January 2010 Simply Praise

Simply Praise
1 Ch. 29:13 “Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
(A monthly meditation considering our God)

The AM-FM Radio

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.
Upon reading in a book called “Classic Christianity Illustrated” chapter 27. I thought it good to share the whole of it with you. In this New Year we might be challenged even harder in keeping tuned to the right signals concerning truth and error. This might help some to recognize the difference.
Within every Christian are both the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:17 that these desires are in conflict one with another. We all know this to be true. If someone insults us, our flesh wants to get back at that person, but the Spirit of God living inside says to forgive. Which desire do we follow? This is a battle that every Christian encounters. And, this battle begins in the mind. Our mind functions in such a way that it can be compared to an AM-FM radio. An AM-FM radio has been designed to receive both AM and FM signals. The AM signal carries programming that can only be heard on the AM dial; and the FM carries programming that can only be heard on the FM dial. A radio listener does not have a choice as to the programming on either signal. He does have a choice, however, as to which signal (AM or FM) he will listen to. So it is with our minds. We have been created in such a way that our minds can receive input from both Satan and the world, and from God and His Word. The programming on the AM dial of our mind comes from Satan and the world. Satan and the world fill our minds with lies or errors that appeal to the flesh and its desires. “For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:16). The programming on the FM dial of our minds comes from God and His Word. This is truth that appeals to the Spirit and its desires. “However, as it is written: “No Eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit...We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Cor. 2:9, 10, 12). Just like the radio, we cannot change the programming that comes from Satan, nor can we change the programming that comes from God. However, we can choose whether we will listen to Satan and his error or God and His truth. Jesus said in John 8:31, 32, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples Than you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” If truth sets you free, then error must put you in bondage. If you choose to listen to Satan and the world, you will experience bondage. If you choose to listen to God and His Word, you will experience freedom. The error that comes from Satan says:
To worry about everything
You have to be a lot better than that
To analyze why you are so bad
You deserve to be treated better than that
You will not be happy until you get_____________
To blame people for your problems
To wonder what tomorrow will bring
Truth, on the other hand, that comes from God says:
“Be anxious for nothing” (Philippians 4:6 NASB).
By one sacrifice, He has made you perfect forever” (Hebrews 10:14).
“Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God” (Romans 6:11 NASB).
Love “does not take into account a wrong suffered” (1 Cor. 13:5 NASB).
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Philippians 4:11).
“Take the log out of your own eye” (Matthew 7:5 NASB).
“Do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself” (Matthew 6:34 NASB).
For a Christian, to whom to listen seems like an easy choice. who in their right mind would choose bondage over freedom? We do, however. Why? Because our emotions respond to whatever is in our minds. Satan gets his programming into our minds through our five senses. And what we see, hear, feel, taste, or smell produces an emotional response. It is in this emotional response that the desires of the flesh are cultivated. At this point, because we are so feeling-oriented, it becomes very easy to act out the desires of the flesh. Truth, however, is not determined by feelings. Just because we feel something doesn't mean it is true. We are, therefore, not to let feelings dictate what our actions will be. That is why the Bible tells us not to 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). Jesus Christ lives inside each believer and is constantly feeding truth into our minds in every circumstance we encounter. Jesus Christ is there to remind us of our identity in Christ, and of His grace. Based on the truth of His love and grace, He reasons with us and then asks us to present our bodies to Him regardless of what our emotions are telling us to do. Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1). Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness (Romans 6:13). When we do, we will be able to test and approve God’s will—His good, pleasing, and perfect will. Whether you experience bondage or God’s will (freedom) is determined by whether you listen to Satan and his error or to God and His truth. To which dial will you tune your mind?

