Journal Entry ~ 08/17/19

1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD! 
2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD! 
3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!  - Psalm 134 

Come, bless the Lord. We know that the Lord blesses us with His loving kindness, but what exactly does it mean to bless the Lord? It means to delight in the Lord, to lift up praises for all He has given us, to speak of His goodness and His greatness. But in order to truly delight in Him from deep within our souls, we need to know Him, and that starts with delighting in His Word. 

It took a long time for me to understand what delighting in the Lord looked like. First, I had to get into His Word consistently, so I committed to spending some quiet time with Him every single morning, without exception. Initially, it was only 10-15 minutes, but it was consistent. The delighting definitely didn't start then, but I did have a greater sense of peace and purpose about me when I consistently met with Him, so I continued.  In those early days of consistently spending time in His Word, I was not really doing it out of delight, I was doing it more because I knew if I wanted peace and wise direction in my life, then I needed to meet with Him every day. 

But over time, the amount of time I met with Him each day increased and my desire to meet with Him increased. I began to look so look forward to my time with Him, the new understandings He would reveal, the peace that would flood me, that I began to understand what it means to delight in Him. 

My quiet time with Him is so foundational to my day, that I can't imagine starting it without Him. Without exception, He comes first, every single day. I truly delight in meeting with my Lord these days, and could honestly spend my whole day with Him. 

I recently had someone say to me, “You have such a peace about you. I want what you have.” I was so humbled by those words. Because, you see, I’ve said and thought those words about others. I’ve longed for the peace that surpasses all understanding to cover me in such a way that others can see Him in me. To have someone recognize that in me was humbling. He has drawn me close enough to radiate through me. 

But that is not who I have always been. I once struggled with fear so significantly that it often drew me to anger, and I wrestled with sin rooted deep in my heart from generational strongholds. But as I have grown to delight in His Word, He has broken me free from those chains, and peace has replaced the fear. I heard the other day, “Worship can destroy fear, but fear can destroy worship.”  We make a choice every day which one will reign in our lives. 

Blessing the Lord is delighting in His goodness. It is giving Him praise for what He has done in our lives, it is honoring and obeying, it is trusting and serving Him. All that starts when we consistently open His Word. 


Press on, ladies ~ you are loved 💗

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Journey Begins...

Medical Update ~ 09/27/17

Grace in Marriage