Seeking the Life in Christ: November 2022

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

We Will Be a Living Testimony

Meditations for the Season of Advent

November 30, 2022

We Will Be a Living Testimony

“. . . and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:19 (NRSV)

What is it like to be filled with the fullness of God? Brennan Manning noted in his journal that we experience the fullness of God “whenever people come home to themselves in our presence, and when they feel a little less hopeful and joyful because we are absent.” I believe Manning is correct, but his insight is also counter-cultural.

We live in a value-added society. Our culture has indoctrinated us to discern the value that will be added to our life before we make a buying decision or before we determine to invest our time in a relationship. “What’s in it for me?” may sound crass, and we may not be so blunt in our speech, or thought processes, but the truth is we subconsciously evaluate the commitment of our time and resources based on the perceived benefits we will receive. Jesus’ perspective is for us to look at how we can benefit others; not how they can benefit us: “Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). (Also, Philippians 2:4 (NRSV), “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”)

A few days ago, I noted that when I say, “Jesus is Lord,” the Holy Spirit prompts me to a gut-check: “Have I submitted all the priorities of my life to the Lordship of Jesus?” Yesterday, I observed that I wanted to live with the exciting sense that something is about to happen. When I put these two ideas together, I am inspired with a holy desire that others sense the fullness of God within me, that the people I encounter, whether friends, family, or strangers, find in me a source of strength and joy.

My Takeaway: I invite you to join me in this desire, and together, as we experience the presence of Christ living his life through us, we will be a living testimony to the world of the promise of Advent and Christmas.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life. The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

When Something Is About to Happen

Meditations for the Season of Advent

November 29, 2022

When Something Is About to Happen

I say to you what I say to everyone: Watch!”

Mark 13: 37

"I'll tell you what keeps me coming to this church." The man who spoke was punching the air with his finger, pronouncing every word with force and the dozen or so other people in the room turned to listen. "It's strange, I know, but I get the feeling here, like nowhere else, that something is about to happen."

The feeling that something is about to happen. The earliest Christians would have recognized this instantly as one of the truest marks of the church. They were convinced they stood on the edge of history, and that something was about to happen. For the world, time just moved on, but for the early Christian community, something was about to happen.

Because something was about to happen, every word they uttered, every deed they did, every prayer they prayed was shaped by faith in the coming of Christ. Today, those who trust in the promise of God's coming kingdom are also able to see advance signs of its coming all around them.

Every time Christians recite the creed, "He will come to judge the quick and the dead," we proclaim our hope that frail human justice, the kind one can get with a good lawyer and a full checkbook, is not the justice for which we yearn. Every time we share clothing or food for those in need, we do so not because we are so naive as to think that a few used garments and a shelf of soup and cereal are going to end human need. We do so because we live today in the light of God's tomorrow, when all will be clothed in garments of light and the banquet table of the kingdom will hold a feast. Every time we speak words of forgiveness in circumstances of bitterness, words of love in situations of hatred, we are using, in the present, a language which the whole creation will learn to speak in God's tomorrow.

My Takeaway: I am in a place where every time I kneel at the altar of our church to receive the Eucharist, I get the feeling that something is about to happen within me. I hope you have similar experiences where you worship.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Monday, November 28, 2022

Is Jesus Your Lord?

Meditations for the Season of Advent

NOTE: Today, I am beginning a series of meditations for the Season of Advent & Christmas. I will resume my meditations on Christ in the Psalms on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

November 28, 2022

Is Jesus Your Lord?

“. . . the Scriptures say God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.”

James 4:5b

Happy New Year! Yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent, and we have entered the first season of the new Christian liturgical year. Many new churches established within the last generation have broken with the past and utilized church architecture which shuns chancels, altars, any use of liturgical signs and colors, and minimizes, if not eliminates, the cross. For me, it is so sad they are shunning our traditional and orthodox theological and liturgical heritage.

