Hello Friends. How are you? Really. How is your heart? How is your walk with the Lord? How is your faith today?
Today, this middle of the week Wednesday, let’s take a deep breath. I shared on Monday about bowing low before God as we RISE UP! Oh how pride stifles my soul and brings me to a level of choking on…myself. Will you take a deep breath and release whatever you might place as a “little g” god and allow God the upmost in your life?
Today let’s quiet our heart and soul and literally take a physical posture of humility before the Lord. Let’s bow before our Maker and realign ourselves…make Him more…make ourselves less. Physically kneeling in prayer helps me to do just that. It reminds me that He is holy. He is BIG. He is glorious…I am not. He is Worthy.
In Chapter 3 of Just RISE UP! I encouraged you to read through Psalm 8 and participate in a journaling activity in worship and prayer. This is taken from page 82 and is an exercise that I do often with in the pages of Just RISE UP! Will you grab your Bible and your pen and join in?
Journal IT!
In your own Bible, take a moment to read through Psalm 8. I am going to break it down into pieces using the New King James Version. After each segment, I invite you to write out your own thoughts. If this seems daunting, don’t worry, I will be right there with you and will give you some starting points.
O lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens! (v. 1)
Tell the Lord why His name is excellent. Tell Him how glorious He is in your own words.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? (vv. 3–4)
Tell God about the beauty you see on earth that points to Him. Ask Him to show you more of His glory here on earth.
For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. (v. 5)
God places you and me by His side at His magnificent throne in heaven. Ask God to show you in a special way today why He thinks you are glorious in His sight.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. (vv. 6–8)
The Lord gives us His earth to not only live in but to thrive in, with purpose. We each have a purpose here on earth as we RISE UP! Praise the Lord for allowing you to join Him in His work. Ask Him to open your eyes to see where He is leading you.
O lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! (v. 9)
Because He is oh-so–worth it, tell Jesus one more time, in your own words, how awesome He is.
The Psalms are a great place to start to learn to pray through Scripture. I invite you now to take what you just wrote, get on your knees, and pray this psalm to the Lord one more time.
How has this journal exercise enriched your conversation with the Lord today?
Talk About IT!
I would love to know your thoughts from anything in Chapter 3 of Just RISE UP! Leave a comment…let’s chat!
Thank you for this study Sarah!! God’s truly talking to me!! Really enjoying it, and how I can feel Him throughout it!!!!
Hi Sarah. On Monday when you were talking about pride, it reminds me of a conversation I had with my Aunt a few weeks ago. Here lately, I stress and worry about what will happen in the future. My Mom has MS so I worry about her. I’ve had some financial stuff come up and I just wonder what is going to happen next. My Aunt told me thought that not giving God my worries and praying to him is being prideful that I don’t trust him enough to handle my problems. I don’t know that I really thought of it that way. I just don’t know how to turn my stress and worries off even though I am praying to God thanking him for my blessings along at the same time as also asking him for help and guidance. Any advice or verses that you or anyone else would have to show me how to do this would be appreciated.
Hi Stacy–I’ve had things like that said to me as well. God truly knows our hearts, and I think He understands our worries and concerns, and I believe since He m ones our hearts, He wants us to say hey I don’t get this and it’s ok!! We are struggling right now financially, and I keep telling God, i know you have a plan and although I don’t understand it, and I seem to not trust it, deep down I do. Keep thanking Him for what you have and for future blessings. Jeremiah 29:11-13! Blessings to you!!!
Hi Stacey
Something I found helpful was to be take the thoughts captive when aware of them and speak out a verse memorised eg Philippians 4 vs 6 and I put my name in place of the you and yours.
It has taken me time to get to the stage where I recogjise the thoughts almost as soon as they happen from sometimes only reflecting after anxiety passed.By pure habit of doing this I eventually can now say I take thought cqptive quite soon..been a blessing…the time between anxious thoughts for me now only daily when past was constant..still work in progress
Stacey, I am so thankful for your honesty in sharing your story. I know you are not alone in how you are feeling. I’m so sorry to hear that your mom is sick and that you have had a rough time lately. Oh man. My heart hurts for you. I really love Kim’s and Jeanine’s comments. What I would add in addition is to just flat out ask God to help you trust Him more. Doesn’t that sound almost too simple? I know, right? But really, just have a conversation with the Lord and ask Him to show you how to hand over your fear, doubt, stress, worry. He will answer that prayer! Hugs to you. Thank you for the comment.
This week I have taken the posture of kneeling in prayer..I only realised after I stood up that It was about me and forgot to praise God..real work in progress..at least praised Him standing.
Doing psalm 8 broken down and then talking to Jesus each time was wonderful..also psalm 145…breaking into chunks so much more meaningful and deep and allows me to praise God myself on my on journey.
This study is great..glad have daily journals so can really focus on each..and praying after each journal been super
Jeanine, I totally hear you with the work in progress. Thankful that He did the work on the Cross, first!! As we continually develop a lifestyle in which we humbly bow low before Jesus, our heart changes naturally. THank you for joining in!!
Thanks everyone for listening and the kind comments backs. I will try all of your suggestions!