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Praise The Lord!

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“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” Psalm‬ ‭9‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬ ‭ “I will give thanks to the Lord with my Whole heart”! Not half heartedly. Not because I have to; not in order to check it off my to do list. But because I truly want to thank Him for all He’s done for me; for all He’s seen me through. My whole heart. All that I am. My strengths and weaknesses; my ups and downs; good and bad. ‭ Then, tell of ALL His wonderful deeds. It is good to remember God’s faithfulness. To reflect on how I have seen Him work in my life, both past and present! I pray that one day God may give me the opportunity to share with others the reason for my hope, that they may have hope and give glory to God.  Next, “I will be glad    and exult in you”. This can be challenging at times, the Bible teaches that we are to give thanks in all circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:1
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What Path Are You On?

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“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm‬ ‭16‬:‭11‬ ‭ESV God will make known to me the ‭path of life.  Have you ever questioned whether you’re on the right road? The right path? Did you read the “signs” in the right way? For instance, when my husband and I are traveling, I like to notice different signs, it keeps me entertained and sometimes awake:) Like this one, "Obey signs". How many times has the Lord given us signs and we choose not to obey because we think we know better? Or this one, usually in a construction zone, "stay in your lane". Well, what if I like someone else's lane better? What if I think the path they're on is better than the one God has designed for me? Maybe I think they're on the "fast track" and my  lane is way too slow, things just aren't going  according to "my plan", God is holding out on me. But if I take thing
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Give your worries to God

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“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John‬ ‭14‬:‭27‬ ‭ESV‬‬ ”Let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid”, easier said the done ‭I think! But it does make me question, how is my heart? How is yours? What causes it to feel troubled? How do we claim this peace that Jesus promises?  Anxiety, the kind that keeps you up at night, or causes you to toss and turn. The scenarios that play out in your mind. The what if’s. And you just wish there was a switch you could use to turn off your mind. With the world changing around us, at what seems like the speed of light, it’s a wonder we may feel anxious from time to time. There just seems to be so much negativity and hate in the world around us.  Lawlessness seems to be on the increase; people are not held accountable for their actions but released back on the streets only to harm again. Innocent children being caught in
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A Willingness To Surrender

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  “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭33‬ ‭ESV‬‬ To “renounce all that I have”, what would this look like for me? What is Jesus asking? Because, for someone like me with control issues, this verse is a bit scary, just being honest!  A dictionary definition for the word “renounce” is to, “formerly declare one’s abandonment of, a claim, right, or possession”; reject or stop using”. Biblically it means, “to sever any bond or claim that may exist”. So, what is it that I or we, hold tightly to? What would be hard for you to surrender if God asked you to? Or if He removed it from your life? Is it an attitude? Behavior? Money? Success? Person? It will be different for all of us. Anything we set up as an idol that we “worship” instead of God. And as we learn from various Old Testament stories, God will not tolerate anything we place above Him. We are told in Deuteronomy 6:5(NIV), “Love the Lord your God with all your heart a
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Sing A Song To The Lord

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Psalm 121, A Song of Ascents  “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”(ESV) “A song of ascents”.    The title of this Psalm stood out for me today. I don’t always pay much attention to the “titles”, but couldn’t help but wonder what that meant. So I did a little research, and found that Psalms 120-134, are all called by the same name! I thought that was interesting:) Apparently, these Psalms were songs the Hebrews would have sung on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem or possibly to climb Mount Zion or even in
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He Promises Peace When We Focus On Him

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“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” Isaiah‬ ‭26‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV What does it mean to “keep” something? Keep is such an awesome word, with many meanings. To keep could mean to guard, protect, or put a fence around; to be faithful to as in keeping a promise or even to watch over and defend.  The Bible speaks of God as our “keeper”. Psalm 121:5-8 says, “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”  ‭Isn’t it comforting to think of the Lord as our keeper? ‭To know that He is always with us, protecting us, watching over us! ‭‭This verse also says that God keeps us in “perfect peace” when our minds our “stayed” on Him. “Perfect peace”, who woul
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Affliction Can Produce Fruit

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“The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”” Genesis‬ ‭41‬:‭52‬ ‭ESV‬‬ “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction”. How many times have I read that verse and never really thought about it? We all know the story of Joseph, and how God used him even in the midst of his struggles and difficult circumstances and brought about good. Can He do the same for us? For me? Can God make me fruitful in the “land of my affliction“? And what is the “land of affliction” we are in? This “land” will be different for everyone. We may not like the circumstances we’re currently experiencing. We may not like the trials that daily come our way. We may ask God how long we must endure? But what if, like Esther, we were “made for such a time as this”?(See Esther 4:14). What if I chose to believe the lesson Chuck Swindoll presented in a devotional reading I had, “I am here by God’s appointment”; I am in His keeping”; I am under His train
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