Well, this chapter gives us a lot to think about. I hope you really take the time to reflect on its message so this new year can be a truly Happy one.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17

Intercessory Introspection (My Utmost For His Highest; by Oswald Chambers)

“And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.” 1 Thess.5:23.
“Your whole spirit…” The great mystical work of the Holy Spirit is in the dim regions of our personality which we cannot get at. Read the 139th Psalm: the Psalmist implies—”Thou art the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea; but, my God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature—Thou Who art the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at—my God, search me out.” Do we believe that God can garrison the imagination far beyond where we can go? “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin”—if that means in conscious experience only, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been made obtuse by sin will say he is not conscious of sin. Cleansing from sin is to the very heights and depths of our spirit if we will keep in the light as God is in the light, and the very Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirits. It is only when we are garrisoned by God with the stupendous sanctity of the Holy Spirit, that spirit and soul and body are preserved in unspotted integrity, undeserving of censure in God’s sight, until Jesus comes. We do not allow our minds to dwell as they should on these great massive truths of God.

Are You Fresh For Everything? (My Utmost For His Highest; by Oswald Chambers)

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3
Sometimes we are fresh for a prayer meeting but not fresh for cleaning boots! Being born again of the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as mysterious as the wind, as surpassing as God Himself. We do not know where it begins, it is hidden away in the depths of our personal life. Being born again from above is a perennial, perpetual and eternal beginning; a freshness all the time in thinking and talking and living, the continual surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an indication of something out of joint with God—”I must do this thing or it will never be done.” that is the first sign of staleness. Are we freshly born this minute or are we stale, raking in our minds for something to do? Freshness does not come from obedience but from the Holy Spirit; obedience keeps us in the light as God is in the light. Guard jealously your relationship to God. Jesus prayed “that they may be one, even as we are one”—nothing between. Keep all the life perennially open to Jesus Christ, don’t pretend with Him. Are you drawing your life from any other source than God Himself? If you are depending upon anything but Him, you will never know when He is gone. Being born of the Spirit means much more than we generally take it to mean. It gives us a new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything by the perennial supply of the life of God.

Various Quotes

I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year: "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown"; and he replied, "Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way!" quoting from a poem by M. L. Harkins. 
By King George VI
The New Year is a time to learn to rely more heavily on the grace of God. Now I've met a few self-made men and women and so have you, but so often these people seem proud, self-centered and driven. There is another way: beginning to trust in God's help. One secret from the Apostle Paul: "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength," he said. (Phil 4:13, NIV) And God's strength saw him through pain, joy, and accomplishment. 
Anonymous 
Our religious activities should be ordered in such a way as to have plenty of time for the cultivation of the fruits of solitude and silence. 
A. W. Tozer

Psalm 94:17-19

Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence. If I say, “My foot slips,” Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.

Can you imagine your soul settling in silence? The worst thought is the silence of never hearing the voice of God, never hearing Him say “well done”. But then there is that wonderful word; (Unless). Unless the LORD “had been” my help. I am so glad He is there helping. Sometimes when the noise of the world screams at you, finding a place to sit in silence and meditate on the Lord is good. But the silence of the soul, that thought brings a chill. And I love the word “if” in the context of these verses. If I say, “My foot slips” I need only to cry out, and His Mercy, O how beautiful a thought, His mercy! It will hold me up! Not just a thought, a reality! And in the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.

What is this tugging at my heart?
“Tis like a homing dove.
How can I long for a place unseen.
And feel His endless love?
Homesick and worn, I strive each day,
a broken soul to love.
But my broken heart aches to join,
My Savior up above.
How long must I fight the battles,
on tearstained fields for Thee?
“Until your task is finished here,”
He firmly says to me.
“I’ve covered your scars with my blood.
I’ve washed your hands and feet.
I’ve taken the sins of your soul
To the mercy seat.”
what love I feel in His voice,
His hands outstretched to me.
I’ll serve until that moment, His loving face I see.
Author Unknown

A New Year's Prayer 

May God make your year
a happy one!
Not by shielding you from
all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you
to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy
to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you
unbroken sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your
life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people

and their causes need you most,
and by making you
anxious to be there to help.
God's love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead. 
Anonymous 

We must bear in mind that mere resolutions to take more time for prayer and to conquer reluctance to pray will not prove lastingly effective unless there is a whole hearted and absolute surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Anonymous