Saturday, June 8, 2013

Praise Him

Life.
What is the meaning in that word? Life. I think it is something different for every person. What is life?
"As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them. The Lord has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all."
Psalm 103:15-19
Our days are like a passing shadow. Life is brevity. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting!

But finish reading the song of David. Let's see the end through.
"Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!"
In contrast to the fleeting nature of our days on this earth is the steadfast love of the Lord. His character is ceaseless. His love endures forever. His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. His grace has no end. This is good news for us, who are gripped with the vanity of life. Even the greatest of us. Ecclesiastes 2. Psalm 39:4

At the end of the day, all is vanity if not to praise the Lord, our Creator.
He is eternal. To Him only, belong all good things; all things eternal.

Only Him.

His praise, His glory, is to be our only concern because He willingly gave up His life that we can have the choice to give it all back to Him.

How quickly the moments slip by! How deeply I wish to take them all in. I've been thinking, lately, of just how impossible it is for me to wrap my mind around what God has given me. This life, filled with trials, hard, passing and beautiful. My family, also beautiful, and able to touch me in a way no one else can. What a gift I have in them! His grace, new every morning. His love, calling every day. His blessings engulf and surround me, like oxygen, and I can never take it all in. But how often taken for granted?

Do you feel the sand slipping through the hour glass, feel time all around you moving and snatching the years so quickly by? I dare you to feel your age and each year that has passed, and notice how quickly it all has gone by. At the end of your life, say, fifty years from now, will you wake and
think, "God?
"how did I get here? Where did my life go?"
Or will you wake and
thank God,
for a life poured out, spent in the best way possible.

We who believe in His word are born again to an imperishable hope. Therefore we will not die. We will go on living with Him for all eternity.

John 11:25-26; “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”
Corinthians 15:51-57; “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”


Wishing you a day filled with praise for our wonderful Savior,
Ashlin

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Remember

I was thinking of the passage in Psalm 106. I read it this morning and these are the parts that really stuck out to me:
"Praise the Lord!
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His praise? . . . Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled . . . Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, That He might make His mighty power known. . . Then they believed His words. They sang His praise. They soon forgot His works: They did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. . . Who had done great things in Egypt, Wondrous works in the land of Ham, Awesome things by the Red Sea. . . Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His word, but complained in their tents, And did not heed the voice of the Lord. . . Thus they were defiled by their own works, And played the harlot by their own deeds. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people . . .Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies. . . Blessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, 'Amen!'
Praise the Lord!"
And then I also read this today.

 Just little reminders,
to remember.
How many times are we commanded to just remember?  In the King James Version bible, the word "remember" appears 148 times. So, we're reminder to remember a lot.

I'm reminded of ten big, daily reminders.

I don't know if you've seen the video, The Gospel, but chances are you have. I would recommend you watch it again.

It's too easy for us to go through each day with out taking the time to think on, to remember, Who God says He is, what He has done for us and the blessings we have been given just this very day.




Psalm 77:11 "I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old."

~Ashlin