A CHRISTmas Praise

On Christmas as I read all the Facebook statuses and Tweeter posts about Christmas and people celebrating Jesus' birthday I thought about how I wanted to post something to show how Thankful I am to Jesus for coming to earth to die for me! I didn't want the regular "Happy Birthday Jesus" or "Merry Christmas", I wanted something from the heart. So I picked up my journal and just started writing my thoughts. This is what came flowing from my pen:

"God thank You so much for loving me and sending Your Son to be born a little, helpless baby and to grow up and die for me! Thank You Jesus for coming to the earth as that helpless baby and being born in a place that honestly had no room for You. Jesus thank You for running for Your life as a child and then working in a town that would not claim You. Jesus thank You for picking true friends and doing what was unpopular, but right. Jesus thank You for facing this hard life and then allowing people to betray, beat, mock, and kill You for me! Thank You for coming out of the grave and going to Heaven to prepare a place for me. Thank You for having a plan for my life and always being with me. Thank You for the Bible, my friends, family, and life I love. Thank you Mary and Joseph for obeying God. Thank you Mary for setting an example of purity. Thank you everyone who obeyed God and listened to Jesus so that the world could have the Bible, the guide book of life. JESUS, EMMANUEL, PRINCE OF PEACE, WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, LOVE OF MY LIFE, BEST FRIEND, GOD, MY KING. Merry Christmas." ~Brandi

The Best Gift Of All

Okay, so I am learning so much from the book of Psalms as I study it more this month. It also helps that my mom just happened (God knew I would need what she brought home) to bring in a devotional on the book of Psalms and that is one of my biggest sources! There will be a link to buy said book from Amazon at the bottom of this post. Now, let's get started.
Psalm 19 really dealt with God's handy work. An example of this is someone watching a sunset and shouting "Way to go God, Fantastic!" This shows someone praising God for what He has made. Now for some science, Did you know that a single human chromosome contains twenty billion bits of information? That would be like having forty-thousand 500 page books! Wow! God is very creative!  Now some people like to say that there is no God and that the earth just happened on it's own, but Romans 1:20 backs up that God created the earth and Paul, the guy who wrote Romans, tells us that we have no excuse not to praise God! Here's the thing though, make sure you are praising GOD nor nature and not NATURE for nature. Some verses warning against praising nature are: Job 31:26-28, 2 Kings 23:5.
Now lets switch gears for a minute and talk about what Psalm 19 teaches us about asking for forgiveness. Verse twelve tells us that we should ask for forgiveness from God and for Him to cleanse us from sin. Verse thirteen tells us that we should ask God to keep us from future sin. Wait! What?!?! Let's read that verse. "Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression."(NIV). Oops! This is something I don't really do. What about you? Let's remember this verse and ask God for help everyday! Finally verse fourteen tells us to stand firm on the rock of our Salvation. God is wonderful!
Let me tell you a story I read. On March 8, 1839 thirteen miners were caught in a collapsed coal mine in Musselburg, Scotland. Did these miners panic? Did they start blaming each other? The answer is no. Instead they gathered together and started singing Psalm 20! Yeah, you read right, they sang! Psalm 20 is a Psalm that speaks of hope. The opening verse says: "May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you." Psalm 20:1 (NIV). I don't know about you, but I can't think of anything better to be protecting me! Now do you want to know what happened to the miners? Well, people were frantically searching for them, and they were running out of oxygen. They were finally rescued and as all thirteen came out of the mine they were still singing Psalm 20!
Now lets go to Paris on March 4, 1437. This was the day that Henry IV of France was imprisoned in Paris because he had Protestant beliefs! Over time he managed to escape and find refuge with the Huguenot, members of the Protestant Reformed church of France. During a service Henry heard Psalm 21 being sung. After hearing this he felt God had prearranged for him to be there and he was in awe of God's providential leading. He knew God had gone before him paving the way just like God did with David in this chapter.
Another interesting fact is that Psalm 20 and Psalm 21 go hand in hand. Both speak about the king. Psalm 20 could be an intercession as the king goes out to battle and Psalm 21 is a thanksgiving, maybe for when the king returns triumphant. Also verses four and nine of Psalm 21 show a deeper meaning of this chapter. It reminds us of Jesus in Revelation 6:16. Many consider Psalm 21 to be speaking of the Messiah, Jesus.
The best gift is knowing that God is going before every one of us and preparing what will happen in our lives. He is standing by us and ready to listen to us and help us not to sin if we ask for His help. He is ready to show us that there is always hope. He is ready to show us His master piece everyday in nature and everything else. For me this is the best gift I can have this Christmas season and all year long!
Psalms Devotional I have been using

