by Pastor Cecil | Feb 21, 2014 | Psalm
Psalm 103:1-5
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
I would dare to say that almost all of us experienced some sort of trial in our life. It could be the loss of health, a financial meltdown, death of a mate or child or any number of catastrophic events. It is not whether or not we will encounter these trials, but rather what we will do when they arise.
The phrase, “Praise to the Lord” occurs in at least 155 verses in the Bible. That indicates to me that we need to spend far more time praising the Lord than we do. It would be well to replace our complaints with words of praise to the Lord.
Over 300 years ago, Joachim Neander was a hymn writer for the German Reform church. He was going through a time of trial and testing in his life. He would take long walks and pour his heart out to the Lord. It was on one of these walks that he came to the realization that it was not his strength that would give him victory and peace, but rather the powerful God he served. It was in that state of mind that he composed this week’s featured hymn.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, Now to His temple draw near;
Join me in glad adoration!
Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires e’er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who with marvelous wisdom hath made thee!
Decked thee with health, and with loving hand guided and stayed thee;
How oft in grief hath not He bought thee relief,
Spreading His wings for to shade thee!
Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him!
Let the Amen sound from His people again;
Gladly for aye we adore Him.
To access Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, this week’s inspirational video from GloryScapes™ Inspirational Music Videos, please go to:http://www.gloryscapes.com/praisetothelordthealmighty/ in your browser or click on the image below.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 20, 2014 | Matthew
Matthew 16:25-26
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Joyce and I were watching the Antiques Roadshow recently. A woman had brought in an item (I cannot recall what it was) that looked like a piece of trash. (I guess I never did have good taste). She had purchased this item for a few dollars at a yard sale. The appraised value was something like $30,000. WOW!
I have tried to imagine what a different ride it was going home than coming to the Roadshow. I am sure that the appraised item which would have been treated with little concern going there, would receive special care on the way home.
The things of this world have a strange way of being valued. We have heard that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Look around your own dwelling and see what you consider the most precious items. In our home it is our family!
The things of this world are very fleeting. Objects and even loved ones can disappear in a moment of time. There is one eternal treasure that can never be taken away. That is our salvation. In Christ we have the assurance of a mansion that is prepared just for us. Our net worth here may be small but in eternity it will be priceless!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 19, 2014 | John
John 15:13-15
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
One of my all time favorite teachers and speakers is Dr. Howard Hendricks who taught at Dallas Theological Seminary. One of the personal experiences that he shared needs to be engraved in our minds. Early in his life said he spent much of his time and effort in trying to change his wife, his children and his students. The harder he tried the less change he saw. (Isn’t that strange?!)
It suddenly dawned on him that he was going about it all wrong. He came to realize that he needed to change his wife’s husband, his children’s father, and his student’s professor. It reminds me of that old song, “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” He began to pray for the Lord to make him a better husband, father and teacher. His wife changed, his children changed and his students changed! What had happened? He had stopped preaching and had started living his faith.
It may be easy for us to intellectually agree with this concept, so why is it so hard to put it into practice? It is simply that we live by the flesh and not by the Spirit. I know that comes as a crushing blow to your delicate psyche, but like it or not, we all too easily fall into the sinful habit of doing things ourselves rather than asking the Lord to direct our actions. We must live in constant relationship with the Lord and allow Him to show us what to do–then how and when to do it.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 18, 2014 | 1 Kings
1 Peter 5:8-9
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Back in the 1960’s, I served in the US Air Force at a remote radar site on the northern tip of the Canadian Province of Newfoundland. Our primary task was to protect our nation from attack by warning of possible enemy action.
One of the major elements in defending against aggression is being on alert at all times. I can still recall the long night hours when I was on alert for any sign of threat to our nation. When you are wide awake and expectant, it is much easier to react quickly and appropriately. When the night hours slipped by and our eyes felt like they were filled with sand, it was still necessary to react in a professional manner that comes from long hours of training.
In our spiritual walk we never know when the enemy will mount an attack. We can almost be certain that this attack will occur when we are weary and worn. If we have not spent the time in self examination, prayer, and Bible study, we will be very vulnerable to the attack.
There is one thing we can be sure about–we will meet our Lord face to face. It may be at the moment our eyes close in death or it may be when the trumpet sounds and we are called up to meet the Lord in the air. Either way, we must be on the alert with our lamps burning bright. Are you on the alert?
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 17, 2014 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:6-8
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
We never know how close we are to eternity! In 1953 I had completed basic training in California and was being transported to Texas. Approximately fifty of us were flying on an older model military transport plane–an old one! It was left over from World War II.
One of the flight crew notified us that we would be making a stop in New Mexico. As we landed, one of the two propellers stopped. We were stranded there for several hours while the necessary repairs were made. One of the mechanics happened to mention we were lucky we were so close to base before the trouble hit. Yikes!
I haven’t thought about that incident for years. Thinking about it now I realize that we could very easily have crashed and I would have been ushered into eternity! I have had other close calls that reveal to me that we are just a heartbeat from eternity!
While we may have many incidents that are life threatening, it is comforting to remember that while we are here in the body we are absent from the Lord. When this life ends we will be absent from the body and praise God, we will be with Him!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
