365 Days of Praise

 I love it when God says, “this is my name.” Then, in case we aren’t paying attention, He repeats Himself. “—for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—” (Exodus 34:14)  It’s as if God is saying, “Hellooooo! Is anyone listening? I’m jealous when you adore things and people above Me.” Ouch! That hits close to home. How do we know if we’re worshipping things and people above God? We look at where we spend our time. We consider what’s most on our mind. We look at our bank account to see where we devote our money. Our thoughts, time, and money tell us and God whom/what we worship. Has something or someone slipped in as our god? If so, what will we do about it?

Heavenly Father, You are JEALOUS when our thoughts, money, and time go to things and people above You.  Forgive us. Show us how to hurriedly right this wrong. 

When God says something one time, we need to pay attention. When He says it twice in the same breath, we need to sit up and take notice. In Romans 8:26-27  God voices two times that He’s aware there are times when we don’t know how or what to pray. But, He knows our needs and what we need to pray for others.  So, here’s what our Heavenly Father wants us to know: “… the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself INTERCEDES for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He INTERCEDES for the saints according to the will of God.”  Twice, He assures us that the Holy Spirit will search our heart and then INTERCEDE on our behalf. How extraordinary is that?

Holy One, what a joy and peace there is in knowing that You search our hearts and INTERCEDE for us.  Amazing! Thank You!

Have you ever thought, “Why did You let this happen, God?” Or, perhaps you’ve wondered why God hasn’t answered your prayers? In Isaiah 40:28 we’re told, “The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is INSCRUTABLE.”  What does that have to do with God not appearing to answer our prayers? The word “INSCRUTABLE” comes from two Hebrew words that describe God’s understanding. The New International Version of the Bible uses the word “fathom.” “His understanding no one can fathom.” The New King James Version states it: “His understanding is unsearchable.” In other words, when we pray and don’t receive the answer from God that we want, or not in the timing we want, it helps to remember that His understanding of our situation is better than our understanding. His understanding of us and those involved is better than our understanding. Trust and faith are essential elements of not only our profession of faith; but also of our daily walk. We can trust our God, whose understanding is INSCRUTABLE. Will we?

Lord, Your understanding is INSCRUTABLE.  We look to You with faith in Your proven goodness.

You’re INVITED this Sunday, June 9. My husband and I are teaching from 2nd Peter, “How to Live by the Divine Nature.”  If you live in the Texas hill country, join us 9:45-10:45 am. You do not need to be a member of a church or be a Christian to come. Our class, Crossroads, meets in the Family Life Center/Gym on the first floor at Trinity Baptist Church, 800 Jackson Rd, Kerrville, TX.  Come early for fruit, donuts, coffee, and juice. People from all walks come dressed in jeans, shorts, dresses, slacks – whatever you like, whoever you are, we welcome you!  And, of course, you’re invited to our worship service led by Pastor John Wheat. Come, receive a blessing this Sunday!  I’ll be at the tables in the gym to greet you. 

Have you ever felt guilty? Isn’t it a horrible feeling? What do you do with guilt? You can’t hide it, shake it, or bury it. It clings to you like a cat. Nails dug in, it’s determined to not turn loose of your heart. However, there is One who never experienced guilt. Hebrews 7:26  says this about Jesus, “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, INNOCENT, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;” Can you imagine being holy and INNOCENT one moment and the next moment experiencing the guilt of the world?  Jesus did that for us. Never question His love…”while we were yet sinners, He died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Wonderful, Savior, INNOCENT ONE, thank You for taking our guilt so that we might be declared innocent.

 Can you imagine being told that a relative you barely knew passed away and left you all his money? “That’s nice of Uncle Fred,” you might say, thinking of the last time you’d seen him with his average clothing and car. But then, the executor of the estate continues, “Congratulations! You’re a billionaire!” Stunned, you realize that you never knew all that Uncle Fred possessed. Psalm 16:5 is such a comment to the Christian. “The Lord is the portion of my INHERITANCE and my cup; You support my lot.” In other words, upon Christ’s death and our confession of Him as Lord, we received an inheritance in Christ: His Holy Spirit, divine nature, mind, power, and heaven!” Friends, that ought to set our feet to dancing and put a smile on our face. Do we realize all we have in Christ? Are we living joyfully and mindful our INHERITANCE with praise on our lips to Him?

Lord, You are our INHERITANCE; what more could we want? We love You, praise You, and rejoice in YOU!

Do you need a place to go to that is higher than you, a place where you can scale the heights and look at life from a different, eternal perspective? If you said, yes, that’s understandable. The daily grind can become just that – a grind. The thrill of the chase ends. The romance changes. The kids grow up. The job ends. The money runs out. The other side wins. Sin gets the best of us. What do we do in those cases?  Isaiah 33:16 tells us we can go to a place where we can gain perspective.  “He will dwell on the heights, his refuge will be the IMPREGNABLE ROCK.” If we know we can scale the heights and see life with an eternal perspective, then we must ask ourselves if we are.  Or, are we trudging through our days bemoaning our circumstances?  Today, let’s scale the heights of the Lord, our impregnable rock, and consider things from His eternal perspective.

LORD, You are the IMPREGNABLE ROCK, our spiritual refuge. Thank You that we can scale heaven’s heights and view our life with Your perspective. 

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Lord, we celebrate YOU! You are IMPERISHABLE. Your word is enduring. We’ve been born of Your imperishable seed. Thank You! We praise You!

One of the ways my ministry has spread the Word and love of Jesus is by taking it to inmates at Lockhart Prison. Most of the ones I’ve taught are mothers and their hearts are weighted with guilt. They feel badly that they aren’t with their children. They feel horrible about the kind of mother they’ve been. Yet many of them have come to have faith in Jesus. They have come to believe what  Romans 2:11 says; that even though they have sinned, they can be forgiven. “For there is no partiality with God.” They hold to the fact that because God is impartial, He hears their prayers just as He does the church member’s prayers. We stand on level ground looking in praise to our Impartial Heavenly Father who forgives us on the basis of His grace.

Heavenly Father, we praise You that You do not show partiality. Rather, You IMPARTIALLY judge us in light of our response to Your Son. Stir our hearts to a greater passion to follow Jesus and share Him with others.