30 Days of Praise Day 29 Joyful in Affliction

To say that life is a struggle is an understatement. Everything from small annoyances like imperfections in our bodies or sickness to devastating, life-changing losses can sometimes bury us under layer after layer of pain, sadness and just plain weariness.

I've been thinking lately on how easy it is as we get older to allow bitterness to get the best of us. It's sort of the human condition (one of the flesh of course, and not of the Spirit); we get hurt enough times or things go wrong enough and we pick up our "self-pity" mortar and "stay-away-from-me" bricks and build impenetrable walls around our hearts, locking our true selves away in the highest tower. Nothing gets in, we are protected; but that also means nothing gets out and our lives become stagnant. Somehow we slog through each day, battling the real and sometimes would-be threats that surround us...and it always feels like we're on the defensive.

This is a problem on a number of levels, but the most important question the Christian has to ask is Why? Why am I allowing this world to conquer me? Why am I not bringing this pile of hurts: the betrayal of a friend, the loss of a loved one, a hope deferred, or even just the everyday annoyances that can leave us exhausted- to the foot of the cross? Didn't Jesus tell us to come to Him "all who are weary and burdened?"(Matthew 11:28). Then why don't we do it? In my recent soul-searching, I've decided that I'm going to work on two things to overcome this issue.

1) Infuse every aspect of my life with the power of Jesus Christ: through reading His word every single day (it wasn't meant to be read once a week or every once in a while. Its power is most effective in frequent doses, i.e. our "Daily Bread" in Matthew 6:11), time in prayer and close fellowship with other Christians.

2) Praise Him for everything in my life, including my struggles. When the thought came to me it seemed a little self-masochistic. Why would I be THANKFUL for pain and for the trials I'm going through? The answer can be found in a little book called James: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you experience trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2-3). And the same message appears again in Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!" So not only are we to rejoice in our suffering, but we are to consider it “pure joy.”

Wouldn't our lives emit such a sweeter fragrance to our Savior and to those around us if we were truly "joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer"(Romans 12:12) instead of bitter, angry and grumpy?

I’ve probably mentioned this is another post, but I have a recurring thought (I believe it was from the Lord) about how I represent myself in the midst of trials. What reward can there be when we’re under pressure or suffering from something the Lord has allowed in our lives, and we’re pouting like toddlers? That is, until things go our way, or we get the thing we’re asking for, or we feel the refining kiln fires cooling off and then we’re more than happy to give thanks and be joyfully praising God. Isn’t it about time we grew up a little bit? Do we really want to act like spoiled children?

I for one want to look back at the path that I've carved through the wilderness and know that with every step, God was given not only the glory, but the praise. That the tears that stream down my face are tears of deep thankfulness for all the blessings God has showered me with, even if it’s not exactly what I’m hoping for. That the hands I lift high in praise are to a benevolent, powerful, all-knowing God, even above the heavy aching of my heart. That my eyes aren’t focused on the problems in front of me, but on the ever-loving face of Jesus. And that I was glad when I endured this suffering because I am anchored to the hope promised to me by the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word: the faithfulness of a God that has a plan and a future for me, full of blessing and life and light.

30 Days of Praise Day 28 It is Well with My Soul

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, With my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

It is well, With my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

It is well, With my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

It is well, With my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

It is well, With my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

It is well, With my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Horatio Spafford

30 Days of Praise Day 27 Psalm 103:1-5

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, 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.

Psalm 103 is in my top 5 favorite Psalms. It speaks to my life in such a powerful way. I am a living example of God healing my diseases and redeeming my life from the pit.

When I think of this verse, I have such an amazing picture in my mind. Me, struggling in the pit and filth of my own sin: hopeless, lost and dying. When I look around and realize I've been eating with the pigs and squandering my inheritance, all it takes is one simple cry of repentance, and there He is.

Jesus, in all of his glorious majesty, His brilliant glory, reaching down into my smelly, stinking mess of a life and pulling me out.

Not only does He pull me out, but showers me clean with the water of His Word and clothes me with robes of righteousness. To top it all of He gives me a crown to wear-ME: prideful, short-tempered, critical, and sinful. He brings me to his table where I eat of His food, where all my carnal cravings for worldly treats are satisfied with the abundance of His blessing.

