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Praise the Lord, Who REWARDS Us
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a REWARDER of those who seek Him.”
Do you ever think about pleasing God? Did you know it’s possible to please God? Hebrews 11:5 states that Enoch was “pleasing to God.” I can’t think of a more admirable thing to be said about someone than they please God. And, when we live by faith in Him, it pleases God and He rewards us.
How does God reward us? I don’t know all the ways, but I do that when I’m anxious or afraid and I bow before Him and thumb through my journal where I’ve listed all His attributes, my faith is increased. “He is able. He is almighty. Nothing is impossible to Him,” I read. As I call on Him in faith to help me or I intercede for my family and friends, I believe that He is who the Bible reveals God to be. No, I don’t know what all rewards the verse is talking about. But, the reward of His peace, the reward of relationships being miraculously restored, the reward of Him quickening my thoughts is reward enough.
The reward? For me, it’s His presence. His wonderful, guiding presence.
What a blessed relationship we have with our Heavenly Father.
Lord, REWARDER OF THOSE WHO SEEK YOU, You amaze us as we meditate on who You are and the relationship You invite us to enjoy with You. Help us please You more each day as we exercise our faith in You.
Praise to the Lord who PRESERVES the Simple
“The LORD PRESERVES the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.,”
Have you ever thought of God in terms of being your Life Preserver? The Hebrew word, “preserve,” means keep, guard, protect, saves life. A preserver is “someone who keeps safe from harm or danger.”** No doubt, our Lord fits the description. He is the ONE we can praise for being the PRESERVER of our soul!
Lord, we praise You, the Only One to whom we can look to PRESERVE our life, our soul!
The Spirit Is A PLEDGE of Our Inheritance
“Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God; who gave to us the Spirit as a PLEDGE.”
2 Corinthians 5:5
God’s eternal purpose is for us to live with Him in glory. We won’t see the fulness of His glory until we close our eyes on earth and open them in heaven. But in the meantime, we have God’s Spirit with us, in us, as a pledge that we are His; that our inheritance awaits us.
Today, we may be gathering with family or friends. Or, we may be alone, heartbroken, or struggling. Even if we can’t think of one other thing for which to be thankful, we can think on this: God gave us HIS SPIRIT as a PLEDGE. Everything on earth will one day be gone. God’s Spirit, given to you, is eternal and of more value than anything or any person. If you are a believer, there is reason to be thankful. Abundant reason.
Lord God, thank You for giving us the Spirit as a PLEDGE. Help us think on how incredible the gift of Your Spirit is and let those thoughts fill us with joy.
Would you like to know more about the Spirit, God’s PLEDGE to you? My Listen UP! DVD is filled with 31 Points about the Holy Spirit every Christian should know. Listen in the car, watch in the privacy of your home or with a group. God’s gift of His Spirit is a PLEDGE and so much more.
© www.debbietaylorwilliams.com.
Praise to the HONORED CHRIST
How much honor do we have for Jesus? Here’s a test to help us answer that question.
Do we ever use Jesus’s name in vain?
Does Jesus ever prompt us to do something and we ignore Him?
Do we ever read Jesus’s teachings and we close our Bible and go on living like we want rather than according to His commands?
How often do we prayerfully invite Jesus into our decisions?
HONOR surrounds Christ’s throne. He is honored by His Father. Are we in the circle of those who honor Him?
Lord Jesus, You are HONORED in heaven and by Our Father. We pray our lives show that we honor You.
Praise to God, ENTHRONED ON HIGH
“Who is like the LORD our GOD, who is ENTHRONED ON HIGH,”
Where is God? People often ask that question. Where is He? He is ENTHRONED ON HIGH.
Yet, Jesus lowered Himself to come down to earth to live as our example; to die for our sins.
Where is the LORD our God? He is risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God where He lives to make intercession for us.
Looking for God? Look UP.
Lord, You are ENTHRONED ON HIGH! We praise You!
Praise to CHRIST, GOD’S SERVANT
“Behold, My SERVANT whom I have chosen;…”
God describes Jesus as His SERVANT. Whom did Jesus serve besides His Father? He served the disciples, washing their feet; explaining, “I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” John 13:15.
