"So much has been given to me,
I have no time to ponder over that which as been denied."
~ Helen Keller
I have no time to ponder over that which as been denied."
~ Helen Keller
Follow Your Heart, Part II
#knowingGod
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath Day.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.
~ Psalms 92:1 (NKJV)
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
~ Psalms 136:1 (NKJV)
In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV)
What puts praise in our hearts?
In a word, appreciation. Appreciation for the Lord's blessings. Appreciation for all he has done, is doing, and promises to do. Appreciation for Who He is. (And He is Good!)
The trials of life—especially suffering—can cloud our vision. Perception makes the difference between believing the Lord is working everything for good and wondering why His goodness is unseen; between the heart confident of the Lord's love, and the heart which doubts His favor.
The heart of gratitude sees His goodness and mercy everywhere. Even suffering can be accepted as means by which He refines us, draws close to us, and draws us close to Himself.
The heart filled with gratitude leads everything else in us to love the Lord, to know His love, to feel His every touch as blessing—and to give Him praise.
Lord, Your mercy and grace are so abundant. Our eyes are often clouded by the temporal, by pain, by the ugliness of evil. Please open our eyes and hearts to receive everything with thanks, and give You the full praise of which You are so worthy.
Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Photo from nalanda.nitc.ac.in
Thank you, great reminder to thank him for all things, during all season's. He is always there, always enough, always hearing and speaking.
ReplyDeleteYes, through the good, the bad, the rain, and the sunshine, praise Him continually. I love you dear sis.
ReplyDeleteI wish I spent more time on confession, adoration, and petition. Instead, my heart sings "thank You" a hundred times a day, for things so small it makes my children giggle: the pot roast didn't burn, I found the vanilla extract at the back of the cupboard, the sound of leaves rustling, the chipmunk I did NOT hit when it ran in front of my car. And on, and on, and on. I'm working on moving beyond "thank You" so I can spend more time on other aspects of prayer. It's hard, though!
ReplyDeleteGod bless you all richly today.
T. Anne, "He's always there" is all the reason I need for gratitude.
ReplyDeleteDenise, "Rejoice Always! Again I will say, Rejoice!" ;D
Gwen, I have a quote somewhere that says something like, "If the only prayer we ever said was 'Thank You' it would be enough." I absolutely agree with this. If you're thanking Him like you described, I don't think you need to worry that your prayer is in any way insufficient. (If your music students said only 'thank you, Mrs. Stewart' over and over, would you feel they needed to elaborate?)
Today at worship I will focus, let my heart experience, appreciation... :-)
ReplyDeleteRussell, you got a little overlooked there. Sorry! But even if I don't make it to your church (or you do get kicked out), I still look forward to worshiping with you with appreciation ... that day in His kingdom.
ReplyDeletePeace!