I need You more

I need You more lyrics by Lindell Cooley and Bruce Haynes
I need you more, more than yesterday
I need you more, more than words can say
I need you more, than ever before
I need you Lord, I need you Lord

More than the air I breath
More than the song I sing
More than the next heartbeat
More than anything and Lord as time goes by
I'll be by your side
Cause I never want to go back to my old life


Our word for the day is Zamar, meaning to praise God with music and Instruments. I really struggled with this this word, because it is such a familiar thing to me. I have been involved in music for most of my life. Music is more than just something that we do to start the service. It is our opportunity to meet with God one on one.

Last Sunday, as we stood there and sang “I Need You More”, I was overcome with emotions. My desire is for more of God's presence in my life, more power, more peace, more grace. God desires to give us this. He wants us to desire more of Him. But then we learned about the connection between our relationship with Christ and how much revelation He gives us, and I realized that not only do I have to desire more from Christ, but I have to do more too. You see God doesn't just want us to desire Him and His power, we have to be willing to be more for Him. For years, I struggled with paying my tithe, that 10% that the Bible says is God's. The Bible says that I was stealing from God when I didn't trust Him enough to give Him what was His already. I learned though that if I can't live on 90% then I won't be able to live on the 100% either. But I have come to the realization that God doesn't just want the tithe. It is already His. He wants me to have a giving heart, to give more. He wants not just 10% of my time; He wants to be Lord of it all. God's desire is to fill our daily lives 100% of the time with Him. He wants to go to school or work with you. He wants to go shopping with you. He wants to have dinner with your family
If we want more from God, why do we think then that all we have to give is our 10%? Don't limit God with 10%. Give it all to Him and see how much MORE He has for you.

“Praise the Lord with harp; sing [zamar] unto Him
with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.”
Psalms 33:2

Hebrew Words for Praise pt 2

"I will praise [yadah] Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all Thy marvelous works." Psalms 9:1

Yadah means to praise by raising and extending the hands unashamedly to God. The literal root of the word is to throw or cast. The antonym is to bemoan by wringing of the hands.

Where are your hands during worship? Are they thrown in the air as you cast your cares upon the One who cares for you? Or are they wringing in your lap as you focus on your struggles and trials? Lift your hands in praise today and give your cares to God.

Hebrew Words for Praise part 1

Have you ever considered the various forms of praise in the Bible? The Hebrew language uses seven different words with seven different meanings for praise. For the next few weeks, let's explore Biblical forms of praise as we learn to better worship Christ.
Towdah is to offer a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, initiated by the believer, that honors God. This is a believer coming to God with a thankful heart for all the blessings that he gives us and offering our praise to Him. The psalmist declared, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving [towdah] and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name." Ps. 100:4 KJV. As we stand before Christ during worship, thank Him for the blessings you have been given this week!

Lizard Spit

Well my doctor checked my insulin level last week at my annual exam and found that it was 3 times the normal amount. She said that my blood sugar was perfect and that I am not diabetic, but I have a condition called insulin resistance which has caused me to gain weight and not been able to lose it. She said that I probably have been IR my entire life, but no other doctor has tested my insulin level, so I have never been treated.

That has changed! Dr. Cherry, my gyn...yup Mary Cherry is her name... has put me on lizard spit, aka Byetta. Byetta is an injected medicine, so that really weirded me out.

How am I going to inject myself twice a day?

Well, I decided to start the Byetta on Friday. I got the needle on the pen and cleaned the spot. Then, I took a deep breath and prepared to stick myself.

I came within millimeters of actually hitting skin several times. I ended up breathing heavy...Ok, Ok, I can do this! Ellie is watching me with a strange wonder. I look away for a moment to see what she is doing and drop my hand. I hit my stomach with the needle and panic, yanking the needle from my flesh. In my panic, I am not sure if I really stuck myself or not, then I see a drop of blood. Yup, I stuck myself, but I didn't actually inject the medicine. Now, I have to poke myself again, but I realize that if I didn't feel it the first time, I wouldn't feel it when I did it again.

So, in went the needle, push the button and count to five. My first shot was done. Hmmm that was actually not as bad as I had made it out to be. I can do this! The thought of injecting myself with medicine twice a day was worse than actually doing.

Isn't that true with a lot of things in life? If we would just step up and do what needed to be done instead of mulling over it for days a weeks, we would free ourselves from a lot of undue mental suffering.

Later on that day, I saw Ellie with an ink pen pretending to stick herself in the stomach. I know that she just wants to be like Mommy, but we will have to have a chat one day about why Mommy does that and why she shouldn't. Gotta love her!

Go lizard spit!

FW: Political Correctness

The following is the 2007 winning entry from an annual contest
At Texas A&M University calling for the most appropriate definition of a
Contemporary term. This year's term: Political Correctness.
"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional,
Illogical, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous
Mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is
Entirely possible
To pick up a turd by the clean end."

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.
Refrain:
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!
Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.
Dark is the stain that we cannot hide;
What can we do to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?