Make his praise glorious, make my ear do that thing.

Ps 66:1-2
Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.

These verses not only show that we ought to sing to the Lord and praise Him, but that we need to do it whole-heartedly.

This is a far cry from the worship I have witnessed in our churches lately. It has been a long time since I have heard a congregation collectively worship the Lord like the Scripture says we ought.

Many years ago, while duck hunting, a friend of mine accidently discharged his 12 gage shotgun just a few inches from my ear. To compound that violent noise, we were inside a panel van that had been stripped of all interior upholstery. There was nothing but metal. You can imagine the reverberation of that gunshot. Some damage was done to my left ear. As time went by, the only difficulty I had was when I was a song leader at a large church in Illinois. I had a 70 voice choir behind me who had no problem "giving it all they had."

There were times when the congregation, filled with the spirit of worship, "raised the roof" with their singing. In those all out moments, my left ear began shutting down. It was as if a switch were being turned off and on in my ear. Whenever that happened, I knew we were making His praise glorious with a joyful noise.

As I think about it, there was another time not too long ago when I joined in the worship at the Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC. If I hadn't been in the last row of the main floor, I wonder if that ear thing might have happened again. (I was in the back row because that was the only seat I could find!)

Perhaps my ear is healed now, I don't know for sure, I just know it has been years since that happened. How I wish, just once more, God's people would give it everything they had in singing forth the honor of His name, enough for that ear thing to happen again.

If you are reading this, next time you get together with your spiritual family for corporate worship, put absolutely everything you have into it and lift up your voice to the Lord, for He is worthy!

Stimulus Package

so·cial·ism - according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

When George Bush was the 43rd president of the United States, his antagonists decried him for having too much power. Now that the Messiah has ascended his throne in Washington, he has put our country on the fast track to socialism and those same people who criticized Bush are giving BHO free reign to do so.

In fact, if we grouped BHO’s groupies together and asked them what they think of socialism, they would cheer. “Yeah man! Yes we can! Change dude, that’s what we need!” The Anointed One told us exactly what he was going to do when he told Joe the Plumber that we’ve got to “spread the wealth around.”

Well, congress has backed the Prez on his pork-laden $888,000,000,000 stimulus plan and, if the senate follows suit, each American will be $3,333 further in debt. And for what? Mr. Bush persuaded America to TARP entities like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and others so they could give hefty bonuses to their execs for the end of the year. Any one of these bonuses would put any one of us normal folk on easy street for the rest of our lives. That little brain-storm cost us $700B. By the way, that’s $2800 per American. Okay, we normal Joe’s are now expected to offer up $30,000 average per family for economic stimulation. I ask again, for what? Or better yet, for whom?
*$20,000,000 for the removal of small to medium sized fish passage barriers. Clue: Leave the stinking barriers in place!!!
*$400 million for STD prevention. Okay, I see where “stimulation” enters the picture.
*$25,000,000 is for recreation maintenance, especially for rehabilitation of off-road vehicle routes, and $20,000,000 is for trail maintenance and restoration. Now, I’m a guy who likes his trails maintained, but my goodness, I’ll use them as they are, thank you.
*$34,000,000 for the Department of Commerce renovation and modernization. Oh wow! Commerce gives itself a new look for only $34 mill. I wonder if that will pass the smell test?
*$70,000,000 is directed to specifically support supercomputing activities, especially as they relate to climate research. Double whammy! Obama supporter and world’s richest man Bill Gates needs our $$$ to help him save the planet. And is it now a foregone conclusion that Al Gore was right, Mother Earth is on life support and running a high fever? Turn the supercomputers off and cool the planet down a few clicks.
*The Secretary shall use up to $ 50,000,000 per year, and $150,000,000 in the case of 2009, from the Trust Fund to provide emergency relief to eligible producers of livestock, honey bees, and farm-raised fish to aid in the reduction of losses due to disease, adverse weather, or other conditions, such as blizzards and wildfires, as determined by the Secretary. That’s it friend, save the honey bees and the farm raised catfish, but drain my savings. Hey Mr. Obama, I have a Senate seat I’d like to sell you!

So fellow Americans, how do you like socialism? You wanted to crown him king even though he warned you what he was going to do. We hope you enjoyed America as the founders envisioned it, it’s gone now!

The Sword that Cuts Both Ways.

Psa 64:3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
Psa 64:8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves:

Talk about biting your tongue! What about when your tongue bites you?

Sharp tongues tend to hurt a lot of people. But in the end, they cut the one who has sharpened his tongue to use it as a weapon.

Let's use our words to help rather than hurt, to heal rather than harm. The power of the tongue is underestimated. I have seen it ruin lives, split churches and sepatate best friends.

Have you heard about the lady who responded to the altar call? She said to the pastor, "I've come to lay my tongue on the altar." He replied, "Ma'am, we'd have to add a few feet to the altar to accommodate that feat!"

Ask God for the power to use your words wisely and helpfully.

The Desert of My Job.

When you take a gander at the Judean wilderness, you get an idea of David's thoughts in the 63rd Psalm.