Photograph copyrighted www.LumoProject.com
Jesus served us in the ultimate way…washing our souls.
Now, He commands us to serve others. The ultimate service we can give to another? Share the life giving water; the message of salvation in Jesus; that what Jesus did externally when He washed the disciples’ feet, He does internally to the repentant sinner’s soul.
Whose soul are we serving today?
Lord Jesus, our souls need to be washed of the power and presence of sin. Only You can do that. Thank You, pure and holy Servant of the Living God, for washing us so we can stand before You, cleansed and robed in Your righteousness. May we be faithful to follow Your example and serve others.
CLICK HERE for MORE encouragement in your WALK with GOD!
Praise to Our WONDROUS Lord
“You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied
And praise the name of the LORD your God,
Who has dealt WONDROUSLY with you;
Then My people will never be put to shame.”
Joel 2:26 is filled with promises and praise. But if you read Joel 1, you’ll find stripping locusts, weeping drunkards, ruined fields, earthquakes, and weeping priests. The Bible is honest. It tells us like it is… or like it will be one day. But then, when we wonder, “Where is God,” we read in Joel 2…
“The Lord will answer and say to His people…” (v19) “Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad, for the Lord has done great things.” (v21) “Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locusts has eaten…” (v25)
“You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied and praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt WONDROUSLY with you; Then My people will never be put to shame.” (v26)
God is WONDROUS and deals wondrously with His people. “Wondrously” means “separate by distinguishing action, to do an extraordinary thing.” If we ever start to doubt God’s goodness, we need only look at the cross. It was terrible…but God was doing a wondrous and redemptive work. He is still doing wondrous work all around us. For that, we can be thankful!
Lord God, You are WONDROUS and redemptive. May we worship You in sincerity of heart and mind for all You’ve done, for all You do for us everyday, and for the wondrous eternity to which we look.
Stay connected HERE. Record God’s daily characater traits in Prayers of My Heart.
Praise to the FAITHFUL WITNESS
“Jesus Christ, the FAITHFUL WITNESS, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood-”
Can God rely on us? In other words, when we’re not at church and are questioned about a practice that isn’t culturally popular, can God trust us to be faithful to His Word? Or, do we give in to fitting in?
Jesus was a FAITHFUL WITNESS. There was never a question about whether or not He would be reliable. He told it like it was; even when His words weren’t popular.
He was a FAITHFUL WITNESS concerning…
Noah, other Biblical saints…(who were real, not metaphors), His second coming. 
He was a faithful witness about Jonah, again – not a metaphor – but a real person to whom Jesus referred.
When we say we’re a Christian, we’re saying we’re a follower of Jesus; which means we believe His witness; that there is a heaven and hell, there is judgement and forgiveness, He died for our sins and rose three days later, He’s coming again.
Our confidence rests on the FAITHFUL WITNESS of Christ Jesus. Do we believe and follow that to which He testified? Are we a faithful witnesses of Christ’s word in our generation?
Lord Jesus, we praise You, God’s faithful WITNESS. Thank You for the confidence we have in the Bible and on which we stand because of Your witness.
Praise to GOD who STIRS SPIRITS
“In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,
the LORD STIRRED UP the SPIRIT of Cyrus king of Persia,
so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.'”
Ezra 1:1-3
538 B.C., Cyrus was King of Persia. He was not a Jew. But, God stirred his heart and worked through him to accomplish His purposes. How? God STIRRED CYRUS’ SPIRIT. God moved his heart as the wind moves flowers and thistles. That which had been set, bowed under God’s stirring.
King Cyrus gave a proclamation allowing the Jews who had been taken captive and living in Babylon to return to Jerusalem. He gave them protection, money, and the temple articles Nebuchadnezzar had taken when he took them captive.
A non-Jewish king…used by the King of kings…to accomplish holy purposes. Can God do that? Did God do that then? Does God do that today?
