katie rose writes

PRAISE BE to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing...Ephesians 1:3. Lately, in reading through the Psalms and Ephesians, I've been seeing how life so revolves around this idea of blessing and response. God has blessed us.  Immeasurably.  Incredibly.  Amazingly.  We cannot even comprehend it all. And we respond to it. With blessing Him. That is life.  True life, the way Jesus meant it.  Full, abundant life (John 10:10). The question is, how are we responding? It comes mainly in worship & prayer. Worship.  Are we just singing? Or are we living it out? We bless God back when we lift up His name, giving glory to Him, telling the world how worthy He is at the top of our lungs...not just through our words, but through our lives.  Do we just sing, "I'm running to Your arms...the richness of your love will always be enough," and walk away unchanged by that truth, just saying, "oh that's such a g

Psalm 52:8-9 "But I am a green olive tree in the house of God.  I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.  I will thank you forever, because you have done it.  I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly." The psalmist has been speaking of the evil man, who boasts in evil things which do not endure, who will be uprooted by God Himself, because he would not take refuge in Him, instead trusting in his own riches, which are indeed his own destruction.  But on the other hand you have the man who has taken refuge in God, who has known (experienced) His steadfast love, which alone endures all the day.  This man is the one who is a green olive tree: growing, flourishing, and bearing fruit, in the very presence of God.  That is his dwelling place, where there is fullness of joy & pleasures evermore (psalm 16:11).   The next statement is the answer to why he is a growing olive tree.  Because he trusts in the steadfast love of the Lor