ARE YOU LOSING YOURSELF?

"There met Him ten men who were lepers." Luke 17:12

Luke records; "And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And when He saw them, He said unto them, 'Go, show yourselves unto the priests.' And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed."

Leprosy was a slow, painful death. First you lost your fingers and couldn't work, then you lost your toes and couldn't walk, then it attacked your internal organs. Every day you lost a little more of yourself. Here are five helpful insights from this story.

1) If you feel like you're "losing yourself, " turn to Jesus.
He can restore what you've lost and give you back your peace and joy

2) "Lift up your voice"
Away with dignity and decorum. Desperate people do desperate things. God promises, " You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

3) Whatever He tells you ---do it.
Don't lay down conditions to God. And don;t seek an identical experience to somebody else. Jesus told the ten lepers, "Go show yourselves to the priests." Why didn't He just speak to them or touch them like He did others? Don't question, obey! Faith doesn't demand explanations.

4) Take a step of faith.
Luke records, "As they went, they were cleansed." You've got to walk it out; each step brings one step closer. But nothing happens till you take that first step of faith.

5) Start praising God!
Only one of the ten lepers returned to give thanks and Jesus noticed. You can go to God with confidence for your next answer when you remembered to give Him thanks for your last one.

I JUST WANT TO BE WHERE YOU ARE by Don Moen

I shall praise and glorify the Lord all my life. He is going to take me to places beyond I could imagine but no matter where it is, I just want to be with Him.

GLORIOUS by Martha Munizzi

A joyful song praising God for His glory. "We praise you Oh God, we glorify Your name!" Sang by Martha Munizzi with Israel Houghton's band.

When you come into His presence
Lifting up the name of Jesus
And you hear the music playin'
And you see the people praisin'
Just forget about your worries
Let your troubles fall behind you
Don't you wait another minute
Just get up and on your feet and

Chorus:
Get to dancing
Singing jumping leaping
Get to shouting
Make it loud and make it glorious
Start rejoicing praising lifting raising
Get to shouting
Make it loud and make His praise
Glorious glorious

(VAMP)
I was created
To make Your praise glorious
I was created
To make Your praise glorious glorious
Yes I was yes I was

JESUS, NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES

One of the most beautiful classic gospel song that highly affirms of who Jesus is. It is so wonderful to praise Jesus with names that describe who all He is.

AMAZING GRACE by PETRA

One of the most beautiful classical gospel song, "Amazing Grace" is rehashed by the Christian rock group , Petra. The newer , more upbeat version rocks and expresses all the ecstatic feeling of being saved by the grace of God.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

(Chorus)
Because your love came down
Your love came down
Your love came down
And it saved, it saved me


Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come
'Twas grace that brought me safe this far
And grace will lead me home

(Chorus)

(Chorus 2)
Cause your love came down
And you turned me around
And your love came down
And it saved me, it saved me

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright-shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun

FROM PAIN TO PRAISE

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit" Psalm 51:17

We don't always know the reason for our trials, but God revealed to Paul the reason for his "thorn in the flesh." It was to keep him from being "exalted' (See 2ndCorintihians 12:7). Success can be intoxicating, and intoxicated people aren't known for being too bright or trustworthy.

What happens when you get a thorn in your flesh? It hurts. And you'll let everything else go while you focus on removing it. Three times Paul prayed for God to remove the thorn, but God had another plan. You see, God is at His strongest in us when we are at our weakest. When Paul discovered that God's power in his life was tied to the thorn that afflicted him, he responded, " I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities....For whenever I am weak, then I am strong" (2nd Corinthians 12:10). In other words, "If it's for my good, bring it on Lord!" If you have a thorny person in your life from whom you've prayed to be delivered and it hasn't happened, maybe God whats you to experience His grace and power through dealing with that person. But you won't experience this until until you move from pain to praise. The Bible speaks about "the sacrifice of praise to God" (Hebrews 13:15) . A sacrifice of praise means that something has to die on somebody's altar. So if you want to experience Gods' grace and power in your life, you must be willing to die to self-interest, ego and independence. There's nothing wrong with asking God to remove your thorn. But when your prayer for deliverance turns to praise, you're on your way to power, because God is giving you grace.