But He Gives More Grace...

As I read through the first several verses of James 4, I confess, I began to feel a little uneasy...especially when I reached verse 3. 

Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

For a minute or two I felt bombarded by my sin, my lack of prayer and mental lists of what I was or was not doing.  I started down  “Should” Road”.  The road that constantly questions what “I should” be doing and what I “should”not be doing or worse, what I am doing, but not doing correctly.  But then there was...

Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?—James 4:5

This verse was a balm to my anxious heart this morning.  I am so grateful that the Spirit of God who dwells in me, yearns jealously for me to have a single minded devotion to God.  The Spirit of Truth is on my side and He desires for me only that which is good.  My heart’s cry is the same...I want to please God with everything that is in me...I want His will and His will alone in my life. And if that is my desire, the Spirit of God will get me there, despite me. 

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.”

This same Spirit who yearns jealously for me and convicts my heart when I am not faithful, is the same Spirit to whom I can cry out to for grace to help in my time of need in order that I can serve Him acceptably.   I can humbly draw near to the One who gives more grace and submit to Him with full assurance that His will for me is perfect.  He has my best interests at heart.  As I pray, He will align my will with His.  He will make His desires my desires. I am weak, but He is strong. I CAN rest and allow His Holy Spirit to do that good work in my heart as I seek Him.  

But I have trusted in Your mercy;

My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

I will sing to the LORD,

Because He has dealt bountifully with me.—Psalm 13:5-6

Those Who Seek the LORD Understand All....

Evil men do not understand justice,

But those who seek the LORD understand all.—Proverbs 28:5

The difference between a evil man and one who seeks the LORD is literally night and day.   An evil man walks in the darkness and futility of his mind... his understanding, Ephesians 4 tells us, has been darkened and alienated from God because of the ignorance that is in him and the blindness of his heart.  The more he sins (and he cannot not sin) the darker his mind becomes.  Therefore, he cannot understand judgment, discern right from wrong or the truth from a lie.  God is not in his thoughts and he is ruled by his own lusts.  

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.—John 3:20

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!—Matthew 6:22-23

A man of understanding seeks God and the more he seeks God the greater his understanding.  A man of understanding knows how much he needs God.  He understands his condition...he KNOWS he is wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.  God’s word rules his heart and his life. God’s glory is his goal and His favor is his joy.  A man of understanding has the mind of Christ. 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;

A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.

His praise endures forever.—Psalm 111:10

 "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.—John 7:17

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.  These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holyfn Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?”fn But we have the mind of Christ.—1 Corinthians 2:12-16

But the LORD Helped Me...

But the LORD helped me...

It took me quite a bit of time this morning to get to my bible reading.  I spent most of that time sitting in my chair, looking at the room around me and just feeling so very grateful for the life with which the Lord has blessed me.  I am, I confess, a morning person, but I have sat here or in comparable spots over the 20 years we have lived in this house and felt similarly.  The feeling doesn’t come from my circadian rhythms or my circumstances or even my coffee...it comes from the knowledge that the Lord is my strength and my song and He has become my salvation.  He is my strength in the midst of my trial and my song when my enemies have been defeated and the battle is past. Prior to coming to Christ, my life was a mess. If I had to use a Bible verse to describe it,  one from today’s reading in James comes to mind. 

For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved me, even when I was dead in trespasses, made me alive together with His Son.  My God “is become” my salvation.  From beginning to end I owe all to Him. He is in the big picture and also in every detail.  Both His sustaining and delivering grace are all over my life.  Since then, I have been assailed by griefs and losses, by doubts and fears, and by slander and betrayals, but I can, in retrospect of my past tribulations, say along with the Psalmist, “But the Lord helped me.”   My flesh and my heart fail, but my God is faithful...He is the strength of my heart forever. 

I called on the LORD in distress;

The LORD answered me and set me in a broad place.

The LORD is on my side;

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

The LORD is for me among those who help me;

Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me.

