The phrase opening Baillie’s morning prayer both soothes my heart and surges my spirit. I pluck it like an everlasting flower to carry in the pocket of my mind throughout my day:
“Eternal Father of my soul…”
Think of it!
I do that repeatedly. I pull it out at different moments, let myself express it, silently sometimes, at other times in whispers. The words take on a power of their own, and raise me, mind and heart and spirit, to the God of gods.
“Eternal Father of my soul.” This is what He is to me! All my soul’s life, all that makes it capable of the eternal, that makes it a child of His expression. What a wonder! What incomprehensible blessing! Beyond my grasp.
…..
How often do we address the Eternal Father of our souls in ways far beneath the appreciation He deserves?
Maybe we need to take some time just to settle into His presence, to focus on all that He is…
No, that is beyond us, far beyond us.
But we can focus on one singular excellent thing He is, like this, in silent reflection… taking the time, before we storm His gates with demands and whinings we call “requests.” Maybe we won’t even feel the need to storm His gates after that at all. Maybe just this one thought of what He is, and how that alone is all our need, will still our even asking, and transform it into thanking, praising.
Yesterday, a prayer. An excellent prayer for any day’s beginning.
Today, a song for any morning’s start. A simple song of praise that can be as strong and high as one’s soul can lift.
Q: What will help to lift it higher?
A: Counting reasons (in Himself) to praise Him (from the Bible).
This counting helps me draw CLOSER to Him (my key word for the year).
I’ve been using the letters of the word to guide me. So far: C stands for “Call.” Call on Him, call out to Him, for we can do nothing like half decent worship without His Spirit enabling us (John 15:4-5). L stands for Look and Listen — Look to Him, Look at Him, Listen intently to what He says.
And an excellent, dynamic way to look at Him is to ponder the praise reasons I count with consideration. To be sure they’re valid, I Look to His word, as it reveals His attributes and actions.
Mary at Stories of Rain and Rivers and I are sifting through scripture passage after passage, to see: Are there ten thousand biblical reasons? We think so. So far, they’re rolling like marbles hitting one another, on and on, building up multiple momentum.
How about you? Would you like to start counting, too?
If you don’t, you can leave your (Bible-verified) reasons briefly, in reasonable numbers at a time, in the comments, at the link-up site or here. Or, you can simply start a personal journal of praise reasons, or include them in a journal you’re already keeping. Mary and I would love to know, if you do.
Worship comes in the counting...
REASONS TO PRAISE HIM:
(From Psalm 65:1-5)
421- Because He hears prayer
422 – Because to Him all flesh will someday come
423 – Because it was promised from of old that He would provide atonement for our trespasses (Ps 65:3)
424 – Because blessed is everyone He chooses and causes to approach Him and dwell in His courts
425 – Because the goodness of His house satisfies
426 – Because He will answerby awesome deeds
427 – Because those awesome deeds will be done in righteousness
428 – Because He is not only our salvation, but also the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off seas
(From The Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6:9-15), a prayer He hears)
429 – Because we can call Him Father
430 – Because He wants us to call Him Father
431 – Because He is,in Heaven
432 – Because His name is to be hallowed
433 – Because His kingdom will come
434 – Because His will should (and shall) be done on earth as it is in heaven
435 – Because it’s to Him we must look for our “daily bread”
436 – Because He wants us to ask it of Him
437 – Because He graciously wants us to ask His deliverance from temptation and evil
438 – Because we can ask His forgiveness and He’ll forgive as we forgive
439 – Because He wants us to ask forgiveness, that He can give it
440 – Because He wants the sweet way of forgiveness for all, by all
441 – Because His is the kingdom
442 – Because His is the power
443 – Because His is the glory forever
(From Psalm 65:6-13 — Reasons in the mountains, seas, and rains)
(In the Mountains and Seas…)
444 – Because it’s He Who established the mountains by His strength
445 – Because He is clothed with power
446 – Because He stills the noise of the seas, of their waves
447 – Because He stills the tumult of the peoples
448 – Because those who dwell even in the farthest parts are afraid of His signs
449 – Because He makes the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice
(In the Rains — or lack thereof)
450 – Because He visits the earth and waters it
451 – Because He greatly enriches it
452 – Because the river of God is full of water
453 – Because He provides grain, as He has prepared
454 – Because He waters earth’s ridges abundantly
455 – Because He settles its furrows
456 – Because He makes the earth soft with showers
457 – Because He blesses its growth
458 – Because He crowns the year with goodness
459 – Because His paths drip with abundance
460 – Because they drop on the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side
461 – Because He clothes the pastures with flocks, the valleys with grain.
