Praise

When I stand before Your throne
Dressed in glory not my own
What a joy I'll sing of on that day
No more tears or broken dreams
For God is the mighty King
Everything as it was meant to be

And we will worship, worship
Forever in Your presence we will sing
We will worship, worship You
An endless hallelujah to the King.

I will see You as You are
Love You with unsinning heart
And see how much You paid to bring me home
Not till then Lord shall I know
Not till then how much I owe
Everything I am before Your throne

And we will worship, worship
Forever in your presence we will sing
We will worship, worship You
An endless hallelujah to the King.

No more tears,
No more shame,
No more sin or sorrow ever known again.
No more fears,
No more pain,
We will see You face to face,
See You face to face

And we will worship, worship

Forever in your presence we will sing.

We will worship, worship You

An endless hallelujah to the King.

From another song:

And on that day when my strength is failing,

The end draws near and my time has come,

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

10,000 years and then forever more!

All too often on oncology floors, we deal with death.  I did this weekend.  One of my patients passed.  I listen to the above songs on the way home, and the bottom song's lyrics grabbed my heart.  "When my strength is failing, the end draws near...still my soul will sing Your praise unending."  My patient this weekend was basically unable to speak, minus the occasional yes or no.  It made me think, "Marlie, what will your soul be doing when you're in this patient's shoes?"  I want it to praise.  But using our souls to praise a mighty God starts now, not in heaven when we have 10,000 years and then forevermore!  Praise starts now.  Why do we have to do it now when we'll do it forever one day?  Because He is worthy!  I've been thinking a lot about how we are to live in response to and in the shadow of the cross.  If that indeed is true, then how can we get away one day without raising our hands, without singing our lungs out, without feeling like our hearts will erupt from our chests if we don't praise?  

Philippians 2:9-11 says this:  "Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  At merely the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in adoration, in reverence, in praise.  Do our hearts get giddy when we hear His name?  Do we wake up in the mornings praising?  That's the kind of men and women our Lord wants:  for Him to be on the throne of our hearts.  A throne can only seat one person.  It doesn't have room for our significant others, our family, our jobs, our hobbies, our social tribe, or our grades.  If Jesus is not seated on its throne, what is?  Ask God to help you cast the crowns of whatever is on your heart's throne to the ground, so that you may "crown Him with many crowns."  And may you fall at the King's feet in complete and total praise.

Do Something Now

"Compassion isn't compassion unless you do something now."  --Christine Caine

For the last month, to say that Jesus and I have been disconnected would be a VAST understatement.  I couldn't get out of a funk.  I knew I needed to spend time in the Word; I knew I needed His joy, His love, His peace and that I was being depleted of it.  That depletion was affecting my attitude towards friends, co-workers, and myself.  I vented to a friend, telling her my frustration with me but telling her about my lack of motivation to communicate with my Creator.  She did as only she can do and called me out, "Marlie, I can't do anything for you.  I can tell you over and over that you need to read your Bible, but you already know that.  No one can change that but YOU.  It's YOUR relationship with Christ, not anyone else's."  Oh, dear friend, how correct you were!  I had forgotten that it's my relationship.  Other people don't fit into this relationship and make it happen.  I hit my knees, begging for the Lord to once again revive me, and He so lovingly reminded me, "My love doesn't run out or give up on you."

So, I read Luke 4 today.  It quoted part of Isaiah in it and it went something like this:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good new to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  --Luke 4:18-19

You know, you can browse over that passage and be like, "Ok, good.  I'll do that when I'm older or when I have 'enough time' or enough money."  Scripture doesn't say wait.  Over and over it says to take care of the poor, orphans, and widows.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  James 1:27

"He [God] defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.  And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens to Egypt."  Deut. 10:18-19

"Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow Me.'"  --Matthew 19:21

So what am I doing?  Ok, Lord, I'm a nurse, and I take care of the needy and people who don't have a lot of money all the time.  But what am I really doing?  He calls us to an abundant life in John 10.  Did you hear me?  Abundant.  More than I can ask for.  Overwhelmingly good.  Fulfilled.  Content.  That kind of LIFE.  Not just sort of going through the motions, "oh this is such a lovely day", drink your cup of coffee in the morning and hit the sack at night kind of life, but truly LIVING.  I believe that to truly live we must truly serve.  To truly serve, we must truly seek His face.  One of my favorite verses in Psalm says this:  My heart says of Him, "Seek His face!"  Your face, Lord, I will seek.  May we seek.  May we find.  May we give.  May we do something now.