Worship Journal

Worship Journal

Complaining Is Unbelief In Action

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 11, 2012

It is true that complaining is unbelief being acted out, as Isaiah points out in the following verses:

Isa 40:27  “Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?

[When we do not like what is happening, we  think God is not personally involved, or if He is that He’s not doing a good job. Our complaining clearly reveals our unbelief, our very small concept of God, our focus only on what is seen.

However, the truth is, our way is totally open to you, O Lord. As it says in Psalm 33:13-15  “From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;  from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth—he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.”  You watch us all, see our actions, weigh our motives, know our thoughts. You are at work all the time in our little lives, protecting, guiding, communicating, drawing us ever towards you.

We are the ones who are not aware, who are letting unbelief and rebellion blind us and bind us into a three dimensional existence. You call us to live with you in a much more multi-dimensional life with angels, demons, unseen forces and most of all your Triune presence, which is multi-dimensionality itself.

You are always present, always active, always involved, always loving, wise and good. When we are willing to look up and learn from your Word the extent of your involvement, Lord, we can shed our unbelief and live in the light of your lavish love and life.

You are the Great and Glorious God who deserves our whole-hearted worship, our full faith, our total belief. In living in such Truth, being people of praise all the time, we give you some of the glory and honor and exaltation you so rightly deserve.  Forgive us for our unbelief, help us to become people of faith, rejecting complaining and self-pity, embracing truth, praise and thanksgiving as the central response of our lives to you.

 

 

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Isaiah's Bucket Measure

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 8, 2012

You, O Triune God, are the Great One, far above the tiny speck of dust we call home. To grasp how eternally huge you are is difficult for our finite minds. As Isaiah wrote,

Isa 40:15  “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;” [The billions of people on earth, to us a mighty throng, are to you a tiny, insignificant speck, one drop, hardly noticeable. You are so much greater than all the people who have ever lived and you are involved in so much bigger things, like the birthing of stars a hundred times bigger than our sun, yet you love and care for each insignificant, tiny person.]

“he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.” [All the islands of the world are almost microscopic before you, Lord, easily blown away by a breath. In comparison you are monumental, majestic, massive, immovable and mighty. You are eternal and everlasting, the opposite of the temporary, tiny and tentative islands of the earth.]

Isa 40:16  “Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.” [Your greatness, your holiness, your righteousness all deserve lavish, abundant, continual worship, but in the world there is not enough wood or creatures to offer up in sufficient sacrifices of worship. Which is why you offered up yourself as Jesus to pay our penalty, to move worship beyond blood sacrifice to Spirit and Truth. Praise be to you, the worthy One, the righteous Ruler, the caring King.]

Isa 40:17  “Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.” [In the light of your presence, Lord, the nations are hardly discernable, like miniscule flecks of dust, useless in themselves, harmful to your desire to eliminate evil. All their culture,  cities, achievements and wars are less than nothing, for they flow out of sinful hearts and are on such a tiny scale, they are not worth noting.

But you, Lord, in spite of your greatness that fills the whole universe, you not only note the nations, you love each individual, you see what they do each day, you send your Spirit to strive with each one, desiring that every one come to belief and allow you to qualify them to enter the Kingdom of Light. You are the Great Lover of your creatures. You are the Powerful Redeemer of twisted sinners. You are the Tenacious Transformer of our evil into impetus to believe.]

We praise you and glorify you for your marvelous, complex, inscrutiable, holy and gracious nature. You are worthy of worship, honor, exaltation and glory. May I live in such a way today before men and demons and angels that glory will flow to you from my thoughts, motives, words and actions. Amen.

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Isaiah Describes God's Greatness

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 7, 2012

We praise you, Lord Jesus, in and for all, for you are our great and wise King, who is fully sovereign, in control and incredibly powerful. You are worthy of worship no matter what.

You, the incomprehensibly powerful Creator, are able to do things that no one else could even think of accomplishing. Your greatness dwarfs all creatures and all of creation. As Isaiah marvels:

Isa 40:12  “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,” [The millions of cubic miles of water found in all the oceans, rivers, lakes and seas are only a few handfuls for you.]

“or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?” [The vast stretches of space, billions of light years across, are easily measured by your equally vast hands. As we cannot even begin to grasp the size of one light year, so we cannot even begin to comprehend the greatness of your being, able to plan, measure and create the length, breadth, height and depth of the universe.]

“Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,” [The earth, in its millions of tons of rock, dirt, lava and minerals, is just a basket full of dust to you. Your strength is so great, so vast, so powerful that to lift the earth is nothing.]