462 – Because they shout for joy, they also sing.
(From Deuteronomy 11:11-17:)
463 – Because the Promised Land was an example of a land drinking water from the rain of heaven, as a land for which He cared
464 – Because His eyes were long upon it, from the beginning of the year to its end
465 – Because He gives land to people
466 – Because He promised His people that if they would listen obediently to Him, to His commandments, to love and serve Him with all their hearts and soul, He would give the rain in their land in its season, early and late, so that they might gather in their grain and new wine and oil
467 – Because He promised He would then give grass in their fields for their cattle
468 – Because He promised that He would enable His nation to eat and be satisfied
469 – Because He warned them not to let their hearts be deceived that they should turn away and serve and worship other gods. Because He warned that if they did, He would shut up the heavens so that there would be no rain and the ground would not yield its fruit, and people would perish from the good land He had given them.
Beautiful gem of a prayer I discovered among my disorganized computer files over the weekend, perfect to start this day, any day, every day.
Sharing it with you…
Eternal Father of my soul, let my first thought today be of You, let my first impulse be to worship You, let my first speech be Your name, let my first action be to kneel before You in prayer.
For Your perfect wisdom and perfect goodness:
For the love with which You love mankind:
For the love with which You love me:
For the great and mysterious opportunity of my life:
For the indwelling of your Spirit in my heart:
For the sevenfold gifts of your Spirit [Isaiah 11:1-4]:
I praise and worship You, O Lord.
Yet let me not, when this morning prayer is said, think my worship ended and spend the day in forgetfulness of You. Rather from these moments of quietness let light go forth, and joy, and power, that will remain with me through all the hours of the day;
Keeping me chaste in thought:
Keeping me temperate and truthful in speech:
Keeping me faithful and diligent in my work:
Keeping me humble in my estimation of myself:
Keeping me honorable and generous in my dealings with others:
Keeping me loyal to every hallowed memory of the past:
Keeping me mindful of my eternal destiny as a child of Yours.
“My soul clings to the dust. Revive me according to Your word” (Ps 119:25).
The soil is thirsty in the hand. The ground is dust.
The garden languishes, the plants wilt.
My soul thirsts also, languishes, wilts.
We need water.
According to His word:
“I will pour water on him who is thirsty. I will pour streams upon the dry ground” (Is 44:3).
Water was there first, before anything else. The first day (Gen 1:1-2)
The second day, God separated the waters, differentiated the waters–above and below the firmament heaven (Gen 1:6-8).
Earth water and heaven water.
And Jesus said, amid parching heat, to the comfort-thirsty, love-thirsty woman at the well: “Whoever drinks of this [earth] water, will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst… [it] will become in him a fountain of water, springing up to everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).
I think of all this as I water, and the showers of blessing make rainbows in the air.
Winding hose on holder, I think how I once wanted to name this place “Everspring” or “Wellspring” and post those words of Christ’s somewhere. The Funny Farm had such a seemingly boundless supply of pure freshness. But I had too little faith in its constancy.
Things can happen.
Things did. Twice circumstances cut off totally all house supply.
But Christ’s supply has never failed.
I fail. And flail. But I pray. “My soul cleaveth unto the dust.” I pray for Him to renew my life with His “washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:26). And He pours water upon my dry ground. I soak it up, drink it in, weep joy.
Those little streaks are the trails of gnats/bugs/flies, dancing, dancing up and down. They get in your face.
…..
I made an August resolution: No grumbling!
Because I should belong to Grumblers Anonymous! If there is one.
Oh, I don’t grumble in public. Usually not even to Husband or Son. (They wouldn’t put up with it!) I go at it in private.
I get going on something and build up steam. Most often stupid, trivial, flies-in-the-face things. The “little” things that drive me cah-razy if they keep flying at me! Especially in heat, and humidity, and overload.
A couple weeks ago I fussed and fumed on an on about…
How Husband picked blueberries.
“You’re kidding!” you say. You’re laughing at me. Go ahead; I deserve it. It’s true. That’s what I started in on as I washed and drained and sorted through the sapphire orbs — because a lot weren’t sapphire: They were pink. Or purple. Or even partly white.
