From: "Beverly French" <frenchb@vcss.k12.ca.us>
To: "Heritage" <gheritage@juno.com>
Subject: Praise to the Lord
Date: Sunday, August 05, 2001 7:31 AM

"I have set the Lord continually before me..."  Psalm 16:8

There is a song that is sung in many Fellowships that says,
'Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
 Look full in His wonderful face;
 And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
 In the light of His glorious grace.'

We change that first line to say 'Keep your eyes upon Jesus!'
I believe that the Psalmist is saying that he has set his heart on
keeping his eyes on the Lord.  It is a settled issue.  The Lord is God and
he has put his trust in Him.

Daniel is one who was committed in his heart, "But Daniel purposed
[determined] in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion
of the kings's meat, nor with the wine..."  Daniel 1:8
He kept the Lord and the commandments of the Lord before him and this at
great risk.

Then there is Moses who, "...considering the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.  By
faith ...he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen."  Hebrews 11:26-27

Psalm 27 tells of fearless trust in God.  (Read it all and be blessed)
In verse 8 God Himself tells us to seek His face,
"When Thou didst say, 'Seek My face', my heart said to Thee,
 'Thy face, O LORD , I shall seek.'"
When  we seek to know Christ in a greater measure, the Holy Spirit is right
there to teach us. Scrupture tells us that He will lead us into all truth.
Hallelujah, we need not be unknowing, but knowing!

Are you seeing in these few verses that keeping our focus on the Lord is a
heart commitment?
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6: 22-24, "The lamp of the body is the eye; if
therefore your eye is clear, 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 the darkness!  No one can
serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will hold to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mamon."

Where is our focus?!
When it is settled in our heart that Christ is Lord and King, that He is in
control, that the things that come into our lives are not a surprise to Him,
that He goes through the valleys with us, that He loves us beyond measure,
that everything about us is of vital concern to Him -- when His face is ever
before us -- THEN the things of earth do grow strangely dim in the light of
His glory and grace!

All praise to our Lord Jesus Christ!