PS 103:1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;<BR> all my inmost being, praise his holy name.<P> PS 103:2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,<BR> and forget not all his benefits--<P> PS 103:3 who forgives all your sins<BR> and heals all your diseases,<P> PS 103:4 who redeems your life from the pit<BR> and crowns you with love and compassion,<P> PS 103:5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.<P> PS 103:6 The LORD works righteousness<BR> and justice for all the oppressed.<P> PS 103:7 He made known his ways to Moses,<BR> his deeds to the people of Israel:<P> PS 103:8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.<P> PS 103:9 He will not always accuse,<BR> nor will he harbor his anger forever;<P> PS 103:10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.<P> PS 103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;<P> PS 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.<P> PS 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;<P> PS 103:14 for he knows how we are formed,<BR> he remembers that we are dust.<P> PS 103:15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;<P> PS 103:16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.<P> PS 103:17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children--<P> PS 103:18 with those who keep his covenant<BR> and remember to obey his precepts.<P> PS 103:19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.<P> PS 103:20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,<BR> you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.<P> PS 103:21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.<P> PS 103:22 Praise the LORD, all his works<BR> everywhere in his dominion.<P> Praise the LORD, O my soul.

Sue, looks like we are on at the same time this morning. Sue I am praising the Lord in agreement with You. I love this Psalm. it is one of my favorites.<BR>Thanks for sharing it with us as a reminder .

Thank you SueB for posting these. I have been wanting to read prayers of praise and this was just what I needed.

I guess the Lord was preparing me this morning for our sermon opened up with Psalm 103:8-11<P>PS 103:8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.<P>PS 103:9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;<P>PS 103:10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.<P>PS 103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;<P>We have been studying the book of Romans and today's focus was on chapter 12:9-13<P> RO 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. [10] Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. [11] Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. [12] Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. [13] Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.<P>Pastor says that while 1 Cor 13 is called the love chapter, he calls this one the Love paragraph! Pastor identified 10 things in this paragraph about what love is. <BR>1.<B>Authentic</B>"Love must be sincere"-genuine, real, not hypocritical, vulnerable!<BR>2.<B>Discernment</B>"Hate what is evil, cling to what is good"- committed to welfare of the other<BR>3.<B>Commitment</B>"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love"-willing to risk the relationship to talk about the hard stuff! having affection and actual "feeling", warmth, listening ear, courage to love.<BR>4. <B>Respect</B>"Honor one another above yourselves"-Compete to see who can honor each other the most.<BR>5. <B>Enthusiam</B>"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."-intentionality is the key here.<BR>6. <B>Optimism</B> "Be joyful in hope" <BR>7. <B>Endurance</B> "patient in affliction" Don't quit!<BR>8. <B>Advocacy</B> "faithful in prayer"- a number of verses encouraging prayer and praying without ceasing.<BR>9. <B>Generosity</B>"Share with God's people who are in need"-Eyes off self and on to others, sharing in the blessing of giving.<BR>10.<B>Hospitality</B> "Practice hospitality"-Love strangers! pursue it...he mentioned that one of the things our church does is take a few minutes to say hello to someone around you and how many of us don't know one another and feel awkward and yet we are drawn together to worship and to fellowship, how we need to pursue loving these strangers so that the body is built up and so that we can carry one another's burdens.<P>Our pastor has a sense of humor and left an empty space before each of the points so that we could grade ourselves, a + for those that we are doing pretty good in, a - for those things that we do not so well in and a 0 for those things that need improvement. The sermon really convicted me in the commitment area, that I need to pursue this Matt 18 thing with my husband because I am committed to the relationship, that we need to talk about the hard stuff with the help of a counsel of God's people because we are going no where on our own, each believing that we are right. Pastor talked about that it was easy to speak the truth, and easy to speak in love, but hard to speak the truth in love. <P>Sneaking down to the next chapter, I found 13:8-10 <BR>:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. [9] The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet,"* and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."* [10] Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.<P>How often we are more compassionate with our neighbor than our spouses. I am so encouraged by emptyinside's step of faith and obedience to address her concerns with the SIL, how she fought the fear and was vulnerable and how God blessed her with a prayer partner. How he desires to bless us all if we can look beyond the what is in front of us and be in awe of Him.

Sue,<BR>at a wedding I went to last fall, our main pastor gave a short great sermon. He said when we marry we need three things. Take the example of two raw gems in a polishing tumbler.<BR>We need to speak in truth. But when we speak only in truth to each other we rub like two stones against each other. If we speak only in love we are like two stones bouncing off each other. But when we add Jesus to the rescipe, like the polishing agent you put in the tumbler with the stones that need polishing. Jesus acts as that agent that polishes each other, as it polishes the stones. He adds the agent that allows us to speak the truth but in love that allows the two to be polished rather than rubbed out od existence. <BR>Thank you for reminins us all of this.

God is good, I have been praying for some days now, heavily burdened and the oppression has kept coming. I have been depressed and told the Lord that this is not where I want to be and several hours ago, I felt the Lord leading me to begin praising him. It was awesome as I began feeling the life flowing back into my soul from praising him.

onedayatatime,<BR>Wow. That is wonderful. Praise God. Yes, praising Him and worshiping Him is the way to get rid of the negative feelings. And, the way to resist the devil so he must flee. Praise and worship of our Lord is the key to a joyful heart.<P>Blessings to you,<BR>AW