Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 252 - Bless The Lord! Praise The Lord! (Please click here for English podcast)

Monday, July 6, 2015

OT DAY 252 - Bless The Lord! Praise The Lord! (Please click here for English podcast)

Please click the link below to my new 40 days Break.Build site any time you like to having a 40 days "Break.Build" daily devotion with one to two people as a discipler to help those Jesus prepares for you to disciple. You need to know that the call and purpose of my Break.Build and this Discipler123 blog/podcast is for you to become a discipler to help more people to have a daily intimate relationship with Jesus and then they can become disciplers too:
http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Please click these links to the app. Andy Ng wrote if you have an Android cel.:

Discipler123: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.rec.app

Break.Build: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.bb.app

Silence

1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3. Open your heart to praise the Lord

   Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
  let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3   For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.

Psalm 95:2-3

Confession and Repentance

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (Deuteronomy 8:6-20)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy 8&version=ESV

10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 8:10-20

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening

It's so easy for us to forget how God bless us in every good way. When we are in chaos, we pray and pray. When we get through our crisis and we forget God's grace, thinking that it is our own effort to get all those things. That's pride!

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

Be mindful of God's provision when you are enjoying the promised land and your stomachs are full. You may again be tempted to congratulate yourself on your houses, herds, flocks, and wealth, as if you manufactured it, and forget the expectations of the one who gave you the country. To put it another way, your life needs to be characterized by praise. The Hebrew word for praise in Deuteronomy 8 is the same as the word for bless in Deuteronomy 7. God blesses Israel with flocks, herds, and produce; Israel blesses/praises God in return. God can test Israel by withdrawing the blessing to see if Israel serves God merely for what it gets out of it; but giving Israel these blessings also tests Israel.

John Goldingay. Numbers & Deuteronomy for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.127.

Yes, your life needs to be characterized by praise! I learned something new two months ago when I was in Sabah. I learned from Bishop Melter, the new Bishop of Sabah to sing or hum a tune to praise God whenever there is a chance to praise. It's funny that when we were talking to each others and when there was a space, he hummed or even whistled a tune. Later I found out that that's his way of praising the Lord.

I think this is what Professor Goldingay means "your life needs to be characterized by praise"!

If you can praise God at least ten times in each hour daily, I am sure that you will be a new person enjoying God's presence each day and that you can be used by God in a very special way to extend His mighty Kingdom. I have been doing this now.

Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to be able and willing to praise you more often each day. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
1. Do you have that pride that blocks you from praising God more often?

2. Are you willing to praise God more from now on? What is your action plan?