The Prayer of Praise

     You've probably heard the saying (sighing) 'Oh well, praise God anyway' or something to that effect. It seems to be saying 'oh well, it's inevitable, what will happen will happen.' A rather fatalistic attitude.
     Well, the truth is that we are to praise God in everything.  Good, bad, ugly and beautiful...everything.
In Isaiah 37:14 we see Hezekiah come before the Lord with a letter that spoke death to him and his people. 
"He received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.  And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: "Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the
cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.  You have made heaven and earth.  Give ear, Lord and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
"It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands.  They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for
they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.  Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God."
     Here he is in a rather precarious position and he chooses to look at God. To see His as He really is and to trust God to be Who He really is and protect them and by doing so all the world will see first hand that He is the one true God.
As Hezekiah praises God he is reminding himself Who God is and where the real balance of power resides. 

     So when we are faced with a "challenging situation of circumstances", we are to praise God.  Standing bold faced and brag on who He is!  
     And when we do this we aren't praising God for sin or sickness or the devil; no, we praise God for Who He is in spite of all circumstances that surround us.
We ask in our praises...we're not asking or using God just to get an answer. Our prayer is honoring God for Who He is. We praise Him for what He has accomplished at the cross; dealing with sin, sickness and the devil.
We are saying I know that this situation doesn't reflect You so I'm asking You to change it!
We are "asking" out of praise.
Our prayers are giving praise to God for Who He is.  And stating this truth to all the world, "so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, Lord, are the only God."!

No matter what you find your circumstances to be...

No matter if you're in the midst of being abused or in the heartache of watching your child in pain or coping as the love of your life deteriorate before your eyes and knowing there's not a dang thing you can do to fix or change ANY of it...
None of that changes WHO YOU ARE.

YOU are blessed by God...
     No matter how it appears around you.

YOU are loved by God...
     No matter what you failed to do.

YOU are kept by God...
     No matter how alone you fee.

YOU are a delight to God...
    No matter what you think of yourself.

YOU are a child of the Most High God...
     Remember that.

Embracing Life

What does it mean to embrace something?
Embrace does mean to hug, but it can also mean to surround or enclose something.  To make use of something, it can even mean to welcome and take advantage of something willingly. 
     So when I say we should embrace life, I mean to choose to willingly take whatever the situation and be who you are in it. 
But in order to do this you must first know who you are.
You are a child of the Most High God!
You are totally, completely and unconditionally loved by Him!
You are filled to overflowing with His Spirit!
It doesn't matter how you feel, this is the truth!
And it is because this is true that you may embrace life, wherever you find yourself and whatever circumstance you may be in.
Choose to be alive. 
This may sound obvious to say but many wake up in the morning wishing they hadn't.
Not matter what is going on in life, choose to live in it.
Be thankful to be alive - no matter the circumstances.
Choose to serve.
Just as Joseph did when he was unjustly imprisoned, he chose to serve and by doing so all the glory and exultation went to God.
     True joy comes in choosing to live.
Does this mean I have to like the circumstances I am in?
No.  It just means that you see yourself as God sees you even in the circumstances that you find yourself in.
     Avoid the "I don't have" mentality..."I don't have the education, or I don't have the money, ability, patience, etc...
The biblical mentality is "This is what I have and God is developing me.  I can trust Him that I will be, do or have whatever is needed to fulfill His purpose.
And I am to embrace all there is and to be thankful for such a faithful God.
This isn't just making the best of a bad circumstance.
By choosing to be "there", wherever "there" is. and by recognizing that God is there with me in that situation I can embrace the moment. He isn't just watching me from afar. Distant and unable or unwilling to help.
He is my strength.  He is my potential.
What I mean is that it is in Him that I have the potential to live out His purpose here to the very fullest.  Realizing that within me is His mighty power. I am weak...now He can be strong.
Joseph didn't dwell on all he'd lost.  Yes, he was sad and mourned and was heartbroken for the loss of his family and freedom but he didn't stay there, he looked at where he was and embraced it...This...This is reality now and this is the reality that matters.
He kissed the chains so to speak. 
Did he want to be there? NO!  But he recognized that he wasn't alone in his circumstances, God was with him and he was given the abilities he needed to be a blessing and serve and in-so-doing God received glory and adoration.
     We can live in the reality of Christ in us.
Ask God "What beauty are you going to make out of this mess?  What are you up to in all this?"
Then let Him show you His dreams for you.

To commit or to commit To

Earlier this year my dear husband, J.B., had a major meltdown, an emotional break down. I have never seen him in such despair. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to help. He wanted to die. He said I'd better take him to the hospital. There’s no hope. God has forsaken and abandoned him. I got my dad and we took him to the ER. I was afraid (and yet hoping at the same time) that all this was caused by another blood clot like the last time he was so sick. They check him out, made sure there were no blood clots in his lungs again and checked everything they could think of…but that wasn’t it.
The doctor spoke to me alone in the hallway, he had such a serious look. He told me that my husband really needs help and he can’t do anymore for him. He needs to go to the other hospital. Then he asked “Are you ready to commit him?”
My heart sank. I felt like falling down. I could hear myself (in my head) screaming “NO! God please! This isn’t fair! What am I to do?!”
And in my spirit I heard Him say “Answer this question…Are you ready to commit him or Are you ready to commit to him?”
We’ve been married 19 years so far and I would like to think I’ve been pretty darn committed to him so far! Then He reminded me of the vows I made…"I promise to stand by you regardless of the situation around us. Whether we’re rich or poor doesn’t matter, spending my life with you does. In times of sickness and thru the blessings of health I will love, cherish and obey you…with all my heart I believe our union in Christ is now and forever.”
Well, what can you say after a speech like that?! How can I say anything less than YES! of course I will commit to him! I don’t know what this will entail, and I'm scared to death but I do commit myself to him and with God’s help, do what I can to help him thru this terrible time. And trust that God will see both of us thru this stronger and hopefully wiser.

In the describablely difficult times....

This I received as a word from God given by a sweet friend.
"Praise Me."
"This I ask of you in times that is describablely difficult to do so."
"I ask it of you in a love that is stern because I know that it is your only hope for survival."
"Distress of soul and grief of heart can only bring on the destruction of the body."
"Joy alone is the healer."
"And you can have it in the darkest if you will force your soul to rise to Me in worship and adoration."
"Praise Me!"

When hope is lost...

Can anything be worse than loosing all hope?
You can face incredible adversity, if you have hope.
You can deal with overwhelming odds, if you have hope.
This year that hope was shattered and I found myself and JB standing before an onslaught of despair. Everything I had been holding onto and supposedly standing firm on was ripped like a rug out from under me. I was paralyzed with fear that saying or doing the wrong thing would make it even worse. I watched helplessly as things I trusted in crumbled before me. As a child left with only an ebbing candle to battle the darkness that is pressing in. In that darkness, where fear looms and grips the last bit of strength from you...where that nasty father of lies says cruelly "Where is you God?" It was in that horrid darkness when all hope seems to be gone forever that I found myself cowering....and yet....a small light flickers beside me, then another and another and soon it is the darkness that is running from the blinding light that is growing around me. Encompassing my very being. Strength is slowly being renewed; and the fear that had threatened to crush me is being lifted away. As I looked up; I began to see what those little lights were.....it was my Daddy, my Momma, my sister, family and dear friends.....it was God!
You see, it is His love that shone thru them. It is His love that renewed my spirit. It is His love that can always be trusted in. It is His love that brought me hope.
"Where is my God?" you ask
HE IS WITH ME!!!!!

What's in a name?

I was thinking about names...We name our kids in hope that they may be influenced by what the name means or the person they are named after. Like Seamus (James) in hopes that he will find a good example in the man James of the Bible. Or Marsha in hopes that she will look to her grandmother and see an example of a good woman. Then there are names that remind us of certain truths. For example Ceana is celtic for God is gracious or Elias means the Lord is my God. And even though my name is spelled different than other Lisa's, it still means consecrated to God, in other words dedicated to God's sacred purpose. Well, if I choose to believe these things are true (which I do) then I am reminded that when I was young my parents dedicated, set aside and gave me back to God for Him to do His good works in and thru me and that now all grown up, I can choose to continue to live in that truth every day.
If that is how you start your day.......remembering who He is, well, then at least your putting your first thoughts in the right direction.