November 2012 Archives
Don’t Let the Battle Steal Your Praise
The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone, and many have gone back to work today. Some have the whole weekend off and will therefore continue the celebration for a while but I wonder how long the attitude of gratitude will continue as life resumes and the stresses and trials of life come back into focus once again.
Life is a battlefield. Reprieve never lasts long but we still have so much to be thankful for. Don’t go back to being stressed and focused on the problems at hand. Continue in a spirit of thanksgiving, praising God for your many blessings. He has been so good to you and will continue to be. Praise Him for His goodness and His faithfulness.
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful to Him, and bless His name” (Psalm 100:4). May that be our life every day that we live.
Happy Thanksgiving 2012
This evening, the song on my mind is “So Much to Thank Him For.” It sums up so well how I feel. Life may be hard but God is always good. If He never did another thing for us, He’s already give us much more than we deserve. Shouldn’t we then give Him the praise that He deserves?
I hope that, as you count your blessings this year, you realize that you have many more than you can count. In the midst of your hectic day, take time to thank Him and name your blessings one by one. He is the Reason we celebrate. Thank You, Lord, for Your blessings on me!
Accentuate the Positive
I don’t remember what came up in conversation the other day but I was thinking about how easy it is to focus on the negative instead of seeing the blessings around us. This brought to mind the old song, “Accentuate the Positive.” Although not a gospel song, we can learn a lot from it. You’ve heard the saying, “There are two sides to every story.” This is also true with life. There are good things and bad things that happen in a day’s time. We can focus on the negative or we can realize that God works everything for good and strive to find that good so we can praise Him in the midst of our circumstances.
I’m one of those who has fallen into seeing the negative more than the positive lately but I don’t want to dishonor my God. When I think about it, I truly am blessed. I need to be faithful to proclaim His goodness to everyone I see. With Thanksgiving less than a week away, what a great time to start accentuating the positive. Won’t you join me?
Concert Review: Primitive Quartet (11/8/12)
This past Thursday, I once again had the blessing of seeing the Primitive Quartet in concert. I hadn’t seen them in over a year so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to see them once again.
They opened with the title track from their latest CD entitled, “He Included Me.” Then they went into “Fallen Leaves,” which brings tears to my eyes whenever I hear them sing it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have more friends around than leaves upon the ground? Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man that has friends must show himself friendly; and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” I pray that will be known of me when I die.
After that, Jeff Tolbert sang, “He Didn’t Stay Dead,” followed by Reagan Riddle singing their acapella song, “The Same God.”
Next, they sang a couple more new songs, one of which featured Mike titled, “Thank You For Saving Me.” I don’t hear Mike sing a lot so I was glad he sang several songs on the program.
Jeff sang “No Longer an Orphan” and Reagan sang “Look How He Found Me.”
Randy Fox is one of my favorite people to watch sing. I’m sure I’ve said it before but, when he takes the lead on a song, the Spirit resonates from him. He sang “I Wonder What They’re Doing in Heaven” and then they went into an instrumental number.
Reagan sang “The Greatest Nation” after they acknowledged the veterans who were attending and then Randy sang “Walking in the Highway.” From my viewpoint, a Primitive Quartet concert is not complete without that song and I’ve never attended a concert where they’ve not sung it.
After intermission, they sang “Jesus Came Searching,” “That Soldier Was Me,” “I Don’t Have to See the Tomb” (another song Mike sings), “I’ll Be Waiting at the River,” “There’s a Record Book” (one of my personal favorites), and “If I Could Give You Anything for Christmas.” Then they played two instrumental numbers back to back: “When They Ring Those Golden Bells” and “Holy Manna.”
They ended with “Didn’t He Shine” and came back out for an encore with “Gloryland.” “If you have friends in Gloryland who’ve left because of pain, there’ll be no pain in Gloryland. They’ll suffer not again.” Amen!
Redemption Draweth Nigh
I’ve noticed on Facebook a lot of people discouraged and fretting over the results of the election this week. Regardless of who you voted for, the future is uncertain and there’s no doubt we are heading for tough times. I stopped paying a lot of attention to the news years ago because the stories would make me depressed and afraid to leave my house. There is hope, however. God is still on the Throne, He never slumbers or sleeps, and He has promised to never leave or forsake us.
Luke 21:28 says, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” I would challenge every Christian to begin to look up. When you look around, life can bring you down in a hurry but, when you see your Father looking down on you with eyes of love, it gives you strength to go on. It reminds you whose child you truly are and that you are here for a purpose.
Don’t waste time fretting and complaining. Praise God for who He is and ask Him to show you how He desires to use you. There’s a reason we are on this earth at this time. Let’s be faithful to be focused and steadfast until He returns. I don’t believe it will be much longer.
God is Still on the Throne
On Facebook, I’m noticing people express concern about the future, disappointment about the election, etc. but, you know what? This election didn’t take God by surprise. He is still God, the world is still turning, and He will continue to take care of His people. If ever there were a time to start practicing 2 Chronicles 7:14, it’s now. We deserve God’s judgment but I’m asking God for His mercy. He can direct a leader, even if the leader is not looking to Him. Let this encourage your heart today.
