Day 2 - Created for His Praise

[twc_admin]

Hey Everyone,

Jump in and start discussing "Day 2 - Created for His Praise".
At the end in the "My Daily Surrender" segment, you are asked to consider writing a prayer of surrender. In addition to your comments and discussion about the teaching and lesson, consider writing your prayer here. Write your prayer in "first person", directly to God.

[russhutto]

I love the concept of us being pleasing to God because we are His creation. I know that our sin separates us from God, and that before Adam and Eve sinned against God, that they were pure and pleasing to Him just because they "were."

Of course, after the fall into sin, things changed a bit. I think God still looks on us, His creation, as His own handiwork, and as objects of His love, but at the same time we can be displeasing to Him by the things we do...(but it's not necessarily the things we do that cause the displeasure as much as it is the condition of our hearts when we do them). So, I guess I'm thinking that we can't necessarily DO anything to win the love of God (or to lose it), because the fact remains that He loves us completely (even when we are still trapped by sin).

Loved the picture of the author's boys. He loves them because they are His, not because of the stuff they do or don't do.

My prayer of surrender:

God help me to understand that being loved by You is not something I have to earn. Help me surrender wholly to your all-encompassing love. You loved me first. I offer my self, all that I am, in complete surrender to You. My inside, my outside. My heart, mind, and soul. I want to be known as Yours.

[ErikaMichelle]

I enjoyed today's study. Again, it was basic and I hope to get a little more "meat" in the future studies. But those simple reminders of God's grace and mercy are so important and I am grateful for this study and all of you.

The part of this study that jumped out at me was at the end. 2 Chronicles 20:29 states that Judah's surrounding kingdoms heard that the LORD had fought the battle and won. They feared THE LORD and not Jehoshaphat. That was wonderful. When they saw Judah, they didn't see a scared group of men, women and children. They saw a mighty group of worshippers standing and watching the power of God. They saw HIM!!!

What I got out of this, is that we are most pleasing to the Lord when our lives reflect Him and Him alone. We were created in HIS image for HIS great pleasure to reflect HIS glory.

My prayer of surrender:

Lord, today, I will surrender to You and You alone. I will lay down myself. I will lay down my own will and desire. I will fall completely in love with You all over again as I lay my life before Your feet. I can do all this because You strengthen me. In Your Precious Name, Amen

[Klampert]

Good study today..I liked this one and man it of course hits home.

It is basically let go let God...not always easy to put into practice

MY PRAYER OF SURRENDER

Lord...Make me your servant
Make me your own
Make me an Instrument
Take all of me
Burn your name upon my heart
Teach me your ways so I
can glorify Your name,
I give myself to You
I want to be in a place
where I no longer hinder
what you are doing,
Lord...
Less of me
More of You
Remove my pride
instill in me Humility.
I have been selfish with your tasks
I have been selfish with your vision
Rid me of anything that gets in the way
of your greatness
I surrender myself to you,
I lay at the throne of the most High king
My very breath comes from you and
I will not waste it.
Have mercy on me Your humble servant....
All praise and glory be to you Lord of my life.

[Steffanie_Oltmans]

One of the parts of today's study that really stood out to me was the part where he talked about his boys and how they don't have to be doing something for him in order to please him. That is such an awesome thing to meditate on. God doesn't love to hear our worship because we have excellent voices or wonderful musical talent. Think about it He hears the angels sing in all there perfection on a constant basis and yet He longs to inhabit our praise. I don't know about you but my talent is not that of an angel. It is awesome to think that what draws Him to our worship is the relationship and the love of a Father. He hears us with the ears of a loving father. It is so true that He hears our hearts much louder than noise we make.



Father, I surrender myself wholly to you and your will. I want to be more like you my desire is to be a mirror that reflects your glory to the world.

[alangustin]

I never really understood how God loves me until I had my first child. When I held little Ali in my arms, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love for her that I cannot describe to this day. She had done nothing except be born, yet I loved her completely (and still do, by the way). Then the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and told me that the love of my Heavenly Father for me is even stronger than the love I have for my daughter. From that moment on, I never considered God's love to be anything less than complete and unconditional.

I like the reference in the Ephesians passage to eternity, and it reminds me that one day we will worship with the heavenly host forever. That will make all our earthly worship seem as nothing, even though while we are here, we must do our best to give Him our all.

Leave everything behind and follow Jesus - how many of us can say that we have done that? I cannot. I believe I will spend the rest of my life learning how to do that.

During times of leading worship, I can sometimes get to that place where I am giving my all. My heart's desire is that when that happens, God can move others to go to that place with me.

