Ponder and Praise

As we ponder and praise His Word and His Ways in our hearts, we are being fermented inside. He waits patiently, with great excitement and anticipation, as our vintage is prepared for His table. On our final day, at the end of our final hour He will pop the cork from our bottle of champagne and savor the great LOVE we have for Him as He raises His glass.

It always has, does, and will come down to LOVE. When we truly love Him, we naturally love each other. My sweet Jesus, help me to love You more… I want to love You with every thought, word, action and breath of my body.

Psalm 1
Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
but
whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and
who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Fasting from Hallelujah…

In preparation for fasting from Hallelujah during Lent, I decided to say Hallelujah as many times as I could today, in praise of our sweet Lord. I repeated over and over again in my head at the gym, out loud in the car, while doing things around the house, almost all day. Later when I sat down to do my bible study lesson the final question asked us to write a psalm in praise of our Sweet and Holy God! It flowed quickly from me like water pouring out of a cracked and broken vessel.

I cry out an eternal Hallelujah,
From the infinite depths of my heart.
It fills the air with praise for our God,
Permeating everything until it fills the world and beyond.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Our Sweet, Faithful and Holy Lord always prepares the way for us, we cannot go wrong if we listen and follow!

He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
Luke 11:28

A house of prayer

Sweet Lord, please let the waters of my body remember the prayers You have gifted me to pray so that my whole being will be immersed in the infinite ripples of praise and prayer for You and to You in all moments of my life. For then I too can be Your House… A House of Prayer.

Isaiah 56:6-7
And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lordand to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

Glimpses of Infinity

Infinite – limitless or endless in space, extent, or size; impossible to measure or calculate.

Finite – having limits or bounds; possible to measure or calculate.

We have been given many things to help us comprehend the infinite, the sands of the earth, the drops of water in the ocean, the insects in the world, the seeds of the forests, the leaves of the trees. These things we know are finite, and yet not being able to count them gives us a tiny glimpse of infinity.

Many still debate whether our universe is infinite or finite, but I think this too is finite, yet so immense and still expanding that it offers us another glimpse of the infinite within the finite.

Without these glimpses of infinity within the finite, how could we ever hope to think outside of our box or bubble and contemplate the INFINITE Glory, Love, and Mercy of our sweet Lord?

Psalm 147: 4-5
He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.

A voice like the roar of many waters…

My interest in bubbles was reignited again today after watching a CBS Sunday Morning segment on bubbles.  Did you know that bubbles and only bubbles are what give rushing waters their sounds?

The babbling of a brook, the rushing of a river, the breaking of waves and the roar of a waterfall come from the pulse of sound made every time a bubble is formed, therefore the more bubbles formed, the more sound pulses generated and the greater the sound.

Our sweet Lord’s voice was described in Revelation as being like “the roar of many waters”, but maybe it can be more accurately described as being the combination of sound pulses generated as many bubbles are formed – as if He was speaking at the surface or intersection of two different substances, John residing in one substance, and our Lord speaking to him from the other substance.

Revelation 14:2
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters…

A hidden blessing?

Do you remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?

Luke 16:19-26

“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. “And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’

I was washing my hands today in very hot water after cleaning the bathroom.  The water was so hot that I had to take my hands out for a moment and then put them back in to rinse.  I noticed that once my hands had adjusted to being out of the hot water for that moment, it was even more painful to put them back in the water for my final rinse.

This is such an obvious point that we often forget about it.  Once we are adjusted to an extreme, whether it be temperature or a life situation, things become easier, they become more bearable and  more tolerable and then eventually become our normal as we settle in and forgot about our previous normal.

Could this great chasm really be a hidden blessing for those who choose Hades, because in His infinite wisdom He knows their endless suffering would increase exponentially with even one drop of cool water or one grace given from above?

Teach me

  • Teach me Lord to praise You as the trees do, with their arms stretched wide day and night in praise of You.
  • Teach me Lord to be as flexible and changeable as the clouds as they move and change day and night guided by Your will.
  • Teach me Lord to be as humble as a grain of sand that knows without it’s presence the desert or the beach is not greatly changed, but gratefully realizes that it’s presence is required for the desert or the beach to be complete in Your plan.
  • Teach me Lord to be as reflective as all the waters of the earth so that I might reflect Your majesty back to You.

Thank You Lord for all of the ways you teach us!