Praise God

The Lord brought to my mind these words this morning:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

I was thanking Him for my three little pooches, my remote car starter (yes, I thank Him for that a lot!), safety in the rain on the road to the groomer and just because...

I couldn't remember the second line correctly so I checked it out when I got home and discovered that those words are the last stanza in a much longer hymn written by Puritan, Thomas Ken (1637-1711). In typical Puritan fashion it has 11 verses (when sung, I bet that all 11 were sung, not just 1, 3, 5...heh).

The Lord has a sense of humor. If I had known the first verse of the hymn, I might have been singing something else...heh

Awake, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise,
To pay thy morning sacrifice.

You can check out the other verses here. The tune is unfamiliar to me, but it refreshes my mind since I am over-familiar with the tune with which I usually sing it.

from C.H.S.

Each morning I enjoy a book called Morning by Morning, written by Charles H. Spurgeon, and usually find that his choice of Scripture along with his meditations stay in my mind during the day. Often, just a word will be the trigger to remind me of his thoughts. The trigger word from the devotion this morning was an especially good word for me to remember - LIGHT - from this verse :

"In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." Philippians 2:15.

Spurgeon reminds us of several uses of Light:

---we use lights to make manifest (display) - our lives and conversation should be such that all about us can clearly perceive the image of Jesus reflected in all our daily actions;

---lights are intended for guidance - to help those in darkness and to interpret the Scriptures (like Philip did for the Ethiopian)and to point sinners to the Savior;

---lights are used for warning - as with a lighthouse, put up the true light on every dangerous rock and point out every sin and tell what it leads to;

---And as lights we should also have a very cheering influence, as a comforter with kind words and carry sunshine wherever we go, diffusing happiness around us.

The mediation ended with these lovely words which I assume are a part of a hymn:

Gracious Spirit dwell with me; I myself would gracious be,
And with words that help and heal Would thy life in mine reveal,
And with actions bold and meek Would for Christ my Savior speak.

Which, in turn, reminds me of another special verse about light - John 8:12 where Jesus tells us that "I am the LIGHT of the world".

Lord, let me shine for You.