“I will bless the Lord at ALL times, His praise shall CONTINUALLY be in my mouth.” Psalm 34:1

We had just passed through the security check at the airport in Charlotte, NC. I got Barbara seated at a restaurant for a snack while I went and checked on our gate. As I was leaving, I glanced at my shirt pocket, and saw that my passport and boarding pass were not there where I always keep them! Wow, that was a potential glitch! Immediately the Spirit spoke: “This is a test! Will you trust me in this?”

“OK, Lord, I praise you for this new challenge, for the chance to give you glory by trusting you. You know what you are doing and I can rest in you no matter what the outcome!”

I told Barbara about it, and went right back to security where all the bins were searched, but no passport or boarding pass. “Well, Lord, this is another chance to give you glory in praising by faith. Thank you for your goodness in this, for however you are going to work it out.”

As I walked back to the restaurant, Barbara happily came towards me with my passport! It turns out that in the rush to get everything back in place after going through security, I had uncharacteristically stuck the passport and boarding pass into my backpack. “Thank you, Lord!” we both said.

Upon reflection, I realized this happened because I had been worried about getting through security quickly and was rushing, not being careful. Finding my passport was a great relief; however, there was more to come, and I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.

“Blessed is the man…”  Psalm 1:1

Praise be to you, O Lord God, for your desire is to bless people,

to bring goodness and grace into their lives,

to give them joy and satisfaction,

fulfillment and positive pleasure.

But this is not automatic, as the rest of Psalm 1 tells us. You give us the power to choose, power we can use to bring blessing or curses down on ourselves. It is like you give us a powerful machine which can lift gigantic blocks of stone: with the push of a button, the pull of a lever, we can move great weight and volume. We can use this power  to build up, or to destroy.

In the spiritual realm,

as we obey your principles,

as we submit to the clear directions of your Word,

as we obey the leading of your Spirit,

as we whole-heartedly embrace your commands,

then you move mountains to accomplish your will, you do great things in and through us, while bringing joy, grace, goodness, provision and safety to us and those around us.

As you said in John 15:10-11, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

In you, Lord Jesus, is all we need, we are complete and you have given us the privilege and power to access it all as we choose your way over that of the world, of our old nature and of the devil.

Help us to choose for you through each moment of today that you may be lifted up before humanity and the spiritual forces that surround us.

Picture: one of God’s blessings, the beauty of His creation.

Delighting in God

Praise be to you, Lord, for

your greatness and goodness,

your power and your patience,

your persistence and your passion,

your lavish love and your consistent correction.

You are our Rock,

you are our Salvation,

you are our high Tower of safety,

you are our Shield,

you are our Shepherd.

You are all that we need, for we were created to partner with you, to work with you.

Praise you for

your persistence

in pursuing us,

possessing us,

perfecting us for our future marriage with you,

the Lion and the Lamb,

our Lord and Leader,

our Liberator and Lover.

You have provided us with all we need to live for you;

you are so generous and gracious in your provision.

We praise you, the totally trustable God,

the fully followable King,

the completely compassionate Ruler,

and the wonderfully wise Leader.

Therefore, we can say without reservation, “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Picture: Our God loves beauty and loves to share it with us.

“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

This verse is a comprehensive statement, including all kinds of days.

It points us to you, Lord, the Sovereign God in whose hands all days are made, whether they are in our eyes good or bad, restful or challenging.

You in your wisdom allow, create or send events which are going to be used in your great plan.

You allow people to carry out their schemes within certain boundaries, allowing evil people to do evil things, but only within certain limits.

You are able to use their evil to advance your plans and Kingdom (Rev. 9:20).

In the meantime, you continually pour out good on all your creatures, giving us air to breathe, food to eat, friends to share with, work to do, eyes to see, ears to hear, feet to walk, hands to use, skin to protect and feel—things we take for granted, but without them our lives would be very different!

In addition you give meaning, direction, provision and protection. You give grace and goodness in the midst of trials and challenges, problems as well as solutions. You use difficulties to chasten, punish, correct and restore.

Help us to remember this, to delight in you and your wonderful goodness, your beautiful creation, your power and plans for us, for history, for eternity!