Give Him Praise

Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God. I will give glory to your name forever, for your love for me is very great. You have rescued me from the depths of death. (‭Psalms‬ ‭86‬:‭11-13‬ NLT)

These three verses of Psalm 86 are the cry of my heart, and my prayer for today and everyday. 

When we recognize how needy we were and are, it becomes easy to give the God of Heaven, who created the foundations of this world the glory He is due. 

He loves me, and everyone reading this in ways we can’t even begin to imagine. It is a strong, intense, and enduring love that is unchanging. 

Strengthen me today to honor You with my lips, my heart, my actions, and my intentions. Help me to give you the glory and praise You are due. 

Your’s, Mine, and the Truth

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.

So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is god, follow him.” But the people said nothing.

Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord —He is God! The Lord —He is God!” (‭1 Kings‬ ‭18‬:‭16-18, 20-21, 24, 38-39‬ NIV)

This is only part of the story where Elijah encountered Ahab and the prophets of Baal.

I have two observations for which you may choose to evaluate in today’s political climate.

1. Ahab and Elijah had two differing views of the current circumstances.

As with many things there are always three sides to the truth; yours, mine, and what really happened. If you read the story the answer of what was and wasn’t truth was evident.

2. God will always win, regardless of the decisions we make here on earth.

It is a scary climate we live in today. The government is beginning to change what is and isn’t moral based on political agendas and preference instead of moral code and absolute truth. 2 Timothy 4 declares it is the sign of the end time, and our Messiah will soon be returning.

I don’t know what is going to happen in and to America. I’m glad I don’t have to know. What I do know is God is God, and He doesn’t change His mind. He is consistent from Genesis to Revelation, and that is where I am putting my trust!

Here is a brief passage from 2 Timothy 4 for you to evaluate where you stand.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3‬:‭1-5, 14-17‬ NIV)

He Will Cut Us, But It will Hurt So Good!

 

1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

 

5“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (John 15:1-8 NKJV)

What do vines and branches have to do with me?

In a Battle of Faith? Please Read This!

It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”

So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.

Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. (‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭2-4, 13-15, 17, 21-23, 32, 39-40, 43-45‬ NKJV)

I know I am breaking every rule of writing by having so much scripture, but I am not certain everyone knows this story. There are a few lessons for me, and anyone in a battle of faith right now.