Thanks Living: You can hear me, now! (repost)

Thanks Living: Remembering. 

I've been reading some of my old posts. So thankful that God knows me and what is a happening in my life. The topic of this post is just as true as it was in 2013, and will remain true forever. God never changes! 

You can hear me, now!

This year (2013), I'm sharing my "Treasures" of my study of my "Ponder the Morsels" book. I've picked 31 Psalms to study throughout 2013. Today (April 5, 2013) I studied Psalm 29. Here is what I learned.

The voice of the Lord rolls over the water. The God of glory thunders. The Lord shouts over raging water. Psalm 29:3 (GW)

The Lord’s voice [thunder] is heard over the ·sea [waters; a symbol of chaos]. The glorious God thunders; the Lord thunders over the ·ocean [many/mighty waters]. Psalm 29:3 (EXB)

"The voice of the Lord is upon the waters." The thunder is not only poetically but instructively called "the voice of God," since it peals from on high; it surpasses all other sounds, it inspires awe, it is entirely independent of man, and has been used on some occasions as the grand accompaniment of God's speech to Adam's sons. There is peculiar terror in a tempest at sea, when deep calleth unto deep, and the raging sea echoes to the angry sky. No sight more alarming than the flash of lightning around the mast of the ship; and no sound more calculated to inspire a reverent awe than the roar of the storm. 

"The Lord is upon many waters." Still the Psalmist's ear hears no voice but that of Jehovah, resounding from the multitudinous and dark waters of the upper ocean of clouds, and echoing from the innumerable billows of the storm-tossed sea below. The waters above and beneath the firmament are astonished at the eternal voice. When the holy Spirit makes the divine promise to be heard above the many waters of our soul's trouble, then is God as glorious in the spiritual world as in the universe of matter. Above us and beneath us all is the peace of God when he gives us quiet. The Treasury of David

Chaos. Noise. Confusion. Anarchy. Pandemonium. Tumult. Turmoil. 

It’s amazing how chaos can rob me of the peace that God has given me. My chaos can be caused by focusing on the “what ifs”, or focusing me how I’ll fix things, instead of trusting God to take care of things. Man-made chaos creates noise, confusion, restlessness, and disharmony. The longer I remain in a state of chaos, the more overwhelmed and depressed I become. 

Thankfully, God’s love and peace is “louder” than any noise my chaos can produce. God “thunders” through my created mess, and assures me of His presence, and that He hasn’t gone anywhere, and had no plans to leave me or abandon me. 

“Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you.” Hebrews 13:5 (MSG)

No matter how loud the noise of my chaos is around me, I know I’ll have a positive day, when I hear, “You can hear me, now!” spoken by my Almighty, loving God.

Thanks Living: Thundering Noise

That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works. Psalm 26:7

Proclaim: to hear, understand intelligently, make proclamation to

Voice: call aloud, thundering, noise, yell

Thanksgiving: in songs of liturgical worship, adoration; specifically, a choir of worshippers — sacrifice of praise

Tell: to score with a mark as a tally or record, to enumerate; intensively, to recount

Wondrous works: wonderful acts of— in judgment and redemption; to be surpassing or extraordinary

Thundering noise. 

We shout loud for our Teams and even louder in the last few moments of a close game. They even have "thunder sticks" so that we can make even MORE noise. Those around us KNOW who we are cheering for by the sounds we make. And those teams don't even do anything really great—they just play a game. 

Since we are willing to make a thundering noise for a group of people (who we really don't even know), shouldn't we be willing to make that much noise about our great God? 

Thundering noise.

A noise of thanksgiving. Think for a moment of some of the extraordinary things God does. The sunrise—spectacular colors intermingled with different cloud formations. The way He keeps the Earth tilted at just the precise angle so that everything works in harmony; the tides, the weather, sunrise, sunset, the moon. And keeping a record of the extraordinary things God does creates an intelligent understanding that produces a proclamation—loud and proud—of worship to God! 

Thundering noise. 

A life of Thanks Living is to produce a desire to YELL, make a thundering noise of thanksgiving to God! The thanksgiving is to be accompanied with a tally of the extraordinary things God does—and that should make the thundering noise even louder! 

“Blast the News”

This year, I'm sharing my "Treasures" of my study of my "Ponder the Morsels" book. I've picked 31 Psalms to study throughout 2013. Today I studied Psalm 150. Here is what I learned.

Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp! Psalm 150: 3 (AMP)

Praise Him with the blast of trumpets high into the heavens, and praise Him with harps and lyres. Psalm 150:3 (VOICE)

Does God hear my praise? Do those around me, hear my praise to God? Or do I praise God silently and very quietly? 

Each and every day I should be blasting on the trumpet—praise to God for who He is! I should be shouting it for all to hear—most importantly for God to hear! Oh, God can hear the quietest whispers, for even my thoughts are words to God.... but why whisper God’s great goodness—that is “blast worthy news!” 

Praise God in prayer is the first way to “blast the news”. The second way to “blast the news” is to tell others about who God is, and what He’s done. And lastly, I need to be living my life in accordance with God’s Word, as a way to “blast the news”. 

