In the Habit of Remembering

We all have good memories and bad memories.  Sometimes we dwell on those memories for the wrong reasons.  We think over and over again on the bad memories and drive ourselves insane with what we could have done differently to make the outcome better.  We focus on good memories to pump ourselves emotionally.  Remembering things is important.  God expects us to remember.  However in Psalm 63:6 – 8 God gives us instructions on the best way to use our time to remember things:

“6 When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. 7 Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. 8 My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.”

David was on the run from King Saul when he wrote this Psalm.  He was hiding in the wilderness.  His life was in shambles.  His family’s lives were at risk.  He spent his time thinking about what God had done.  He realized that God had been his help all that time and that He should stay faithful and rejoice in what God is doing.

Like David when we have free time, we are to focus on God.  For example, many of us have trouble falling to sleep.  We are consumed with the stresses of our day at work or in our family.  That’s a great time to think on the character of God.  We can spend time remembering the stories we have read or learned out of the Bible about God and His people, we learn about how God thinks and works.  We see fellow believers struggling with issues and learning to hear God and obey.  We see God responding to needs and providing.  We realize that we are not alone and God is there for us.  We, too, can rejoice in what God will do in our lives knowing that He love us.

So, start changing some of your thinking habits.  Get in the habit of remembering what God has done for those in the Bible and what God has done for you and your family during your lifetime.

It Just Takes A Breath

For us a breath is a very important function of our body.  With a breath we continue the maintenance of our life.  Without the breathing process we would die.  A breath seems so simple and yet it is so complicated and it happens without us even thinking about it.  The Kidshealth.org website states, “Breathing is so vital to life that it happens automatically. Each day, you breathe about 20,000 times, and by the time you’re 70 years old, you’ll have taken at least 600 million breaths.”  Sometimes looking at how spectacularly God designed us can really open up our eyes to how wonderful He is.  The process of breathing that just happens automatically allows oxygen to come in to our body and carbon dioxide to leave.  Breathing causes a whole chain reaction in our body of other processes that just happen automatically.  Not only do we take things like our breathing for granted, but we take God’s breathing for granted.  Take a look at Psalm 104 verses 24 through 30 –

“24 How countless are Your works, LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. 25 Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small. 26 There the ships move about, and Leviathan, which You formed to play there. 27 All of them wait for You to give them their food at the right time. 28 When You give it to them they gather it; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things. 29 When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. 30 When You send Your breath, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth”

What an encouragement to know that with God’s breath He creates and renews.  With a breath He created all the creatures on Earth.  Even great sea creatures that we may not have seen in the depths of the sea, He gave life to with His breath.  With a breath He gave us physical life.  With a breath He gives us spiritual life.  What an encouragement to know that with a breath He can renew us.  We need to take time to appreciate the creativity, ingenuity, and power of our God.  What encouragement we will find, if we take time to cherish the intricate details in His creation.  We need to breath in the beauty of His designs.  Lastly, we need to remember that it just takes a breath from Him to renew us.  Ask God for a breath of renewal in your life.  How encouraged we will be when we are renewed by the breath of God.

Love Gives Encouragement

God in His love for us, naturally encourages us.  The first encouragement that He has given us is Eternal Life.  What more could we hope in and think on to encourage us through this life.  If ever we are down, we need only to think of the eternal life that he has guaranteed us through His sacrificial love.  II Thessalonians 2: 16-17 reminds us of this fact:

 ”¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, ¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.”

This encouragement will help us to keep up the good works we do because we love Him back.  And we can use these words to continue on His love to others.