A Psalm of Praise

I received a love dare from mom, "Write your own Psalm."

Here goes....

I will my eyes to the beauty around me.  My home is a sanctuary of peace.  My garden is lush with life! 

I will lift up my eyes and give praise for my Lord's provision.  I sleep in a warm bed and have plenty of food to eat. 

I will lift up my eyes and sing praise for God's power!  He holds the universe together in brilliant splendor.  Why would my heart be troubled with the perils around me, when my father's Angels have watch over me? 

God of heaven, you are worthy of all Praise!

Back away from the door

Faced with a fight of flight situation, most people have a healthy flight response.  Now being a red headed Leo has unfortunately landed me in hot water many times.  Now tonights story isn't nearly quite so dramatic but it drove the "better safe than sorry" principle home in an unusual way. 

I had planned to try a nice new recepe based on something I had eaten before.  Mushy potatoes, baked fish cakes and a sort of lemon/coconut milk/margerine sauce with herbs, smothering some nicely cooked peas.  So I get home, knowing that load shedding is about to start and I haul out my Cobb to do a quick braaied fish and the rest of the ingredients to be cooked on the gas stove. 

I get the coals going and as I am about to go outside to lay on the fish cakes it starts to patter with rain.  Now at that moment, I had precisely the best opportunity to asses the situation and make a call to rather fry the fish cakes than grill them.....sigh!  What do I say to myself, "How bad can it get?" and out I go. 

No sooner are the fish cakes placed and a terrential downpour out of nowhere strikes with battering winds, leaving me totally flabagasted.  Now at this point I'm still in denial and I think, well it has a dome, maybe the fish cakes will make it.  Well a few minutes later of starring out the door, I finally make peace with the fact that my fish cakes were probably nothing but mush.  Well plan B supper was one of my old potatoe salad concoctions. 

So where is the moral in the story here?  I should have listened to that little voice saying, "Ronwyn, back away from the door and fry your fish".  But No. How often don't we make mistakes in life because we simply refuse to listen to what the Holy Spirit is trying to say to us (and save our supper too). 

Revelations 2:29 "He who as an ear, let him hear, what the Spirit says to the Churches."  Now that has far more reaching effects than my above scenario, but the trouble is, when we disobey the voice of the Holy Spirit with small things, it becomes easier to disobey him with the bigger larger and possibly more dangerous aspects of life.  

So as my fish cakes lie in the bin and hopefully lesson learned, let me encourage you to look out for the warning signs in life, when God is trying to get your attention.  

To me, better luck next time, but for you, I hope that you are a stronger listener than I am. 

 

Looking where you can't go

In the 2003 movie "Paycheck", Ben Affleck's character finds a riddle near the end of the movie that reads: "If you only look where you can't go, you will miss the riches below."  It's a fun movie go check it out. 

There's a strong point to be made here.  We all have dreams and in some instances, God in His wisdom has chosen not to grant them, and there is really nothing we can do about that, but to trust God and believe that one day when we are in heaven he will reveal the reason.  

One dream that I do believe I should be able to make a reality one day is to go to Canada to visit my dear friend Bridget and her hubby Greg.  Dreams won't become reality unless we do something about them.  This sank in hard with me as I realised I really wasn't making any headway in this area.  So I have to tighten my belt if I want to make this happen.  

That took me back to remembering a time in my life when money was VERY tight.  Through it all though I learned contentment and I learned how to adjust my lifestyle to cope.  Well, its time for some self regulation to make my savings dreams a reality.  

Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forebearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."  If you ask God for these fruits, beware, He will test you in them until they become a reality, but the rewards of working through these is so great that the sacrifice is worth all the effort. 

I want to encouage you today, what are your dreams?  What would you need to change today to make tomorrow better?  Then find the fruit that matches that and chase after it. 

How Should We Pray

Most of us are shy about praying in public when we don’t know what to pray for and as such the best encouragement I can give you is to look at the answer our Lord gave to the disciples when they asked him, “Master, how should we pray?”  And Jesus answered them with:

So how do we translate this prayer into today’s language and maybe to something that is personal to us?  Let me venture an interpretation:

 

Dear Father God, you are amazing and holy.  Today as I come before you, I ask you to make your will known to me and to help me to follow your will for my life.  Lord, I present my needs to you, and you know them, but I ask you for provision in this [area of my life].  Forgive me Lord for my sins, I repent and choose to follow you.  Help me to forgive others that have hurt me.  Holy Spirit, protect me from myself today.  Help me not to yield to the temptations that grab my attention.  Protect me from the devil’s evil works and guide me and lead me in your truths. I love you Lord.  Amen!

 

Try taking Jesus’ template and write out your own prayer from your heart and once you have done so, read it out aloud over and over.  As you start to verbalise your own prayers you will become more confident to share your prayers with others.