For many, the practice of liturgical seasons seems antiquated, and not applicable to the new high-tech generation. Early in my pastoral service, I lacked an appreciation for the history and significance of liturgical forms of worship. But as I gained an appreciation for liturgy, I could see how, when appropriately used, liturgical worship shines the light on Jesus. At the very least, including the Seasons of the Christian Year into our devotional practices can help keep us grounded in the essentials of our faith. The oldest confession of faith is simply, “Jesus is Lord.” This was never intended to be an abstract theological proposition; rather, it was intended to be a highly personal affirmation of what we understand to be the core of our being. I like the simplicity of the statement because Jesus is either the Lord of my life, or he is not. There is no in-between. Immediately, when I say, “Jesus is Lord,” the Holy Spirit prompts me to a gut-check: “Have I submitted all the priorities of my life to the Lordship of Jesus?”

My Takeaway: When I am mindful of this confession of faith, my approach to Advent and Christmas remains Christ-centered, and I can rightly judge between the allures of secular culture and choose to remain faithful to the One who has so generously placed His Spirit within me.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, November 25, 2022

Let All That I Am Praise The Lord

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

November 25, 2022

NOTE: Beginning Monday, November 28, 2022, I will begin a series of meditations for the Season of Advent & Christmas. I will resume my meditations on Christ in the Psalms on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

Let All That I Am Praise The Lord

O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!

In wisdom you have made them all.

The earth is full of your creatures.

Psalm 104:24

As I read Psalm 104, one of my favorite praise songs came to mind. Starry Host, inspired by Isaiah 40:26, praises the wonder of God’s creation.

To whom will you compare Me?

Or who is My equal? say the Holy One,

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host,

One by one, and calls them each by name

Because of His great power

And mighty strength

Not one of them is missing

Starry Host recorded by Silers Bald

Down through the ages people have stood in awe of nature. John Muir was one of those people. He explored what is now Yosemite National Park and urged that the area be preserved as a national treasure because it was such a magnificent display of the beauty of God’s creation. Psalm 104 calls us to take time in life to observe the wonder of God’s creation. That is easy for me, as every time I walk through my neighborhood, I behold God’s lofty mountain grandeur.

The psalmist is going beyond the initial act of creation. The psalmist wants me to consider that God created . . . and is still creating. God created the very first sun rise and He created the magnificent sunset I saw on a recent evening. God not only created all things, but God is also proactively caring for His creation. God didn’t just create the first peach; He created the peaches I enjoyed all last summer.

The Apostle Paul reached this same conclusion when he wrote of the supremacy of Christ, “He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together” (Colossians 1:17, emphasis mine). What happens when Christ stops holding all creation together? The psalmist answers that in Psalm 104:29-30 (NRSV):

“When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

when you take away their breath, they die

and return to their dust.

When you send forth your spirit, they are created;

and you renew the face of the ground.”

One of our joys of living here is standing on the ridge not far from our house and watching the hawks soaring above the valley. If the psalmist were standing next to us, he would have pointed out that God created those hawks. God also created the air currents that were keeping them aloft, and God created the trees where they nest, and because “the Lord takes pleasure in all he has made” (v. 31b), the Lord is smiling as he watches over His creations playing in the air.

My Takeaway: And God is smiling as He watches me standing in awe of his creation.

“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.

I will praise my God to my last breath!

May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!”

Psalm 104:33-34, 35b

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Bless The Lord, O My Soul

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

November 24, 2022

Happy Thanksgiving

Bless The Lord, O My Soul

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name.”

Psalm 103:1 (NRSV)

Most often I think of God as the one who blesses, or extends favor, affirmation, and approval. However, the word bless can also mean to praise, to glorify, and to call holy. The psalmist blesses God by praising, glorifying, and calling God holy because of all that God is, all that God has done and is doing in the life of the psalmist, and all that he believes God will continue to do. (There are some interesting similarities in the construction of God’s attributes between Psalm 103 and Isaiah 40, especially in the affirmation that the LORD has no equal in Isaiah 40:12-31.)

The psalmist is embracing the entire history of God’s people as his own history. Because our “real life is hidden with Christ in God,” we are invited to embrace the many expressions of God’s mercy throughout the Bible as our own experience of God. (Colossians 3:3)

I have two thoughts to ponder after reading Psalm 103. First, the Christian ideal is that all the followers of Christ can write their own psalm of praise, with Psalm 103 as their model. The psalmist not only owned all that God had done in history, but also claimed what God was doing in the present and what he trusted God will do in the future. Second, we remember that authentic praise of God is not in our words, but in the way we lead our lives.

