Praise the Lord!

¹ Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:  1 – 5

There are times when, like David, we need to encourage ourselves about the goodness of God. If we wake up one morning and just feel a bit out of sorts, or life is not going well, this is a great psalm to read to remind ourselves of all God’s wonderful ways.

The psalm exhorts us to praise the Lord. Praise is a gateway into the presence of God. Psalm 100 tells us ‘to enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise’. This is not because God’s gates only open with praise; indeed there are times to rush to God in our distress for his comfort and grace. However, praise reminds us of who we are worshipping and why. As we think, speak, sing or shout his praises, it is our hearts and spirits that are enlarged and our vision of both God and the wonderful possibilities for our lives that is changed.

David then goes on to encourage us to remember all God’s benefits – and who do they benefit-  us!  He forgives our sins, heals our diseases and redeems our life from the pit. If that is not enough he crowns us with love and compassion.  A crown is what a king or queen wears to show their royalty or in past times the winner was crowned to show their success. God elevates us with love and compassion. The psalm says many times that God is compassionate to us. He feels deeply for us in our weaknesses and distress.

God also satisfies our desires with good things – God only gives good gifts because God is good. God does not give us bad gifts anymore than we would give bad gifts to our children, no matter how wayward they were. God does not send sickness, pain, poverty, unhappiness and so on. Indeed his desire is to lift us out of these things and give us good gifts. He wants to satisfy our desires, not keep disappointing us. ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights’ (James 1: 17).  

Finally, as if all that was not enough, God renews our strength like the eagle. In the Bible the eagle is a symbol of vigour and God does not want us weak – he wants us strong in him. God has such wonderful plans and purposes for our lives. He wants to fulfil our dreams; he wants to give us good things; he wants our lives dripping with his love and grace. This psalm is a source of huge encouragement to us and as we read it, let our spirits soar again with praise and thankfulness to our amazing, wonderful God.

A tribute to Michelle

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.  John 12: 24

Today I had the privilege of going to a celebration of the life of Michelle. She was a young lady I taught 10 years ago who had been killed in a car accident in Ireland aged just 21. She was a remarkable young lady who, despite her short life, had greatly impacted many people as was evidenced by the hundreds who attended the celebration. They were of all ages from babies to old people, from many countries and reflected family, friends, school mates, university friends, teachers and church family.

The celebration was unlike anything I had been to before and took the form of an opportunity for anyone to share a thought, poem, letter, e mail, song, dance and even a magic trick. The one thing that came through over and over again was Michelle’s love for the Lord and her love for life. She lived life to the full, was a wonderful friend and great fun. She loved to sing, dance, worship, play practical jokes, laugh and just hang out with anyone. She was a huge source of encouragement to many people and as people read out things she had written it was obvious that she was funny but also had a wisdom way beyond her years. She infected everyone with whom she came into contact with an enthusiasm essential in a generation of cynical young people.

She was not one of those people who sail through life with no difficulties – she had had quite a share of troubles but she refused to blame God for anything. She was convinced that God loved her and everyone else and was the true source of every good and perfect gift. Even at the end she was in Ireland to visit someone who had just become a Christian to strengthen and encourage them.

Her great heart was for people to know Jesus and to know him to the full. Life was a gift and one to be lived to the fullest one could.  She was as source of great joy to all who knew her. So why did she, who had everything to live for, die at such a young age. I really do not know. All I know is that of the many seeds she generously planted around the world, they will each bear a harvest of righteousness that will far outlive her short life. I am convinced that people who never knew her will be impacted by her life as the seeds she sowed bear fruit.

My prayer and desire is to have the same ‘live life to the fullest’ approach to my life as Michelle did and to try to be a source of encouragement to all I come into contact with. God bless you Michelle. Enjoy heaven! I’ll see you again one day.

