Longing for God

As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God? (Ps. 42:1-2)(HCSB)

Have you ever been thirsty? I mean really thirsty, like you feel as if you  might keel over at any moment if you don't get a nice, long, cool drink of water? I've never been  marooned in a remote desert without water or come even remotely close to dying of thirst, but  there have been some times when I felt like that was the case. When I was just a wee lad (that's  when I was a young boy), I loved playing baseball. I remember many times playing ball in the  heat of summer with the sun beating down, how I would finish up an extremely long afternoon of  practice (say maybe all of a couple of hours), and then hurry to the water cooler for a big drink.  Man, water never tasted so good! It's funny how I would normally shun water for some Kool-Aid  or a Dr. Pepper, but when I was really thirsty nothing could hit the spot like water. Well, okay,  maybe Gatorade did. But the point is, when we're really thirsty, we've got to have a drink. And  we will go searching for that refreshing liquid in order to satisfy our thirst.

 You know, God wants us to thirst for Him like that. He wants us to have a continuing longing in  our soul that only He will satisfy as a cool drink quenches our dry, parched throats. Usually when  I read Psalm 42:1-2 I think of the popular worship song, "As the Deer", by Martin Nystrom. Let's  look at the opening lyrics to the song which is inspired by the scripture verses above:

As the deer panteth for the water
so my soul longeth after Thee
You alone are my heart's desire
and I long to worship Thee

 You alone are my heart's desire....Is your heart desiring God alone? Is your soul longing for the  Lord, yearning to spend more time in His Word? Are you thirsting for a deeper walk with God and  a more meaningful worship experience with Him? If you are, Jesus wants to quench that thirst  for you. Look at these scriptures that point us at God's desire to satisfy our thirst:

 Isa. 55:11--Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters...(NIV) 
 Jn. 4:14--(Jesus speaking) But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the  water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (NIV) 
 Jn. 7:37-38--(Jesus speaking) If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever  believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.  (NIV)

 So we know that God doesn't want us to remain thirsty, but He wants to satisfy our thirst. In  fact, He says He will give us "living water" (Jn. 4:10). We need to continually thirst for the living  God as the psalmist proclaims in Ps. 42:1-2 in the sense that we have an ongoing, ever-growing  yearning and desire for fellowship with Him. And as the deer longs for a cool drink of water,  we're always to be in search of those refreshing times of prayer, the study of His Word, and  those moments in worship of the One who sits on the throne and gives us living water whereby  we'll never thirst again. (Jn. 4:14 & Rev. 7:15-17)

 Singing His Praises,
 Joey C.

The Lord Reigns

The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. (Ps. 93:1)(NIV) 


Our God reigns. He is the Sovereign Lord of all! And yet, if we're not careful, we can lose sight of that truth when we see the state of the world we live in. When we see the acts of terrorism, the natural disasters, the  economy crisis, the poor and ungodly decisions of our leadership in Washington, the senseless  violence, the attack on our religious liberties, the way our culture continues to paint what's  good and true in an ugly hue so that what's evil and sinful is seen as the "norm", then we have a  tendency to forget that God is still on the throne. But He is! In fact, He's not worried one bit  about all those things because He's still got everything well under control. The Word assures us  that our Lord reigns and even tells us how and to what extent He reigns. Here's some scriptures  from the NIV translation which use the word "reign":

• Ex. 15:18-The Lord will reign
• Isa. 9:7-He will reign on David's throne
• Isa. 24:23-For the Lord Almighty will reign
• Jer. 23:5-6-A king who will reign wisely
• Lk. 1:33-He will reign over the house of Jacob
• Rev. 11:15-He will reign for ever and ever
• Rev. 22:5-And they will reign for ever and ever

 Here's a few passages that use the word "reigns":

• Ps. 9:7-The Lord reigns forever
• Ps. 47:8-God reigns over the nations
• Ps. 96:10-Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns"
• Ps. 97:1-The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad
• Ps. 99:1-The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble
• Ps. 146:10-The Lord reigns forever
• Isa. 52:7-"Your God reigns!"
• Rev. 19:6-For our Lord God Almighty reigns

 There's no doubt in my mind that the Lord still reigns! The only real question is --"Does He reign  over your heart?" Oh, He still reigns over all the universe, and He's still Lord of all, and He's still  in control. But is He in control of your life? Have you given it over to Him? You see, although God  is all-powerful and all-mighty and has the authority and power to speak the cosmos into  existence, He's not going to force you to relinquish the throne of your heart to Him. He cares  about you and loves you enough that He gave you the freedom to choose to receive Him or not.  Only you can choose to give Jesus His rightful place on the throne of your heart. Only you can  decide whether or not you will allow God to reign in your life as Savior and Lord. And we know,  sadly, that many will not accept Jesus as their personal Lord, (I pray that you're not one of  them) but everyone will one day acknowledge and proclaim the inevitable truth of who He  is. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every  name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the  earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:9-11)(NIV)(also see Romans 14:11 and Isaiah 45:23) For many, it will unfortunately  be too late at that point, because they failed to take self off the throne and give it to God while  they were alive on earth.(please contact me via email if you would like info. on how to put  Jesus on the throne)

 I'm so glad that I know that my God reigns and will reign for ever and ever! (Rev. 11:15)He's the  Sovereign God who made the heavens and the earth (Jer. 32:17), the One Who was and is and is  to come.(Rev. 1:8) And we also have the promise that if we believe in Him and follow after Him,  enduring to the end, that we will reign with Him! (2 Tim. 2:12) Isn't that amazing to think about!  Praise His name--OUR GOD REIGNS! 