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8 (NRSV)

My Takeaway: On this Thanksgiving Day, let us begin our prayers with,

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name.”

Psalm 103:1 (NRSV)

Sē’lah

<>< <>< <>< <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Lift Our Eyes to Heaven

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

November 23, 2022

Lift Our Eyes to Heaven

The children of your people

will live in security.

Their children’s children

will thrive in your presence.

Psalm 102:28

I was driving through the countryside recently and saw the most beautiful willow tree. Whenever I see a willow tree I recall Psalm 137:

By the rivers of Babylon—

there we sat down and there we wept

when we remembered Zion.

On the willows there

we hung up our harps.

For there our captors

asked us for songs,

and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,

‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’

Psalm 137:1-3 NRSV

Hence the common name for the tree, weeping willow. Psalm 137 laments Israel’s Babylonian captivity, as does today’s reading of Psalm 102. Prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, in what today is known as the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, was a part of the oral history of Israel. The exile to slavery of Israel necessitated writing their history so that it would not be lost. Some of the first words written were, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This account of creation from Genesis 1 reminded the Israelites that the LORD was the God of Order. Those were comforting words in the midst of the chaos and confusion of their captivity.

The psalmist in Psalm 102 confesses Israel is overwhelmed by her troubles, but he doesn’t focus only on their problems. He extols the virtues, the character of God, and concludes, “The children of your people will live in security. Their children’s children will thrive in your presence” (Psalm 102:28).

My Takeaway: The great temptation, when we encounter the pain and difficulties of life, is to focus on our troubles. Psalm 102 is a reminder that, while we do not deny our pain, we can choose to lift our eyes to heaven and find comfort and strength in the eternal mercy and goodness of God, our Father.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

H Times 3

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

November 22, 2022

H Times 3

I will sing of your love and justice, Lord.

I will praise you with songs.

I will be careful to live a blameless life—

Psalm 101:1-2a

I am thankful to my friend, Rev. Dick Brown, for teaching me the acrostic H³. It is so helpful in remembering the basic qualities of a follower of Jesus: Hunger for God; Heart for people; and Hatred of sin. Elements of all three of these are used by King David in Psalm 101.

When God’s people were preparing to enter the Promised Land, Moses gave them final instructions. As the Covenant people of God, they were promised God’s blessings “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.” “But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you” (Deuteronomy 28:1, 15).

As the King of Israel, David was responsible for modeling Covenant life for his people. In this psalm, he is taking responsibility to lead the people in faithfully obeying God’s commands.

Jesus fulfilled Psalm 101, and Jesus makes it possible for us to fulfill Psalm 101: “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

I believe Psalm 101 can serve as a reminder of the importance of modeling before those in our circle of influence the life of a fully-devoted follower of Jesus.

My Takeaway: While there may be nuances in how each of us is experiencing the life in Christ, depending on our own Christian maturity and our environment, we’ll always be close to the heart of Christ if we remember H³, Hunger for God; Heart for people; and Hatred of sin.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Monday, November 21, 2022

Coming Back to the Heart of Worship

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

November 21, 2022

Coming Back to the Heart of Worship

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!

Worship the Lord with gladness.

Come before him, singing with joy.

Psalm 100:1-2

In the late 1990s, Soul Survivor Church in Watford, England was experiencing what they described as a period of apathy in their worship. Matt Redman, one of their worship leaders recalls, “There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing. He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we’d lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.” The pastor asked his congregation, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”

During that season, the congregation learned worship was about what they were bringing to God, not what the worship leaders were doing. The church had a new perspective that worship is all about Jesus. They learned worship was about singing praises ‘to’ Jesus, not just ‘about Jesus.’ In response to this transition in his church, Redman wrote a song that has become cherished throughout the world: The Heart of Worship.

