GREENE STREET LETTERS: Never Cease To Praise

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Never Cease To Praise

Psalm 145:1-2
I will praise You, my God and King, and bless Your name forever and ever. I will bless You every day, and I will praise you forever.

The act of praise....
The demonstration of love for God....
The verbal assault directed to the heavens of gratitude for what God has done in our lives.
The body language of a soul that has been delivered and transferred from sin and its effects, into a new life or relationship with God.
How can a body receive from God and not be filled with praise?
Have we become a nation that is so self-centered that we cannot look beyond our own image and see the glorious image of one who gave himself completely so that we may have life, eternal life?

Has church history become so ingrained in us that we have no place for public display of affection for Jesus? Have we become so programmed that the only thing we have learned is that when we go to church, we sit in rows, hands folded in quiet meditation. Nothing wrong with meditation. But were is the passion? Where is the fire for God?I'm not talking about a hyped up, emotional, "whip up a frenzy" display. I'm talking about the fire that burns within and has to come out. I'm talking about a gratitude that is felt so deep within a soul that it you feel like you will die if you don't proclaim your love for God. I'm talking about a fire that burns 24/7....it goes with you daily. It is there at the Waffle House as well as the Church house. It walks the isles at Wal-Mart. It is the fuel that powers us through our day. This love and demonstration of God's love for us. It will cause you to take your last dollar and give it away to that person standing at the side of the road with the "homeless will work for food" sign. Even though your brain will tell you that you shouldn't help those who panhandle for food. An outward demonstration of God's love through the act of giving away a dollar (or more). The act of praise! God gave to you freely, didn't He? He didn't say, "Well, you know what...I know he needs saving...but I'm afraid he'll use the salvation as an excuse to keep on sinning." No! God poured out freely His abundant love and grace. We were the unlikely candidates to receive. Because He chose me, how can I not praise Him. Because He chose you, how can you not praise Him?

Don't keep the praise bottled up.
Don't keep it hidden.
Let it out.
Let it explode onto the scene and color everything around you with the tint of heaven.
You might be surprised how things change afterwards.

God on you..
mb

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Never Cease To Praise

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD