Praise and Thanksgiving ~ Choosing Joy and Peace

"Praise, like prayer, is one great means of promoting the growth of the spiritual life.  It helps to remove our burdens, to excite our hope, to increase our faith.  It is a healthful and invigorating exercise which quickens the pulse fo the believer, and nerves him for fresh enterprises in his Master's service."

- Charles Spurgeon -

"O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

- Matthew 14:31b -

“I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart;

I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

I will be glad and rejoice in thee:

I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee:

for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion:

declare among the people his doings.

Have mercy upon me, O LORD; …

That I may shew forth all thy praise 

in the gates of the daughter of Zion:

I will rejoice in thy salvation.”

~ taken from Psalm 9 ~

This morning as I was studying and meditating on God's word, I was so convicted as I read.  Just in Psalms alone we are told over and over to praise the Lord, to thank the Lord, to sing to the Lord, to rejoice in the Lord, to declare His name.  Our Lord has blessed us beyond words.  His saving grace towards His children and all His benefits to us to innumerable!  As Christians, we have no reason to be down cast.  We have every reason to be full of joy and praising His name at all times.  Truly, how can we not be full of joy?! May the Lord forgive us for the times when we take our eyes off of Him - for this is when we lose our joy and peace.

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

- Proverbs 23:7a -

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,

whose mind is stayed on thee:

because he trusteth in thee."

- Isaiah 26:3 -

Joy is a choice.  Peace is a choice.  It is all in where we choose to focus - where we choose to put our minds.  And we must remember that:

"Ye are of God, little children,

and have overcome them:

because greater is he that is in you,

than he that is in the world."

~ 1 John 4:4 ~

Let us choose to set our minds on praising and thanking our Lord, to have joy and peace in Him, and to declare His wonderful name and amazing works.  As we look to His word and think on Him and all He has done, who can help but not praise and thank Him with a joyful heart?

May ye each have a wonderful weekend, and be encouraged and refreshed spiritually!

~Brittay

Waiting with Patience ~ Resting in the Lord

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him (Psalms 37:7).
Have you prayed and prayed and waited and waited, and still there is no manifestation? Are you tired of seeing nothing move? Are you just at the point of giving it all up? Perhaps you have not waited in the right way? This would take you out of the right place the place where He can meet you.
"With patience wait" (Rom. 8:25). Patience takes away worry. He said He would come, and His promise is equal to His presence. Patience takes away your weeping. Why feel sad and despondent? He knows your need better than you do, and His purpose in waiting is to bring more glory out of it all. Patience takes away self-works. The work He desires is that you "believe" (John 6:29), and when you believe, you may then know that all is well. Patience takes away all want. Your desire for the thing you wish is perhaps stronger than your desire for the will of God to be fulfilled in its arrival.
Patience takes away all weakening. Instead of having the delaying time, a time of letting go, know that God is getting a larger supply ready and must get you ready too. Patience takes away all wobbling. "Make me stand upon my standing" (Daniel 8:18, margin). God's foundations are steady; and when His patience is within, we are steady while we wait. Patience gives worship. A praiseful patience sometimes "long-suffering with joyfulness" (Col. 1:11) is the best part of it all. "Let (all these phases of) patience have her perfect work" (James 1:4), while you wait, and you will find great enrichment.
--C. H. P.
Hold steady when the fires burn,
When inner lessons come to learn,
And from this path there seems no turn
"Let patience have her perfect work."
--L.S.P.
~ Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman for February 21st

~Brittany

Exhortation on Worry ~ Looking with Eyes of Thanksgiving and Faith

"Be careful for nothing."

Philippians 4:6

Do you cross rivers before you come to them, dread troubles that never come, expect evil from the Lord instead of good?  In other words is your soul full of unnecessary care?  For that is what the word "careful" means - unnecessary care.
"Do not worry" is a plain and simple command, but it is such a difficult one to follow.  M. D. Babcock has given a few beneficial suggestions for the person who feels defeated because of the common ailment of worry.  "The anxious Christian hurts more than himself; he hurts the faith of those who know him and the good name of his Lord Who has promised to supply all his needs.  There is nothing which we cannot pray about.  Go deeper into the text: 'But in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God.'  What we can take to God we can trust to God.  What we put our fidelity into, He will perfect by His faithfulness.  While we work for the best, He works the best for us.  We may not succeed as we hoped; we may have discipline we little expected, but the Father knows what His child needs.  What God has for us to do we can do, or to bear we can bear.  Is there not enough in His ocean to fill our pitcher?  With the need of every day will come His promised supply - 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'
"Do not forget the words further on in the text: 'with thanksgiving.'  Be on the lookout for mercies.  Blessings brighten when we count them.  Out of determination of the heart the eyes see.  If you want to be gloomy, there's gloom enough to keep you glum; if you want to be glad, there's gleam enough to keep you glad.  Better lose count in enumerating your blessings than lose your blessings in telling your troubles.
"Unbraid the verse into three cords and bind yourself to God with them in trustful, prayerful, thankful bonds, - Anxious for nothing, Prayerful for everything, Thankful for anything - 'and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' "  (from Thoughts for Every-Day Living.)
- Steams in the Desert, Volume 2, December 10th
~Brittany

Christian Cheer

"Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds."

~ Psalm 149:5 ~

"Yes," said Amos R. Wells, "let all Christians sing, even on beds of pain.  Let all Christians sing, even songs in the night, even songs in prison, like Paul and Silas.  Few lives are so songful as they might be and should be.  Most lives are groanful.  Most lives are full of complaint, meditated if not uttered aloud.

"As Phillips Brooks once cheerily said, ' True religion sings here, and will sing more hereafter.  Distrust your religion unless it is cheerful, unless it turns every act and deed to music, and exults in attempts to catch the harmony of the new life.'  We read of the mystical 'music of the spheres,' that unheard anthem of praise made by the stars in their majestic march through the sky.  May it not be made, not by the stars at all, but by praiseful human hearts?

"It is always possible to find an excuse for good cheer, a fine reason for singing.  Here is an excuse that Oliver Herford once thought up:

I heard a bird sing

In the dark of December;

A magnificent thing

And sweet to remember:

"We are nearer to spring

Than we were in September."

I heard a brid sing

In the dark of December.

"Yes, and in the same vein, however gloomy our surroundings may be, we can always remember that we are one day nearer heaven than we were yesterday - one day nearer our eternal joy and peace.

"What if it is dark around us now, and cold, and stormy?  The endless spring is drawing near!  Flowers are coming, bird songs are coming, soft breezes adn blue skies are coming!  Every dark day brings the bright days nearer."

",We cannont weigh or number our blessings, neither can we weight or number our feelings of gratitude to Thee, O God."

- Streams in the Dessert, Vol. 2, December 4th

~Brittany