“or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?” [The majestic Alps, the rugged Tetons, the vast Himalayans, the elongated Rockies—these are for you just tiny weights, able to be measured on a scale. This is beyond comprehension for human beings, but for you a small act, giving us a glimmer of grasping the greatness of your power, your might, your strength. We are nothing next to you, a collection of a few atoms, dwarfed by the oceans, mountains and stars which were easily created by you, simply by speaking. You are incredibly, incomprehensibly, inscrutably great, O Lord!]

Isa 40:13  “Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor?” [We struggle to understand just the things you have created, Lord: the micro world of elements and atoms, quarks and photons; and the macro universe of giant stars, huge galaxies,  and beyond that clusters of galaxies millions of light years across. We cannot even begin to comprehend the wise ways in which you created all these things; how could we ever give you advice? In the face of your greatness it is laughable to even think about helping you.  So Isaiah goes on with his ludicrous questions:]

Isa 40:14  “Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?” [Your wisdom, your understanding, your knowledge is so far beyond anything that man could even dream up. Just think of the incomprehensible concept of the Trinity–never has there been any such inscrutable element in any story man or angel has told. In addition, there is your breathing the stars into existence, determining their number, calling each by name, of your hanging the earth on nothing, setting it and all its surrounding conditions perfectly so that life could flourish, of your creating the multitude of creatures on earth with vast variations on the same theme—100,000 types of beetles, countless varieties of fish, birds and mammals.

You, Lord God are brilliant beyond measure, intelligent beyond comprehension, wise beyond knowing. You are worthy of praise and exaltation, of worship and honor, of love and obedience. To you be glory, strength, thanksgiving and awe today in my life, in my prayers, my plans and perceptions. Amen.]

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Reading in Isaiah

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 6, 2012

Isa 40:10  “See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him.”

[You, Lord God, King of Glory, Almighty Ruler, Powerful Creator and Eternal Sustainer, are faithful to govern rightly with overwhelming power. No one can withstand you, no one can successfully resist your plans. You will come at the right time to right all wrongs in righteousness and grace. Glory be to you.]
“See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.”

[You are a generous and rich God with endless resources, who pours out blessing and grace and goodness on all people and especially on your children. You reward us with salvation, forgiveness, grace and goodness when we actually deserve punishment, suffering, death and destruction. Glory be to you. You have rewards, crowns and all blessings in heavenly places awaiting those who love and follow the Lord Jesus.]
Isa 40:11  “He tends his flock like a shepherd:”

[You are the Faithful Shepherd who protects your flock at all costs. You watch over us with care, with compassion, with completeness, with competence. We are not just possessions but beloved ones in your sight.]

“He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;”

[You are tender with us when we are weak. You love us graciously, kindly, gently. You think of each of us continually, aware of our needs, protecting and guiding us through the difficulties and joys of life.]

“he gently leads those that have young.”

[You know our condition, you adjust your leadership according to what we are able to do and take. You are gracious and good, providing and protecting, caring and compassionate.

You are the perfect Shepherd, the powerful King, the present Savior and the pleasant Lord. You are trustable at every moment, always worthy of obedience, of love, of honor, glory and praise. May you, Lord Jesus, be lifted up in my life today through thoughts of thanksgiving, words of praise, actions of obedience and attitudes of trust, for you are worthy of all exaltation and worship. Amen.

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Weakness Is A Strength

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 25, 2012

I praise you, Lord Jesus,  for your great Love, your persistent Faithfulness, your mighty Power, your wide Wisdom, your deep Knowledge, your pure Righteousness and your permanent Perfection. You are the One I can trust today, the One who rules every day, who rights, who redeems, who restores, who reigns in every circumstance. You are God, you are Great, you are Glorious, you are Gracious.

I praise you with all my heart, with all my being, with all my strength. I embrace what you bring, what you reveal, what you allow, whether it be what I want or not. I thank you for my failures which point me away from myself to you, breaking me of self reliance, of pride, of independence, of selfishness.

Thank you for your specific working in my life, your personal, careful, exact plan to fashion me more into the image of Christ. While I do not like such breaking, I love the outcome of seeing you more, of worshiping you by faith, of growing in trust, of seeing your great power at work.

My failure to sell the book widely stands out as a clear example of this. I have tried a lot of things, none of which has done much. There has been no tipping point, no beginning of an avalance of sales.  Thank you for my weakness here.

A second example is my failure to bring about a solution to the team conflict on the team is a bigger event, with more obvious negative consequences.  It has certainly been a warning for me to not rely on myself or on the gifting you have given, but rather to rely on you.

My failures have been beneficial by revealing my self-centered desires for success and praise, my pride and my selfish ambition. You have certainly used failure  make me change and grow though it all, and I pray that the others can also.  To you be glory in it, Lord. I see right now that it is a blotch on your name, but you can turn it to the positive as you desire.

