PRAISE BE!
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 good song"...? Or do we walk away, resting, abiding, rejoicing in the love of Christ--the only thing that fully and truly satisfies our longing hearts?
Prayer. How are we praying? Are we constantly asking God for this and that, or are we praising Him? Are we taking time to refocus our minds off of ourselves and onto how great and awesome and mighty and near and kind our God is? Or are we saying, "o woe is me, Lord, I need your help, I need your blessing." Check your pronouns on this. How many times have we prayed and "I" or "me" or "my" overwhelm the body of our prayers? What about "You" or "Yours"? Or even focusing on others-"them" or "her" or "him"?
Are we blessing Him in how we worship with our lives and how we talk with Him?
We've got to examine ourselves. And refocus ourselves COMPLETELY on HIM.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well." Matthew 6:33.
The words of a song ("Communion Song" by Matt Maher) have really been another focus lately:
"By Your mercy we come to Your table/By Your grace You are making us faithful."
Wow. It is only by His grace that we learn and grow and mature IN HIM. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith...not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2). Ask Him to grow you. Ask Him to refocus you. I ask Him all the time to romance me, to pursue me, to captivate me. He will answer. James 4 tells us that we have not because we ask not. We've got to start asking. He will answer, for He wants this sweet communion, this divine relationship with Him to be central, so that He gets all the glory we have to give. Are we responding to that desire that is in Him, that He has put in us (see Ecclesiastes 3:11)? We must respond. For He responded to us (see Ezekiel 16).
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 good song"...? Or do we walk away, resting, abiding, rejoicing in the love of Christ--the only thing that fully and truly satisfies our longing hearts?
Prayer. How are we praying? Are we constantly asking God for this and that, or are we praising Him? Are we taking time to refocus our minds off of ourselves and onto how great and awesome and mighty and near and kind our God is? Or are we saying, "o woe is me, Lord, I need your help, I need your blessing." Check your pronouns on this. How many times have we prayed and "I" or "me" or "my" overwhelm the body of our prayers? What about "You" or "Yours"? Or even focusing on others-"them" or "her" or "him"?
Are we blessing Him in how we worship with our lives and how we talk with Him?
We've got to examine ourselves. And refocus ourselves COMPLETELY on HIM.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well." Matthew 6:33.
The words of a song ("Communion Song" by Matt Maher) have really been another focus lately:
"By Your mercy we come to Your table/By Your grace You are making us faithful."
Wow. It is only by His grace that we learn and grow and mature IN HIM. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith...not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2). Ask Him to grow you. Ask Him to refocus you. I ask Him all the time to romance me, to pursue me, to captivate me. He will answer. James 4 tells us that we have not because we ask not. We've got to start asking. He will answer, for He wants this sweet communion, this divine relationship with Him to be central, so that He gets all the glory we have to give. Are we responding to that desire that is in Him, that He has put in us (see Ecclesiastes 3:11)? We must respond. For He responded to us (see Ezekiel 16).
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