The Prodigal Son Has Come Home!

My afternoon was spent enjoying a phone call with my beautiful son, Dude. I cry almost every time I talk to either of my kids, but today it was like the floodgates were opened, and they were the tears of one VERY happy mama!

I got the most wonderful news - my "boy" got to the place in his life to where he realized that he couldn't do it on his own anymore - he knew that he needed a Savior to lead him, and has given his heart back to Jesus!

I quote from Luke 1:46- 48 - it was Mary giving her thanks to the Lord for what he had done in her life,
"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant".

Thank you Jesus, for hearing the prayer of this mama's heart and bringing me the answer in such an unexpected way today!

Thank you Father, that you are always there with open arms to welcome us back "home". Thank you for the blessing of this son that you spoke of to me while I was carrying him and said to me, "he will be more of a blessing than you can ever imagine", for he is - and I give all the glory to YOU, Jesus.

The Faithfulness of the Lord

My heart and mouth are filled with Praise today, as I start out December 2008.
No sooner than I had listed my Nativity on the TDIPT Mercantile last night, that I got an email from a girl wanting to purchase it! I am so thankful to my Father in Heaven for his faithfulness.
Once we started attending 1st Baptist we began tithing weekly, and as always, the Lord has been faithful to his promises of taking care of all our needs, and blessing us beyond what we can possibly imagine, if we give our firstfruits to him.
With that, I share verses 6 - 11 of Jeremiah 10, where Jeremiah is extoling the Lord.
"No one is like you, O Lord; you are great and your name is mighty in power.
Who should not revere you, O King of the nations? This is your due.
Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.
They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols. Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple - all made by skilled workers.
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath".
I pray that if you don't know the Lord as your one and only Savior, that you will seek him out and let him know of your need for him. He will reveal himself to you, just as he has done to me and countless others. He is faithful in all he says and does, and I give him the highest praise today for being such a loving and faithful Father.
Have a blessed day!
Janelle

Praising God

Today I'm wrapping up with the book of Psalms. Chapter 150 isn't a long one, but it sure is powerful!

"Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre; praise him with the tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with the resounding cymbals. Let EVERYTHING that has breath praise the Lord".



Now I grew up a Southern Baptist, and back in the 50s - 70s, of course we read this chapter, but you sure didn't see much of this kind of praise practiced.
It seems that Israel's music was loud and rhythmic, with a lot of percussion and stringed instruments. We had a piano and organ, and would sing hymns, which are beautiful, but always had to show "reverence" by NOT getting loud or to even THINK about clapping hands or dancing!

It wasn't until I was an adult and went to a "non denominational" church that I saw this kind of praise practiced, and at first felt uncomfortable - UNTIL I felt the presence of the Lord fill the sanctuary.

Why was it that the church was seemingly afraid to show forth this kind of praise? Was it fear of what others might think? We shouldn't be worried about that one bit - when we worship, our focus should be on the LORD, and allowing the presence of his Holy Spirit to fill our hearts and exhibit that, so others can see the JOY that the Lord brings to one's life.

In 2 Samuel 6, Israel was bringing the ark of God back to be put in the temple. Starting at verse 5 it says, "King David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals."

Jumping down to verse12 it says, "So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the Lord was entering the city, Michal, daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart."

Vs. 20 " When David returned home to bless his household, Michael daughter of Saul (David's wife), came out to meet him and said, ' How the king of Israel has distinguised himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!' David said to Michal, ' It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel - I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor'.

And Michal, daughter of Saul had no children until the day of her death".

David was full of the joy of the Lord, and wanted to show it to everyone in Israel - to his wife, he was acting like a fool, but in the eyes of the Lord - he was practicing what it says for us all to practice in Psalm 150. TOTAL praise - letting go of "self" or what others might think, and offering praise to the ONE and ONLY ONE who is worthy of it.

Jesus is worthy of our praise - let us fix our eyes on him and take our eyes off of ourselves and give him the praise he's due.



Janelle