Magnify the Lord

Have you ever found yourself ashamed or afraid to tell people about what the Lord is doing in your life? Or on the other hand, have you ever felt like you were talking too much about Him? Well let's get one thing straight...Never be ashamed and keep talking. I have been totally guilty of this...because sometimes one can lead to another. I adore talking about the Lord, my awesome Savior. I honestly could say I would not mind talking about Him, His Word, what He is doing in mine and others lives all day and every day. There have been times though, when I am doing this and I begin to feel insecure or ashamed..or feel the need to apologize to the person I am talking to, because I think maybe they don't want to hear it or are thinking that I need a life.

After the message at church today,I started thinking about all of this...
When we look at God's Word, we can see that we are created to GLORIFY HIM. Our thoughts, words, and actions should always be going straight back to the Lord. We should be taking our eyes off of the distracting situations, people, events in our life and look at them instead with our magnifying glass. God is in whatever thing you may be facing. When we look at it with our own futile immoral eyes, we are not able to see Him in it. He looks small. When we take our magnifying glass to it...all of a sudden God becomes a lot BIGGER. He becomes magnified and glorified in the things that we are looking at.

We have a choice. A magnifying glass has to be picked up. We have to make a conscious decision to see the Lord in each thing we face. We have a choice to allow Him to be glorified and magnified or to not be...

How do we do this?

1. "Bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Psalm 34:1.
Are you blessing the Lord at all times? How often is his praise coming from your mouth? God has been faithful and good.

2. "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth" (Psalm 86:11).
How often are you soaking in God's Word? Do you know His Word well enough, so that it emanates from you? We can only know His ways, when we are reading His truth.

3. "...In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever "(1 Pt. 4:11).
Do you know Jesus Christ? And not just about Him, but do you really know Him..in an intimate and personal way? We can only glorify God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.


All that to say...I'm going to keep talking about the Lord and let my soul boast in Him. I don't care what anyone says or thinks...I want to magnify Him! Who else is with me?

Day 1: Back in Action

I am back to Greece for the third time working for the same family as last year.
The kids were excited to see me and gave me big hugs when I arrived. They actually follow me around everywhere. Within 20 minutes of getting here, we all ate lunch. Tears and screaming came very soon afterwards and that's when I knew I was back. :)

I am dealing with some major anxiety and discontent (some of this could be jet lag...haha) right now with a few things in my life, including even being here. I'll just be open about that! I am reading and doing a devotional, "Calm My Anxious Heart," that I hope will put me back to the right mindset. I realized this morning that when you pray for something, that is usually when the Lord really tests you. For example, if you pray for patience, you will be having a situation coming your way that will call for a lot of patience. So I should expect that when praying to be more content and anxiety-free.

This story was in my devotional. I'll include it here:

Many years ago there was a monk who needed olive oil, so he planted an olive tree sapling. After he finished planting it, he prayed, "Lord, my tree needs rain so it's tender roots may drink and grow. Send gentle showers." And the Lord sent gentle showers. Then the monk prayed, "Lord, my tree needs sun. Please send it sun." And the sun shone gilding the once dripping clouds. "Now send frost dear Lord to strengthen it's branches," cried the monk. And soon the little tree was covered in sparkling frost, but by that evening it had died.

Then the monk sought out a brother monk in his cell and told him of the strange experience. After hearing the story, the other monk said, "I too have planted a little tree. See how it is thriving! But I entrust my tree to it's God. He who made it knows better than a man like me what it needs. I gave God no constraints or conditions, except to pray, "Lord, send what it needs - be it sunshine, wind, rain or frost. You made it and You know what it needs."



Lord,you know what I need. So I pray that you would supply that!