Angie Benjamin

Praise Him! {Psalms 145:1-150:6}

10:00 PM



Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.

 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.- Psalm 145:2-4


As we come to an end to our study on Psalms, we can conclude that God alone is worthy to be praised!

Throughout Psalms we see over and over again David crying out for help.

We, as David can cry out to Him when we also feel sinking into the pit of depression and anxiety.

We can remember the good days and trust Him on the bad ones.

We can meditate on all of the Lord's doings on our behalf.

We can ponder in awe on all those mighty works of His hands.

We are free to spread our hands in prayer and supplication to Him.

We can call upon His name, lifting our souls to Him, trusting He will answer us.

We can do all these things because the Lord has promised to always respond to faith.





He is worthy of our praise. Whether is in the quietness of your heart, or as the psalmists also encourages us to praise God with instruments! dancing! and shouts of joy!. He is worthy of our exuberant praise!!

Prayer

God we are happy because our help and our hope are in YOU!- Psalm 146:5

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...









Becky Austin

One Day At A Time (Psalm 64-68)

1:53 AM




Ever feel like you are in survival mode where you simply try to get through just one day at a time?  Sometimes, that is a good place to be because it reminds us that each 24 hour period is a new challenge that we need to confront and conquer with the help of God.  From sunrise to sunset and through the dark nights, God is there to partner with us and sustain us.  God created us, breathed life into us and wants us to seek Him as we realize that we can’t really “live” this life without Him. 

 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed any thing, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”
Acts 17:24-28 

One of the most valuable lessons to be learned from the Psalms is to daily seek God.  David was a man who exemplified this. He turned to God for help and guidance during the “good” days and the “ bad” days. He knew the source of His strength and He had a heart full of reverence and praise for God in every season of his life. Most importantly, He realized that success in this life meant seeking God daily.
“Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah”
Psalms 68:19 


Every day we have battles to face as we deal with evil in this world that works against us.  The enemy plots against us and tries to spiritually defeat us, but God knows those plans and He can protect us.  Daily, we should ask for His protection from evil and those who mean us harm. “Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers,”. Psalms 64:1-2 

It may seem at times that evil and the chaos created by evil is going to overcome us but God is ultimately in control.  Joseph, who also sought God daily, comforted himself by knowing that even what others meant for evil, God meant for good. God can, at any time, turn the tables on those who are against us: “But God shoots his arrow at them; they are wounded suddenly. They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them; all who see them will wag their heads.” Psalms 64:7-8

God purposes for us to spiritually grow through the trials and circumstances of life.  He wants us to daily trust Him to be with us even when life gets tough.  He wants to bless us as we depend on Him to see us through our struggles.  “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” Psalms 66:10-12 

As we read through the Psalms, we are reading through songs of worship and praise to God.  Daily, we need to have a relationship with God. Prayer and praise should be two important pillars in our daily existence. How blessed we are that we have a God we can talk to and know that He hears.  “Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!” Psalms 66:20 

May I challenge you to daily Pray and Praise. The Psalms are full of praises we can learn to exalt God with.  Praise keeps us mindful of just how majestic and wonderful our Savior is!
“Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!”
Psalms 68:35 

May you know the rich and abundant blessings of God all the days of your life!