God was in control over the kings of the earth. God is still in control. As we think about our Eternal King stirring Cyrus’s heart, we might prayerfully consider… are we praying God stir the heart of our President?
About what might God want to stir our spirit?
Do we live in anticipation of God stirring our spirit? What has God stirred our spirit to do? Are we doing it?
Heavenly Father, King of kings and GOD who STIRS SPIRITS, thank You for recording how You stirred King Cyrus’s spirit to do something You wanted accomplished. Stir our Presiden’ts spirit. Stir our spirits. May we be quick and faithful to respond.
*http://bit.ly/2fn0WLI
Why I’m Afraid to Stand Before Holy God without Jesus
It had been a silly difference of opinion. Well, not really silly.
It had been a difference of opinion. I’m a researcher. I study almost every day. I research topics as they relate to our body, mind, and spirit. I research both sides. I write, teach, and speak to appeal to people on the basis of God’s Word. So, when I express my opinion, needless to say, I set myself up for criticism.
But what does that have to do with being afraid to stand before holy God?
I can pour over the Scriptures. I can pour myself into others. But, the more I study the Word, the more I realize my sin.
For the second year, I focused my 365 DAYS of PRAISE blog post on God’s attributes. I, like perhaps you, enjoy reading that God is love and peace. He is patient, kind, and long-suffering. God is our comfort, help, and deliverer. And, even though it’s not as “touchy feely” or a verse we put on our Christmas card, we’re glad He is judge and vindicator.
But, I’ve been holding back from you, and a friend who isn’t a Christian nailed me on it. He said that Christians don’t talk about God’s wrath; that if they don’t follow Jesus, He sends them to hell.
I Have An Answer, Don’t You?
God doesn’t send people to hell. We’re already condemned by our sin nature. God offers a way out of condemnation and hell through Jesus; who willingly laid down His life and paid our sin debt. John 3:16-17
But, my friend made a point. In all honesty, I do speak more of the love of God. Perhaps that’s because I’m beyond grateful for His love. I do speak more of the mercy of God. Perhaps that’s because I’m so aware of my sin. I don’t write as much about the wrath of God and seldom teach on it.
But, to omit speaking of God’s wrath and righteous anger is to delineate God. It’s an attempt to make God fit our taste. For example, consider a cup of coffee. A child could ask me what I’m drinking and I could tell them water. They could watch me fill my Keurig with water; then press the “brew” button. They could watch me take the cup and drink it. But, if they look inside the cup, they’d see something different than clear water. They’d see black. If they took a sip, they’d taste something different than the water from the faucet. They might burn their tongue on the hot liquid. The taste would be strong; not mild. But, it’s water. The child may argue that they saw the water come from the faucet. Yes, but it’s more than water. Just because the child didn’t stand on tip toe and see the coffee being brewed with the water, it doesn’t change the fact that coffee is more than water.
Why am I afraid to stand before holy God without being forgiven of my sins? Because I’ve stood on tiptoes. I’ve peered over the counter and read Scripture. I’ve seen that God is more than Jesus’s love flowing into people’s lives. His righteous anger is real. God is love. But to limit His nature to love is as naive as to insist that coffee is only water.
So, Christian friends, maybe we need to be more forthright when speaking of God. Maybe we need to say we’re afraid to stand before holy God without our sins being forgiven through Christ’s death on the cross.
““Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!” Romans 5:9
Believer’s Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me and for Jesus taking my place on the cross. Help me live a more honest life and speak the truth in love to neighbors and friends.
Sinner’s Prayer
Lord God, I’ve rejected You. But, I know I’m a sinner. I’ve done wrong. I can’t stand in Your Holy presence and my sin not be exposed, so I’m afraid to die. I don’t understand everything. But, if You’re willing to forgive me because Jesus stepped up to the cross and took my place, I accept. I thank You. I ask Your forgiveness. I don’t understand Jesus being willing to do that, but I want to follow someone who would do that for me. Forgive me. Make me a new person. I need and want Your Holy Spirit to come and change me from the inside.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever calls on Him will not perish, but have eternal life, For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3:16-17.