When the music fades,

all is stripped away,

and I simply come

Longing just to bring something

that’s of worth that will bless your heart

I’m coming back to the heart of worship,

and it’s all about You, Jesus

Psalm 100 is also cherished throughout the world and serves as a model for worshiping God in truth and spirit. As followers of Jesus, we remember that God loves us unconditionally, just as we are; not as we should be, because no one is as they should be. (Brennan Manning) With that thought in mind, read Psalm 100 again. Contemplate each attribute of God the psalmist extols. Change the words so that it becomes you singing to the Lord. This is my personalization of Psalm 100:

I shout with joy to you, my Lord, I worship you with gladness. I come before you singing with joy because you are God! You made me, and I am yours. I am among your people, the sheep of your pasture. I enter your gates with thanksgiving; I go into your courts with praise, giving thanks to you and praising your name. For you, my Lord are good, your unfailing love continues forever, and your faithfulness continues to each generation.

My Takeaway: Before our next worship service, let’s allow our personalization of Psalm 100 to help prepare us for the heart of worship:

I’m coming back to the heart of worship,

and it’s all about You, Jesus

Sē’lah

<>< <>< <>< <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Friday, November 18, 2022

Our God Is a Consuming Fire

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

November 18, 2022

Our God Is a Consuming Fire

The Lord is king!

Let the nations tremble!

He sits on his throne between the cherubim.

Let the whole earth quake!

Psalm 99:1

Does familiarity breed contempt? When Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth, the people scoffed saying, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary.” They didn’t accept his teaching and “were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.” (Mark 6: 1-4) They were too close to Jesus. How could this young man they had seen grow up in their community be the Messiah?

The writer of Hebrews strongly urges his congregation to remember “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29). I believe we would do well to contemplate this passage in Hebrews, and then read Psalm 99, lest we succumb to the contemptible nature of the people in Nazareth and scoff at the Lordship of Jesus.

“The Lord is king!

Let the nations tremble!

He sits on his throne between the cherubim.

Let the whole earth quake!”

Psalm 99:1

Four times in nine verses the psalmist refers to the holiness of God. Twice the psalmist urges Israel to “Exalt the Lord our God!” (v.5, 9) The psalmist extols God’s virtues of justice, fairness, righteousness, and forgiveness, and then calls Israel to worship, “for the Lord our God is holy!” (v.9)

Yes, in Christ, we are now friends with God (Romans 5:10-11). Yes, in Christ, we can call God, Abba Father. Yes, we are now heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus. (Romans 8:15-17) Even so, The Lord is king; the Lord our God is holy!

My Takeaway: In just a few days, we will gather in our churches to praise the awesome and great name of our God. (Psalm 99:3) Today, let us begin preparing to offer God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).

Sē’lah

<>< <>< <>< <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Keep Singing

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

November 17, 2022

Keep Singing

“Sing a new song to the Lord,

for he has done wonderful deeds.”

Psalm 98:1a

In reading Psalm 98, I remember a time when the Music Director at my church brought a youth group to visit the adult/dementia day care at our church. One of the young girls began singing a solo and a woman who had appeared almost comatose, raised her head, and began singing along. As soon as the song ended, the woman dropped her head and resumed her previous state. Such is the power of music in the human soul. The Book of Psalms appreciates this part of human nature, as the subject of singing appears at least eight-six times.

Not only are we inspired by music, but the scriptures also show us that God is inspired by our praise. When a vast army came against Israel, King Jehoshaphat went to the Lord in prayer. God answered his prayer saying, “Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” In response, “the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: “Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!” At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the enemy armies to start fighting among themselves. Not a single one of the enemy escaped.” (2 Chronicles 20:1-24 Emphasis mine).

Often the psalmist calls us to “Sing a new song to the LORD!” Every great Christian movement has birthed new songs. From the reformation movement of Martin Luther to the Methodist movement of John and Charles Wesley, to the charismatic movement, men and women have been inspired to create new songs for praise and worship of God.

Sometimes the song we sing isn’t new, as in brand new; it is new to the circumstances of our new day. Thus, we sing a new song to the Lord as we choose to praise God amid uncertainty.

My Takeaway: I am writing this on election day and there is uncertainty about the makeup of our government in the coming months. Today is a good time for me to sing anew, and I invite you to join me,

“Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!”

