Give God Praises for being our Helper

Verses: Psalms 40 : 1 - 17

Song inspired by the chapter:  Song has been uploaded from YouTube.com and is not my original.

My thoughts about the verses:

This is a psalm about praising God.  Giving up thanksgiving for all that has been done for us.  There is no reason to be afraid.  God is with us helping us through all things.

Think about all the things that have happened in your life.  Many of us see struggles and pain in our life.  Yet, we are here today which means we had helped to get through it.  God is our rock and our strength.  God is our refuge who shelters us when we have struggles.

Take each day and thank God for all you have.  Thank God for all the struggles that you have gone through and overcame.  Praise God for the gift of everlasting life.  Praise God for sending the precious Lamb so that we could be made free.

God doesn’t care about our sacrifices.  We don’t have to worry about doing things to please God.  We need to concentrate on loving God.  We need to lift up our prayers of praise and thanksgiving.

We need to know that we have Jesus is walking with us.  The Holy Spirit needs to be praised for walking with us.  We need to lift up our praises as often as we lift up our prayers.

Think to that moment when Jesus offered up prayers.  He thanked the Creator for all that had been given to him.  He praised God for the love that flowed.  This teaches us the simple lesson to thank God each and every time we pray.  Know that thanking God is just as important as asking for healing, help or our multitude of needs.  

God already knows what we need.  It is the act of thanking God that is essential for our life to be complete.  Think about this can you imagine how close your relationship would be to God if you praised God.  Every time you pray the first thought needs to become praise to God.  You need to know that as you love God and praise God your life will become more complete.

Prayer:

Thank you God for all you do.  Thank you for your Son.  Thank you for loving us even when we didn’t deserve it.  We praise you for your steadfast love.  In the Name of the Holy One we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Do you praise God?  Do you see all the things God does for you each day?  Do you need to start sending up praises?  Is today the day that you begin showing love to God for the forgiveness you have received?

Though Our Life may be short in the Eyes of God we must ask God for Forgiveness and Wisdom

Verses: Psalms 39: 1 - 13

Song inspired by the chapter:  Song has been uploaded from YouTube.com and is not my original.

My thoughts about the verses:

Our life happens in a blink of an eye in God’s time.  It may seem like we have forever to live on this Earth.  Yet, if truth be known it is only seconds in the great scheme of things.  I know that I can feel my forty years.  Yet, for God that is a small amount of time when it comes to creation itself.

Think of it this way if you knew that today was your last day what would you do?  Many of us have a list of things that we would like to accomplish.  We would want to see our family and friends, take that trip we never got to take, jump out of a plane and the list keeps going on.  Yet, in this scenario you only have one day.  You and I both know it isn’t enough to do what all we feel we have missed out on.  So from this we can see how our lives are only having in a fraction of the time compared to all of creation.

I think back to my sister she only lived those few four days.  Yet, her life meant something to our family.  We often think about her.  We wonder what she would have been liked if she would have lived.  Yet, even though we are sad we know that she is living the great life now.  She joined God and the angels in Heaven.  She gained her wings and her spirt flew.  Her life was short here on Earth, but will last for an eternity in Heaven.

I also think about my great grandmother she lived to be 106 years old.  Imagine what all she saw.  Yet, even though she lived to be over a hundred years old it is only a small amount of time compared to eternity.  God lives in eternity or forever time.  Think on this and see no matter how long you live on earth be a few days or a hundred years it is a very small part of forever.

The next lesson we can learn from these scriptures is to be wise.  We need to be careful about what we say.  We need to ask God to help us be wise.  We should be aware that our words can harm others. 

There are times in our life that we will not speak wisely.  We will keep our mouths shut when we should speak the truth.  Other times we will speak and what comes out of our mouths is not truth.  We can also hurt people by saying things that could offend them or their friends. 

When we do step out of bounds we need to ask God for forgiveness.  When we refrain from speaking the truth we need to ask God to forgive us.  When we say mean and hateful words to others we should offer it up in prayers

Think about this for a moment have you ever been in a situation when you knew that falsehoods were been spoken.  You sensed that you were outnumbered.  Your fear and doubt began to take over.  Even though you knew what was being said was not true you kept quiet.  Thinking on that how many people was affected because you did not speak up for the truth.

It is important for us to speak the truth so others can learn that is nothing wrong with being who we are.  You never know when someone will overhear you that are having a hard time dealing with their life.  If you speak the truth you may give that person the freedom that they need.  I hope you have come to ask for forgiveness and the wisdom that you need.  I know that I have.

