Praise Him Even More
I don't recall ever being asked to explain the im****tance of
breathing. It's pretty well accepted that breathing is a good idea and
we should do it many times every day - a lack of breathing is
definitely bad for our physical health. It's not an exaggeration to
say that praise is as im****tant, should become as natural and occur as
often, as our breathing. For if we choose not to live a life of
praise, we will just as surely suffocate and spiritually die.
The life of praise requires only a little instruction and a great deal
of application. To begin with, we must learn to ALWAYS praise!
Philippians 4:4
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"
Notice that rejoicing is so im****tant that Paul decided to repeat
himself. If we are living to love and glorify God, He has promised to
work ALL things together for the good (Romans 8:28); so why do we wait
for what appear to be the proper conditions for praise? If we really
understood and believed that God is in control, wouldn't we praise Him
regardless of our particular situation? "Be joyful always; pray
continually; give thanks in all cir***stances, for this is God's will
for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). There is never a
wrong time to praise God and there are never cir***stances which don't
deserve our thankfulness.
Job lost absolutely everything he had except his wife. He then
developed sores over every part of his body and was so miserable that
his wife encouraged him to "Curse God and die!" (Job 2:10). Job was in
great pain and heavy sorrow, but he knew all things came from God with
a purpose; "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job
2:10). God is in the good as well as the trouble; we must learn to
praise Him in ALL situations!
Our life can become difficult and painful; we may feel bored and
unfulfilled, cheated and abused. But if we look at the reasons which
keep us from praising, we will find "self" expectations and pride - we
will find a life lived according to the desires of the flesh and not
according to the fruit of the Spirit. Every ****tion of our life is to
be offered "as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" (Romans
12:1). As we fix our eyes on the eternal glory we have through Jesus
we will find more and more reasons to praise.
Let's never allow our earthly cir***stances to direct our praise: "Let
everything that has breath praise the Lord" (Psalm 150:6). If we're
still breathing, we should still be praising! He has given us eternal
life - an eternity of wor****p in His presence...that's a GREAT
gift! Let's look for the hand of God working around us each and every
day. Let's praise Him with all our heart - and then let's praise Him
even more!
Have a Great Day!
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November 23rd - Pope St. Clement
Around the year 100, a faction of Corinthian Christians revolted against
the
rulers of their church. Third in succession to St Peter, Clement wrote a
letter
in the name of the church of Rome to the church of Corinth exhorting,
indeed
commanding, a return to obedience. He takes for granted the primacy of the
Roman
church and her right to intervene with authority in the affairs of other
churches. He insists upon the necessity of discipline and order as
witnessed
everywhere, from the divine government of the world to the Roman army. The
letter breathes the spirit of imperial Rome baptized as the ethos of the
Church
of Rome: authority, but also peace and charity. We are surely entitled to
identify Clement with the Clement mentioned in the Shepherd of Hermas
'whose
duty it is to write to cities abroad.' He may also be, as the Roman missal
supposes, the Clement mentioned by St Paul in his epistle to the
Philippians.
But we cannot be certain. He was not Domitian's cousin, Flavius Clemens,
probably a Christian martyr, but he may have been his freedman. Nor was he
himself a martyr; nothing is heard of his alleged martyrdom till the
closing
decades of the fourth century. And Irenaeus, when in his list of the early
popes
he mentions that Telesphorus was a martyr, implies that the others were
not. We
do not know the exact date of Clement's death.
Clement was later made the hero of utterly unhistorical romances composed
in
Syria, the Clementine Homilies, Recognitions and Epitome.
About the middle of the third century a house in the valley between the
Caelian
and Esquiline hills was adapted to serve as a Christian church with the
title of
Clement. This Clement, the donor, and legal owner of the property, cannot
have
been the first century saint; but by the time of Pope Siricius (384-399)
he had
been identified with him. For the title of Clement had become attached to
the
church where Pope Clement was venerated and, moreover, as a martyr. The
church,
which has been excavated, was enlarged and richly decorated. Above it is
the
present basilica of San Clemente built about 1100.
Towards the close of the fifth century a Roman writer composed the
'Passion' of
St. Clement enshrined in the Roman breviary. St. Clement banished by Nerva
and
Trajan to the quarries of the Chersonese, not yet in fact imperial
territory,
miraculously produced a spring of water for the benefit of his fellow
convicts
and converted multitudes of pagans. At the command of Trajan's
representative
'Duke' Aufidianus, an anchor was tied to his neck and he was drowned. The
sea
receded three miles and showed his body buried by angels in a marble
mausoleum.
The story is obvious fiction, but the spring and the anchor occur in a
mosaic
substantially reproduced in the present San Clemente. St. Clement is
mentioned
in the canon of the Roman Mass.
Saint Quote:
Do not desire crosses, unless you have borne well those laid on you; it is
an
abuse to long after martyrdom while unable to bear an insult patiently.
- François de Sales
Bible Quote:
19 And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into
heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God. 20 But they going forth preached
every
where: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that
followed. (Mark 16:14-20)
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THE HAND IN THE HARVEST
What measure of love is the greatest
To separate wheat from the chaff?
The hand of God in the harvest
Made known by the power of His staff.
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