9.15.10 "But as for Me..."

"But as for Me..."

Isaiah 19:1-21:17
Galatians 2:1-16
Psalm 59:1-17
Proverbs 23:13-14

Psalm 59:16 "But as for me, I will sing each morning about your power and mercy."

Notice the power in this little phrase: But as for me... The context of this Psalm is found by looking at the verses prior: "Let these evil men slink back at evening, and prowl the city all night before they are satisfied, howling like dogs and searching for food." (vs. 14-15) That's followed up with "But as for me..."

There are a lot of reasons out there to do the wrong thing. You may have been mistreated. "my dad beat me so therefore I..." You may indulge in sinful activity because you feel you've earned the "indulgence". "Hey, I've been working hard lately, I deserve this." "I gotta do this for me." It could be something else. "I've been up too late, so there's no way I'm getting up early to read the Word." "You know, we've been out too much let's not go to church." "I would get into worship, but they don't do my favorite songs."

I don't know if the recurring theme is obvious, but all of those statements are made from a "victim mentality". Each one of them represent an underlying thought process that an individual can't do the right thing because of external circumstances. Using a word a pastor friend of mine would say: "HOOEY!" Enough with the whining!

If you can picture the Iwo Jima memorial. It's time that every member of the army of God "takes the hill" of free will and says, "It doesn't make a difference what is happening around me. I will take this territory!" Most of the time the territory we need to take is within us. It's today's verse. "I will sing each morning about your power and mercy."

As I'm writing this I'm sitting at my kitchen table and it is pitch black out right now. In a little while the sun will come over the trees in the horizon. There will be "light" before the sun shows up, but when it comes into view, it will "take the territory". It will be bright! What a huge opportunity to "sing about your power and mercy."

We can come up with pages of reasons on why we think we can't worship. It's all deception. There's a reason it's called a "DYNAMIC Lifestyle of Worship". The word Dynamic implies change and growth. It means that in EVERY circumstance of life you can say, "But as for me..."

I did a quick online Bible search of that phrase, "But as for me..." Depending on the version you use, it shows up numerous times. One of the most familiar occurrences is in Joshua 24:15: "Choose ye this day whom you will serve, BUT AS FOR ME and my house, we will serve the Lord."

It's time we took a little responsibility for our choices. We can justify compromise, laziness, lack of discipline, lack of productivity, etc. all we we want. We can even occasionally feel good about ourselves when we're done, but it's all junk. It's not based on Godly principles. You don't have your DLOW! (Dynamic Lifestyle of Worship)

CHOOSE to worship the Lord each morning, no matter the circumstance. CHOOSE to do the right thing when everything around you is setting you up for compromise and failure. Paul says in 1 Cor. 10:23, "'Everything is permissible' - but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible' - but not everything is constructive." Basically, he's saying, "Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD."

For every one of us, God has laid something on our heart that we need to be doing. It may be getting up to read the Word, it may be a certain action. The circumstances around us may be lined up for us to easily continue on the way things have always been, and never leave the rut. The Lord is waiting for someone to say like the Psalmist did, "But as for me..."



Through the Power of the Spirit,
Live the DREAM!

P Greg


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