Prayer:

Dear God we thank you for loving us.  We thank you for caring for us even though we are just a small part of Creation.  We ask you to forgive us when we do not speak wisely.  Help us live within truth.  Help us never to use our words to hurt others.  Help us never to stay quiet when we need to speak the truth.  In the name of the Savior we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you ever kept quiet when you needed to speak the truth?  Have you ever been untruthful?  Do you realize that your time is small compared with the time of God?  Are you ready to ask for forgiveness today?  Are you ready to ask Jesus in your heart today?

Thank God for all you have

Verses: Psalms  38: 1 - 22

Song inspired by the chapter:  Song has been uploaded from YouTube.com and is not my original.

My thoughts about the verses:

I know many other suffer from illnesses.  Many of us feel threatened by people who dislike us.  We go through many fears and doubts.  Many of us that suffer from illnesses suffer with silent diseases.  Ones in which people cannot see but we feel and deal with.  Many of us who feel threatened by individuals again do it in silence because people do not understand.

While we are going through all of this we have to look at the positive things in our life.  This is hard to do without Jesus in our life.  It is important to understand that Jesus is our savior in all things.  People think that Jesus is a savior from the sins that they commit.  Yet, they miss that we have the strength of Jesus in our entire life.  Knowing this we need to thank God for all we have. 

If you think back to Jesus’s death on the cross we can learn a valuable lesson.  If you remember the march to the Golgotha Jesus falls.  He can no longer carry the burden of his cross.  The Roman soldiers grabbed a man and had him carry the cross to the mount.  There is something that we can take from this moment.  Jesus though weak was still forced to go to the mount.  Yet, he had helped carrying his cross. 

Now look at your own life.  When you have Jesus in your life you have the strongest person carrying your cross.  You are never alone because you have Jesus carrying the heavy load.  Imagine what your life would be like if you had to carry it all yourself.  Would you really be able to make it with everything that is happening in your life?

Those that do not have Jesus in their life have to deal with the burden all by their self.  They do not have any true help getting along with the things that they suffer from.  Their pain may not be more physical pain but spiritual pain.  Their spiritual pain comes because they do not have a savior in their life.

Therefore if you are a Christian rejoice.  Know that no matter what life is sending your way you have extra peace and strength.  God is there carrying you.  Though there may be times that you feel alone you need to remember that you are never alone.  The one that came to save the world is with you. 

I know that at different times I have gone through things that have seemed impossible to face.  Yet, even though it has seemed impossible I felt that I had a strength that came from deep inside me.  I realize that the strength that I felt was Jesus.  The impossible was made possible because Jesus was carrying the weight.  I look back and can only imagine how the problem would have really been like without Jesus. 

So the next time you are facing something in your life think on this a moment how would it feel like without Jesus.  Now is the time to thank Jesus for what has happened in your life.  You need to be thankful that Jesus is helping you with life’s struggles.  You need to praise god for the strength and peace that is given to you.

Prayer:

We thank you God for always walking with us.  Thank you for your presence in our life.  Thank you for helping us overcome the impossible.  We ask you dear Savior to give us peace of mind.  Help us remember that you are there when things seem hard to get over.  Help us have strength to get through all the rough patches of our life.  In the name of the Savior we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Are you facing challenges that seem impossible?  Do you feel alone?  Have you accepted Jesus into your heart?  If you have asked Jesus in your heart isn’t today the day to thank him for the strength you have?  If you haven’t asked Jesus in your heart isn’t today the day you do?

Be Patient and Trust God

Verses: Psalms 37: 1 - 40

Song inspired by the chapter:  Song has been uploaded from YouTube.com and is not my original.

My thoughts about the verses:

The first thing that we have to do to be patient is to trust God.  We must come to the true understanding that God is there for us.  If we are accepting Jesus into our life we are actually putting our trust in God. 

Yet, we find it hard to put our trust in others.  We undergo so many disappointments.  We think about all those people that have disappointed us and how we do not want it to happen to us again.  Many of us have been hurt by the very people that are supposed to love and support us.

I watched a video today that reminded me of so many other stories.  A young man was verbally and physically attacked because he stepped out of the closet.  His family at first accepted him.  Then through peer pressure they turned on him.  Through his fear he recorded the event because he felt things didn’t just feel right.

