Live to Honor God

I Lift Up My Eyes

"I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." Psalm 121

This is one of my favorite Psalms. Even though I had probably read it before, I really first learned it when we sang It in the college choir. It has been more than twenty years ago but I still remember the tune to that anthem. Early in my Christian walk, before I had read much of the Bible, it was music (hymns and sacred songs) that I relied on to help encourage me. Since I was new in my Christian walk God wanted to encourage me and keep me moving forward so he gave me a song in my heart, a song of praise to my God (Psalm 40:3). I knew enough to lift my eyes to God and I wanted to lift my heart in worship so I sang. I remember walking across campus as a young Christian of a couple of months singing songs like How Great Thou Art, He Touched Me, Blessed Assurance, The Solid Rock, Standing on the Promises, and It is Well with My Soul. Before I knew the Bible these songs and many others helped me understand the love of God.

One of my favorites was a song called Others. Take a look at these words:

Others

Lord, help me live from day to day
In such a self-forgetful way
That even when I kneel to pray
My prayer shall be for—Others.

Refrain:

Others, Lord, yes others,
Let this my motto be,
Help me to live for others,
That I may live like Thee.

Help me in all the work I do
To ever be sincere and true
And know that all I'd do for You
Must needs be done for—Others.

Refrain

Let "Self" be crucified and slain
And buried deep: and all in vain
May efforts be to rise again,
Unless to live for—Others.

Refrain

And when my work on earth is done,
And my new work in Heav'n's begun,
May I forget the crown I've won,
While thinking still of—Others.

Refrain

Charles D. Meigs, written in 1917

I believe the message of this song truly honors God since he wants our focus to be on others.

We should always be striving to learn more about God and spending time in the Bible but I believe God wants us to lift our eyes to him no matter where we are in the process of gaining knowledge. Lift your eyes to him; look to him today. You will be encouraged.

Blessings

Tim

You Are God Alone with LizzieandMark

Here is another video by LizzieandMark. They do an exceptional job with one of my favorite songs.  Hope you enjoy.

Blessings

Tim

Are You Walking on Water?

A few nights ago a friend shared a message at a youth service. It was very good. He spoke about Jesus walking on water and Peter coming to Jesus on the water but being distracted by the storm and the waves. The message was about the distractions that can take our focus from Jesus and disturbs our walk.

This morning I was reflecting on what he said and it occurred to me that many people might read or hear this story and miss how it applies in their lives. I mean, it is hard to put myself in Peter’s place…I don’t see Jesus in the flesh walking to me on the water and I do not have the opportunity to literally walk out to him. So, it would be easy to see this as merely an interesting story and leave it at that. But, this morning I thought about the situations in my life that have been comparable to walking on water. Situations where I see Jesus leading me to do something that would be impossible according to the world’s view of reality. Situations where I feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit in a certain direction and like Peter I can step out in faith and walk to where Jesus is wanting me to be or what he is wanting me to do. This walk of faith is like Peter’s walk on the water. The world might see me and say that I’m crazy and destined to failure in whatever God is calling me to. But if I keep my eyes on Jesus and continue my walk of faith I will see the miraculous happen in my life and circumstances.

One example of this is when I was preaching in a service several years ago and in the altar call I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to say that someone there had been having heart pains and God wanted them to come forward for prayer and healing. Now, my background was from a more conservative denomination and this is not the type of altar call I was used to giving but I couldn’t get away from the voice of the Spirit in this situation and so I spoke up and was obedient to what God was telling me to do. After several long minutes of repeating this call and seeing no response I was just about to give up and a lady way in the back stood up and came forward and was crying. She actually was the wife of the pastor who organized the meeting. She stated she had been having chest pains for two days and they had been getting worse and she was beginning to think she might be having a heart attack. We prayed and her pains stopped. She went to the doctor to follow up and they found nothing wrong. She told me later she believes God healed her and she consistently gave glory and honor to God.

It would have been very easy for me to ignore the call of Jesus to step out on the water that day and miss the opportunity to pray with this lady. After this incident of successfully walking on water I began to listen to the call of the Holy Spirit in other, similar situations and saw many miraculous things. None of these things had anything to do with me other than being obedient to step out and walk when God called to me.

Some time later I had left the denomination I was in and was not ministering as a pastor/preacher. I went through a difficult time and just wasn’t sure what God wanted of me and I wasn’t hearing God much in those days. I lost my confidence to step out in faith and walk on water by obeying the call to trust Jesus. I began to be distracted with the things of the world, The hurts and struggles I had after leaving the pastoral ministry, and many other issues.

Like Peter I had let the storms of life distract me from Jesus and His purpose for me. Hearing this message has reminded me of the need to keep my eyes and faith on Jesus. But, it would be easy to keep my eyes on Jesus and stay in the boat where it’s safe but I know God wants me to climb out of the boat and come to Jesus.

I don’t know what walking on the water represents in your life and I’m not 100% sure of what it means in my life but I do know this—Jesus is faithful and if he calls to you to come to him he will be there to help you all the way. If you trust him and step out of the boat you will see great things happen in your life and ministry.

Come on, let’s step out of the boat together and walk into God’s miraculous plan.

May our Lord bless you and help you honor Him.

Tim

This was the view outside my door a few days ago.  I was struck by the sun trying to poke through the clouds.  It made me think how even when things are very difficult in life the goodness of God can always be seen shining through the clouds revealing his mercy and grace. 

Consider this verse: "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."  2 Corinthians 4:6.

We often have darkness in our heart because of the circumstances in our lives but if we look through the clouds we see the radiance of God shining through--the radiance in Paul's words is "the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."  If we fix your eyes on Jesus the darkness around us doesn't seem so dark.  

May the light of God shine brightly in your life.

Tim