It is better to trust in the LORD

Than to put confidence in man.

It is better to trust in the LORD

Than to put confidence in princes.—Ps 118:5-9

Let the Whole Earth Praise Him!

Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles!

Laud Him, all you peoples!

For His merciful kindness is great toward us,

And the truth of the LORD endures forever.

Praise the LORD!—Psalm 117

I am glad I took the time last night and spent a few minutes reading and rereading this Psalm.   Considering its length that wasn’t difficult.  It has the distinction of being the shortest Psalm, the shortest chapter in the Bible and it is also the middle chapter of the Bible.  What struck me first was that the Psalmist was exhorting the Gentiles to praise the Lord.  A bit out of place in the Old Testament.  I looked further and found that Paul quotes this Psalm in Romans 15 to show that God’s plan has always been to bring both Jew and Gentile into his kingdom.  Paul also quotes from the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:43, 2 Samuel and Isaiah in this chapter of Romans to prove God’s plan to the Jews from their own Scriptures.

Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,

9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written:

“For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles,

And sing to Your name.”

10 And again he says:

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”

11 And again:

“Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles!

Laud Him, all you peoples!”

12 And again, Isaiah says:

“There shall be a root of Jesse;

And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles,

In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”—Romans 15:8-12

As I read this Psalm again this morning knowing more of its background, my thoughts went back to Genesis...to the very beginning before the fall...to Adam and Eve and then forward to Abraham and the covenant God made with him.  Our God is the God of Abraham and in his seed all the nations shall be blessed.  God keeps His promises!  My heart filled with praise.  

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.—2 Corinthians 1:20-22

Truly, His merciful kindness is great toward us!  He is kind to us, as his masterpieces (thinking Ephesians 2) and also merciful to us as sinners.  His truth endures forever.  He has kept his covenant promise to Abraham. 

I end with a quote from Matthew Henry which is beautiful and perfect here...

“God's mercy is the fountain of all our comforts and his truth the foundation of all our hopes, and therefore for both we must praise the Lord.”

Let Your Conduct Be Without Covetousness....

Let brotherly love continue.—Hebrews 13:1

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

6 So we may boldly say:

“The LORD is my helper;

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?”—Hebrews 13:5-6

Hebrews 13 is filled with very practical advice for Christian living. 

Verse 1 and verse 6 go perfectly together.  If I love my brother, I will do no harm to him because love does no harm to another.  Love is the fulfillment of the law. A man who covets seeks after his own gain.  Covetousness is the opposite of love.  As believers we have no need to seek things for ourselves because God cares for us.  In Him we have everything we need. 

Psalm 23:1 (NLT) A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

Psalm 23:1 (CSB) The LORD is my shepherd; I have what I need.

Psalm 23:1 (NIV) A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

Are you getting the picture?  We can be content. He is our shield and our exceedingly great reward. His Presence goes before us and is with us. God who cannot lie, who reigns over all and who loves us with an everlasting love has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Spurgeon says this might be rendered:

“He hath said, I will never, never leave thee; I will never, never, never forsake thee;" 

God is the One who helps us.  Each and every one of His wonderful divine attributes then are engaged on our side!   

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christfn who strengthens me.—Phil 4:11-13

Be strong, and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."—Deuteronomy 31:6

“When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them."—Isaiah 41:17

Falling Short of the Grace of God...

See to it that no one falls short of God’s grace; that no root of resentment springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;—Hebrews 12:15

The phrase “fall short of the grace of God gave me pause this morning. What does it mean to fall short of God’s grace?  Now there is only one way to fall short of it permanently and that is through unbelief.  We can, however, esteem God’s favor to us lightly.  A bitter root of sin and unforgiveness in our hearts can keep us from receiving His grace as can legalism in any form.  We, as believers, are to keep our hearts with all diligence for out of our heart, the Bible tells us, spring the issues of life. Our hearts will, as today’s proverb says, reflect and reveal the man.  Our words and actions then will follow what our heart believes.   Let us allow the word of God to have its way in our life.  God gives grace to the humble but the proud he knows from afar. 

