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As soon as we stop being humble is when we start trying to do things in our own strength and thinking we can go it alone, this is when we stumble a fall. We must remember that God made us and cares about the smallest of things. Thats where faith comes in that we believe that we are important, that every little thing is important to Him, otherwise those little things we do on our own and we miss out on the blessing of walking with God. Without humility we are not walking with God with our every little thing and without faith we do not believe he cares for all things about us. Praise to our loving Lord

To think firstly that God loves us and has given us so much that we may live. He gave us His one and only Son to die in such a way that He did. I cant even imagine given up my own children in that way. We are unable to comprehend the bigger picture, all we can do is stand in awe, praise Him for allowing us to be part of it and saying yes when He asks us to do something (that can be the hardest thing), but then God will not put us in a place we can not handle without Him.

We are only human, sinful and powerless, God often puts in a place where we sense our powerlessness, we cry out to God acknowledging our absolute dependance on Him, that we can push away self and let God take control. He then lifts us out of the deep waters and hope is illuminated and we ring out our prayer, praise and worship. Our praise prayer and worship is pleasing to God. There is no room in our hearts for both hate and God. When we give it over to God, there is room to be filled with things of God.

God knows your attitude of your heart and mind, he knows us better than we know ourselves. If we go to Him with our concerns and sins with a true heart then with Gods mercy and grace we can be released and only God can do this. Man is sinful by nature and our realisation of this shows us how much we truely are in need of God as nothing we try do in our own strength will clear our sin.

Look at the miraculous things God has done, He is worthy of praise. He has given salvation, He is worthy of praise. He is righteous, merciful and faithful, He is worthy of praise. From all these things you can see why praise is so exuberant and these things are heart felt for the psalmist. This same thing can be seen in many of our church members. For myself I am thirsting after more.

The Lord is a solid rock, unchanging, and loved us so, giving our salvation as sinners. He is the creator, King of all. He our provider, as he made all things. He also guides us in all things. For these things we need to worship the Lord. I believe the warning is there, to help us not make a similar mistake to those ancestors and we do not forget those things mentioned above, that without God we would still be dust. He created us, He deserves all the worship and without God now we will not enter His place of rest.

Hallelujah! All praise goes to God who made us, provides for our every need, who guides us and loves us. We can not fathom his wonder, He created everything in the universe, what immense greatness. Everywhere we look we see the creation of God. He made man to rule the things of the earth, what a mighty act. And he gave his son to die for our sins, so we may live, what an act of great love. He gave us all sorts of gifts and talents, so that we may give back to our creator a little of what He has given to us, let us all that have breathe praise Him with the gifts he has given. Hallelujah!

The imagery of this psalm makes me think of two things. Firstly, unity being refreshing, a good feeling working together on a common task like the refreshing feeling of the smell of purfume or being cleansed. Secondly it makes me think of a single dew drop, formed of many water particles and without unity it would be just a fine mist, not a perfectly formed droplet, clean and pure. Unity requires us to slow down in this busy world, taking time to listen to other, learning about their point of view, as we all have different backgrounds and understanding. We are all different and have different roles to play in body, it would be no good if we were all right legs (we would just go around in crcles) We need to accept and love others for their differences, not try and control people. Unity is important for growth of the kingdom, people need to see this unity and love, not be condemed, as we were all once unsaved sinners.

If we want to be strong and be unshaken we need to uphold the values being taught to us from the bible. If we willingly faulter from these teachings, satan will use it to his advantage and we will be found out, and he will show these to potential people we are trying to reach or our family which we are trying to be a positive influence to. If we are to be like Jesus and have a heart for people, then we need to put God first, ourselves last and others in between. We need to lift others up, not pull them down, help where we can, doing things for others. This needs to be in the attitude of what can be done for others and not what I can get out of it. In this day and age we are bombarded with images of self-centeredness and displaying a need to out do the Jones or influenced by TVs negative message seen in many programs of lies and gossip etc. The only way is to make a concious decision to follow the word as best you can, pray for help and guidance. The best way to teach these biblical values to our children is by demonstration through our own lives, uplifting people, not gossiping, carrying out promises, helping others where we can, praying with our children for God to overcome evil situations or intervine in nonbelievers lives. Satan has had many years experience of pulling people down, so we can not do this in our own strength. Only with Gods help can we do these things and not be shaken.

The only way we will succeed is with God. Without God we are nothing (like the chaff). We need to be planted firmly on solid ground gaining nouishment from His life-giving Word (like the tree planted by the river). I am also reminded that without God reading the Word and fellowshipping with other Christians we could be like an ember that if removed will fade and go out. By surrounding ourselves in the things of God we will be brighter embers or light, when walking amongst the wicked, and that their advice will be burnt up and have no bearing on us as we walk in the Light and Word.

I for one struggle with faith as my head more than often gets in the road of my heart. But without a bit of faith there would be nothing and no reason to carry on in my christian walk. We can not see God directly, but we can see the effects of God in other people and in nature. When I look back on my life there has been so many times that God has stepped in and guided me and protected me, for it to be any coincidence, which helps build my faith in there being something bigger than all of us, God and for that I thank Him and Praise Him. God shows his love through these interventions, he has shown me that my life matters, that he has not put any situation before me that I can not handle (that is with His help)

In my own thoughts it would seem that Davidloves God so much, he wants to be surrounded by all things of God. He knows by being surrounded by God he is protected and there is nothing to fear, and by being surrounded by God and living His intended way then the victory has been won over satan and he can not get any footholds. When the enemy attacks from all angles, God is his rock and confidence. By seeking this closeness every day of his life he becomes even closer and the ultimate way to quench this thirst for absolute closeness would be seeing the Lord face to face in its glory and talking to Him in His direct presence. David is waiting for this with patience. The hope for us is if we wait in confidence for the Lord, have a faithful heart and stand strong in His promise, the Lord will come to us and will be with him forever.

The psalmist seems to feel a distance and his heart torn due to this, that he cries out to God and longs once again for a closeness like he once had. The psalmist pours this out to God, he used song as encouragement and hope for himself of the way he knows it should be. Through it all he keeps up hope by questioning himself of his soul that it shouldn't be discouraged as God is his savour. He offers prayer to God which becomes an inner voice reminding him what God has done in the past. For myself I feel I am some what where the psalmist was and am seeking a working in my life, a new chapter as I have feel into a dry time which has seemed to last for an eternity. I have been trying to reach out God in my daily devotions, hand it over and having others pray for me which has been a kick to my own ego that I can not do things in my own strength.

God has made David (and us) and accepted him just the way he is (and us) That there is an inner yerning for God(v14) put there by God. We are well planned out not just thrown together. We were well thought out with great care and concideration, therefore loved. We are sinful by nature and impure, and in need of dirrection and forgiveness.

Each day is new with different experinces happening, as is the bible, each time you read it you learn something new and gain experience. The sun gives us light to see and experience what has been created. The bible and learning about the Son, gives us light on how to live Godly lives. Creation shows Gods perfection and the word helps to show our imperfections and the need of grace. As sinful people we need help especially in todays western culture surrounded by much temptation.

Its amazing that God has designed star systems just for man to ponder over, which shows us we are so small yet loved. So much has been put in place for simple man whom now have great responsiblity to look after it.

Hello my name is Darren from Ashburton New Zealand. Im new to to this type of study and my friend David told me all about it and I am excited to try something different to boost my study