So there I am: clean-my sins washed away for all eternity, clothed-my filthy rags disintegrated in the radiance of His glory, replaced with pure robes, crowned-able to show love and compassion to others because I was shown by the ultimate example, satisfied-with real "food", not with imitations or the sugary sweets the world has to offer and finally, renewed-my heart freed from the shackles of sin to soar as high as the eagles.

Truly, my soul does praise you, Lord.

30 Days of Praise Day 26 Psalm 150:6

Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

I know this "30 Days of Praise" has turned into more like "30 Weeks of Praise" but I'm determined to finish what I started out to do.

There's not much to dissect in this verse but I like to meditate on each verse I post to see what little hidden tidbits God has for me. I've been doing that with other verses, especially ones that pertain to certain sins I'm struggling with, or attributes of God I want to learn and understand better. For example, I sincerely struggle with my temper and keeping my fuse long. Lately it's been getting shorter and shorter, especially when I drive. I go from driving down the road, happily singing along with worship songs to morphing into a crazed cursing maniac when someone cuts me off or acts selfishly (which is quite often I'm ashamed to admit). Talk about a literal example of the verse in James 3:11 that talks about how fresh water and salt water shouldn't be flowing from the same spring. Ouch. So I decided to use the Word as my sword to fight against my carnal nature and this tendency to slip into the sin of anger. I wrote out a few verses pertaining to anger and have stuck them on the dashboard of my car. Each morning (and a few times during my commute), I read them and pray that the Lord would give me victory. And it's starting to help, I'm happy to say!

Back to the point: there is power in meditating on God's word. Something supernatural happens and His Words get written on the tablet of our hearts. They become part of us to help us with future temptations, to be able to know how to answer everyone, to ensure our speech is seasoned with grace and to praise Him with the breath that He has breathed into us. My prayer today is that my breath would be used for praising and not cursing.

30 Day of Praise Day 25 Answer to Prayer

As most of our close friends know, Tim's work schedule has always been something of a challenge. Being in law enforcement, it kind of comes with the territory. We've been married almost 6 years, and in that time he has been on every shift from graveyard to swing shift to day shift. We've always been like ships passing in the night with different schedules. God is gracious, though, and He's not only blessed us with so much along the way but has given us the strength to endure being apart.

Recently, an opportunity came up at his work for him to interview for a special assignment as a transport deputy working M-F 7am to 3pm with weekends and holidays off for FOUR years (right now his shifts change every 6 months). Now, Tim HATES weekends because of how crowded everything is (12 years of shift work and being able to do things during the week with no crowds has spoiled him :)) but one of the reasons he put in for this job was so that we could be together more and finally have the same schedule for the first time in our marriage. Plus, he's been wanting to be a transport deputy for quite awhile, so the schedule is just an added benefit.

So, we prayed about it and sought the Lord and Tim felt strongly led to put in for it. He and I felt such a peace about it in the weeks leading up to it, most of that having to do with the fact that even though we both wanted it more than anything, we gave it up to God and asked Him that His will be done (there is such freedom in that by the way...just letting go). The week of the interview came and with it some major attacks from the enemy. It seemed like each day we got closer to the interview day, the more we were fighting and mistreating each other (which is rare), little irritations would happen (like Tim driving over a crescent wrench and getting a flat tire, preventing us from going to Home Group that night to ask for prayer), I had to go to the ER for a crazy dizzy spell...Satan was in full attack mode. How did we deal with it? Well, in the middle of a fight we stopped ourselves and realized what was happening. We always hear Pastor Brett talking about humbling yourself enough in a fight to grab your spouse's hand and pray. It's so easy to sit in church and nod your head in agreement; it's another thing entirely to actually put it into practice. So we both swallowed our pride and the hurtful words that were itching to be said, and prayed together, apologized to each other and made up. And the darkness truly FLED. The next day he interviewed and after a day of deliberation we found out that...HE GOT IT!!! I don't even know what to do I'm so excited! I will have my husband home every single night. We will be able to wake up together on a Saturday and Sunday and have a "normal" life for four years. We'll be able to go camping with our friends or out to dinner or get more involved with church the way we've been wanting to. I cannot wait to begin this new little chapter in our lives!

I am so incredibly grateful to my Lord Jesus. I am always humbly amazed that even when we act like idiots and spoiled children, he still continues to bless us. Who He is alone commands praise, but these blessings and answers to prayer that come along in our lives remind me just how grateful I am to serve such a mighty, loving, gracious and benevolent God.