You are what you...

Eat? I know that everyone had heard that expression before. Trying to influence someones eating habit for the positive.

Think? Not as common an expression, but with similar meaning. What w think influences how we live. EvenDecartes referenced this in his famous quote: "I think, therefore I am." Not only giving explanation that to know that one exists, one only haas to think, but also what you think is who you are.

In my devotionals, as stated previously, I am going through the Psalms. In one of todays chapters, God offers a different, and deeper, completion to this saying.

You are what you WORSHIP.

Psalm 135:15-18: The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them!

What we worship becomes who we are. What we worship if the very thing that rules our hearts:

Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

God clearly states that our hearts are what define us. So then the Psalm reflects that again, that w are what we worship.

Someone once told me, an idol is anything you are willing to sin for. And anything that is not God is an idol and sin against Him

The people that are referenced in the psalm created idols of gold, silver, and other materials. We idolize inanimate objects, people, ideas, and mostly ourselves. But none if those things can see or hear the truth, the future, or what is best for us. And since they are all deaf and blind, we too become deaf and blind. Even more so, those things are all dead or dying, and likewise we follow then into death.

My prayer this week is then that God would reveal to me (and you) what I idolize other than Him. Because I become blind and deaf when I idolize, I cannot determine when I am worshiping the created rather than the Creator, so I need Divine Intervention!

How He Loves..

We have all heard the term before, that our God is a jealous God.  That He accepts no other god in our lives but Himself. But when was the last time that we really took a look at what that word really means.  I pulled the following from dictionary.com and from Strong's concordance:

Jealous(jeal·ous), adjective: intolerant of unfaithfulness or rivalry

Jealous, קַנָּא (qanna', pronounced kan·nä'), used ONLY of God: used of God as not bearing any rival; the severe avenger of departure from Himself. (cf Ex 20:5, Deut 4:24, 5:29, 6:15)

Deuteronomy 4:24 - For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

The song "How He Loves" has been repeating over and over in my head today, and it opens with these words: "He is jealous for me." Do we even realize how deep and amazing that thought is, that the God of the universe, that created the heavens and the earth, is jealous for me and for you?

When I think about jealousy, I think about being envious of something that someone else has that I do not. That someone else is getting the affection that I desire.  That someone else is getting the attention that I am not.  Does that sound familiar to you?  God created us in His image (cf Genesis 1:26) and that goes down to our core.  I never thought to realize that the things that I become jealous over are not Biblical, but the fact that I am jealous at all is reflecting the image of God.  Unfortunately in my own sinful nature I do not bring glory to God when I act this way (although I'm sure I have/might once, maybe).

So my challenge this week is to remember jealousy, to remember that God is jealous for EVERY aspect of who I am, anything that makes me even slightly look away from Him.  God desires my heart, wants to own every aspect of my life, and more importantly wants to shine His glory out of my life and make Him famous.

Psalm 18:3a I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised

Worthy to be praised, the only thing in the world and out of this world that is WORTHY to be praised.  Will my little decisions this week bring praise to God, or glory to myself...

In times of drought

Have you ever felt abandoned by God?

That He neither looked on you with favor nor wrath?

Have your prayers reflected this sorrow, or even stopped praying all together?

Since no temptation has befallen us, except that which is common to man, 1 corinthians 10:13, I am pretty sure we have all been there. But just like the continuation of that verse, God is always faithful and will deliver us.

The psalmist writing in Psalm 77, open with a prayer reflecting this drought in God's apparent affection. Pleading with God to turn back. Asking for any type of response.

For me, it seems like it takes a lot to shake me from this feeling of drought. But I have a notion that I just end up ignoring most of God's pursuit of me, wallowing in my feelings.

There comes a turning point in the psalm when the psalmist stops pleading with God, and turns to reflect on the past goodness of God. A point that I can see as being the outstretched hand of God pulling His servant back home.

How often do we fail to listen when God calls us?

How many times have we failed to move when He asks us to?

I will tuck this Psalm away into my personal vault in my heart, to reflect upon the next time I feel abandoned, and hopefully I will stop wallowing in my pity and turn back to my God.

Secret prayers

The Psalms, so many simple and beautiful truths written and sung in their pages. Many of the psalms were actually set to music in Hebrew, someday I should like to hear them sung.

The Bible is the inerrant Word of God, breathed out by the Holy Spirit through the writings of man. The Bible is a collection stories, songs, and letters. But stepping back and seeing the whole picture, our is a love letter from God to His chosen people, and all points to Jesus.

This sets the stage for my point, if you see the Bible as pointing to Jesus, look into the psalms. When the New Testament speaks of Jesus in prayer, rarely do we get to hear the words, but if He is the Word made flesh among us, maybe we already have those secret prayers.

Psalm 22 speaks of the crucifixion centuries before the torturous death was invented. So then maybe there is more in the psalms than you thought.

My challenge is to read and pray through the Psalms, and the deeper I dive, the more connections I see. In the psalms, I hear the prayers of Jesus in the garden before he was delivered to die; I hear the prayers of when He was on the mount with Elijah and Moses. I am finding so much more in the psalms than what I went looking for, how deep is His love for me.

In God We Trust

This nation was founded upon a belief, that we were free and equal. Our forefathers fought and died for freedom from oppression. They were oppressed by a kingdom across the sea, from a nation that only desired their own wealth and exaltation.

The Pilgrims left so that they could be free to practice their beliefs, oppressed by the same nation.

The foundation for the belief system that created our nation, was rooted in a fear of God over man. A trust in God to deliver from hatred and oppression.

In my current reading through the Psalms, I came across the following passage:

Psalm 56:10-11 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Our forefathers knew the Bible, had grown up on its teachings. They knew that this came from a psalm of David, when being pursued by Saul. And I believe that this passage, among many others, shaped our country. Even to the point that these words are engraved in our money.

How far we have come since the beginning. We talk of tolerance and only tolerate the things that do not mention God. We talk of freedom, and only want freedom from anything to do with God. We are free to share our opinions and beliefs, as long as we leave our belief in God out of it.

My heart mourns for this nation, and I long to see the people of God loving and not tolerating their neighbors. But I do see signs of a fire, a true desire to make Jesus famous. But I yearn to see that fire set ablaze in the hearts of God's people everywhere.

So I will pray... And I will live passionately for God

The Voice

Psalm 29.

This psalm really resonated with me this morning. How often do we view only part of God? How often do we only focus on what we want to attribute to Him in our given circumstances?

I cannot speak for you, or any other person, but chances are that if I do it, I'm not alone.

Let me preface this post with some background: our church, the passionate body of believers at Image Church in Dumfries VA, has been praying for prayer. An interesting concept, but something this generation desperately needs. And I have been moved to dive deeper into prayer. Currently reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Praying through the Psalms.

Back to today.

Psalm 29:1-2 ESV: Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

King David opens this psalm the way all of our prayers must begin, with praise. To ascribe something is to bring attention to and assign an attribute to someone or something.

This brings our focus off of ourselves and onto the power and majesty of God. And for me, my pride wants to assign that to me, even if I don't actually say that aloud.

The rest of the Psalm is about the voice of God, and the power that lies within it. The power of both creation and destruction, of life and death, of prosperity and devastation.

Which brings me back to my original question, do our prayers give God praise and our thoughts reflect only of His goodness; or are we focusing on the truth and standing in awe of His goodness and wrath, His creation and destruction?

Today I am challenging myself to worship in both prosperity and poverty, to praise the God who gives and takes away. For both of those actions, are done not from my perspective, but by the will of God. And though I may see poverty, or prosperity, it is still what I need, regardless of my ability to understand it.