I’d just made a pie for visiting family with mixed berries like that, and It. Was. SOUR!
But everyone picked together for that—which was fun. And who could expect perfection from, say, a five-year-old? (I messed up the pie anyhow by forgetting to switch the oven from convection to conventional. A whiz-bang, done-brown pie that granddaughter thought had jam in it, it was so gooed-up over-baked!)
But it’s different when we’re picking to freeze for winter and guests and all.
So I sorted, and grumbled.
I decided I should pick the berries—solo. If Husband would acquiesce.
He did.
I picked.
And guess what? I couldn’t discern the colors among the shade-spattered branches! So guess what came into the white plastic berry bucket? Pink. And Purple. And some white.
And there I stood, embarrassed and ashamed before God.
I can’t recall what else I fussed about. I just remember the same thing happened each time: I proved entirely mistaken.
That was July. With God’s help in August, I’d conquer this bad habit!
Until yesterday I did great. Then I almost-grumbled thrice. But I halted myself, and was so glad. I just would have ruined my day.
So, though not perfect, I was proud of my initial progress.
Maybe it was the pride that got me.
Because today nothing went “right.” Or on time. So, you know what I finally did?
You’ve got it! The endless debris sticking to the green beans’ Velcro sides wore down my patience entirely. I’d never seen so many bits of grass and leaf on beans.
Then I grumbled at myself for grumbling…
But still, I was never going to process such debris-laden beans again!!!
Beans finally nestled in the freezer, and me nestled into relative calm at the computer, in came Husband, to sit down and tell me, serious and gentle, not to be shocked, but he wanted me to know how he appreciated how much I do around here… like processing the green beans!!
What? Another well-timed shame-maker! Instead of accepting praise, I had to admit to grumping…
But he continued nice. Even apologized for messy beans, said he thought they’d lain in wet mulch, next batch would be better.
So later, more self-recrimination.
I prayed, I confessed, I begged God’s forgiveness — and to FIX me!
…
Time passed. It wasn’t happening!
Where was help?
I went back on line, and knowing nowhere else to go, went to my own blog, to the REASONS TO PRAISE GOD.
I started reading aloud, down one list, down the next, clicking to previous posts, reading reasons He’s praiseworthy. Slowing down… Reading with thought…
And a funny thing happened…
Peace.
When Augustine said it, I’m sure he meant it in a whole-life way: “Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.”
But it’s true in the everyday, too, for grumblers anyway, especially at self.
Self is a bad place to fix one’s gaze. Either with pride or self-recrimination.
Looking to, looking at, the Prince of Peace, the One Who is our peace— that’s the way to peace.
At least for me.
…..
So, HERE are SOME MORE “REASONS”
HE’S WORTHY OF PRAISE BECAUSE…
395 …He is our peace
396 …He is the Prince of Peace (already listed elsewhere)
396 …His name is Wonderful
397 …He is the wonderful Counselor
398 …He is Almighty God
399 …He is God with us, Immanuel
Now these reasons in Philippians 3 —
400 – Because scripture admonishes us repeatedly to rejoice in Him
401 – Because we (true believers)are “the circumcision” (of the heart), who worship Him in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh
402 – Because everything else that we might count gain in the world is rubbish compared to knowing and gaining Christ Jesus our Lord and being found in Him
403 – Because we don’t have righteousness in ourselves from the Law, but in and from God, by faith in Christ
404 – Because Paul’s high passion should be ours, too: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death,” and attaining to His resurrection from the dead.
405 – Because Christ lays hold of the believer for this purpose
406 – Because we have a glorious upward call of God in Christ Jesus
407 – Because our citizenship is in Heaven on account of Him
408 – Because we eagerly await Him from there as the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ
409 – Because He will transform our lowly bodiesto be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself.
And from Philippians 4 —
410 – Because in Him we can stand fast
411 – Because it’s in Him that we can have same-minded unity
412 – Because scripture admonishes us to rejoice in the Lord always
413 – Because the Lord is at hand
414 – Because if we follow Phillippians 4:6, the peace of God will guard our minds and hearts
415 – Because the peace of God is beyond understanding
416 – Because, even so, the peace of God can be ours
417 – Because we can do all things, be contented in want or abundance, through Christ,
418 – Because it is Christ who strengthens us
419 – Because to the givers God will supply all their need according to His riches in glory
420 – Because to our God should be glory forever and ever. (Amen.)
