God Inhabits the Praises Of His People
2010-07-10

Back from Oklahoma. I typed an entry Thursday morning that I planned to post here when we got back, but, thanks to the touch pad on my lappy, it got eaten. I really hate touch pads. I don't think I even touched it. My thumb got close to it and, bazinga! Everything was gone except for the first few lines of the Puritan prayer. Since I was almost through with my devotion, I just deleted it. I didn't even try to type one yesterday. I did have my devotions, I just won't be able to share them.

I'm late this morning because I made the mistake of staying up to watch the end of the Rangers game last night. They blew a 4 run lead in the 9th inning and wound up losing in the 10th. For that, I stayed up until 2am. Gah!



From The Valley of Vision
A PRESENT SALVATION

Creator and Redeemer God,

Author of all existence, source of all blessedness,
I adore you for making me capable of knowing you,
for giving me reason and conscience,
for leading me to desire you;
I praise you for the revelation of yourself in the gospel,
for your heart as a dwelling place of pity,
for your thoughts of peace towards me,
for your patience and your graciousness,
for the vastness of your mercy.
You have moved my conscience to know how
the guilty can be pardoned,
the unholy sanctified,
the poor enriched.
May I be always amongst those who not only hear but know you,
who walk with and rejoice in you,
who take you at your word and find life there.
Keep me always longing
for a present salvation in Holy Spirit comforts and rejoicings,
for spiritual graces and blessings,
for help to value my duties as well as my privileges.
May I cherish simplicity and godly sincerity of character.
Help me to be in reality before you as in appearance I am before men,
to be religious before I profess religion,
to leave the world before I enter the church,
to set my affections on things above,
to shun forbidden follies and vanities,
to be a dispenser as well as a partaker of grace,
to be prepared to bear evil as well as to do good.
O God, make me worthy of this calling, that the name of Jesus may be glorified in me and I in him.



From A Musician Looks At the Psalms, by Don Wyrtzen
Psalm 79:5-7,10-11,13

5 How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? 6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name! 7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.

10 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes! 11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!

13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Asaph angrily calls on the Lord to destroy the nations that don't know him. He asks God to avenge the blood of his servants that has been poured out; to hear the cries of the prisoners and those condemned to death.

His faith is not lost. He cries out from a sense of desperate need. But even from this sense of need and wondering when the Lord will act, he still declares, in verse 13, that he and Israel will continue to praise God, from generation to generation.

I believe the lesson we get from this is that we can cry out to God and question him, as long as we remember who he is and our obligation to praise and worship him, no matter what happens.

I will always praise the Lord. I know that in my heart. No matter what transpires in my life, God will be there, and he will be my God.



Father, I praise you that you placed within my heart this desire to worship you and serve you. As the Puritan prayer writer, I am amazed that you made me capable of even knowing you. You did, indeed, lead me to desire you, and for that I am forever grateful. I also desire, like the Puritan, to be ever in the company of others "who not only hear but know you, who walk with and rejoice in you, who take you at your word and find life there." There is life in your words, and I thank you for showing those words to me!

Let me always praise you, even when things are going not so well for me and my family and friends. When I am threatened by the world around me, let me run to your sheltering arms and find strength and solace in your hiding place.

I pray for worship tomorrow. Let it be pleasing to you. May the worship music I select be inspired by the Spirit for those who will be there to worship with us.

I thank you for restful trip this week, and some time to relax and play with my family. It was a good time, and we stayed safe.

I pray for Christi today. Ease her pain. Help her spirit to be lifted up. Give her strength.



From the Presidential Prayer Team site:

PRAY FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA AND HIS ADMINISTRATION

President Barack Obama has bypassed Congress to appoint Dr. Donald M. Berwick, a health policy expert, to run
Medicare and Medicaid. The recess appointment was needed to carry out the new health care laws, said White House.

The Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday issued a directive that would bar �controversial opinions�
from inbound emails to government employees, and reversed itself on Wednesday after free speech outcries.

Pray that members of the Administration would be wise in their timing, choices and directives.



Whatever happens, remember to thank and praise God. He is sovereign, and whatever happens, he is in control of all things, no matter how chaotic things appear to us.

Grace and peace, friends.



0 comments so far

hosted by DiaryLand.com