Choose Praise

Acts 16:25

And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

Paul and Silas were in prison-not just in prison, but in the inner prison with their feet in stocks (and this was after being beaten). They could have spent their time depressed about where they were. They could have spent their time worried about what would happen to them in the morning. They could have worried about if they were going to die.

But they didn't.

They "sang praises unto God." They chose to think on the good. They chose to remember who was in control.

And do you know what? Those around them were paying attention! Whether we like it or not, others are watching us. Our life is our testimony. Others are paying attention to how we deal with stress and the unknown. They may not say anything, but our actions and our words are affecting many of those around us.

What are people seeing? Are they seeing you filled with fear, or are they seeing your complete faith in God? Are they seeing anxiety and unrest, or are they seeing peace?

Paul and Silas showed others about God and they came to know Him. None of the prisoners left when the doors opened. That would have only happened if their hearts were changed. Then, the guard and his family came to know God as well.

Our responses can have lasting affects on the kingdom of God and the eternal lives of others.

Think on Whatever is Good

Philippians 4:4-9 KJV

4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

"Rejoice in the Lord alway." (emphasis mine)

We are to always be praising God and looking for the positive in all situations. This reminds me of James 1:2.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

"moderation" = suitable, equitable, fair, mild, gentle

As Christians we are to be different from the world. Our actions should be fair and gentle so much so that we are known for it.

"careful" = anxious

We should not let anxiety rule in our hearts. Whenever we feel anxiety rising, we need to go to the Lord in prayer. We need to ask Him for his peace and thank Him that he is in control. When we go to Him and request peace, His peace will fill our hearts.

In verse 8, Paul admonishes us to think on the good. Studies have shown that what we focus on is more likely to happen. So, if we focus on fear and anxiety, then we will get more fear and anxiety. However, when we focus on truth and those things that are lovely and true, we will get more peace. This is why having a heart of gratitude is so important!

It is important for us to put into practice what we learn in God's Word. When we live life as God calls us to live, then "the God of peace shall be with you."

Sealed

Ephesians 1:13

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

To be sealed means we have a mark on us which shows others that we are different. That mark is the Holy Spirit in us. Once the Holy Spirit resides in our hearts, then our lives should be marked by many differences from those of this world.

To be sealed also conjures a type of protection. We are sealed and protected from Satan. Just as Satan had to get permission from God to attack Job, so he needs permission from God to attack those of us sealed by Him. God does not give us more than we can handle because we can do all things through Him (Philippians 4:13).

We shouldn't stress about the trials we endure because we know that we are sealed by the Spirit. I 'm not saying that is easy, but if we remember that we have the power of the Spirit in us, then we are more able to fight and endure the trials.

Redemption

Ephesians 1:7

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Redemption.

What a wonderful word. I never thought about it much until after watching Beyond the Mask. It is a great movie that demonstrates redemption. But let's look closer.

redemption = a releasing effected by payment of ransom.

Christ redeemed us by paying our debt for us. His shed blood paid for what we should have paid. He paid the ransom for us!

When I think of that word, ransom, I feel even further loved. Most experts will tell you not to pay a ransom because not only may you not actually get back what you desire, but they may come gain and demand more money.

Christ loves us enough that He paid the ransom even though there is the risk that we don't want to be with Him. He paid even thought He knew that Satan wasn't going to give up and would continue to attack.

Let's look at another word, forgiveness.

forgiveness = release from bondage or imprisonment; forgiveness or pardon of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty.

When we commit sin, we are placing our selves in bondage to that sin. We will remain in that sin until we are freed through forgiveness. The bonus is that when Christ forgives, He forgets about the offense! It is like it never happened because we are an new. That is the richness of His grace!

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Proverbs 17:6

Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

I don't think I have met a grandparent who didn't love being a grandparent. I am always being told how wonderful it is. Grandparents gush over their grandchildren and usually spoil them. Most children see their fathers as a type of super hero. They look up to their fathers as if they can conquer the world. I love the image of family this portrays as God's will.

Poor in Spirit

Matthew 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This seems like a paradox, but let's dig deeper.

poor = lacking in anything , helpless, powerless, reduced to begging

When we are at the end of ourselves, that is exactly how we are. We can't "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps" because we don't have bootstraps to pull. We have nothing to offer. That is when God moves in and gives us His kingdom.

We can receive His gift because we are no longer trying to get there on our own. There is the saying that sometimes people need to hit rock bottom before they will look up. Well, that is being poor in spirit.

I can't do this life on my own. My sin is too great. I don't have enough strength to endure the trials. I need Him!

Accepted

Ephesians 1:6

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Accepted.

I always thought that just meant that He wanted us, that He chose us. However, when I look up the original Greek, it means, "to make graceful, charming, lovely, agreeable."

The word, "make", threw me so I looked back at the verse and it says, "made." Hmm. This is important.

In our sin, we are not lovely or even agreeable to God. We oppose Him and His ways. Our sin makes us filthy and even when we think we are doing good, "our righteousness are as filthy rags."

The important thing to realize is that He chose to make us clean and acceptable! He did all the world. It is nothing we can do!

Adopted

Romans 8:14-16 KJV

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

If we are adopted, we are certainly wanted/chosen. God desired us to have a closer relationship with Him than to just be His creation.

When we are led by the Spirit of God, we then have His power! We no longer need to be slaves to sin and fear. That is why we can cry out to Abba Father, and He will answer. He has sent His Spirit to speak to our hearts to comfort, encourage, and reprimand just like we parents do for our earthly children.

A.W. Tozer explains it well in His book, God's Pursuit of Man.

How can one personality enter another? The candid reply would be simply that we do not know, but a near approach to an understanding may be made by a simple analogy borrowed from the old devotional writers of several hundred years ago. We place a piece of iron in a fire and blow up the coals. At first we have two distinct substances, iron and fire. When we insert the iron in the fire we achieve the penetration of the iron and we have not only the iron in the fire but the fire in the iron as well. They are two distinct substances, but they have co-mingled and interpenetrated to a point where the two have become one.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Proverbs 16:32

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

This verse is pretty straightforward that it is important to control yourself and your anger. Anger can cause division and strife. Anger is also a fleshly response to our selfishness. God desires us to overcome our flesh and strive to be like Christ. It is much harder to overcome our own flesh than to overcome other people. We should admire those who desire self-control over their anger.

Elect

1 Peter 1:2

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

The children and I are studying 1 Peter in our Bible class for school. we have read through the whole book and again through chapter one a few times (and we have been studying 1 Peter on Wednesday nights at church, too!), but it wasn't until recently that the word "elect" stood out to me.

elect = picked out, chosen, chosen by God

Maybe it is because I am really trying to learn who I am in Christ, but this hit me. Not only was I chosen, but He chose me before the world began. The foreknowledge of God the Father means He created a way of sanctification (Christ) because He had already chosen me!

Doesn't it feel good knowing you have been chosen? As children, we desire to be chosen to play on teams and as long as we aren't "chosen" last, we feel good. But do you remember how it felt on the rare occasion you were chosen first? It made my day!

Well, this is even better! God chose us before we even knew we were available to be chosen! We don't have to wonder if we were just the best option available. He wanted us!

In fact, He desired us so much that He sent His Son to earth do die for us-our sins, our wrongdoings. As a mother, I can't imagine that level of sacrifice, but God did it freely!