Lessons from Psalms

I know this post is late and I am sorry for that. Finals and a cold kept me busy. But enough about me, lets dive into the book of Psalms some more! With today being the eighteenth that means that we have studied up to chapter eighteen in the book of Psalms. Here are some things that caught my eye and some of the tools I have been using to study with.
First in Psalm one I have learned by using Eight Girls of Faith's Instagram is that we need a root system to grow! If we have strong roots in God we will not be unsettled when hard times come our way. Proverbs 12:3 backs this up by stating "No one can be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted." (NIV) So here are some ways to grow a strong root system: hang out with the right crowd, be grounded in God's word, Pray, and mediate day and night on God's word.
Now skipping to Psalm three I learned some more insight through Eight Girls of Faith. This chapter helps us to be confident in God. God shields us, lifts us up, answers us, and sustains us. This quote from Eight Girls of Faith really drives home the point that God is with us. "Would we be afraid if Superman was protecting us? Well, Superman is an ant to God. How much more confident should we feel with the Maker of the universe on our side?" Wow! (read the girls stuff here: Eight Girls of Faith)
Now lets take a giant leap and go to Psalm sixteen. This chapter has always confused me just a little bit, so while reading it I searched the web for studying tips about it. I came to this website A Study in Psalms - Vol. III; No. 1. This site showed that Psalm chapter sixteen is really broken down into five parts. Part one: Taking refuge in God (verses 1-2). We also learn that hard times really keep us leaning on God, once is something we should do everyday and that prayer is very important in our Christian life! A great example of just how important prayer really is can be found in Hebrews 5:7 "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission." (NIV)
Part two is taking up God's cause (verses 3-4). Part three is accepting God's provision (verses 5-6) and Philippians 4:11-13 is a great example of being thankful for what God has given you. Paul is praising God in a Roman prison for what he has in these verses! Talk about being 100% thankful! Part four is listening to God's counsel (verses 7-8) and finally part five is the reward of eternal life (verses 9-11).
In Psalm seventeen many people believe David wrote this prayer while 1 Samuel 23:24-28 was happening. Saul was chasing David and David was hiding. God saved David when Saul had to return to his Palace because there was an attack. No one is 100% sure when this was written. Verse 8 in Psalm seventeen is amazing! It is revealed that we are the apple of God's eye! How amazing is that and what other proof do you need that we are His children!
Finally we reach Psalm eighteen. David wrote this when the Lord delivered him from all his enemies and the hands of Saul. David calls God "my strength", "my rock", "my fortress"'"my Savior"' "my shield". "the strength of my salvation". and "my stronghold". If you go and read 2 Samuel 22:1- 51 it is almost exactly the same as Psalm 18:1-50!  In Psalm 18:7-19 David uses words we can really understand to show God coming down to save a Shepherd boy who prayed to Him. This God is not gone, He is our magnificent God who is ready to rescue us!! I have to ask, what should we be afraid of?
Now continuing with Psalm eighteen in verses 20-24 it sounds like David is just bragging, but this is the David who says "Compared to You, no one is perfect" (Psalm 143:2) and "I was born a sinner" (Psalm 51:5). So maybe David isn't bragging and this Psalm can be read like Paul's remarks in Philippians 3:6 "I obeyed the Jewish law so Carefully that I was never accused of any fault."
Okay, so this was one of my longest posts. But the book of Psalms is filled with great teaching. I hope this post helps you in your study of the book of Psalms and you will be back on Saturday for another study!

A Psalm a day challenge

Well, December is already here and it feels like it is moving just as fast as all the other months. Before long Christmas is going to be here and then it will be a new year! I just can't believe how fast this year is going and I'm starting to see how a person should take in every moment they get.
I did not realize while I was waiting for Saturday to get here that I didn't know what I would write about this month. On December 5th, while I was reading my Bible, God answered a prayer I didn't know I had been praying. He showed me that I want to do a challenge this December. The book of Psalms is filled with great comfort and support. I go to it a lot when I feel really sad and I don't know what to do. I realized I have only read the book of Psalms two times. It is the longest book in the Bible and sometimes it's still hard to  understand. That is why I am going to challenge myself to read a chapter in Psalms a day this month.
I hope to grow closer to God while studying my Bible and have a more personal relationship with Him and not just a knowledge based relationship! I will post pictures of my favorite verses to my Pinterest board daily with the label A PSALM A DAY. Also on Twitter I will be using the hashtage #APsalmADay. A great link that also will help me is that eight girls on instagram, known as Eight Girls of Faith, are posting pictures about verses from Psalms and talking about them. Here is the link: eight girls of faith. I hope you will join me in this and you all have a blessed December!
Also here is the reading schedule for the month of December: