Psalm 103:1

‘Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.’

This is not with my mouth, with my voice; this is with and from the depths of my being; my gut – the very core of me.

It is not even with my emotions; it is past or beyond that.  It is from where my deep longings are.  If I am praising God with and from my soul, then I am bypassing my mind, my emotions and possibly even my will.  I need to choose to do this in the first place, to command my soul, my inmost being, until it is the very centre of me to praise and worship God with all that I am.  This takes time.

Praising him is not just to be part of me but all of me; me, my identity.  Praising him is to be in my very DNA – not able to be separated from me.  It is to be my DNA.

More than that, if it is me then it will not be invisible to the naked eye, like DNA is, but praising him will be expressed.  It will find a way out in my actions, my words, my attitudes, my personality.  It will be visible.  It will be the mark of my character.

When I am stressed, really stressed, I have a tendency to bottle it up.  Sometimes, much of the time even, I will not realise just how stressed I am until there is a physical manifestation – sore back, headaches, sleeplessness etc.  My stress, concerns and worries find expression.

‘Praise the Lord, O my soul,’ and may that praise, praise of God from my very core, find expression and be the mark of my life.  This is my prayer.

I have been swept away by a love that has totally taken me by surprise; a love I have never experienced before and that I never thought was possible.  This is God’s love.

This blog is essentially my notes from my extended times with God.  I am no theologian and I do not claim to be a Bible expert.  I have simply written my responses to what I have read and meditated on.

I have been greatly blessed by what has happened to me and my hope is that what I share will somehow bless you too.