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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

P3 - God's Greatness in Psalms and Romans on a personal level



Psalm 103:1-4 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases; 
Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion.  

As we continue in our series on the greatness of God, we will look at how God's greatness affects the soul of the Christian.  What we meditate upon the most will mold how we make our daily decisions.  
Meditating on the greatness of God
If you ever wanted Biblical reasons as to why you should talk to yourself, then Psalm 103 and 104 are the chapters for you.  At the beginning and end of each of those Psalms we see this phrase: "bless the Lord Oh my Soul".  What is the soul? Your soul is your center of self-awareness.  You are a three-part being: a soul that is wrapped in a body that contains another invisible area called "the spirit".  
(1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12) 

You do not merely have a soul - you are a soul.  As a soul - you have a thinker called the mind, a feeler called emotions, an expression of convictions called your conscience and a chooser called the will.  As you grow in grace, you are to tell your mind what to think your emotions how to feel and your will what to choose. (Philippians 4:6-9; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Joshua 24:15)  The Psalmist here in Psalms 103 and 104 is telling himself to think and reflect on God's Greatness in times past and in the scriptures.  The Psalmist is instructing himself to be mindful about what God is doing in the creation around him.  As you train your soul to get in order with what God said, and regard your selfish desires to be dead, only then can you move on ahead in God.  

Making Godly decisions that will honor the greatness of God
Whenever you come to Romans 14, you discover a clear set principles for Godly decision making that can be useful in the process of training your soul.  What are those principles? Will whatever I am deciding to do: Enable me to live for Christ (Romans 14:8); Love my brother (14:13); Be led by the Spirit (14:16-17); Build-up God's work (14:19-20) and then finally, will this decision help or hinder my faith-walk? (14:22-23)  Whenever you sift your decisions through that five-fold grid, whatever comes out at the bottom, that is what you are to do.  My prayer today would be that you and I would take to heart God's greatness and let it affect our soul and daily decisions, so as to immediately obey the principles of His Word.