Thank you for helping me to recognize my weakness, my smallness, and to see more clearly your greatness and power. It is such a wonderful thing to be your child, to be your servant, to join you in what you are doing. Help me, help all of us  to grow in humility and discernment so that we may see you more clearly.

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The Wisdom of Weakness in the Light of our Lord

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 24, 2012

Praise you, Lord  for your perfect faithfulness, perfect love, perfect wisdom and perfect provision. I rest in you, I exalt in you, I take shelter in you, I give you honor, glory and praise, for it is your due.

What I can give in worship is far smaller that what you deserve, but I praise you for the privilege of being a called member of your family, allowed to give you worship, and given the privilege of praise in every moment of life. It is a glorious thing to belong to you, to walk with you, to bask in your love, to gaze upon your beauty, to be in the process of transformation.

I praise you also, Lord God, my dear Heavenly Father, for the weaknesses in my life. Primarily I think of my inability to market my book. Thank you for that, for the fact that everything I have tried has not worked, that I am thrown back on you. Give me wisdom now Lord in how to cooperate with you.

The first aspect is to praise you for the lack of results and for my inability to make this happen in any way. So I stand, weak, unsuccessful, failing, powerless and without a solution. I praise you for these facts.

I praise you that you are the opposite, the Great and Powerful One who never is weak, who is always successful, who never fails and who always has a solution. I praise you for the opportunity to be a glory giver, thanking and praising you for my weakness and for whatever you will do—you are the Creator, you are the Sustainer, the Completer, the wise and powerful One. I ask that you do whatever you deem best with the book and I praise you for it. Give me wisdom in how to cooperate with you in the process.

I praise you, too, that we were unsuccessful in reconciling brothers in the recent conflict—unable to bring a workable, positive solution. We were unable to get each side to accept positive steps towards solving it. We were unable to contain the conflict within the team. We were unable to protect local believers from damage. We failed. But in this weakness, there is opportunity for you, Lord, to work and bring glory to yourself.

We praise you for what you are doing through our failures, for whatever good comes out of this will bring glory to you, not to us. Thank you that we can be vehicles of honor for you. Praise you that we are forced to look away from our own efforts to you and to give you glory. I know that if I had brought about a good solution, I would have had pride and would have wanted honor from others, so in this you protected me from unhealthy, independent, selfish thinking. And I know that in this sad incident you are offering everyone the opportunity to deepen and mature if they will but take up and use your grace.

You, Lord, are good, gracious, wise and wonderful. I give you glory and honor now for what you are going to do in all this through the pain and failure.  May you be lifted up, may we move forward in humility, wisdom and grace. Amen

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Waiting for God's Timing

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 17, 2012

I’d have liked to get up earlier, but you know what is best, Lord, and I praise you for what you have allowed.  You are the God of glory, the Lord of Love, the King of kindness, the Ruler of righteousness and the Shepherd of strength. To you belongs trust, surrender, dependence, obedience and love. To you belongs worship, praise, honor, fear, awe and glory. To you we belong, along with our time, energy, abilities, possessions and relationships. To you belongs wisdom, power, grace, goodness and holiness. All of these you share with us whole-heartedly, abundantly, richly, graciously.

Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, for your sweet shepherding of us through the valley of the shadow of death, through the disappointments, hurts and difficulties of life, through loss, failure, pain and suffering, through conviction, repentance, forgiveness and restoration. You are wise and good in knowing what we need.

I thank you for the “limbo” we are in now, waiting for the proper time to return to our homeland . I praise you, Father, that you have things planned out: how long we must wait, the help you will give and the circumstances we will go through. Give me wisdom in how to move forward in wise and godly ways that you may be honored and glorified in my life.

I praise you, the Sovereign God, who allows us free choice in our sphere of responsibility, that you then weave together our choices and those of others around us to bring out in the end the great conclusion you desire. Praise be to you for the guidance you will give, the protection you will provide and the strength you will grant.

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Processing A Disappointment

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 13, 2012

Thank you, Lord, for the loss of our internet connection at home (uncorrectable mistake by the phone company) and since I do 80% of my work over the internet, this will be a difficulty. Then came the  disappointment with my proposed solution: an the internet stick.  Yesterday, after spending 1.5 hours in the Vodaphone store getting it to work, I came home to find that there is only a very weak signal in our area. The stick does not work for internet.

Here was a case of setting my heart on something, on a solution, and then having it fail. Thank you for this, Lord, another chance to praise you by faith, to look away from my solutions to yours, to rest in you in the midst of difficulties—and such minor, simple inconveniences, really.