How many times have it missed the opportunity to “blast the news” of God’s greatness because I didn’t take the time to notice God? How many times have I missed the opportunity to “blast the news” of God’s greatness to others, because I was more concerned with what they’d say? How many times have I missed the opportunity to “blast the news” of God’s greatness simply because I was too busy? 

To create a positive day I need to “blast the news” of God’s greatness, first to Him, then to those around me. 

You can hear me, now!

This year, I'm sharing my "Treasures" of my study of my "Ponder the Morsels" book. I've picked 31 Psalms to study throughout 2013. Today I studied Psalm 29. Here is what I learned.

The voice of the Lord rolls over the water. The God of glory thunders. The Lord shouts over raging water. Psalm 29:3 (GW)

The Lord’s voice [thunder] is heard over the ·sea [waters; a symbol of chaos]. The glorious God thunders; the Lord thunders over the ·ocean [many/mighty waters]. Psalm 29:3 (EXB)

"The voice of the Lord is upon the waters." The thunder is not only poetically but instructively called "the voice of God," since it peals from on high; it surpasses all other sounds, it inspires awe, it is entirely independent of man, and has been used on some occasions as the grand accompaniment of God's speech to Adam's sons. There is peculiar terror in a tempest at sea, when deep calleth unto deep, and the raging sea echoes to the angry sky. No sight more alarming than the flash of lightning around the mast of the ship; and no sound more calculated to inspire a reverent awe than the roar of the storm. 

"The Lord is upon many waters." Still the Psalmist's ear hears no voice but that of Jehovah, resounding from the multitudinous and dark waters of the upper ocean of clouds, and echoing from the innumerable billows of the storm-tossed sea below. The waters above and beneath the firmament are astonished at the eternal voice. When the holy Spirit makes the divine promise to be heard above the many waters of our soul's trouble, then is God as glorious in the spiritual world as in the universe of matter. Above us and beneath us all is the peace of God when he gives us quiet. The Treasury of David

Chaos. Noise. Confusion. Anarchy. Pandemonium. Tumult. Turmoil. 

It’s amazing how chaos can rob me of the peace that God has given me. My chaos can be caused by focusing on the “what ifs”, or focusing me how I’ll fix things, instead of trusting God to take care of things. Man-made chaos creates noise, confusion, restlessness, and disharmony. The longer I remain in a state of chaos, the more overwhelmed and depressed I become. 

Thankfully, God’s love and peace is “louder” than any noise my chaos can produce. God “thunders” through my created mess, and assures me of His presence, and that He hasn’t gone anywhere, and had no plans to leave me or abandon me. 

“Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you.” Hebrews 13:5 (MSG)

No matter how loud the noise of my chaos is around me, I know I’ll have a positive day, when I hear, “You can hear me, now!” spoken by my Almighty, loving God.

Cheering Loud and Proud

Throughout this year, each day of the month, I'm "Treasure Hunting" in a Psalm. I've created a "Ponder Every Morsel of Truth" Book to record the truths as I learn them. The Thirtieth of each Month, I'm studying Psalm 92. Here's what Treasure I found today.

They will declare, “The Lord is just! He is my rock! There is no evil in him!” Psalm 92:15 (NLT)

Declare: certify, declare, be conspicuous, stand boldly out, explain, praise.

For (that): forasmuch, inasmuch, whereas, assuredly.

Just (upright): be upright, well-pleased, righteous, straightforward.

Lord: of deity Yahweh.

Rock: a cliff, strength, strong, support and defence.

Is no: much less, nay, neither, never, no, without, literally in the condition of no.

Evil (iniquity): injustice, unrighteousness, perverseness, unjustly, wickedness, to act wrongfully. 

As I read Psalm 92:15 this morning, what first came to mind are all the protests, marches, riots happening around the world. People are boldly proclaiming something, although not always something good. 

I also thought about sporting events (football, NASCAR, etc). We proudly wear our favorite team colors and our favorite player's/driver's number. Some even are very conspicuous as they go so far as painting their bodies in the their team's colors. Seems like we are never ashamed of cheering for our favorite team, driver, or player. We cheer loud and proud—often even when they continue to lose. 

Am I being conspicuous about my God? Do I stand out boldly and share His goodness? Am I ashamed of my God? Am I cheering loud and proud for Him? 

I should be proud to talk about God, not because of what He’s done for me (although He’s done so much!) but simply because of WHO He is! Yes, there is that phrase again which shows up often in my Ponder Morsels. When life is good and going along smoothly, it’s easy to say, “God is good. God is awesome.” But just because my circumstances change, God does not. He is still good. He is still awesome. 

So often God gets “blamed” for when bad things happen. Why? Simply because we don’t understand how a “good God” could allow suffering. But that (suffering) is ultimately the result of sin. In God there is no evil,  He cannot act wrongfully. He is just. And why do we think, when we cannot fully comprehend all that God is and Who He is, that we can understand fully what He is doing? 

Even if we don’t understand, that does NOT change the fact that God is straightforward righteous and He is a strong support for us. There is literally no wickedness or injustice in Him. 

He is a friend without fault, a helper without fail. Whatever he may do with us, he is always in the right; his dispensations have no flaw in them, no, not the most minute. He is true and righteous altogether. The Treasury of David

To create a positive day, I need to be conspicuous about my God! I need to be cheering loud and proud about His goodness and strength.