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.—Hebrews 4:12-16

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.—Hebrews 12:1-2

Hebrews 12 describes the Christian life as a race that God has set before us.  According to the BLB, race is the ancient Greek word agona, a word used for conflict or struggle of many kinds.   John MacArthur describes it as an athletic metaphor that presents the faith-filled life as a demanding, grueling effort.  The English word “agony” is derived from the Greek word used here. 

 Life in this fallen world IS a struggle...filled with conflicts and trials.  The author of Hebrews tells us to run our own faith race with endurance.  The word endurance or patience  is translated hupomone in the Greek and means to line up under and remain there.  I am to run this race remaining under all the difficulties and challenges that God brings my way.  I am to stay in the place He has put me and endure by faith trusting that He who called me is faithful and will give me the grace and the strength to get through and to finish well.  I liked the way the BLB’s Outline for Biblical usage described endurance:

“in the NT the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings”

We are to do this, verse 2 tells us, by fixing our eyes on Jesus.  The Amplified  says it this way:

“[ looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus”

I LOVE THAT!  Look away from all that distracts and focus our eyes on Jesus.  Jesus is not only the Author of our faith, but He is also the Finisher.  Look away from everything and unto Him who has promised to complete the good work He began in us.  Our sufficiency for this race is from Him. God is able to make all grace abound toward us so that we, having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.  

You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You.

Trust in the LORD forever,

For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.—Isaiah 26:3-4

By Faith...Hebrews 11

This chapter obviously brings faith to mind...I thought about my own measure of faith.  As I thought, I decided that my biggest roadblock to simple faith is me.  I make it complicated.  Prayer is and should be a simple act of pouring our heart out to God.  For me...this is often not the case.  I get overwhelmed by me.  My heart truly loves God and my desire is to please Him.  I WANT to pray for everyone and everything.  I don’t want to leave anything out and at the same time I want to leave all in His hands.  I pray, but if prayer were a sport I think my follow thru would be weak. My faith often falters in the middle....especially when there are other people within earshot of my prayer. My eyes go to me and I become painfully self-aware and self-conscious.  My mind goes blank.  I forget for who or for what I was praying.  I start off well but finish with my eyes on me, rather than on God and the enemy of my soul...my flesh...wins.    My cynical, doubting, self-conscious and judgmental self rears her ugly head and like Peter, I sink.  I drown in a sea of me, myself and I’s.  I am thankful in those moments for each of these heroes and heroines of the hall of faith.  They were far from perfect but God used each one of them for His purposes.  He was faithful to complete the good work He started in them.  I can trust that God will do the same for very far from perfect me in my life.  He is faithful even when I am not.  In reality my God hears and answers my prayers despite me, because he hears my heart.  I can’t bring to Him what I don’t have...so I bring him me and he works, as His word tells me, in me both to will and to do for His good pleasure.  Praying by faith for each of us today that our God would count us worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with His power.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.—Ephesians 3:20-21

******

Addendum...in writing this God brought me to James 1:5-8.  Faith is enjoined here in these verses. Faith is a heart stabilizer.  

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.—James 1:5-8

I really liked how Spurgeon described prayer here...hoping it blesses you today as it did me. 

iii. “Do you believe that God can give you wisdom, and that he will do so if you ask him? Then, go at once to him, and say, ‘Lord, this is what I need.’ Specify your wants, state your exact condition, lay the whole case before God with as much orderliness as if you were telling your story to an intelligent friend who was willing to hear it, and prepared to help you; and then say, ‘Lord, this is specifically what I think I want; and I ask this of thee believing that thou canst give it to me.'” (Spurgeon)

But Without Faith It is Impossible to Please Him....

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.—Hebrews 11:6

I have thought about this verse A LOT over the years. Without BELIEF in God it is impossible to please Him.  Unbelief condemns us to hell.  Belief conveys us into His kingdom of light. 

"Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

The just shall LIVE, the Bible tells us, by faith.  God desires our lives here on earth to be a moment by moment faith walk. 

This was NOT me this morning looking for my 8lb poodle Wolf’s toy...losing something is always a bit traumatic for me.  I have lost a lot in my 60 years of living and like most people I HATE IT!  Anyway, I looked in every nook and cranny...I didn’t find his toy but I found a lot of corners that never get vacuumed.  Prior to salvation, one of the ways I would try to exercise control over my life was by cleaning.  I live in a house that is close to 150 years old and not really conducive to thorough cleanings.  My heart started to panic...not over the lost toy...but over the many losses I have sustained even over just the last 10 years.  Losses that I am still grieving.   I fought the urge to get out my Dyson.  Instead, I prayed.  I placed my faith once again in the One Who does all things well and holds all things together...the One Who is on my side and loves me with an everlasting love.  

TRUTH:  I have no control over the house...no less over time passing, illness, cancer, broken relationships, and the myriad of losses that this world can hold for each of us.  But I know and serve the One who does.  

Trusting is a hard and an ever present DAILY challenge for me, but without faith it is impossible to please Him.  Without Him I can do nothing good.  Now the just shall LIVE by faith. 

So did I find Wolf’s beloved little red kong?  Yes, and lots of dust and an opportunity for faith instead of fear. God is good!

But I Give Myself to Prayer...

In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, And hatred for my love.—Psalm 109:4-5

They hated him without a cause....they returned evil for his love.  Where gratitude was expected, hate reigned in its stead.  How do you combat slander?  What do you do when you are encompassed by hatred....by people who return evil for your good?  You do what David did...he gave himself to prayer.  Spurgeon says that as they became malice, he became prayer.  I like that picture.  Psalm 55:16-17 says this:

As for me, I will call upon God,

And the LORD shall save me.

Evening and morning and at noon

I will pray, and cry aloud,

And He shall hear my voice.

Reading through David’s desires for the enemies of God was a little hard for me.  Each of us, if we have lived long enough, know that their are people out there who are not for us.  But as believers it is not us they are not for...it is God.    David’s pronouncements of judgment on those who did this evil are NOT sugar-coated.  Matthew Henry says that these imprecations are not from the spirit of passion but from the spirit of prophecy.  David’s desire for the enemies of God was biblical...he is angry not on behalf of himself but on behalf of the oppressed and helpless.  Our God is a God of justice.  The wicked will be judged.  God judgment may tarry to accomplish His purposes, but it will come.  Vengeance is mine our God says, “I will repay.”  Jesus faced similar circumstances. 

“Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”—John 10:32

Jesus prayer from the Cross at Calvary was this:

Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots.—Luke 23:34

For himself David prayed that God would be his help in his distress. He, like Jesus committed his soul to his Father for safe keeping. 

But You, O GOD the Lord,

Deal with me for Your name's sake;

Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.

For I am poor and needy,

And my heart is wounded within me.—Ps 109:21-22

 Help me, O LORD my God!

Oh, save me according to Your mercy,

That they may know that this is Your hand--

That You, LORD, have done it!—Ps 109:26-27

who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;—1 Peter 2:23 

I have set the LORD always before me;

Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will rest in hope.

For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.—Psalm 16:8-11

Cast your burden on the LORD,

And He shall sustain you;

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.—Ps 55:22

I Raise a Hallelujah

O God, my heart is steadfast;

I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.—Ps 108:1

Give us help from trouble,

For the help of man is useless.

Through God we will do valiantly,

For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.—Ps 108:13-14

What a wonderful Psalm to remember when our heart is filled with fear and the battle we are facing seems very much against us.  My mind is settled and my heart is fixed!  My God’s  grace to me has overcome the cares that have shaken my foundation. My heart is resolute!  His banner over me is love. Perfect love castes out fear.  

