Hiiiiii,
I was just looking through some papers and found one that I had written verses all over and they were really good! Here's one that I love:
"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make it's boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together(!)"
~ Psalm 34:1-3
You know, it would be such a blessing and a sweet thing for the Lord if, whenever under trial and sadness and hurt, we blessed His name and made our boast in the Lord; because He has the victory. Imagine the joy He would have when one person says "praise You Lord" in the midst of the rest of the world cursing Him. It would do His heart good, because it just breaks all the time whenever He hears His name taken in vain or whenever people blame Him for anything that goes wrong.
And while we're on that note.... you know, it's really hard to stand up for Christ when you hear the person next to you say His name the wrong way. It's so incredibly common so that it always passes as "ok" and "the norm" you know? And since it's treated like that, as in, not treated at all, it's next to impossible to stand against it! Ahhhh...... people really get upset. =S
Anyway, God doesn't sluff it off as "the norm". He's really hurt. And He's also sad that that person's ill-treatment of His precious name will not go unnoticed by His laws and the consequences of breaking them. That person will recieve the consequences even to the point of eternal flame.
So, doesn't that make your heart just break?? I mean, now there's some good reasons to propel us on to defend God's name and save the person! Golly, it's so hard though..... but just think of what happens because of that one time in the supermarket when you say "please don't take God's name in vain like that". That person will think about your words for ever. They'll never go away! =) He or she will never be able to say anything in good conscience again and always think about that. (and if you pray for that person....well, he will probably get saved to!)
But the other good thing is that you just caused God to be filled with joy! He just saw your pitiful little half-attempt at defending Him and He's really pleased with you! :)
So, with that encouragement, I will leave you to forever have your conscience eaten at when you hear somebody say something ill of God until you and I finally stand up and defend Him! ;)
Lot's of love from your sister in Christ, Miriam
p.S. I really hadn't meant to write a whole thing like that when I started...just a short verse! lol But, well, I kinda get carried away. :)