Skip to main content

The Empty Plate


In the quiet, I solemnly lift my hands to present an offering of praise... my heart is full and it's my deepest desire to bless you. So, with tears in my eyes and in all sincerity I announce my intentions and simply say "I praise you Lord" and I stop there. In all of your majesty, descending from on high to meet my humbled spirit to receive the offering, you honor me to come. But then...
 as the powerful presence of your spirit fills the room to my hearts joy ... you pause. And with a voice filled with loving tenderness, you speak softly "but my precious child, the plate is empty".

Suddenly, I'm aware of my mistake and quickly move to fill the plate of my offering, to render the feast of your heart's desire and I speak again with deep conviction "Lord God Of All That Is, I praise you with these truths from my heart as I declare that you are the Lord God of all righteousness, the author of all that is truly good. You're greatness is immeasurable. Your mercy and grace to us are undeserved and unending and we are humbled Lord by them. There is none to compare to you Lord, none to even begin to compare to the shadow of your greatness! You stand alone as the omnipotent God of all that is and your love for us is unfathomable. We exalt you forever as our God and King. Power, strength, glory, honor and praise be to your name forever!"

My statement that "I praise you" is a statement of my action - the word praise is a verb, but carrying out my statement fills the plate of my offering with the sweet rendering of my heart and begins to satisfy the all deserving palate of my Lord. So, forgive me Lord, for the times I have failed your righteous appetite and offered you... the empty plate.


Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Observance And Observing True Reality...

As Easter approaches, I begin once again considering how our God sees our observance of an occasion as I always do and also what He might truly desire of us in observance above any of our trivial, man inspired traditions . What I come away with in firm conviction is the understanding that the most trivial of my sins, the least of my crimes against God, had the power to forever damn me in His judgment of me and send me into unending torment. And that knowing this one thing in truth and as reality, is key to my correct posture before God in honor of His purpose in the event. That key being the horror of knowing that the price of my very least sin was the shedding of my Christ Jesus' blood and His horrible suffering, because the reality of this brings the deep rending of my heart in awe and gratitude and it makes possible my true joy at the relief of my sentence because of what He has done. I believe this is a part of what God would desire from us in observance of Christ's death a...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Real Power To Affect Change

I know that my position here may not be popular on it's face at first, but I think it could be most revealing of where some hearts are - even my own, by the response that it evokes... I think it's possible that we're all partly responsible for the chaos and darkness that is constantly swirling around in the digital tornado that is the constantly hammering news these days. While we may not have contributed to it directly by our own actions, it's a good bet that we may have contributed to it by our own inaction. Where does the true power to change things come from? And who is our best example to follow in this life? Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Mark 1:35 (NKJ) "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." Luke 6:12 (NKJ) "Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Judging, Judgment And Judge...

"I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.” John 12:46-50 (NLT) A lot is said these days about "judging", but in the midst of that popular societal buzz and the assertive comments that come with that conversation, I have a question: If God has called something sin and we simply agree with what He's said,... are we judging or just repeating and declaring the truth? When He walked the earth, Jesus spoke about judging and He pointed out the danger of our judging...  “Do not judge other...
Post a Comment
Read more