[twc_admin]

Hey Gang,
Great discussion here for Day 2 ... I was also moved by the story about the kids. I have four ... and when our first child was born, we just fell in love with him immediately. Honestly, when I discovered we were expecting our 2nd child, I was a bit worried - how could I *possibly* love another child as much as this first one? But then Will was born, and I had a whole, brand new tank of love just for him. Then, Rebekah was born ... then Andrew was born ... then.... STOP .. that's it!

But you get the idea.
And that's just my own love ... nothing like God's selfless love, agape love for us.

And to think that when I'm serving Him, honoring Him ... I am walking in what I was created to do.

Everything works better when it's being used for what it was intended.

[Wrapped in Jesus Love!]

By the way, I couldn't wait to get home from work today so I could read all of your comments! Here we go with my comments:

I think my idea of why I was created is very different now than it was about 10 years ago. I used to think that I was created to "be something" in this world. Society instilled in my head that being a secretary was not as successful as (for example) being a teacher. I was on a lower scale. However, during my walk with God over the years, I have learned over the last few years that God loves me know matter what career title I have. I have learned that I am just as important as anyone else in this world and I don't stress as much about the career ladder. Even though some of society differs in opinion, I personally think all careers are equal - a garbage man to me is just as important as a teacher, doctor or lawyer. Could you imagine what our world would be like without garbage men. I often think about putting a card out for my garbage man thanking him for doing the job he does.

I am here to praise God. I think that one way of praising God is to treat others the way I want to be treated. I am reminded of the verse about - if you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me. My goal throughout my life is to bring happiness to people. Hopefully through doing this they can see HIS LIGHT shining through me. I will make an effort to treat others with respect, send an e-mail telling a person how special they are in my life, pray for at least one different person each day, etc. By doing things like this we are praising God. We are created to praise, and we are to do it 24-7. This is just one of the way to praise. Parents and people from the community, and the students come into our school office all the time and tell us how inviting it is to come there and how nice it is to be greeted by us. I know that part of that is because God's presence is there and He shines through.

One thing that really hit me in this reading today is on page 15, that God said this was "very good" after he created man and woman. They didn't even do anything yet and they were very good, and He was pleased with them. Isn't that how it is with our children. We love them from the day they are born. Even after the only thing they have done is poop and cry, we still love them. They didn't even do anything to create that love. If you have or ever had a toddler how did it feel when you came home and your toddler came running with arms open wide to greet you with a cheer, a smile and a hug. That child is praising the parent. If any of you have a dog, a dog has unconditional love for you when you get home. Your dog is praising you. God is there waiting. We need to come running to Him with our arms open wide, cheering, smiling and ready to embrace Him (just like a child).

Further down on page 15 it says - because He loves us He has raised us up and seated us with Christ in heavenly realms so we can one day be trophies of His grace. He wants me to be a trophy. Have you ever won a trophy? How did you feel when you got that trophy? It was an amazing feeling wasn't it. God wants me to be a trophy. I don't feel like trophy quality. But He apparantly sees something different than I do. And I am thankful for that. So I am going to praise Him by telling Him.

The last sentence on page 15 says - Once again God worked through his people to bring glory and praise to himself. God is not selfishly looking for praise in an egotistical way. But since we were made to praise Him, then He must be there to BE PRAISED. We, as parents of children, want to BE PRAISED by our children. Just as God loves us regardless of our praise or lack of praise for Him, parents love their children whether the children praise or not. But boy doesn't it feel good when your child as a teenager says "Thanks mom for everything you do for me." or "Thanks dad for picking me up from school today". Sometimes teens go through a stage where they don't communicate with parents as much. That creates a feeling of hurt for the parent. So now, let's take all that information and think about God. God made us. He sent His son to die on the cross for us. And if we stop communications with Him, I think that has to hurt God. So we need to remember to always be in contact with God. It is nice to have some quiet time to pray, but we don't always have to kneel, be alone, fold our hands, pray outloud. A quick thought of "Thank you God", "Help me God", "Bless the person that I am working with at work", "I know I'm stuck in traffic Lord, but thank you that I have not been in a car accident". And on and on we go. Keep Him with you everywhere you are. Acknowledge Him over and over throughout your day.

[twc_admin]

Wrapped in Jesus Love ...

great insights! thkx for sharing!

[Wrapped in Jesus Love!]

I forgot to include my Prayer of Surrender.

God, You are awesome. Your love amazes me. I want my life to shout Your praises in every area of my life so the world will see You in me. I am happy to be part of Your family, and I want to thank You for accepting me as I am. I surrender my heart and my life to You oh Lord. You paid the price for me. Use me, Lord, to help others to see you. Help me to be a silent and verbal witness in everything I do. In Jesus' Name, Amen!