through the week as we go along.
:)
Monday, December 3, 2012
Unexpected Blessing
Back in August, I commented that I wondered if I had just been blessed or not. I suspected I had been, but because I question all things, I was not sure and yet it seemed that I had, but I could not understand. In my world, there are NO coincidences in life if you are walking your path in obedience to God. And so with the loss of my daughter in my life and the ensuing mess, only to be immediately followed by Niece joining my physical family - was just too weird timing wise, what did this mean? I thought maybe she was there to help reduce stress - but that did not happen. I thought maybe she was the one to get me to ER for the next big one - that never came. It was all so very confusing, nothing seemed to fit.
And as Friday night was to show, I was indeed blessed in a very great way by God - but as with all humans, when we are not forthcoming, then somethings are not then known and confusion follows.
So, Niece opened up Friday night and showed me what I had known all along but was confused at why she was not forthcoming, it was so obvious to me, it was so frustrating not knowing if I was wrong or not about her! And given what the year was like, I was not going to put my foot in my mouth! So, I assumed the worst - Kris was horribly misled, but I could not tell how!
And so I questioned myself for months, I was in fear that I had misled myself and if I was wrong about Niece, was I wrong about Yesfir? It tore at me to my core, but I could not see where or what I had done wrong with Yesfir, yet there must have been something, Niece was proof that I could be wrong!
And then Friday night came, truth and openness for the first time flowed. The walls came down. I was not wrong about Niece it seems, then with relief I realized that it had been all in truth this year. And peace flowed over me, the weight of my heart was released, and I slept like a rock for one of the very few times this year. Thank you God for peace.....
I do not know if a weight was lifted from Niece or not Friday night, perhaps she was now traumatized enough by being known that she was unable to sleep. I hope not, I hope it gave her peace as well. And in our brief interactions since, she has been quiet and reserved but her walls have remained down. A victory for her.
And so, with a new openness, with a new understanding, we now step forward to show her what she needs to know. A discipleship to show her the God I know, one not catering to our whims, one where we can walk victorious (as long as we do not get cocky!).
To make the weekend even more special - after one major and 156 minor heart attacks, Saturday became the very first day in which there was no heart incident what-so-ever! PTL!!!!! As was Sunday, as well. Two pain free days, healing and blessing because now I am back at what I was supposed to be doing for four months!
What an unexpected end to one of the most bizaare and horrible years of my life.....
And as Friday night was to show, I was indeed blessed in a very great way by God - but as with all humans, when we are not forthcoming, then somethings are not then known and confusion follows.
So, Niece opened up Friday night and showed me what I had known all along but was confused at why she was not forthcoming, it was so obvious to me, it was so frustrating not knowing if I was wrong or not about her! And given what the year was like, I was not going to put my foot in my mouth! So, I assumed the worst - Kris was horribly misled, but I could not tell how!
And so I questioned myself for months, I was in fear that I had misled myself and if I was wrong about Niece, was I wrong about Yesfir? It tore at me to my core, but I could not see where or what I had done wrong with Yesfir, yet there must have been something, Niece was proof that I could be wrong!
And then Friday night came, truth and openness for the first time flowed. The walls came down. I was not wrong about Niece it seems, then with relief I realized that it had been all in truth this year. And peace flowed over me, the weight of my heart was released, and I slept like a rock for one of the very few times this year. Thank you God for peace.....
I do not know if a weight was lifted from Niece or not Friday night, perhaps she was now traumatized enough by being known that she was unable to sleep. I hope not, I hope it gave her peace as well. And in our brief interactions since, she has been quiet and reserved but her walls have remained down. A victory for her.
And so, with a new openness, with a new understanding, we now step forward to show her what she needs to know. A discipleship to show her the God I know, one not catering to our whims, one where we can walk victorious (as long as we do not get cocky!).
To make the weekend even more special - after one major and 156 minor heart attacks, Saturday became the very first day in which there was no heart incident what-so-ever! PTL!!!!! As was Sunday, as well. Two pain free days, healing and blessing because now I am back at what I was supposed to be doing for four months!
What an unexpected end to one of the most bizaare and horrible years of my life.....
Monday, April 27, 2009
Psalm 23
From my Russian artist friend, on one of my favorite verses…..
The Lord is my Shepherd = Relationship
I shall not want = Supply
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures = Rest
He leadeth me beside the still waters = Refreshment
He restoreth my soul = Healing
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness = Guidance
For His name sake = Purpose
Yea, though I walk through the valley of t he shadow of death =
Testing
I will fear no evil = Protection
For Thou art with me = Faithfulness
Face it, the Lord is crazy about you!
*****
The Lord is my Shepherd = Relationship
I shall not want = Supply
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures = Rest
He leadeth me beside the still waters = Refreshment
He restoreth my soul = Healing
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness = Guidance
For His name sake = Purpose
Yea, though I walk through the valley of t he shadow of death =
Testing
I will fear no evil = Protection
For Thou art with me = Faithfulness
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me = Discipline
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies =
Hope
Hope
Thou annointest my head with oil = Consecration
My cup runneth over = Abundance
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life =
Blessing
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = Security
Forever = Eternity
My cup runneth over = Abundance
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life =
Blessing
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = Security
Forever = Eternity
*****
Face it, the Lord is crazy about you!
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