Gary Gleans

Forgetting is a very easy thing for us to do sometimes.  Unfortunately, the things that we should forget like offenses against us or sinful thoughts are very hard for us to forget.  Then there are the things that we should never forget like the grace of God, the blessings we receive and our responsibility to bless His name that are very easy for us to forget.  We need to constantly remind ourselves to bless the Lord, be thankful to Him and constantly consider all that He has done for us and in us.  The focus of our minds should be on the goodness and blessings of God which should lead us to a life of praising Him. WE SHOULD BLESS THE LORD FOR HIS FORGIVENESS: Without a doubt, the greatest blessing that we receive from God and the best motive we have for praising the Lord is the fact that He grants us forgiveness.  We must never forget the fact that through Christ God has provided forgiveness of sin.  We were in a pit of vile wretchedness and He reached...

We have a place to go when we are in trouble.  The twists and turns of this life will likely lead us to a place of pain and problems, but we are never alone in these situations.  God is always with us and He is always over us as well as available to us during those times of trouble.  We are never alone and can look to Him, call out to Him and trust Him to take care of our needs in every situation.  When we are worried or distressed we can turn to Him and know that He is aware and in control of the events that surround us.  We may not understand the circumstance we face or know why He would allow them but we can remember and rest in the truth that He does know what He is doing, and is in perfect control of all that happens in our lives. WE CAN CRY OUT TO GOD IN TIMES OF DISTRESS: The best thing that we can do when we are in trouble is to cry out to the Lord.  There will certainly be times when we feel like He is not hearing us or that that He does not c...

Influence is a very important thing in all of our lives.  We are all constantly being influenced by the culture in which we live, our own health, the people surrounding us, circumstances and even the weather.  However, we are not nor should we consider ourselves to be victims of the influences around us. We can control what influences us as well as how we respond to those influences.  It is of utmost importance that we all learn to deal with these influences according to God’s Word or we may find ourselves very far from where God would have us to be.  This Psalm speaks to two common sources of influence with which all of us must learn to deal. THE INFLUENCE OF OUR OWN SELF: Certainly, the most influential person in each of our lives is our own selves.  The choices that we make and the things to which we choose to expose ourselves exert a great deal of influence in our lives.  In a sense we are influencing ourselves on a very consistent basis through ou...

Attitude is everything.  That little phrase that we often say to our children points to the truth of this Psalm.  Of course attitude is not “everything” because our actions and motives are also very important.  However, praiseworthy actions become worthless when accompanied by a lousy attitude.  Our attitudes are vital parts of our relationships as well.  If I am in a foul mood every time that I am with someone, that relationship will not last very long and it certainly will not be a deep relationship.  The idea behind relationships is that our love for one another is so strong that simply being together turns a bad day into a good one as we are a source of Joy to one another.  This is why grumbling and complaining are such heinous sins before the Lord.  Our relationship with Him should always be enough to fill us with joy no matter how difficult our circumstances might be. WHAT WE SHOULD DO: The attitude that God wants to see in our lives is...

The overriding attribute of God is His holiness.  Many of us prefer to think of God’s primary attribute as being love because we are more comfortable thinking about being loved than being held to a standard of holiness.  God’s righteousness is so much greater than our own that it makes us uncomfortable.  The holiness of God should cause us to humble ourselves before Him, fear Him and bow in worship before Him.  It is of vital importance that we remember who He is and who we are and that we act in accordance with that knowledge. GOD IS EXALTED IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS: God is king of this world and all that exists.  The psalmist says that our response to His reign should be to tremble before Him.  His greatness, holiness and righteousness should inspire us to praise His holy name.  God is not to be taken lightly and is certainly not to be ignored.  Our knowledge of the greatness of His righteousness should cause us to declare it to Him in thanksgi...

God is worthy of our praise.  We are called to use every means at our disposal to praise the Lord.  If we can sing, we should sing praises to the Lord.  If we can plan an instrument we should play for the Lord.  We can even just clap our hands for joy as a means of praising Him.  The point is that we should be using everything at our disposal to praise the Lord.  We should dedicate ourselves to developing our abilities to praise the Lord.  Too often we use our skills in order to promote our own praise instead of using them to praise the Lord.  We have innumerable reasons to praise the Lord but this Psalm points to two specific reasons. WE SHOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS FAITHFULNESS TO SAVE: God’s salvation is truly a marvelous blessing that should motivate us to praise the Lord with a new song.  The fact that God has revealed Himself to us and all of the nations and that He has been faithful to keep His promises to the nation of Israel s...

God is King of all that is, all that has been and all that ever will be.  His sovereignty is absolute and there is no one who can be compared to Him.  In light of His glory there are two basic responses that man has demonstrated: some have turned from the Lord and refused to worship Him; while others submit to the Lord and rejoice in the honor of knowing and worshiping Him.  The response of man to the glory of God does not threaten Him in any way, but it does have a dramatic effect on the plight of man.  We are responsible to respond to the revelation of God.  When we respond with worship our lives will be full of rejoicing.  When we respond with idolatry we will be covered in shame. THE GLORY OF GOD BRINGS JUSTICE FROM GOD: The fact that God reigns over the earth should bring great joy to the inhabitants of the world.  All of nature and all men should rejoice under the kingship of our God.  His is a just reign and He is surrounded by righteo...