I Want To Give God More

Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples! (Psalm 96:1-3)(ESV)




As I think about and realize all that God has done for me, I want to give back more to Him. I want to sing of His salvation and tell of His marvelous works. I want to declare His glory among the nations. I want to take up my cross and follow Him, dying to self so that Christ can live in me to declare His glory to all peoples. I want to give Him more.


Below is a new song that the Lord gave me this week. It expresses this kind of desire to give God more by allowing Him to live through us.

Give You More

I want to worship and give You more

until there's nothing left

Help me to hold nothing back O Lord

for You deserve my best

I give You more than a prayer today

more than just what I say

I give You more than this song I sing

much more than that do I bring

I give You more than this heart of mine

please take the throne of my life

I give You all that I have to give

my life is Yours to live

copyright 2010 Heart of Praise Music

I pray that theses lyrics will somehow encourage you to want to give Jesus more of your heart...
more of your life.


Singing His Praises,
Joey Culpepper

God Draws Near

Then the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Obed, and he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle. "Listen to me, Asa!" he shouted. "Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with Him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you." (2 Chronicles 15:1-2)(NLT)

The prophet Azariah voiced one of the most basic lessons in the Bible: God draws near to us when we draw near to Him, but He will allow us to turn away from Him if we choose to do so. God loves us and has made a way for us to be reconciled through the sacrifice of His Son so that we can be forgiven and draw near to Him. But, as He did with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, the Lord allows us to decide whether we want to follow Him or not. With our choice comes consequences and responsibilities, and so Azariah realized that the Lord will abandon us if we turn from Him.

After King Asa heard the message from the Lord delivered by Azariah, he turned the land of Judah and Benjamin back to the Lord by removing all the idols from the land and repairing the altar of the Lord. He even deposed his own grandmother, Maacah, from her position as queen mother because she had made an asherah pole. Asa remained fully committed to the Lord and led the people to seek after God. 2 Chronicles 15:15 reads--And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought Him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around. (ESV)

So let's follow King Asa's lead and draw near to the Lord. Let's eagerly seek Him with all our heart so that we may find Him, and so that He will continue to draw near to us.

Singing His Praises,

Joey Culpepper

Jacob

I will not let you go unless you bless me. (Genesis 32:26)(NLT)


The following is a worship profile taken from the Praise and Worship Study Bible published by Tyndale House Publishers. I highly recommend this study Bible for anyone who wants to learn more about praise and worship.




Jacob


Jacob pursued God's blessing as an athlete pursues a prize. If Jacob had retired early the night before his meeting with his brother, Esau, or if he had whiled away the hours in sleepless anticipation, he would have had good reason. This was the same Esau he had cheated out of his father's blessing years ago. Accompanied by four wives, twelve sons, a daughter, and an abundance of material possessions, Jacob had made his way back to the land where his brother was still living. Yet Jacob spent the night before the meeting wrestling with a mysterious visitor until daybreak. "I will not let you go unless you bless me," Jacob persisted (Genesis 32:26). And so Jacob received a blessing, along with a new name, Israel, which means "one who struggles with God."


Jacob the Worshiper


Despite his character flaws, Jacob appreciated the greatness of God and the privilege of serving him. From his youngest days, Jacob heard the story of God's covenant with his grandfather Abraham and his father, Isaac. Jacob then continued this legacy of devotion to God. 


Notice that Jacob exerted much to gain his blessing. Going without sleep was tiring enough, but wrestling for hours surely exhausted him. And for what? The blessing was not material gain--Jacob was already a wealthy man. Jacob sought God's favor. That was the great treasure that God offered and Jacob eagerly accepted.


Learning from Jacob


Rarely do we think of worship as a strenuous exercise. Yet there are times when we are called to set aside our comfort--or our struggles--and seek only God.


Following the Example


Like an athlete who has just begun training, we may be surprised at how little endurance we have when it comes to seeking God. We may find that obtaining God's blessing is more difficult, more elusive than we first thought. Yet God calls us to persist, for he is anxious to bless us. The blessing he gives will change us, just as God's blessing transformed Jacob.


Singing His Praises,
Joey C.