2 Chronicles 20:21

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

The Lord is King

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

November 16, 2022

The Lord is King

The Lord is king!

Let the earth rejoice!

Let the farthest coastlands be glad.

Psalm 97:1

When preparing sermons, preachers are taught to answer two basic questions: What? And so what? First, what does the text say? Next, what does the text mean to me? How does it apply to my life today? The psalmist in Psalm 97 followed this pattern. He answered the first question using a confession of faith: “The Lord is King!” (v.1a) The psalmist continues confessing God’s nature for six verses and then answers the second question by stating several implications of God’s reign and concluding with: “May all who are godly rejoice in the Lord and praise his holy name!” (v.12)

Psalm 97 is an invitation to the followers of Jesus to respond to the confession: “The Lord is King!” Our response is difficult to formulate because we have been conditioned to think in terms of, “God is my co-pilot,” rather than “The Lord is King!” We talk about entering a relationship with God as though God is our co-equal, but the text of Psalm 97 says, “The Lord is King!”

In responding to this psalm, I remember the New Testament affirms that Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of God, as the angel Gabriel announced to Mary: “And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end’” (Luke 1:31-33 NRSV).

When Jesus began his ministry, he affirmed his mission was about the Kingdom of God by bracketing the Beatitudes with promises of His Kingdom:

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,

for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,

for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”

(Matthew 5: 3, 10)

My Takeaway: We are conditioned by our culture to think in terms of the decisions and choices we get to make. However, when I am tempted to think that I decided to be a part of Jesus’ Kingdom, Jesus reminds me, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you” (John 15:16a).

“The Lord is King!”

Sē’lah

<>< <>< <>< <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Sing A New Song To The Lord!

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

November 15, 2022

Sing A New Song To The Lord!

Sing a new song to the Lord!

Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!

Sing to the Lord; praise his name.

Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.

Psalm 96:1-2

Psalm 96 is lifted out of King David’s great song of praise when he brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. (See 1 Chronicles 16: 23-33) This portion of David’s song has a great missionary zeal, as David addresses the ‘nations’ of the world five times. Three interlaced themes have captured my attention in this psalm.

First, there is a clarion call to be an evangel. This word of Greek and Latin origin simply means ‘bring the good news.’ Psalm 96 urges us to: “Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does” (v. 2a-3). We are invited to join all of creation in praising the splendor and majesty of God.

Next, as we would expect from King David, Psalm 96 exudes unrestrained joy in the worship of God. The worship is inviting and inclusive of all people. From the perspective of this psalm, the praises of God in our worship services create an inviting environment for people to come to faith in God. I would love to be in a worship service where an invitation to receive Christ as Savior was given immediately following the opening prayers, praises, and hymns.

Finally, the basis of that invitation is the church singing a new song. David’s new song proclaimed that God reigned as the Creator of heaven and earth. As followers of Jesus, the New Testament gives us two beautiful new songs to sing to the nations. Philippians 2:5-11 proclaims the humility of Christ and concludes with the affirmation:

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:10-11

Colossians 1:15-20 proclaims the supremacy of Christ, concluding with these most beautiful words:

“For God in all his fullness

was pleased to live in Christ,

and through him God reconciled

everything to himself.

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth

by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”

Colossians 1:19-20

Hallelujah!

My Takeaway: Sing a new song to the Lord! This opening line of Psalm 95 calls us to an awareness that each day can be a new adventure in living within the favor of God. Each new adventure brings a new song! Cheryl and I incorporate this awareness of God’s favor in our Sunday blessing jar, where we recall all the new songs we experienced in the preceding week.

Sē’lah

<>< <>< <>< <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

We Will Be a Living Testimony

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

When Something Is About to Happen

Monday, November 28, 2022

Is Jesus Your Lord?

Friday, November 25, 2022

Let All That I Am Praise The Lord

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Bless The Lord, O My Soul

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Lift Our Eyes to Heaven

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

H Times 3

Monday, November 21, 2022

Coming Back to the Heart of Worship

Friday, November 18, 2022

Our God Is a Consuming Fire

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Keep Singing

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

The Lord is King

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Sing A New Song To The Lord!

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