SUNFLOWERS: I like them.

“‘BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOM GOD CORRECTS; SO DO NOT DESPISE THE DISCIPLINE OF THE ALMIGHTY.'” – Job 5:17

WE ARE NOT FAR FROM THE BEACHES: And I love the many beaches.

The BIBLE says in Ephesians 5:8,

“FOR YOU WERE ONCE DARKNESS, BUT NOW YOU ARE LIGHT IN THE LORD.” Here we are reading about a “once” and a “now”.

The BIBLE is dividing mankind into two groups.

D M Lloyd-Jones says in his book “God’s Ultimate Purpose,” an exposition of Ephesians one,

“There are those who belong to God, and there are those who do not belong to God;

there are God’s people, and there are those who are outside his covenant;

there are the good and the bad,

the saved and the lost,

those who go to everlasting bliss, and those who go to everlasting perdition.”

And we can know now if we are going to everlasting bliss, or if we are going to everlasting perdition.

Let us also remember that we find those two groups in churches.

Many years ago I remember hearing a pastor calling into his congregation, “Here in front of me are sitting lost people!”

Does it take courage to say that?

PRAISE is a word we find again and again in the BIBLE. But have you ever counted the word “praise” in Psalm 150, the last Psalm?

Please do it and find out.

“PRAISE THE LORD.” – Psalm 150:1

Picture / Steven

In the Bible we find also many examples of praise to God. Here are three:

A.  Second Chronicles 5:13,14:

BECAUSE OF PRAISE, “the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.”

B.  Second Chronicles 20:22:

BECAUSE OF PRAISE, “the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.”

C.  Acts 16:25

BECAUSE OF PRAISE, several things happened:

1. “other prisoners were listening”
2.  “a violent earthquake”
3.  “the foundations of the prison were shaken.”
4. “prison doors flew open”
5.  “everybody’s chains came loose.”

Psalm 150 has only 6 verses, but we find the word “Praise” 13 times in that Psalm.

I believe that things will happen in our life, in our family and in our community once we begin to praise the Lord.

And let us remember that Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God in prison in the middle of the night.