“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.”  Psalm 89:15

Praise be to you, Lord God,

for your goodness and grace,

for your fineness and faithfulness:

I wake up each morning and there you are, watching over me with a new day ready for me to live in your presence.

Praise be to you, Elohim,

the triune God,

powerful beyond imagination,

faithful beyond conception,

always good,

always wise,

always at work.

As it says in Psalm 89:15,16, “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you…”

They praise you in every circumstance,

recognize you in every detail, a

re constantly aware of “God sightings”

as you protect and provide.

“who walk in the light of your presence.”

They are aware by faith of your being with them,

of your watching over them,

leading them, lighting the way.

Help me, Elohim to walk in the light of your presence every day, all day.

The Lord has allowed another malady in my life: restless legs, which started when I was in my mid-thirties. I would go to bed and sleep for an hour, then my legs would start to twitch or jump involuntarily, waking me up. There was no point in staying in bed, so I’d get up and work.

In dealing with my failure mentioned yesterday, the following words are helpful.

“The LORD watches over you—the LORD is your shade at your right hand….”  Psalm 121:5,6

Praise be to you, Lord, for your faithfulness:

you are the God of goodness,

the Lord of love,

the Almighty One who gives your word

and keeps it.

I praise you for your being Elohim, the strong and faithful One. Whatever promises you give, including forgiving us, you have the power to fulfill them and the faithfulness to do so. I give you praise and honor and exaltation for you are the King of Glory.

I praise you, Lord Jesus, for the total forgiveness you give us; your death and resurrection bought forgiveness for every sin I have and will commit. A truth that makes me want to obey you more.

Such grace, such love, such kindness. Praise be to You!

Today I want to give you  an example of personal worship helping to nurture my first love for God, using Psalm 84, focusing on the name “Lord Almighty” or “Lord of Hosts”.

“Praise be to you, Lord God Almighty,

Commander of the hosts of Heaven.

To you we give glory and honor and praise, for you,

Lord God,

King Jesus,

Gracious Father,

Holy Spirit.

You are the most High,

the most Wise,

the most Powerful,

the most Good

and the most Holy of all.

You are without beginning or end.

You are the junction point of seeming opposites:

justice and mercy,

truth and grace,

holiness and redemption.

Only you could be so,

only you are worthy of honor and praise.

It is right to bow down in worship before you.

It is right to surrender all to you.

It is right to rise up in obedience.

Praise be to you, Lord God Almighty.”

“…I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” Revelation 2:4

Barbara says it’s easy to tell when I am “in tune” with God, because then I am in tune with her. What she is referring to is the condition of my first love for Christ.

I can perform all the spiritual disciplines correctly (quiet time, prayer, attendance, giving, being nice) but Barbara can tell when the connection with God is missing, when I have no passion for Him.

As you may remember, when Jesus spoke to the Ephesians in the opening chapters of Revelation, He had a lot of positives to say about them, but ended with rebuking them for losing their first love. They had all the mechanics right, but their hearts had grown cold.

His command to them was, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Rev. 2:5).

So it is with us: we get busy, we give our heart and passion to something else, like our work/ministry/hobby/sport. As a result, our relationship with God grows cold, so slowly that we don’t notice it. But our spouse often does because our marriage relationship reflects the warmth or coolness of our walk with God.

So, what can we do to nurture, strengthen and deepen our first love for Jesus? Tomorrow I will give you 4 ways to do this!

Picture: Jesus call us to a renewal of our first love: