Dwelling in the House of the LORD

I love Psalm 27!  You’re probably going to hear me say that often ‘cause my favorite book is the Psalms!  Recognize any of these lines?

• “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?”
• “Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice, and be gracious to me and answer me.”
• “Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me in a level path…”
• “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”

Great stuff!  The other day, I was particularly struck by verse 4:

“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek:  That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,  To behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.” 

I believe this is another aspect of a life in Jesus’ Name.  I looked up the Hebrew word “dwell” in my Logos Bible software (although Kris is studying Hebrew, at this point he could only tell me how to pronounce it…I am so proud of him!).  This word means settle or remain, implying a long period of time. J. Vernon McGee (one of my husband’s fav commentaries") says that dwelling with the LORD means we have access to Him through Jesus!   Imagine my delight when I found out that the word “beauty” in this verse means “delightfulness”!  Finally, I looked up the word “meditate” which means inspect, investigate or inquire.  What does all this mean?  Let me put it in words we can really understand:

“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek:  That I may settle and remain in the house of the LORD, having access to Him because of what Jesus did for me, all the days of my life, To behold the delightfulness of the LORD and to seek/investigate Him in His temple.” 

Now I know this is Paula’s paraphrase, but I am only inserting meanings from the original Hebrew into the verse to make it more understandable.  It is a tool I learned when I was training in Precept.  Isn’t this a great picture of what it means to live in Jesus’ Name…I love God’s word!!!!!

The next 2 verses in Psalm 27 give us the reason why we should do what verse 4 above says:

“For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.  And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.”  

You know how I know this is the why behind these verses?  Because of the simple word, “For” which begins verse 5!  Every version I checked begins with the word “For”.  This is also something I learned in Precept…look for words of conclusion like: for, therefore, then, etc.  That indicates that whatever comes after the “for” will give you the why or a conclusion to what you have been reading.  It will probably tell you some life application that you can make, so watch for these words.

I don’t know about you but I want God to “hide me” and “lift me up on a rock” when I am going through a time of trouble.  But in order for God to do this I need to be doing what verse 4 tells me do!  It’s a promise with a condition…live in Jesus’ Name (as we have talked about) and be hidden or protected by God!  Amen and amen!!

Heartburn and “Feasting” on God’s Faithfulness

Oh, what Satan will do to divert me from reading God’s word and living a life in Jesus’ Name!  My best intentions were to be reading Psalms every day, work in the book of John using the book, Just Give Me Jesus, and post on this blog 4 times a week!

Well, it hasn’t been happnin’…and I can come up with all sorts of reasons why and justify myself but, plain and simple, it is Satan and I am letting him do it!  Lord, today I pray to get back on track AND I pray for a hedge of protection around me and my family!

Back to business…I shared earlier this week about WMF day at our AFLC annual conference from Psalm 37:3-6.  Verse 3 says:  “Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness…”. There is a footnote for “cultivate” which says that could mean “feed securely” or “feed on His faithfulness”.  God brought that to mind when I had a bout of heartburn the other night.  I couldn’t lay down and go to sleep because it would “burn” more.  When I don’t eat right, I get heartburn, when I eat right I can be secure in the fact that I won’t have any unpleasant aftereffects.  When I cultivate or feed on His faithfulness, things go much better and I have the promises given in verses 4-6.

Psalm 34:8-10 says it well:

“O taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
O fear the LORD, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.”

Did you see the promises there for tasting, I prefer to think of it as feasting, in the LORD?  I will be blessed and have no want of any good thing!  WOW!!!

LORD, today, I pray that I may feast in you regularly that I may claim your promises of not being in want of any good thing!  Amen and amen!

DELIGHT in the Lord!

As I said I have been attending the Annual Conference of the AFLC, in Sioux Falls, SD.  It has been a marvelous week of inspiration, worship, encouragement, seeing old friends and making new!

Tuesday was the WMF day…Women’s Missionary Federation…where the women of the AFLC gather each year.  The theme for the day came from Psalm 37:3-6, Trust, Delight, Commit!

“Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”

Did you catch all those verbs (text in orange)?  That means these are active commands…we have something that we must do in order to receive the promises that go along with them (the text in red).

My fav speaker that day was Amy Skogerboe who spoke on how we can delight in the Lord. She did an extensive study on the word delight (sounds like my kinda girl when it comes to Bible study)  Here is a summary of 3 things she found out and shared with us:

•  Delighting in the Lord is WISE…God knows it is for His great glory and my great good.  It is balm for my soul.  I only have to look at Psalm 139 to know how wonderfully He made me and how much He loves me and desires a relationship with me.  Jeremiah 29:11 tells me:  “'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.’”  We were designed to delight in Him!
• Delighting in the Lord is WORSHIP…He is all He says He is and our delight in Him turns to praise/adoration/worship where we are celebrating the creator/potter/artist/vine!!  We need to REVEL in His attributes.  What better way to do this then to read the Psalms, which tell us who God is, and praise Him right then out loud and/or in song.  Do you realize how many songs come from the Psalms?
• Delighting in the Lord is WARFARE…Satan is afraid of our delight!  When we taste and see that the Lord is good, the world just doesn’t stack up and Satan is thwarted!!  Amy said that the problem with the church today is that we practice “disinterested reverence”.  Oh, how we need to come to worship today prepared and excited to worship and delight in the Lord, causing Satan to turn tail and run, and then go out into the world continuing to delight in Him every day, not just on Sundays!

Tomorrow is Sunday and I am praying God will give me an expectant heart, a heart ready to delight in Him in church and all day long (even if I will be in a car most of the day)!  Praise be to God!!

The Miracle of the Incarnation

First, let me say I have been attending our AFLC annual conference in Sioux Falls, SD and I haven’t had the time I wanted to keep blogging the past few days.  But I am back and want to share about the church I attended last Sunday.

I was in Minneapolis for an extended stay because my Amtrak train home was cancelled due to flooding in ND.  Annika was away for the weekend so I could attend church anywhere I wanted!  I had been to Annika’s church before, Faith Baptist, and really enjoyed the worship (led by friend Mark Jaspers) and the preaching.  So, off I went…and guess what new series the preacher was beginning that day?  A series on the miracles of Jesus beginning with the first great miracle, Jesus’ Incarnation (God becoming man) from John 1:1-18!  At first I thought “what a coincidence” .  How did that pastor know I studying the book of John and was on the first chapter?  Then I realized that with God there are no coincidences…He is in control all the way!

The worship was awesome, even singing some Advent/Christmas songs because of the theme!   Here are a few insights that God showed me that morning:

• This Gospel, about Jesus, is tied to creation (Genesis 1:1) with the phrase:  “In the beginning…”
• However, because these verses in John 1 tell us Jesus was the Word, He was with God, was God, and apart from Jesus, nothing came into being; Jesus is distinct from the creation
• John the Baptist was the last of the great prophets and was heralding someone totally different and radical!
• When Jesus became flesh (grace and truth realized) He allowed us to see God, He explains God, and challenges us to look for God!

What does this mean for me practically?  I had to ask myself the question:  “Am I looking for God, for Jesus, for opportunities to serve in Jesus’ name?   Isn’t this what I am wanting to find out…what it means to live in Jesus’ name?

Lord, allow me to become the hands, feet, and mouth of the incarnate God!  Open my eyes to opportunities to serve.  Amen and Amen!

Direction from the Psalms

I’ve been reading 5 psalms each day so I will have read the entire book in one month…I hope to do that each month.  The Psalms are so packed with wisdom, promises and yes, how to live a life in Jesus’ name.  Since starting this blog, I have been reading any scripture with “new eyes” looking for what it means to live in Jesus’ name.  I am finding it all over the place!!

For instance, take Psalm 9:10.  “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

The word name caught my attention…so if I am living a life in Jesus’ name I am putting my trust in God.  I am seeking Him and the wonderful promise is this…that those who seek Him will not be forsaken by Him!  So the question for myself is:  “Am I putting my trust in the LORD, Yahweh?  Do I see Him as my creator God, sovereign, the one who was so holy the Israelites could not say His name?  Am I living my life trusting in God or am I living my life trusting only in myself and others?  This is a sobering question and one I definitely need to ask myself regularly.  It is soooo easy to take my eyes off of God and put them on idols that are all around us…those deep idols of comfort, acceptance, and fear.

Psalm 16:8, 11 remind me:  “I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” 

LORD, give me eyes each morning to look to  You and place my trust in You no matter what is happening all around me!  AMEN and AMEN!

God at the Beginning and End of the Day

I was listening to a CD of mine entitled “Celtic Praise” and one of their songs really resonated with me.  I am trying to, with God’s help, spend time in daily Bible reading because my soul needs it so much!  The words of this song reminded me how much I need to surrender to God all day long…to begin my day with God and to end my day with God as well as everything in between!  Read the lyrics prayerfully and ask God to show you your absolute need to spend more time with Him!  Check out the links at the end too.

God in the darkness and God in the morning
God in the work and the pain and the play
Lord of all Heaven and Earth's great creator
God at beginning and end of the day

God in the tiniest infinite detail
God in the nearest and furthest away
Lord of all Heaven and Earth's great creator
God at beginning and end of the day

I lay down my tears and my hatred
Tear down the curtain of sin
Open my heart and let all that is good enter in

I lay down, my heart is so weary
And gaze on His presence with awe
There's nothing too small to entrust to the infinite God

God for the humble and meek and bewildered
God for the nearest and furthest away
Lord of all Heaven and Earth's great creator
God at beginning and end of the day

Eden’s Bridge gave  me permission to post these words and I invite you to Check out Eden’s Bridge website! They have many wonderful CD’s available!

Hear the song on You-Tube

Until tomorrow,
paula jo

Revelation Song

At 1st Church of the Corolla, one of  my fav songs was the Revelation Song.  Below are the words.  Check out the link at the end of the post to go to the website of the author of the song and play a version of the song sung by Kari Jobe.

Worthy is the, Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You
 
Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be
to You the only wise King

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder
At the mention of your name
Jesus your name is power
Breath, and living water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

REVELATION SONG
by Jennie Lee Riddle © 2004
CCLI # 4447960

Click here to hear the song!  (Click on the black arrow “play” symbol on this website to hear the song.  You can even purchase the song and/or album from Jennie!

Welcome to the 1st Church of the Corolla

My daughter, Annika, and I have been on a road trip to Colorado to attend the graduation of her cousin, Jesse, in Aspen.  We’ve had a fun time with family and are now on the way back to Minneapolis.  We had to travel on a Sunday to get back in time for me to catch my train to ND.  Sooooo, we attended a rather unique church this morning…the 1st Church of the Corolla (to quote my daughter) with the guest speaker, John Piper (via Podcast).  The worship team included Kari Jobe, David Crowder, and Hillsong (among others) and the guest singers were none other than Annika and Paula Nyman!  What a precious time it was!  We prayed, sang worship songs, and listened to God’s Word being preached.  The theme of the sermon was “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him!”  (Philippians 1:18-23).  How appropriate this was as I am praying for God to reveal Himself to me through His son Jesus and give me opportunities to  “live my life in Jesus’ name”.

And on that subject….I have to be careful what I pray for.  We got a BIG chance to practice this today as we were sailing along I-80 in Nebraska (at 78 miles per hour) and had a flat tire!  God definitely watched over us, as there were no other cars near us and we could ease over to the shoulder without rolling the car or any other mishap.  It must have been at least 90 degrees with a hot wind blowing.  Can you picture it?  Two females on the side of the road trying in vain to get the darn tire off.  As we pumped the jack to raise the car, it sank into the hot asphalt and did not raise the car like we needed.  With a lot of prayer, frantic calls to Kris and the nearest service station, who sent a man out on a Sunday afternoon to finish changing the tire for us, and some patient waiting, we made it.   We did not get near as far as we wanted today because there was no place open to buy a new tire at that time on a Sunday evening!  We just missed getting to Wal-mart before they closed for the night and the one Auto Parts Store that was open did not sell tires.  Thank God for kind people (the guys at this store) who tried to call around to find a place to buy a tire…all to no avail.  So, we are ready for a good night’s sleep and an early start tomorrow. 

While we were waiting on the side of the road, we were trying to “count it all joy” and find the positive side of all this.  God certainly gave us an opportunity to practice patience, be alive to tell about the experience, and be kind to the lady at Wal-mart who said everyone was going home and they were not allowed any overtime, minutes after the closing time!

Hallelujah to the Lamb!  Our thanks and praise goes to you, creator God!

See ya’ later…
paula  jo  

First day! Woo hoo!!

On p. x in the introduction of Anne Graham Lotz’ book, Just Give Me Jesus, she says:  “How did the apostle John know that in the 21^st century,  at the beginning of a new millennium,

                our lives would be so busy,
                our schedules would be so crammed,
                our focus would be so divided,
                our bodies would be so tired,
                our minds would be so bombarded,
                our families would be so attacked,
                our relationships would be so strained,
                our churches would be so programmed,

that we would be desperate for the simplicity and the purity, the freedom and the fulfillment, of “life in His name?  How did John know that with all the “stuff” in the church in this postmodern age, we would be thirsty for the Living Water and starving for the Bread of Life?  I don’t think he did know.  But God did.  Which is why He just gives us Jesus…”

“When our lives begin to unravel due to pressure, problems, or pain, we don’t seem to know how to access the power and truth of God’s Word in a personal, relevant way that makes a difference. As a result, thousands have spirits that are shriveling even while they are sobbing, ‘Please, just give me Jesus!’”

On p. 310, Anne continues:  “What does your spiritual diet consist of?   Although you may be an active church member and a committed Christian, could it be that you are actually starving for the Bread of Life?  Are you starving for the Bread, which is Jesus Himself, offered to you and me through God’s Word?”

I am asking myself this question today and find that I am starving!  I want to read my Bible more and learn about Jesus more and what he wants in my life!  Please join me as I begin this journey!