Monday, April 21, 2008

Give Me! Give Me!

Psalm 86:1-2,6-8,10-13,17
1Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. 2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. 6 Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy. 7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me. 8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. 10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. 11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. 13 For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave. 17 Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.


Do you ever feel like you're always asking something of God? Whether it's for ourselves, family, community, church, we're asking the Lord to help, intervene, and provide. It seems there are so many things to take to the Lord: healing from sickness, release from addiction, salvation to be received, stressful work environments, providing a job or housing, marital restoration, children's safety, insight to our personal ministry, guidance for church and country leaders, peace in the world or in our homes, deliverance from debt and financial struggles. Have I missed anything or did I hit most of the basics in general?

The thing is the Lord wants us to come to Him. He tells us so in 1 Peter 5:7 to cast ALL your anxiety on Him because He cares for you!!! When we seek Him with our concerns, it is showing we know and believe in His power and control over everything. I am not going to ask my seven year old niece to fix my dishwasher but I will call the repair man. I call upon the one I know can fix it. We know God can solve our problems so we call upon Him.

I believe God is well pleased when we seek Him for help instead of relying on our inability to do it. The solutions may not be what we expect but it will be the best answer. We may hope the solution to our malfunctioning dishwasher is a simple clog; therefore, it can be a disappointment to know it's actually a bad pump and motor. (Ask me I know.) The solution may not be the most fun, the easiest, or the quickest but it is the BEST - that's why we are to call on the Best : our Almighty God.

This idea of "give me...give me" came to me as I re-read Psalm 86, which I had read a couple months ago. I had underlined some words that shouted out to me. I posted some of the scripture above. If you examine the entire text you will see what David is asking of God: answer me, hear me, guard my life, have mercy on me, bring joy, listen to my cry, teach me, give me undivided heart, grant strength, give me a sign of your goodness. I thought man David is asking, asking, asking. Though everything he's asking is honorable and good, it's still asking. I feel guilty to always go to the Lord with an asking heart and realize that we also need to go just praising and thanking Him for simply Who He is. I make it a point to have times of nothing but praise and thanks when I enter His Throne.

Though David was asking a lot from God (again all wonderful things to ask), let's also look at what he said between his asking. I am devoted to You, You are my God, I trust in You, I will walk in Your truth, I will fear Your name, I will praise You, I will glorify Your name, You have delivered me, You've helped and comforted me. David is revealing his part of his relationship with God and what he is doing to show his honor and trust in the Lord. He is showing reverance to the Lord and confirming his faith in the Lord. He also says: You are forgiving and good, abounding in love and faithfulness, there is none like You, no deeds compare with Yours, all nations will worship You, You are great, You do marvelous deeds, You are God alone, for great is Your love, You're a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger. These words show David's praise and thanksgiving to God. He is adoring the Father and praising Him for His greatness.

David gives us a great example that our prayers should not only be asking but they should also be full of praise and thanks for Who God is and what He's done. Our God truly IS awesome. Look over David's words again. There is NONE like our God and He IS marvelous and full of love in all His ways. I see two song titles just in David's praise: "You are God Alone" and "There is None Like You".

There is none like the Father, is there? Praise be to Him. What a privelege to call such a compassionate, gracious, and loving God our God and Savior!!! Aren't you thankful today that God is slow to anger? He doesn't strike back at us when we royally mess things up. He doesn't get mad when we take the wrong turn and mess up His plan. Rather, He so lovingly and gently corrects us and guides us back to His path. He makes good out of our messes...can you believe that? (Romans 8:28)

There are three things I say to God each morning as I stumble out of bed. Lord, if I do nothing else today, may I love you more. Lord, may You increase and I decrease. Lord, send someone across my path today that I can minister to in Your name.
I try to make these thoughts my first so that the Lord can be first on my mind and stay there throughout the day.

Be Blessed in Him,
Paula

13 comments:

Robin Lambright said...

Yes, My sweet Miss pepper went home to be with Jesus on Friday April 18, her homegoing service is today at 2:00 pm. She look just as beautiful at the veiwing last night as she did when she would sit behind me during worship. thank you for you kind words.

From the Heart said...

Paula, Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm glad you were able to see everything. It still shows different when I go to it. Hope you will come again.
AliceE.

Lynn - JnL4God said...

Hi Sweat Pea,
Funny how God wants us to give him everything and that would be so easy but we just keep hanging on... Silly huh!