Thank you again, Lord, for the opportunity to deny self, to reject the input of my feelings, to get up the shield of faith and quench those fiery darts of self-pity, discouragement, negative thinking and complaining. You, Lord God, are the King of glory whom we can trust to bring about what is good and best and wise. I give you glory for your gracious kindness which you have stored up for us today. “…as it is written:   ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard,   no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’ ” 1Corithians 2:9

I praise you, Lord Jesus, my Great Shepherd, that you have purpose for this disappointment. At the very least it is taking my eyes off of the small, temporary and unimportant things and shifting them to the eternal and powerful truths you want me to live in. I praise you that having no internet hook up is a part of our reality here. I thank you that you are directing me away from continually looking at things on line rather than spending my time in better things. Thank you for this disciplining which will lead to greater freedom.

Praise you, Lord God, that you are at work in wonderful ways, beyond my comprehension, to move us ahead and in obedience to you. I give you glory, Lord for your care, your protection, your grace, your goodness, your wisdom, your power, your righteousness and your love—all of them unending, unchanging, unalterable, unbelievably good.

To know you is all I need; forgive me for trying to draw my happiness, my security, my sense of control from such temporary, unimportant, minuscule things in life. My purpose is to live for you, to be obedient to your Word and Spirit, to dwell in your Word rather than in my feelings. Praise you for your grace and goodness, Lord.

Today may I live for you with all my heart, being filled with your Spirit and doing what is right and glorifying to you. Help me to praise you in all things, to reject complaining and negativeness and to rejoice in the great privilege of knowing you, Lord. Amen.

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Complete in Christ

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 10, 2012

Thank you, Lord, for how things are developing, although in a number of uncomfortable situations I cannot yet see what you are doing. I praise you for your active work in our lives.

I surrender to you my desire to be getting more done when it is just not possible now, and praise you for how you are watching over us in great and powerful ways. Thank you for what we don’t get done, for that which we must wait upon. I give you praise for your wisdom, for your power, for your participation in our lives, both the details and the bigger picture.

You, Lord, are a wonderful and wise Shepherd, knowing when to move on, when to keep us in the present pasture. I praise you for your Word, your prophetic, powerful, pro-active, penetrating, pro-creative Word, bringing revelation, repentance, rejuvenation, rebirth and release from Satan, sin and self. I praise you, Lord Jesus that in you I am complete, that you are enough, the total sum of my needs, wants and longings.  I was made to be one with you, to fit into the perfect relationship where you employ, empower, empathize and eternalize all who come to you.

I praise you for your great patience, waiting, wooing and winning many for your Kingdom, while allowing the headstrong, unbelieving to reject your offer, bringing shame, pain, suffering and sadness to your heart.  Praise be to you that you give every person many chances to believe, that your Spirit works with each one, that you bring enough light for them to pursue, and will give them more if they do.

I praise you for your compassion set free by your giving justice its due on the cross. I praise you for your love setting fire to our hearts when we begin to grasp our own depravity and your great, costly forgiveness. I praise you for your graciousness in setting before us all we need to live a godly life for you.

Praise you for being you, the Powerful Creator, the Faithful Savior, the Wise Shepherd, the Righteous Judge, the Lover of sinners, the Redeemer of all, the Ender of Time and the Lord of eternity.  To you belongs glory, honor, power and praise.

I bow before you this morning, confessing my total unworthiness to be your son, rejoicing that in spite of this you have qualified me to be a partaker in the inheritance of the saints. I rise up to obey you today in all I know to be true.  May this lift your name on high today, bring you much glory and proclaim your greatness to all around.

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You are all I need!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 5, 2012

Lord, I praise you this morning for the great and high privilege of knowing you, of being your child, of knowing how I fit into your creation, of having in you worth, value, position, power and privilege as well as holiness, help and happiness.  These are gifts from you; I can find them in no other source.

You, Lord Jesus, are my Savior, my Shepherd, my Sovereign. I praise you for your great Love, for your faithful Follow Through, for your pervasive Perfection, for your high Holiness. You are always there, always loving, always good, always effective, especially when I cannot see or sense this.

I praise you that you help me as I need it. I thank you for the difficult times you lead me through, I thank you for the problems, the disappointments, the anguish that are important for my growth and deepening (James 1:2-4).

I praise you for your care, protection and provision. You, Lord God, are Mighty, Majestic and Magnificent, you are Great, Glorious, Gracious and Good, you are High, Holy and Humble.  You are worthy of worship, of obedience, of glory, of exaltation, of magnification, of honor, of praise. And I want to give all of these to you today.

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