Sometimes You Just Have to Praise
(NIV) Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
When I think of the epitome of praise and worship, my mind goes to none other than Paul and Silas. I think of those men, beaten, shackled, and yet they sang praises! I’m not talking about bowing their heads in silent prayer, I’m talking about all out, glory to God, singing.
I want to tell you that true worship is infectious. The men in the other cells knew they were hearing worship to God, the guards knew it, and God knows it. After all, Ps 22 says God inhabits the praises of His people!
Evangelist Leon Trombley said it is easier to hold a tempest in a teacup than a heart full of silent praise.
What if every day for the next month we would commit to beginning our day with praises? I believe we would see a noticeable difference not only in our lives, but the people whose lives we intersect.
May we today and everyday lift up our voices to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Enduring
(NIV) 1 Pet 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
The Potter and the Clay
The clay on the wheel was marred,
seemingly beyond repair
but the Potter molded, shaped and perfected
until a treasure was displayed there.
The clay on the table was misshapen,
and there was nothing left to do,
but break it apart and start over again,
for the clay was too brittle to use.
But the Potter had a secret,
and only a few were aware
that clay dried out by the elements
could be revived to be something beyond compare.
He dipped his hands in water,
and a transformation took place,
For a masterpiece turned its visage
toward heaven, no longer a thing to be abased.
We are that same ruined clay,
seeking a form of cheap grace,
but the Potter dips his hands in the water of the Spirit,
and we are reformed, no longer a disgrace.
For kingdom people need kingdom understanding,
and we need to turn each day,
to the call of the Holy Spirit as He washes
our imperfections away.
We must recognize there is a covenant,
a holy promise we must obey,
if we are to be molded and shaped
by His love, and more than a lump of clay.
©️2010 Carol J Grace
Praise God for His enduring love and His matchless Grace. As we receive new life through Him, and new hope, may we have a new understanding of the nature of His enduring love. As we receive, so let us give.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Living Hope
(NCV) 1 Pet 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In God’s great mercy he has caused us to be born again into a living hope, because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. 4 Now we hope for the blessings God has for his children. These blessings, which cannot be destroyed or be spoiled or lose their beauty, are kept in heaven for you. (NIV) 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Peter, whom Jesus called the rock long before he became so steadfast, writes this letter to the people of the dispersion. The tone of this epistle suggests God’s people are to be travelers on this earth, whose final destination is in heaven.
I think of the song “Poor Wayfaring Stranger,” and wonder how closely we, in 21st century America, truly identify with Peter’s first century audience. After all, most of us are not merely visitors but have well established roots to our communities. Yet Peter reminds us our true reward is in heaven.
Do we remember what it feels like to set our mind, and our heart, on heaven? When our focus shifts from being earthbound to “looking for a city,” our hope moves from the earthly to the eternal.
May we each know, believe and understand that Jesus is truly our living hope and once we grab hold of that wonderful truth, may we begin to act like it.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Practicing Patience
(ESV) James 5:7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
To be patient is being able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.
“be patient, your time will come.”
Patience appears to be lacking in many of us. I maintain the lack of patience, if not propagated by, was at least hurried along by, the microwave oven. The baked potato, which at one time took a full hour to reach perfection, became available in less than ten minutes. Are microwave potatoes as good as those baked in an oven? No, but they are a suitable substitute.
At my age I have come to realize there is no suitable substitute for patience. But I believe if we are not inherently patient, it is a quality that can be cultivated.
The key to growing patience is wanting to change. If being impatient increases the likelihood that we will engage in conflict, then isn’t it worth the effort to initiate change in our behavior?
But how does one increase patience? We must practice showing patience. If we are in a line that does not seem to move, try talking with other people in line with you. I’m not talking about complaining because your transaction is taking so long. I am suggesting real communication.
Asking a stranger how they are and then listening to their response can open up a dialogue that can lead to meaningful conversation. Before you know it, you have moved forward and the wait was not so tedious after all.
Another way to increase patience is to count your blessings. Society as a whole seems to have lost the ability to be thankful. When we take the time to consider all of the blessings God has given us, we will find we are less irritated by delays.
May we each look for ways to practice patience, giving God the glory that we awoke this morning and knowing that our times are in His hands.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise
(ESV) James 4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
I am a planner. As a preacher, I planned each service carefully. During both the Lenten and Advent seasons, I followed the Revised Common Lectionary to choose the Scripture and I selected songs that would enhance the service from the UMC Hymnal. The rest of the year I often planned series such as “The Lesser Heroes of the Bible,” and “Living the Beatitudes.” It often seemed my sermons almost wrote themselves and I truly enjoyed this aspect of my ministry.
As much as I like to plan, I fully understand James’ words of caution warning us that such planning can be considered arrogant. Growing up in the South and in church I was aware that many people understood that there were things beyond their control. Whether they were aware of this scripture I do not know, but it was not uncommon to hear the phrase, “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise,” when making plans. I have used this idiom more than once myself, being keenly aware of both its origin and of the cautionary words from James.
James goes on to say it is sin when we know the right thing to do, yet fail to do it. That is a simple enough explanation of sin. Another brief explanation is missing the mark. But I think of sin as, very simply, anything that separates me from God.
We are assured in Romans 8:35 that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Yet we must know instinctively that when we live in sin, our relationship with the One, True and Living God is severed.
May we be so attuned to Jesus, that we recognize if our plans do not align with His, then all we do is in vain. And as I reminded my congregations at the end of each service, “Take the name of Jesus with you, and share Him with all you meet.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Seeking Holiness 