Through God I will draw my courage, my wisdom and my power.  God is my  secret weapon especially when I am afraid.  He, who is on my side, fights for me. He will tread down my enemies and make them fall before me. The help of man is vain.  Through Him I will do valiantly.  

I am reminded of this song...

I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies

I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief

I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody

I raise a hallelujah, heaven comes to fight for me

I'm gonna sing, in the middle of the storm

Louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar

Up from the ashes, hope will arise

Death is defeated, the King is alive!

I raise a hallelujah, with everything inside of me

I raise a hallelujah, I will watch the darkness flee

I raise a hallelujah, in the middle of the mystery

I raise a hallelujah, fear you lost your hold on me!

I'm gonna sing, in the middle of the storm

Louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar

Up from the ashes, hope will arise

Death is defeated, the King is alive!

Sing a little louder (In the presence of my enemies)

Sing a little louder (Louder than the unbelief)

Sing a little louder (My weapon is a melody)

Sing a little louder (Heaven comes to fight for me)

Sing a little louder (In the presence of my enemies)

Sing a little louder (Louder than the unbelief)

Sing a little louder (My weapon is a melody)

Sing a little louder (Heaven comes to fight for me)

Sing a little louder!

I'm gonna sing, in the middle of the storm

Louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar

Up from the ashes, hope will arise

Death is defeated, the King is alive!

Source: Lyricfind

Songwriters: Jonathan David Helser / Melissa Helser / Molly Skaggs / Jake Stevens

Raise a Hallelujah lyrics © Bethel Music Publishing

Desiring What is Good....

Proverbs 27:7

A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb,

But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

There are probably several ways this proverb could be interpreted and still make sense and be helpful.  When I read it last night, it made me think of Isaiah 55:2-3

Why do you spend money for what is not bread,

And your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

Delight yourself in the Lord and  He will give you the desires of your heart. Open your mouth wide and He will fill it.  Be hungry for the right things.  Fill your mind and heart with the word of God and your appetite will be ruined for the things of the world. 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.—Colossians 3:16-17

Being Thankful...

 have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly. —Psalm 106:6

Each of us can identify, I think, with the sins of the Israelites.  As for me, I say with David:

Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD;

Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

For innumerable evils have surrounded me;

My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;

They are more than the hairs of my head;—Psalm 40:11-12

We are guilty like they were of forgetting...

They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,

But rebelled by the sea--the Red Sea.—Ps 106:7b

I, like God’s chosen, do not remember the multitude of His mercies, I forget His kindnesses and His endless gifts of grace.  I esteem them lightly and forget to be thankful. And therein for me lies the antidote for “forgetting”.  Thankfulness.   I have in the past made a practice of “putting it on” but I have of late sadly fallen out of practice.  I am thankful for friends who come alongside and speak back to me my own words and encourage me to count His graces.  

It is such a grace to count graces...to purpose in my heart to be thankful...to give thanks in everything; and remember that being thankful in everything and for everything is the will of God in Christ Jesus for ME!  There is so much in my life that crowds out the simple act of thanksgiving from my purview.   Here is what helps me to place it front and center.  I use an alliteration to help. 🙃

“Purpose and Practice”

First, I have to purpose “to see” His graces and then again “to practice” being thankful for them. I began purposing and practicing about 10 years ago by bringing my camera with me everywhere.  It helped me focus and frame (another alliteration) my thinking toward thanksgiving.  As a bonus God blessed me with pictures that have helped me recall his kindnesses to me over the years and also by the people close to me catching the same spirit of thanksgiving.  Today I will again purpose by His Spirit who lives in me to see His manifold kindnesses to me and remember to practice and offer a sacrifice to my God of praise and thanksgiving for each of them.  I encourage you to do the same.  Looking at yourself will cause you to sink and lose perspective...instead look to Him and remember grace.  

And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.—John 1:16

Praise the LORD!

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD?

Who can declare all His praise?—Psalm 106:1-2