I have seen so many people that are hurt by the ones that are to love them.  I can remember one of my closest friends and the shunning that the church put her through.  She loved the church and her father and mother were very active members.  Yet, as things would work out she got pregnant before getting married.  The church excluded her from some of the activities that she did because of this. 

Yet, here is where I want you to understand the difference between God and people.  People are fallible God is perfect.  God is the true judge yet, wants to judge us through rose covered glasses.  People cannot put on those glasses.  The glasses are created by the blood that flowed from Jesus’s body as he died on the cross to set us free.  God is able to look pass things that are on the surface to our inner soul.

It is important to point out that God will not fail us.  God will be there with us even when we try to run.  Jesus is the steadfast binder in our relationship with God.  God send Jesus therefor the binding begins and ends with God.  If we stay focused on what we should do we will receive great reward.  Know that God will provide our needs and be faithful to us if we have Jesus in our life.

It might seem that those that are doing things that are against God are getting rewards.  Yet, we need to know that those rewards are only here on Earth.  They will not receive the same reward for those that are Children of God.  They will receive the gift of everlasting life.  Therefor what we have to remember is since we have trust in God we need to have patience on our reward. 

We should continue to do our best to follow God in all the hard times.  We need to know that one day that our sacrifices on Earth will be rewarded.  That our patience will turn into great reward.  So the most important things that we need to do is put our trust in God.  Once that first step is taken and our trust in put in God we do not need to worry. 

We should do our best to serve God.  We should not judge ourselves or others instead we should wait patiently on the gift that God will give us.   Through our trust and patience in God we will receive the gift that God freely gives to all who will believe in the sacrifice of Jesus.

Prayer:

Thank you God for you steadfast love.  Thank you for helping us be patient people.  We praise you for showing us how to put our trust in you.  We ask that you help us to continue to serve us.  Help us trust you.  In the name of the Risen Savior we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you placed your trust in Jesus?  Have you trusted the love of God?  Are you willing to wait patiently on the gifts of everlasting life?

In God we can See Divinity

Verses: Psalms 36: 1 - 12

Song inspired by the chapter:  Song has been uploaded from YouTube.com and is not my original.

My thoughts about the verses:

Everyday we are confronted with both good and bad things.  We are able to recognize the best in people.  We also recognize the character flaws in each other.  We try to exude our best in most situations.  Yet, in the end even we cannot hide our flaws from ourselves.

Things are much different with God.  There are no flaws in the One that created us.  God is nothing but wonderfully good.  It is this goodness that we try to obtain through our actions and deeds.  We attempt to become good so that we can live up to what we think God expects from us.

Yet, what we miss is that we can never be as good as we need or want to be.  We will make mistakes.  Those mistakes whether intentionally or unintentionally is what makes us human and separates us from God.  Yet, God doesn’t want to be separated from us. 

It is our choice to walk down the paths that we choose.  If we choose to follow the multitude paths we go further and further away from God.  Yet, if we choose the one path we will grow closer and closer to God.  God has laid the path straight to the Heavenly Realm with very easy stones to follow.  The pavers are the drops of blood that flowed from Jesus on the cross.  If you choose this path you will never be separate.

God wants us to be free.  It is the faithfulness of God that we have to rely on to receive the gift that God truly wants us to have.  When we understand what God wants for our lives we are able to experience the true divinity of God.  We are able to experience the true goodness of God.  We need to accept that God is not a god of wrath.  God is all about showing kindness and love to us all.  We can come to learn this if we accept the true divinity of God.

Prayer:

Dear God thank you for loving us.  Thank you for giving us the path to follow to the Heavenly Realm.  Help us choose to follow your path.  Help us grow closer to you.  Help us always to see your divinity.  In the name of the Creator we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Which path are your following?  Are you willing to choose the path that God wants you to truly follow?  Can you feel the true divinity of God?

Relying of God to find Peace and Joy

Verses: Psalms 35; 1 - 28

Song inspired by the chapter:  Song has been uploaded from YouTube.com and is not my original.

My thoughts about the verses:

God will be your strength when things seem impossible.  All have been faced with challenges that seem impossible for them to overcome.  Allowing God to deliver you from your challenges things will change forever.  No enemy or challenge can defeat us along as we allow God to carry us through life.

Think about the most challenging situation you have ever been in.  I know we can all go to that moment.  It usually is a fresh wound no matter how long ago it happened.  Just think about it can bring back the memories of the pain and doubt that we felt.  Concentrating on that moment will help you draw closer to God.