2 Ways: The Path of Sin or The Path of Praise

(Psalm 1:1-2)(HCSB) Happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners, or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.

 I love reading the Psalms. And each time I start over at Psalm 1, I'm intrigued by the two ways or  paths that the psalmist contrasts. We have the way of the wicked, or the path of sin, and  the way of the righteous, or the path of praise. When we look at the metaphors used to describe  the righteous and the wicked, it always humbles me to realize that I'm counted with the  righteous, not because of anything I've done or anything I am apart from Christ, but only  because of what Christ has done for me and is doing through me. It also inspires me to continue  striving to live the righteous life that God has called me to, realizing that it's only by God's grace  and mercy that I'm not following the way of the wicked today.

 As we can see in verses 1-3, when we forsake the way of the wicked and the path of sin, and  instead turn to the Lord and the path of praise, praising Him by delighting in His Word and  reading it, studying it, meditating on it day and night; God in turn blesses us tremendously. Look  at how verse 3 describes the blessings of the righteous person: He is like a tree planted beside  streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he  does prospers. (HCSB)
 I love it! God plants us beside streams of water to sustain us so that we won't wither, we bear  fruit when it's time, and everything we do prospers! Wow! The same can't be said for the wicked  however, as we see in the verses to follow:

  (v.4) the wicked are like chaff that's blown away with the wind
  (v.5) the wicked will not survive the judgment 
          sinners will not be in the community of the righteous
  (v.6) the way of the wicked leads to ruin

 I'm glad that the Lord watches over the way of the righteous! (v.6) And I'm happy to realize that  I'm that "happy man" referred to in verse 1 because of what Jesus did for me on the cross. He  made atonement for my sins (and yours) once and for all, so that I don't have to continue  following theway of the wicked. Instead, I can choose to delight in the Lord's instruction and  follow the path of praise! 

How Do We Worship in Spirit and in Truth?

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24)(NLT)

When we read these words of Jesus which were spoken to the Samaritan woman at the well and recorded for us, the question naturally arises..."So, how do we worship in spirit and in truth?" Take a look at how this question is answered in the Quest Study Bible published by Zondervan.

[Genuine worship involves both fact and faith. Truth means we are to worship the right God---the God revealed in the Bible through Jesus Christ. Spirit means that true worship demands more than just outward motions. It is an inner submission of oneself to God (Romans 12:1).]

So to worship in spirit and in truth, we need to worship from the heart, with all that we are. Jesus called this the first and greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deut. 6:5)(NLT)

And we need to know and acknowledge Who we are worshiping. We can't know God without a relationship with Jesus Christ, who is the Truth. Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)(NLT)

A Prayer To Live For God

Govern everything by your wisdom. O Lord, so that my soul may always be serving you in the way you will and not as I choose. Let me die to myself so that I may serve you; let me live to you who are life itself. Amen.

-Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Enter His Gates with What?

Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are His--His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations. (Psalm 100)(HCSB)

Have you ever felt that your worship seemed to be blocked somehow? Like you were trying to praise God but there was some kind of barrier up? I know that there have been times when I couldn't seem to sense the Lord's presence as much as at other worship moments. I was reading through Psalm 1oo the other day and it hit me that much of the time we may be struggling with our worship because we're trying to "enter His courts with praise" when we haven't even passed through "His gates" yet.


What do I mean? Look at what verse 4 says again-- Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Many times we may fall short in our worship because we aren't entering in with thanksgiving, with a thankful heart. We're sincerely trying to worship Him and praise Him in His courts, but we can't because we've been held back at the gates due to our lack of thankfulness and thanksgiving! I decided to title this entry "Enter His Gates With What?" because so many times we act like we've never seen that word before. It's as if we say, "Thanksgiving? Isn't that just the holiday on a Thursday in late November? What in the world could the psalmist be talking about?" We have so much to be thankful for, but it seems that our culture has raised us up in such a way that we're never satisfied. We're all looking out for number one, and we don't have time to acknowledge what God has done for us. We need to stop and realize how blessed we are, and take the time to express our thanks to our loving God. Let's take a quick glance at a few scriptures in the (HCSB) translation that speak of thanks and thanksgiving.

• giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:20)
• Give thanks to the Lord (1 Chron. 16:8, 34)
• Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. (Psalm 136:1)
• But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Cor. 15:57)
• Give thanks in everything, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess. 5:18)
• Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving (Psalm 95:2)
• I will offer You a sacrifice of thanksgiving (Psalm 116:17)
• through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6)

It's clear that God means for His people to be thankful and to live our lives with thankful hearts. So I want to encourage all of you to clothe yourself with thankfulness and thanksgiving when coming to church or when attending some worship event. Think about the great things that your loving Father God has done for you in your life---like your salvation, forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, adopting you into His royal family, making you heirs with Christ, giving you eternal life, sending the Holy Spirit to guide you and comfort you---and then you can pass through His gates and truly enter into His courts and praise Him! 

Joey C.