blessings

Counting our Blessings {Psalm 136}

7:30 PM



Scripture Reading: Psalms 136


“Count your blessings; name them one by one…” Do you remember the next line to this old hymn? I wonder if the writer of this hymn had thought of  Psalm 136 when they wrote it.

Both the Psalm and the hymn remind us of how important it is to be grateful! I also loved this picture Max Lucado describes for us:

The grateful heart is like a magnet sweeping over the day, collecting reasons for gratitude. A zillion diamonds sparkle against the velvet of your sky every night.  Gratitude gets us through the hard stuff. To reflect on your blessings is to rehearse God’s accomplishments. To rehearse God’s accomplishments is to discover his heart. To discover his heart is to discover not just good gifts but the Good Giver. Gratitude always leaves us looking at God and away from dread. It does to anxiety what the morning sun does to valley mist. It burns it up.”- Max Lucado

I have a friend, who for years battled with depression and anxiety until she began starting each day by writing down 12 things she was thankful for. She will not begin her day without doing this one act first.

How about you? Do you find yourself being grateful for the most part, or do you tend to accentuate the negatives in life? I’ll admit I used to be a pessimist- the glass half empty kind of girl, until I chose to start counting my blessing each morning. I now can see gratitude is a CHOICE! And given the choice, I’d much rather be filled with joy and thanksgiving then weighed down by all the cares of the world. Don't you agree? Did you know that:


I’ll leave you with the a little prayer George Herbert, a 17th-century British poet, included in his poem titled, Gratefulness: “Thou that hast given so much to me, give one thing more: a grateful heart.” 

I pray that will be our prayer as well.

Angie Benjamin

When life gets blurry, adjust your focus!! {Psalms 102:1-104:35}

2:56 AM



Today's reading is simply beautiful,

In Psalm 102, We see David being overwhelmed by trouble and pouring our his heart and problems before the Lord.

We've all been there. Moments of deep pain and despair, in which we don't even care about the basics needs such as eating.

Moments in which the heartache is so bad that we begin to feel rejected by God Himself. We start wondering, where is He?...

But our beautiful God and creator is eternally with us and will keep all of his promises, even though we may feel alone.

The word of God says that this world (and its problems) will perish, but God and His love for us will remain.

In those times of need God alone can be our comfort and our strength. It is beautiful to know that even when we are too weak to fight, we can trust and lean on Him.

I believe it is when we recognise and acknowledge our shortcomings and weaknesses that God's great power becomes available.

Only when we realise that we have come to the end of ourselves we allow God's power to manifest in our lives and in our situations.

So what to do when everything seems so dark and gloomy?

PRAISE




In Psalm 103, David praise focuses on the things God had done and was still doing for him.

I think this is key. Telling our soul and redirecting our thoughts to the goodness of God. Remembering the good things that He has done and remembering how far He has taken us from.

It is very easy to complain about life. After all, our world seems to be upside down...but David reminds us that there are far many more things to be grateful for and to praise God for, such as:


  • He forgives our sins.
  • Heals our diseases.
  • Redeems us from death!
  • Crowns us with the love and compassion.
  • Satisfies our desires.
  • Gives us righteousness and justice.


And the best of all? We receive all these without deserving any of them!

We can go through life resting assured that regardless where we are in our life's journey, we can count our past, present and even future blessings!

So when things are not going quite right and you're feeling down, please go back to David's list.

Train your thoughts to focus and redirect your attention to PRAISE!

So as a photographer, I've learnt a very important lesson in life...









Blessed

In Him We Are Complete {Colossians 2}

10:30 PM



Today Paul continues to express his concern for the Church at Colosse and Laodicea.  They were people who had embraced the Christian Faith, but were vulnerable to the teachings of traditions among the Jews and the Greek philosophers. So Paul encourages them to keep focused on the truths of the Gospel, and not be engaged in external rules and rituals; to be “knit together by strong ties of love” (2:2) in their Christian walk, because he knew that discouraged, downcast Christians are easy prey for the world, the flesh, and Satan. This same situation is actually happening in many of our Churches today; many believers are being distracted by “modern” philosophies and cults that are only deceiving them in their Christian walk!

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in [union with] Him [reflecting His character in the things you do and say—living lives that lead others away from sin], 7 having been deeply rooted [in Him] and now being continually built up in Him and [becoming increasingly more] established [e]in your faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing in it with gratitude.”

 This is a wonderful truth for Christian living: therefore just as you received Jesus, walk in Him in the same way.  As Christians, we walk, but we are also rooted, and we are also built up, BUT we need to remain (abide) in Jesus: “4 Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me…. “-5…The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)

This summer I had the blessing to visit my momma who had been hospitalized and had the privilege to encourage her in her walk with our Lord. You see, she lives by herself and does not attend Church. She has an issue with her sight, so she does not read her Bible. She is a very vulnerable Christian. Most of the time she finds herself focusing on her loneliness, her past, her health issues, etc. Some of us focus only on the things we lack of, and forget to focus on Jesus’ Saving Grace. We lose sight of ALL the blessings He conquered for us on the cross!



While I was visiting mom, I also had the opportunity to meet with a very dear friend of mine (from Jr. High School); she was going through trials and had just received a doctor’s prescription for depression! We prayed and cried together. She finally confessed she was bitter against God: Why wouldn’t He help them out of this situation? As I previously did with my mother, I encouraged her to abide in Jesus and His Word. To focus on His blood shed on the cross for us, not on the circumstances, and to live a life of gratitude FOR IN HIM WE HAVE EVERYTHING!! AND APART FROM Him we have nothing!!

Paul continues with these wonderful insights: 1” And in Him you have been made complete [achieving spiritual stature through Christ], and He is the head over all rule and authority [of every angelic and earthly power].” (2:10 AMP)

M. Henry explains it this way: “To be complete, is to be furnished with all things necessary for salvation. By this one word "complete," is shown that we have in Christ whatever is required. "In him," not when we look to Christ, as though he were distant from us, but we are in him, when, by the power of the Spirit, we have faith wrought in our hearts by the Spirit, and we are united to our Head. The circumcision of the heart, the crucifixion of the flesh, the death and burial to sin and to the world, and the resurrection to newness of life, set forth in baptism, and by faith wrought in our hearts, prove that our sins are forgiven, and that we are fully delivered from the curse of the law. Through Christ, we, who were dead in sins, are quickened. Christ’s death was the death of our sins; Christ’s resurrection is the quickening of our souls.”

And you are complete in Him: This can only be true because Jesus is truly God. If He were not God, we couldn't be complete in Him. The completeness of Jesus and our connection with Him through His Holy Spirit, shows other philosophies and traditions are unnecessary.

The second part of this verse reads: “and He is the head over all rule and authority [of every angelic and earthly power].

Jesus is the Head of all principality and power: In many New Testament passages, principality and power describes ranks of angelic beings, either faithful or fallen angelic beings (Ro. 8:38, Eph.1:21, 3:10, 6:12). Therefore, Paul here declares Jesus' authority over all spirit beings.  Against the believer, what weapons do demonic spirits therefore now have? They are disarmed, except for their ability to deceive and to create fear.

Are you going through difficult situations, feeling lonely or depressed? Let me close with a sweet reminder: “For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro. (8:38) Amen!!

Blessings my sisters!

Mari