12 August Psalm 104

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Psalm 104:1(NKJV) Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty

Psalm 103:1(NKJV) opens with: Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

The New Living Translation says in Psalm 103:1 Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

When you bless the Lord with your soul, you praise Him with your whole heart - with all that you are and everything you have within you.

Matthew 22:37(NLT) Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.

*Heart - The heart is in the middle or centre of you; that which comes from within you. It’s your thoughts, feelings, inclinations, and understanding. The heart represents our passions, desires, and affections - our spiritual life. God asks us to love Him with all our soul, comprised of all our gifts, talents, and dreams.

Our hearts being the centre of everything, we dedicate our hearts thus our lives to God. We let him take control of the plans we once had created for ourselves and allow him to move. To bless the Lord is to praise Him

Matthew 12:34b(TLB) For a man’s heart determines his speech.

*Soul - Your soul incorporates all of who you are. It’s through taking ownership of the soul, God gave you, and directing all you are toward him, that you love him with all your soul. A soul is best understood as personality. To bless God with your soul is to come to Him as you are. You use your personally, to bless God with.

The original Hebrew word for soul is nephesh, including heart, myself, self, the breathing substance, living being, inner being of a person, the man himself.

Psalm 62:5(NIV) Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.

*Mind - To love God with all your mind (or strength) is to love him as much as He loves you. Philippians 4:8-9(NIV) Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

To bless the Lord, O my soul is to bless God with your everything.