Have a great day!
Lynn

Shirley Mary said...

Very good reading, Paula. And again, I love the flower and how you match the fonts with the flowers.

In the last of your post you mentioned what you ask of the Lord when you first get up. I think those are beautiful request. What a difference it would make if we all started our day with those same request.

I'll be back to see your next flower and subject to write about.

mary

SKY4KAT said...

Paula,
I have to agree that most of the time I spend talking with God no matter what the intent when I first started, I always come back to the asking. As I am maturing in my relationship with God, I am trying to be still and listen more-- as well as be grateful in all things.

This is what you discussed so beautifully about David, He asks and asks but in between his asking he is praising and submitting.
Thanks for these encouraging words as well as the encouraging words you left on my blog.
Katrina in Colorado

Paula V said...

Thanks everyone for stopping by my blog. It felt like the visits might have been dwindling down so I started to think maybe I really don't have the talent or ability to write in such ways that touch other people. I now know that to just be Satan once again trying to attack me. Boy, he is good but ya know God is greater!!!

Thanks, Katrina for your sweet compliment discussing this so "beautifully" and for Mary's compliment of a good reading.

When I feel like I'm asking God too much, I purposefully seek things to praise Him about...even something as simple as health, gorgeous weather, or my oh so beautiful creeping flocks that are blooming...how sad they only last about three weeks.

I want to be His vessel and you'll never know how it warms my heart to hear from others like you all that I am.
In His Grasp,
Paula

Lelia Chealey said...

That is so true...we need to call on the One we KNOW can help us in our time of need.
I will be praying for you about the comment you left on my blog. Keep saying YES!

Blessings,
Lelia

J Bird said...

Yes, any doubts you had about your blog were definitely from Satan! I do not remember how I came across your posts, but I bookmarked it. I just checked back today and was reminded WHY I tagged it. Your writing is inspiring and uplifting. I can hear God's voice through your words. And your blog is visually beautiful. I am refreshed. Bless you for following His leading.

Paula V said...

Thank you so much, JBird for your beautiful comments. May God bless your sweet soul. I appreciate the extra boost of confidence to continue on. I am praying for what God would have me to write next. I want to do it every other day but I have to "feel" His leading.
Paula

Shirley Mary said...

One more thing. . I was reading interviews of "Chrisian women On Line" and one of the questions was:

What struggle if any have you experienced with keeping your blog up?

"My struggle has been not to judge my blog on the number of hits received each day. I must allow God to use my blog as He desires and if that is only for 1 person to read it - then that is enough."

So, I'm sure that is a common struggle to judge your writings by how many are reading. And Satan is always on the job to discredit anything good that we are wanting to do for God.

So, you just write and then give praise to God for what He is doing and who He wants to bless and help. One. . five. . or a hundred and five!

I'll be out of town for a couple of days and I'm already wondering what flower and message will be next. . . I'll just have to wait!

mary

Anonymous said...

Hi Sweetpea,

Thanks- I am glad that I can now comment. So here it is.

It's funny, I was thinking about just this thing a couple of weeks ago. How I always seem to be "asking" God for things, when really I should be praising Him and thanking Him FIRST before anything else. I changed the way I was praying and like you said I first always try to start my prayers off the praises to my King! If He is willing He can do anything! Right? Isn't that wonderful?

Your writing is great. Don't let Satan get to you. Hold fast to Jesus! You are encouraging so many!

Blessings to you ~ Christi

God Chaser said...

SweetPea how wonderful this post. You are so right. I too have dealt with always asking God for something just as you say all the things you named. But I continue to do so, becasue Yes God wants to hear our petitions. I too try to put in praise and adoration and spend time inprayer focusing on just God and I try not often enough to jsut give praise and glory to Him without asking for anything. We serve a great and awesome God. I will be sure to read this Psalm again. Thank you also for stopping b my blog- like you I don't feel I get a lot of visits so maybe I should stop but I realize people may stop by and not leave a comment. I pray someone is being blessed. I too will continue for a while longer. Don't despise small beginnings. Also I notice you didn't say you were tone deaf as I am. But still I sing- God is worthy and music often leads me to worship and praise in my car Just me God, Jesus and the Holy spirit. Be blessed May God continue to bless your writing it is blessed.
Ladies please stop by my blog.

Skoots1moM said...

luvin' ur site...i luv taking pics and I pray one day I can capture things as wonderfully as u do!
My friend, Robin, intro'd me to ur site.