Praise the Lord - Psalm 92:1

It is good to praise the Lord

It is good to gaze upon His majesty

To proclaim His love in the morning

And His faithfulness at night

To worship and praise the Lord

by Lenny LeBlanc

The beginning of a new year is a wonderful time to examine the old year...what were your priorities, do you want them to be different, will you challenge yourself in the new year?  Personally, I am never terribly happy with myself as the old year closes...I have once again let the year get out of control with details and busyness.  I have no excuse...my husband likes quiet...prefers quiet.  I am guilty of thinking I can and should do more than is reasonable.  My times with the Lord become less and less about Him and more and more about what needs to be done with my day.

Listen to Lysa TerKeurst in her study WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WOMEN SAY YES TO GOD when talking about making the choice of worry or worship:

We all worship something.  We must choose whom - or what -

we will worship.  Will it be the opinions of others, our

fears, or even our own comfort.  Or will it be the One

who created our souls to worship.  Whatever we worship,

we will obey.

The psalmist in our psalm for today had seen the Lord work...he had been protected and guided by His hand (v. 11), and he knew that if he praised the Lord, he would "flourish like the palm tree and grow strong like the cedar of Lebanon" (v. 12) and he made a choice to do so.  Who or what will you praise today?  The world will be screaming for attention and distraction, I don't have to yield to it!  It is GOOD to praise the Lord!!

For further study: Deu. 32:3, 1 Chron. 16:29, Psalm 95:6, Psalm 150:6, Proverbs 27:21, Daniel 2:19, John 5:30, Romans 1:21, Hebrews 13:15, James 5:13

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,

Holly







Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always - Psalm 105:4

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow

strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace"

Hymn by Helen Lemmel

Happy New Year, friends!  Did you know that the above hymn was written by a blind woman?  She, of course, didn't need physical sight to look upon her Lord...neither do we.  We only have to recognize that there are good things to look upon and some not-so-good things to look upon.  What are you looking at today?  What are you looking for?  I've used this quote by John Lubbock before, but I think it bears repeating

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for."

Ann Voskamp, in her Christmas devotional THE GREATEST GIFT, talks about Samuel as he was "looking" for a new king.  She says "always, always, first the eyes...", meaning, I think that she was agreeing with Mr. Lubbock that it is with our eyes we find what we look for.  Then she says:

Joy is a function of gratitude and gratitude is a

function of perspective.  you only begin to change

your life when you begin to change the way you see.

Oh I am so ashamed of some of the things I spend my time looking for...temporal and worldly things.  Everything in the world causes our eyes to look away from our wonderful Savior.  What we look for and how we see things affects everything we do...our lifestyle, our relationships, our goals, our joy.

Think about Peter (Matt. 14:22-36) and the joy and satisfaction of obeying Jesus in stepping out of the boat and going to Jesus on the water.  "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink...".  Oh is that not the story of our lives?

If we look for things that are wrong, we will find them.  If we "look for the Lord and his strength", we will find Him!  Our choice.

For further study: 2 Chron. 7:14, Psalm 34:5, Psalm 121:1, Prov. 4:25, Isaiah 55:6, Zechariah 12:10, Matt. 6:33, John 1:35-36,  2 Cor. 4:18, Phil. 4:8

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,

Holly