Friday, February 15, 2013

02-15-13 Because You Loved Me

Psalm 121 "I lift up my eyes to the mountains—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 harmhe will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."

Psalm 139:1-12;17-18 "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.... How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sandwhen I awake, I am still with you."
The Psalms are FULL of the Love of God.. well, actually, the whole Bible is full of the Love of God, but there's something about the Psalms that we can identify with. Many of these were written by David - in grief, in sorrow, but also in joy and happiness. He knew the TRUTH and no matter what He went through He knew God Loved Him.

A friend and I shared a vision a while back with a church body... I was trying to explain to a group how complicated we can make things sometimes. Then I 'saw' a person standing in the eye of a hurricane or whirlwind and watching everything swirl above and around them, but then they looked up and they could see the clear, blue sky. It took the focus off of the swirling mess. My friend saw that the longer that person looked up, peace was descending and the swirling mess seemed to get lower an lower until it was waist high. What seemed an impossible situation became manageable simply by looking up - changing our focus. .

The Psalms, especially, are filled with hope and the Love of God. Take Psalm 121, for instance... when we lift our spiritual eyes to the Lord - He is our help. He holds us up. He watches over us at every second of every day... keeping us from harm, protecting us. Or Psalm 139 - He knows us COMPLETELY, all our faults and failings, as well as our victories and triumphs - yet, still wants to hang out with us. He knows everything we do and everything we say (even before we say it) - the good, the bad, the ugly - but He still hems us in and lays His hand upon us to protect us. We can try to run from Him, and really I don't think there are many people who have not at some time or other - but we even Usain Bolt (the fastest Olympic runner ever) can not outrun God. He's there - wherever we go. He makes the darkness that we try to hide in as light. Yeah, He'll let us try to hide in the dark, but we will always have this place in us that knows His Light is there. He thinks about us all the time.... individually. He thinks about you ALL the time. He thinks about me ALL the time. He thinks about His Love for us that is all encompassing and all-knowing and covers us in every way. He thinks about all the ways that He can get that Love to 'sink in' to our hearts.
1 Corinthians 12:13 says, "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Love is everything we need - we desire. It's the driving force in our lives. God is Love - so God and His Love is everything we need - we desire. God and His love can enable us to say, in Him I live and move and have my being.(Acts 17:28).

Because You Loved Me - Celine Dion ---- OK.... OK... so I jumped to the 90's on this one ;)

Praise You In This Storm - Casting Crowns (I sang this at my biological dad's house around Christmas and it was powerful)

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