It has been said that when God had finished creating the world, He dumped the left-over rocks in Israel. Having been there and seen it, I could believe that legend.

Here, David is exiled from Jerusalem, that lofty, beautiful, gleaming city on a hill, home to the house of God and His Shekinah glory. He is languishing in the desert, on the run and longing for and recollecting home and for worship in the tabernacle.

In a sense, this reminds me of all my brothers and sisters out there in the work-a-day world, away from the house of God, far from the weekend worship where God came down with His glory.

The work week can sometimes feel like the desert where there is a dearth of the Living Water, where the glory and power of God seem distant and unattainable.

I thank God for His omnipresence. The reality is that God wishes to enter the fray of the nitty-gritty with you. He wants to work the line with you, travel the open road right by your side, and never leave you nor forsake you.

Church is great! The fellowship of the brethren (and sistern :<) is precious. Worshiping together can lift our spirits to great heights. Hearing God's Word preached in the power of the Spirit is unparalleled. But God with us in the factory, the school, the hospital, sustaining us in the mundane, that's the glory of being a believer. Additionally, longing for the house of the Lord while working in the world is a good thing. It gives us an appreciation for our church.

Ps 62:5 For my expectation is from Him.

Picture, if you will, little eaglets in their downy nest awaiting mom's return with a bit of carrion to fill their empty bellies. Now imagine a brisk wind coming up the canyon, filling their beaks with a sensation, but with no substance. And then, a light rain falls, small droplets enter agape mouths, but again, no satisfaction. What those little beggars need is a substantial meal. That is what they await. They long to hear mom's screech far overhead, the swoosh of her wings and the transfer of meat from her beak to their gullet.

As I look around, I am seeing multitudes of souls who await...something. They know not what it is they long for, so they are accepting of whatever comes along that offers the possibility of fulfillment. They have not learned that the Savior truly satisfies, and nothing else. So they accept "change that we can believe in", empty promises, tired rhetoric, idle idealism, fleshly temptation, alcoholic numbness, and drugged-induced stupors. They go from the gym to the bar to the theater to the club to the track to the casino to the buffet, and in the end, they are still hungry for something real and substantive. And these foolish little fledglings are not just the non-Christians, I see believers who cannot settle on Christ as their sufficiency. Shame!

The Bread of life offers sustenance. The Water of life offers satisfaction. In Him, we shall not want. He makes us to lie down in green pastures, He leads us beside the still waters, He restores our souls.

Look no further than your ever present Savior for that which you are missing.

When you expect from Him, you will never be disappointed.

Looking Forward to Tougher Times.

Psa 60:3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
Psa 60:4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.

I believe the Lord is going to show His people some hard things in the coming months and years.

Not a day passes without me hearing of our own folks who are being hit by the struggling economy. The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacles were the tip of the iceberg which is sinking our Titanic economy. The thing is, if you will, that this has all been manufactured. We are hurtling toward the end times at exponential speeds and things have to go south so the world's system will accept the rule of a global leader we know as antichrist.

Herein lies the blessing to believers. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for those whose citizenship is in heaven. The more chaos on earth means our mansions are almost ready.

I am amazed and amused at the popularity of our new president and the speed with which he is bulldozing the eroding foundations of our nation, all on the vague platform of "Change" and "Yes, We Can!"

This gives me pause to realize just how quickly a global leader will be able to come on the scene, pull the proverbial wool and push through a godless agenda to bring about the tribulation period.

Imagine, people are already so tired of the global war on terror that they are thirsting for peace, even if it is a false one. Middle-east skirmishes, like the recent one in Gaza, the Iraqi and Afghani wars and even the culture wars leave people clamoring for peace, even if means giving up freedom, liberty and the American way of life.

Our founders would not recognize our nation if they could see it today. Our grandparents would not be able to recognize it in a few months considering the slippery slope we are now on.

However, the greater the darkness, the brighter the light. We have an unequalled opportunity to share Christ, the real answer to the world's problems. The sham of what is being shoved down the world's throats at this time is going to leave people empty and disappointed, but Jesus never fails.

Keep on witnessing, brothers and sisters. God is showing us some hard things but we must hoist the banner, displayed because of truth!

Seeking God

Ps 53:2,3 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

These are indeed sad verses, yet they are a challenge, a goal for those who love God.

We are all sinners, some saved, some yet unforgiven. That doesn't mean we can't strive to understand the mind of the Lord. That's why He gave us His Word, that we might know what are His thoughts. Yes, the riches of His grace are unsearchable, that doesn't keep us from trying to scratch the mine's surface. Even the helpless lady with the issue of blood was able touch the hem of His garment.

DL Moody was told, "it is yet to be seen what God can do for and through a man that is totally committed to Him." DL accepted that challenge by saying, "By god's grace, I will be that man." And what a wonderful ministry he had as he shook two continents for God." Yet at the end of his blessed life, Moody said, "It is yet to be seen what God can do for and through a man that is totally committed to Him."

Friend, why don't you and I seek God with our whole hearts this day. When this day is over, let's rise to that challenge again tomorrow.

God is looking from heaven for some who understand and seek God. By His grace, may you and I be those people.