In that moment when you thought all things were impossible did you ever believe you would be where you are now.  If the event happened years ago you can look at today with a new light.  You have the insight that you were able to get through the situation.

People that are now going through the impossible have a different point of view.  They fear that they will make it to the other side.  In this fresh moment you may have doubts that the impossible to overcome will become possible.

I know how both of these situations feel.  You are in the middle of heartache.  You do not think that you will be able to get through it.  Life seems to have thrown so many curve balls that it seems to be an obstacle that will not be overcome. 

When I began getting sick there seemed no way to overcome it.  I was faced with life changing sues that seemed impossible.  I wasn’t living my life.  Instead I was allowing my illness to live my life.  I was forgetting to focus on God.  I was trying to get better on my own.  I was trying to change the situation all my own.  I completely felt defeated. 

Then one day it came to me that I couldn’t do it on my own.  I needed to let God help me with all that was happening in my life.  I slowly let go of my issues one by one and allowed God to take over.  Amazingly as I allowed God to take over I felt more and more secure.  I began coming to a level of peace that I thought would never come.

As I look back to those moments when I was struggling and I know the thoughts that were going through my head.  I can remember the despair that was part of my life.  How I felt totally alone.  Then I remember the feeling that came when I allowed God to take over.  The fear subsided.  My anxiety decreased.  I became a new person.

See what we have to remember that God is there helping overcome the struggles in our life.  We learn that there is nothing impossible for God.  Turning it over to God we are able to defeat the things that are trying to take our joy.  When we are filled with joy and peace our life will never be the same again.  When the next struggle comes we will have the knowledge on how to work through it.  We will know that we are not alone and turning it over to God will bring back the peace and joy that we currently have in our life.

Prayer:

Dear God thank you for loving us.  Thank you for carrying us when we are weak.  Thank you for restoring our peace and joy.  Help us this day turn over our struggles to you.  Help us become closer to you.  Help us remember what you have helped us through in the past so that we can call upon your name.  In the name of the Comforter we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you ever felt alone in a situation?  Are your struggles today seemed like their impossible to overcome?  Are you willing to allow God to help you?  Is there something that you can share with others so they will find peace and joy in their life?

God is Peace

Verses: Psalms 34: 1 - 22

Song inspired by the chapter:  Song has been uploaded from YouTube.com and is not my original.

My thoughts about the verses:

God is the source of all peace.  God provides a way to peace if we will follow it.  God provides us a safe place.  We should not have any fear.  God will protect us if we turn our life over to God.

It is amazing what God does to help the people.  When we are facing hard times God will cover us.  When we are surrounded by our enemies the Angels will be sent to protect us.  We will never have to worry about the struggles that we face.  God is our strength and provides the peace we need in our lives.

Imagine how the world would be if we all accepted the peace God wants to give us.  We will have no fears.   There would be no reasons to fight.  There would be no reason to have doubts and strife.

Think about this if we were filled peace what all would happen.  We would not have the stress over the issues we face each day.  Our life would be fulfilled.  You would not be hunting for things to make you feel better.  You would not struggle with your destiny.  Your life would be comforted forever.

With peace we would be able to reach out to those that need help.  Since our life would be filled with peace we would feel the desire to show it to others.  There would be no reason to hate or fear others.  No one would be considered less than.  Peace would be the end to all of our doubts and the world would change forever.

I am sitting here tonight thinking about the many struggles that are happening in our world.  I can only imagine what would happen if Peace was in everyone’s heart.  Think on this a moment the wars and fights happening throughout the world would end.  Would children find a place that was safe?  Would our elderly not worry about the future?   Life would become worth living.  Even those that are on battlefields today would find an end to the pain they are suffering.

I hope that one day peace will fill the earth.  It is up to us to begin showing that love to others.  To do this we must be willing to accept people just as they are.  Not to expect them to be like us.  We need to accept people for their differences.  To walk in this world with our heads held high because we were able to overcome all the struggles that come in our life.   Wars would end.  Peace would not just be something we imagine but would be the reality we all seek.

Prayer:

Dear God thank you for being there in our times of struggle.  Thank you for loving us just the way we are.  Thank you for filling our spirit with peace.  Help us to never turn our backs on people that are different from us.  Help us be Jesus to someone today.  Help us not to judge others by our expectations.  Instead help us love peoples just like you show unconditianl love to others.  In the name of the Source of Peace we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you accepted God in your life?  Have you accepted the peace that God wants to share with you?  Are you willing to show god’s peace to others?  Will you help bring peace to the world?