Proving the will of God

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12: 2

In order for our lives to be transformed and our minds renewed, we need an increasing revelation from God about who he is, what he wants to do and who we are as his children. Bill Johnson talks a lot about our need for ongoing revelation from God. He says, ‘I am convinced that the pace of revelation will increase very rapidly in these last hours of history.’

Our minds need to be renewed so we no longer think ungodly, unbelieving thoughts but think right things about God and his ways. In this season we are all aware of the need for intimacy and it is during these precious one-on-one times with God that we get to know our King and understand his ways. However knowing more is never enough. Bill Johnsons says, ‘To renew the mind we must not just think differently but live differently, in a new experience of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.’

God wants not just for our minds to be thinking Godly thoughts along Godly lines but also for our lives to be doing Godly things. He wants us to prove to ourselves that what he says is true. He wants us to KNOW that what he says is true by our own experience. Experience is vital.

Several years ago we took teams of young people (aged 11 to 16) on mission overseas and in this country. One of the best aspects of this was that young people began to know and prove for themselves that what God said is true. It was not enough to know that God is our provider. They learned to prove it by having to trust and ask him to provide the necessary money to go overseas. One young lady whose parents were on government benefits prayed and asked God for the money. One week at church there was a special collection for an area of the world in desperate need. She felt she should empty the contents of her purse which was not very much into the collection. The next day she got two large cheques through the post. Eventually she had all the money she needed and was helping support others. She had proved God’s will for her life.

Knowing God is a healer, provider, Saviour, restorer, miracle worker and so on needs to be proved. Revelation needs to be applied to our lives by practical experience. The world desperately needs the power of the King and the Kingdom being increasingly revealed by the people of God who know and have proved what his will is; to save, heal and deliver the world from sin and its consequences.

Jesus came to destroy the devil's work

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s works I John 3:8

One of the devil’s many ways of attacking the saints is through weariness. The Amplified Bible speaks of this in Daniel 7: 25. The devil loves to wear us out in any way he can and loves to try and get us to over commit ourselves and do too much. He will even use good works and try and make us feel guilty that we should do more.

People can become weary just from everyday life whether that is a poor person in Africa, struggling to get water, grow crops and have enough to feed the family, let alone get the money to send children to school to the busy executive in our western culture. Too many of us have so many commitments that require our attention from family, home, career, let alone church or a daily time with God. The devil will just burden us down with anything that slows us and will always try and persuade us that we have not done enough – of anything.

The good news is that Jesus has destroyed the works of the enemy. That is why he came into the world and by destroying his works he liberated every one of us. The devil does not want us walking in this freedom – he wants us weighed down, weary and guilty but through Jesus we have complete victory over every one of his lies, deceptions and dirty tricks.

One of the many keys to this victory is found in Isaiah 40: 31. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not grow faint.’ Imagine soaring on wings like eagles over the pile of things that need to be done or running through the day without getting tired or faint.

I am not a ‘morning’ person and for some time I resisted getting up early to spend time with God. I was already exhausted and needed all the sleep I could get! Eventually I gave in to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, set the alarm for earlier and with a cup of tea spent such precious times with God that refreshed and renewed me and gave me all the strength and strategy I needed for my busy day. I was no longer overwhelmed with all that had to be done. I let the Holy Spirit guide me and make my priorities. My body was sometimes still tired but my spirit was refreshed and renewed daily and carried me through each day.

Today set aside time to just be with God. Give yourself time, time to unwind, time to quiet your racing mind, time to shut out all the urgent things that are clamouring for your attention and sit down with the Lord and give him your full and undivided attention. His presence will refresh you and wash away the weariness and he will guide you and help you set Godly priorities. God’s presence and ways do not weary. If the work of the Lord is wearying you, ask him to show you if anything needs handing over to others or if you have picked up burdens that are not yours to carry. Ask for his strategies and priorities and don’t worry! God knows; trust him. He does not want his precious children weary and exhausted. He wants us full of his joy for ‘the joy of the Lord is your strength.’ Nehemiah 8:10