by Pastor Cecil | Oct 29, 2015 | Psalm
Psalm 5:11
“But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.”
I love to praise the Lord. Many times when I awake at night I will recite verses that I have memorized and praise the Lord for the way He has been with me all through my life. I rejoice and take joy in all that He does for me. It grieves me when I see other Christians that are so dismally sad. There is no rejoicing evident in them.
When we read the words of today’s Scripture we see that the psalmist David calls all of us to rejoice and find joy in the Lord. Not only does he call us to be joyful and rejoice, he also gives a reason for it. We find the reason in the middle of this verse: “…because You defend them.”
The Lord is our strength and He always does what is right. There are times when we may not see His hand at work in our life, but believe me, He is there!
We may never fully understand the ways and works of the Lord on this side of eternity. Our job is not to seek out the reason why, but to rejoice in the knowledge that God knows not only our todays but all of our tomorrows as well. Faith in God means trusting Him completely with joy in our hearts.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Oct 16, 2015 | 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 | Oct 14, 2015 | Psalm
Psalm 119:9-11
“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
As I was praying about the subject for this issue of BLESSINGS FROM THE HEART, my thoughts were drawn to “Your Word.” When I checked a concordance I discovered that Psalm 119 has so many references to these two words that it was difficult to count them. Not only that, but there were a vast number of synonyms for God’s Word.
I have heard that Jewish boys were required to memorize all of Psalm 119. That may not sound like much until you check and discover that there are a total of 176 verses in this chapter. (When was the last time you memorized one or two verses?)
Most of us have several Bibles in our possession. In many cases they look like they have never been opened. I always try to be careful when I purchase a new Bible, but it seems like before long it becomes so worn and marked up that I need to go shopping for a new one. It is sheer bliss to pick one of my old Bibles and thumb through it and read a few of the notes I had made.
The important thing is that our Bibles are God breathed. The words are His words! I want those words to burn deep into my heart and keep me focused on Him at all times.
“A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” – Charles H. Spurgeon
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Sep 18, 2015 | Psalm
Psalm 90:1-2
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
“O God, Our Help in Ages Past” is a hymn by Isaac Watts and paraphrases Psalm 90. It originally consisted of nine stanzas. In present usage, however, the hymn is usually limited to stanzas one, two, three, five and nine.
The hymn was originally part of The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, published by Watts in 1719. It has often been sung for special occasions in England. It was sung in 1941, at a religious service on board HMS Prince of Wales attended by Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the conference creating the Atlantic Charter. It was also sung at the funeral of Winston Churchill in 1965.
Later composers subsequently incorporated the tune in their own works. For example, George Handel used the tune in an anthem entitled, O Praise the Lord.
Oh God, Our Help In Ages Past
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guide while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
To access Oh God, Our Help In Ages Past, this week’s inspirational video from GloryScapes.com, please go to:http://www.gloryscapes.com/ogodourhelpinagespast 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 | Sep 17, 2015 | Psalm
Psalm 51:10-11
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”
It sometimes feels as if we are continually appealing to the Lord to forgive some sin we have committed in thought, word or deed. We are sinners by birth and without a Savior, we are eternally lost. Even after receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Savior we find that there are thoughts or actions that need forgiveness.
I heard the story of a saintly man of God who seemed to constantly live close to the Lord. Someone asked him the secret of consistently having a victorious Christian life. His response was electrifying and very revealing; “I try not to allow more than one minute to pass between my sin and my confession.”
Most of us are familiar with first John 1:9; “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Knowing it and practicing it are two different things. The longer we try to excuse our actions instead of confessing them as a sin the farther we draw away from God.
If you want victory in your life constantly be prepared to confess when you fail or fall short. There was only one perfect human born on this earth and he was nailed to the cross. Not for His sins, but for ours! Restore me Lord to a closer walk with You.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Sep 14, 2015 | Psalm
Psalm 42:11
“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.”
I am told that depression is so prevalent in our society that many people have given up all hope. What a sad commentary that is. In an era when science and technology has brought about changes to make life easier, many feel only hopelessness.
When I use the word “hope,” it is not longingly wishing for something that is not possessed, but rather a confident expectation that what has been promised will come to pass.
For the believer, we need to have a hope that looks beyond the things of this world in anticipation of the glory that awaits us in eternity. It is so easy to be caught up in the rat race around us. So often our focus is on temporal things rather than eternal values.
There’s an old hymn that often echoes through my mind called “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” One line goes like this: “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” I want that for my life!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
