In All Circumstances

"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; 

I will recount all of your wonderful deeds"

Psalms 9:1

Praise should always follow answered prayer; as the mist of earth’s gratitude rises when the sun of heaven’s love warms the ground. Hath the Lord been gracious to thee, and inclined his ear to the voice of thy supplication? Then praise him as long as thou livest. Let the ripe fruit drop upon the fertile soil from which it drew its life. Deny not a song to him who hath answered thy prayer and given thee the desire of thy heart. To be silent over God’s mercies is to incur the guilt of ingratitude; it is to act as basely as the nine lepers, who after they had been cured of their leprosy, returned not to give thanks unto the healing Lord. To forget to praise God is to refuse to benefit ourselves; for praise, like prayer, is one great means of promoting the growth of the spiritual life. It helps to remove our burdens, to excite our hope, to increase our faith. It is a healthful and invigorating exercise which quickens the pulse of the believer, and nerves him for fresh enterprises in his Master’s service. To bless God for mercies received is also the way to benefit our fellow-men; “the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.” Others who have been in like circumstances shall take comfort if we can say, “Oh! magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together; this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.” Weak hearts will be strengthened, and drooping saints will be revived as they listen to our “songs of deliverance.” Their doubts and fears will be rebuked, as we teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. They too shall “sing in the ways of the Lord,” when they hear us magnify his holy name. Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels pray not, but they cease not to praise both day and night; and the redeemed, clothed in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands, are never weary of singing the new song, “Worthy is the Lamb.”

Pastor Spurgeon, as a dead man you still speak. I hear you loud and clear..

Broken Until Powder

"And we all, with unveiled face,
beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image 

from one degree of glory to another.
For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

2 Corinthians 3:18

If I were to be a type of mineral that is malleable I would choose to be glass. I'm sure most people would desire to be gold or diamonds but I would choose to be glass. Glass is easily shattered. Once shattered there are endless possibilities of how the glass can be remolded. Gold and other such minerals tend to be stubborn under the pressure of a maker. You need to use chemicals to strip them away from others. Glass is quite different from that. It is very fragile, easily broken under the pressure of someone who can melt those broken pieces into something beautiful and precious. I see it as one of the most humble minerals that humans use.

Lately I've noticed a lot of stubbornness and blindness in my own life. Which is absolutely frustrating yet allowing me to be more focused on the main thing. Honestly I am exhausted to the core on a lot of things that are going on in my life. Though I do not desire to be it is a problem. When will I come out of this? When will I be rescued from this? Who knows.. I just know that there is a valley of shadows that I must go through. I pray that my pride and self-righteousness is broken, powdered to dust so that my Creator may mold me into a new creation for His glory. That is my desire..

Waves Upon A Rock

The waves clash upon the rock of my heart.
Crashing away on the burdened stone that lay.
Suffocating from the days of foolishness.
Wherever I go there those waves are still beating away.

Chipping away part by part.
Patiently awaiting for the sunlit day.
This weak and burdened heart of flesh
With forgiveness ahead may it never again go astray.

Perfected in Weakness

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

When I read the Bible I am honestly so grateful. Grateful I am able to read, and that the word of God is given to us so freely within this 66 book love letter. When I see the love that Paul has for the church in the new testament, I can't help but be glad and seek that kind of love for the church as well- in regards to leaders to look up to and for my own spiritual growth as well. His Christ-like mind is shown even in his letters to the Corinthians when he tells them that he prayed to the Lord about a specific type of weakness and for it to be taken away from him. Yet when Jesus said that His grace is sufficient and that His power is made perfect in Paul's weakness, it shows that Paul still in the flesh had to persevere and his reaction to the response of the plead is all the more beautiful since he, receiving the response (not the one he desired) yet is beautifully glorifying our God. It's not about living your "best life now" it's about living through the pain and struggles in Christ and ultimately glorifying God through it all. If a person, as a self-proclaimed follower of Christ, one does not see the eternal ramifications of disobedience and lack of reverence and fear in the Lord who created all I daresay one is not to call one's self a Christian at all for that matter.. I pray that my fruits of suffering be as Paul's. Where I may glorify Him in the pangs of fleshly weaknesses.