Dwelling in Praise…(The Best Place to be on a Monday…and Everyday!)

“Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is He!”

Psalm 99:3

“But You are holy, O You that inhabits the praises of Israel.”

Psalm 22:3

If God inhabits praises…then that’s where I want to be…praising Him!!!

Here’s the verse I’ve been working on memorizing…

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

Philippians 4:8

It’s easy to get off the track and be tripped up and dwell in the negative…worry, self pity, bitterness, complaining, having a critical spirit…

{Father…forgive us for camping out in these dark places…You brought us OUT of the darkness and into Your glorious Light…keep us here and help us not to wander back to the dark.  You are Light and that’s where we want to be!}

If we are to think of whatever is True, there is nothing more True than Him!

If we are to think of whatever is Noble, there is none more Noble than He!!

His ways are Right…

His Love is Pure…

He is Lovely…

He is Admirable…

He is Excellent and Worthy of our praise!!

So…

“I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Psalm 34:1b

Today, on this Monday, His praise will “ever be on my lips”…I will choose to praise!

Will you join me?!!

Father, You are Holy!!  You are True and Noble, Your ways are right…Your love is pure.  You are Lovely and where You are is where I want to be!  You are Admirable…let me look more like You today!!  You alone are Most Excellent and Worthy of ALL of our praise.  Thank You for bringing us out of the darkness and into Your Glorious Light!!  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

Blessings on this Monday!

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Colossians 3:16

~Nicole

Wake Up, Sleeper!

Good morning!!

“And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

~Hebrews 6:11-12~

Sluggish.

slow, dull, slothful; lazy, inert, listless (lackadaisical).

In our mad dash to get through a day…a week…in our busyness…our faith can fall asleep at the wheel.  We think we’re doing well because we’re busy, but we have become sluggish…sat down even…in this race we are in.  This battle we are in.

And that is exactly where our Enemy wants us.  Sitting on the sidelines of our Faith-Race, entangled in the net of busy~yet~complacent.

~But~

“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.”  ~2 Timothy 2:4-5~

{What is it in this everyday life that is entangling me?}

We are soldiers…we are athletes running for the Prize.

But we can so easily become entangled in the affairs of everyday life.

There is more than this everyday life that we see.  There is more.

One of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters is this… (in this conversation, an older demon is training a younger demon on how to snare “his man” into sin and keep him away from a relationship with God)…

“You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy (God). It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

― C.S. Lewis

I remember reading this quote and waking up to the fact that all Satan needs to do is to lure us into a place of complacency…sluggishness…into distracted busyness…to make use useless vessels.  All he needs to do is to edge us out into Nothing.  Away from the Light.  Down a gentle slope.

When we become sluggish in our faith, we forget that we are standing next to an ocean of grace and all we have to do is step into it.

When we become complacent, we forget that we have access to the Word of God…the Presence of the One who spoke the world into being, Who wants to fill us with His Life.  He’s here, with us, and still we search and chase worthless things.  We shrug off His Presence…we look past His loving face.

All we have to do is wake up and open our eyes…He is there.

“For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.” 

~Ephesians 5:14

• Have you found yourself complacent in your faith?  Has the busyness of life caused your faith to be sluggish and dull?
• Today, can we just wake up and plead with our Holy God to be filled with His Presence?  Can we pray that He would set our hearts on fire and shine His Light on us?
• Today, can we repent of our complacency?  We stand on the shores of His grace and He wants us swimming in the sea of it.  Saturated with it.  Full of His Presence, alive and alert.

Father, the Holy One, the Great I Am…You are here with us and yet we can be so blind to Your Presence.  We grow dull and complacent when we are in a battle…we sit on the sidelines when we could be pursuing Your Love.  We walk on the shore of Your grace when we could be swimming in Your sea.  Father, wake us up!  Set our hearts on fire!!  Untangle us from our webs that we have tangled ourselves in.  Help us to remember that there is so much more for us than this life.  Thank You for Your great patience with us and for Your great mercy.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Blessings…

“Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you…”

Colossians 3:16a

~Nicole

Vessels of Light

Good morning!!

Guess what?

“YOU (and I) are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”  

~Matthew 5:14-16

So, are we living like lights of the world?

Are we shining our light out into the darkness??  Or are we hiding our light?  Because we are surrounded by darkness. We are surrounded by crashing waves and storms.

Today we have the opportunity to be a vessel of light…a “vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”  In order to be a vessel for honor…a vessel of light…we must “flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace…”.  We must “not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” (From 2 Timothy 2:20-26)

See, there are so many people that are held captive by the devil.  They’ve been snared, deceived…but the Light of Christ in us…the Truth…is the Light that can help them see the rocks that they are about to crash into, bringing the certain death that comes from deception.  We have the Light that guides us and others into the Way of Truth…the Way to Safe Harbor and the Way to Life.

So…we have to make sure “we are walking in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called,” (Ephesians 4:1),  that we are “pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace…” so we can be a “vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”  (2 Timothy 2:21)

Here’s the thing…people are watching us…believers and unbelievers alike.  Our kids are watching us.  We can be Light, or we can cause others to stumble…we can be a Lighthouse or one of the rocks that causes them to crash.

“Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.”  (1 Peter 2:11-12)

“One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting!  It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.”  So watch yourselves!”  (Luke 17:1-3)

• What is it that I need to flee from so I can be a vessel for honor?  
• Am I pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace?  Am I spending time with the Lord so He can fill me with His Light?  Am I spending time saturating myself with the Truth of His Word so I’ll be prepared for every good work?
• Am I living like a Lighthouse?

Father, You are Light and Life and Truth.  You are our Safe Harbor.  We want to be lights that shine the way to You!  Show us what it is that we need to flee from so we can be honorable vessels for You.  Fill us with Your Light…let Your Light overflow and shine into the darkness around us.  Help us to guide others away from the treacherous rocks of deception and shine Truth that leads to Life in You.  Set our hearts on fire for You today.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Blessings!

“Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you…”

Colossians 3:16a

~Nicole