The Lord Jesus led me to read
1 Chronicles 16 (Select vv. NASB).
Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples.
Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;
Speak of all His wonders.
Glory in His holy name;
Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.
Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face continually.
I know that, for me, I do not
thank the Lord nearly as often as I should. I am thankful for all that he has
done, and for who he is, and for his grace and salvation and compassion, but I
am very aware whenever I read something like this that I do not verbalize my
thanks to the Lord as frequently as I ought. So, I know that I need to do this
more.
I also don’t sing as often as
I should, either. I do in my spirit, but not out loud. I am a singer, so I don’t
know why I don’t do this much. I have songs in my head all throughout the day,
which the Lord places there, and I do sing them in gratitude to the Lord in my
head, and in my heart, but I do not often sing out loud, so I know I need to do
this more, too.
So, we need to verbalize our
thanks to the Lord, and we need to sing his praises out loud, but also in our
hearts, but we also need to call on his name, and his name is his divine
character, i.e. it represents who he is. We need to call on him, cry out to
him, make our appeals to him, and seek his face continually. We need to talk
with him, but we must also listen to him, but not just listen, but we must also
obey him and do what he says.
Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to
day.
Tell of His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
He also is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and joy are in His place.
And, then we are to speak of
him to others, and tell them all about him and who he is and what he has done,
and what he will yet do. We must tell others about our Lord’s saving grace, for
many yet must be saved before our Lord returns. We ought to be regularly
telling others of Christ’s love for us and of his death on a cross for our
sins, and of his resurrection, which was so that we could be set free from our
sin and have eternal life with God.
We are to walk in the fear of
the Lord, and then we are to teach others to fear the Lord, too. And, to fear
him means to revere, respect, honor and obey him. But, not too many preachers
of the Word are teaching this these days, but rather they are painting God as
soft on sin, fun-loving, light-hearted, carefree, unconcerned about our sin,
and there to grant our every request while requiring nothing of us in return.
They cheapen his grace, and make it out to be license to continue in sin
without guilt or remorse all the while they teach or imply that we do not have
to repent of sin or obey God.
So, we must tell others that
God’s grace is not free license to continue in sinful practices (addictions),
but that his grace teaches us to say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly passions
and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s
return (Tit. 2:11-14). We must tell them that faith in Jesus Christ means death
to sin and living to righteousness and walking in the Spirit and no longer
according to our sinful flesh. We have to tell them that if we conduct our
lives according to (in agreement with) our sinful flesh, that we will die in
our sins, not live with Christ for eternity, for their eternity depends upon
them believing the truth.
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him;
Worship the Lord in holy array.
Tremble before Him, all the earth;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not
be moved.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
We must assign to the Lord
our God what is due him, not credit him with the attributes of the god man has
created in his mind, which suits his purposes and his lifestyle. Our God is a
holy God, completely righteous and just, who not only saves, but who also
judges. He does see when we sin against him, and it grieves him. So, he does
not delight in us while we ignore his commands and do what is opposing him. He
is not pleased with us no matter what we do. Thus, we need to learn what
pleases him, and then do it.
As well, not all people of
all religions worship the same God, the one and only true God. Not even the
Jews, who were once God’s chosen people, worship the one true God, if they do
not worship Jesus Christ and accept him as their Messiah, Lord and Savior. The
Bible says that if they do not believe in Jesus and accept him as their Lord
and Messiah, that they are themselves antichrist. So, the only way to worship
the One and Only True God is to believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord (owner-master)
and Savior of our lives via being crucified with him in death to sin and being
resurrected with him to new life in Christ Jesus, to be lived to his
righteousness.
We also need to credit God
with complete sovereignty over all which he has created and fully capable to do
all that he said he would do, and not act as though he is impotent (powerless) rather
than omnipotent (all powerful). And, then we need to place our trust in his
sovereignty over our lives and rely fully on his strength instead of taking our
lives into our own hands or doubting his ability to work his will and purposes
in our lives in all our circumstances.
We must, too, yield our lives
completely to the Lord, believe him, follow him, and pray for his guidance,
power and strength to do everything which he requires and desires of us. For,
he will give us all that we need to live godly and holy lives pleasing to him
until the end of time.
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
As the Deer
/ Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the
water
So my soul longeth after You…
You alone are my strength, my
shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
Tuesday, November 28, 2017,
2:44 a.m. – Thank you, Jesus, for these encouraging and thought-provoking words.
May we all take them to heart.
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