365 Days of Praise

“Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”

  1 Corinthians 5:7

Anyone want to guess what the context was for Christ being described as our Passover?

Paul was rebuking the Corinthian church because of the immorality among them. He called them arrogant because rather than mourning over the situation, they turned their heads the other way. Paul is spinning their heads (and maybe ours) back in the right direction.

• Someone has DIED because of our sin and immorality: Jesus. How can we think that accepting abiding sin is okay?
• Jesus, the pure Lamb of God, was sacrificed. His death, His blood, is our atonement; covering our black sins.
• “Clean it out. Get rid of the sin.” Paul urges. Christ, our PASSOVER, has been SACRIFICED on an altar that has our name on it.
• Demonstrate our love, honor, and respect the Passover Lamb, Christ Jesus, by living for Him.

Christ, our PASSOVER, forgive us when we live for what You died for – our sin.

Image: Ecce agnus Dei 12.4.2009: from Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim altarpiece, 1512-1516, Musée Unterlinden, Colmar

“O LORD, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise.”

   Psalm 51:15

Did your mother ever tell you, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?” My mother did. Often, words of instruction center on telling us to keep our mouths closed so we don’t offend others or so we don’t speak out of anger. However, David, the psalmist, understood that our walk with God isn’t only about what we don’t say. It’s also about what we say.  We may get a gold star for not cussing. But do we get a gold star for praising God, encouraging others in their walk with Him, and sharing Christ with unbelievers? If not, perhaps we should recognize that God is the One to whom we can pray as David prayed, “LORD, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise.”  That’s a good prayer to the ONE who can OPEN our lips, don’t you think?

LORD, You are powerful and able to OPEN OUR LIPS to praise and honor You. We pray You do so that we faithfully praise You and share Christ with others. 

Do you want to praise God, but don’t really know how? If so, HERE’s  help..

Do you want to dig into the Word and learn from Jesus how to engage people in conversations about eternity and salvation? If so, HERE’s help.

“If [since] you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth” (1 Peter 1:17).

Are you aware that the Bible describes different kinds of judgments? The one to which Peter is referring is the judgment of believers’ works. Although we’re not saved by works, God takes note of how we conduct ourselves after we’re saved.

Peter reminds us that God is an impartial judge and that we should live in a way that shows reverence for Christ. Peter gives examples of what this looks like.

• We are holy in all our behavior, like the Holy One who called us, 1:15.
• We fervently love one another from the heart, 1:22.
• We put aside all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander, 2:1.
• We long for the pure milk of the word, so we grow in respect to salvation, 2:2.
• We proclaim the excellencies of Christ who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, 2:9.
• We abstain from fleshly lusts that wage war against our soul, 2:11.
• We keep our behavior excellent, 2:12.
• We submit for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, 2:13.
• We honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king, 2:17.
• We follow in Christ’s steps, 2:21.
• Wives are submissive, chaste, and respectful to their husbands, 3:1-2.
• Husbands live with their wives in an understanding way and show them honor as a fellow heir of grace so their prayers aren’t hindered, 3:7.
• We are harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead, 3:8-9.
• We keep our tongue from evil and our lips from speaking deceit, 3:10.
• We turn away from evil and do good; seeking peace, 3:11.
• We sanctify Christ as Lord in our heart, and are always ready to make a gentle, reverent defense to everyone who asks us to give an account for the hope that is in us, 3:15.
• We keep a good conscience, 3:16.
• We live the rest of our lives no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God, 4:2.
• We live in the spirit according to the will of God, 4:6.
• We’re of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer, 4:7.
• We’re hospitable to one another without complaint, 4:9.
• We employ the special gift God’s given us in serving one another as good stewards, 4:10.
• We speak as one speaking the utterances of God and serve by the strength God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, 4:11.
• We entrust our souls to our faithful Creator when we suffer according to the will of God, 4:19.
• We humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, 5:6.
• We cast all our anxiety on God, because He cares for us, 5:7.
• We’re of sober spirit and on the alert knowing that our adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, 5:8.
• We resist the devil, firm in our faith, 5:9.

Our lives are to represent the excellencies of Christ. How are we doing?

Heavenly Father, ONE WHO IMPARTIALLY JUDGES, thank You that You are just, and that each of us is called and has the opportunity to serve You well. 

“Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me” (Ezekiel 3:17).

Have you ever considered that God appoints people, times, places, and more? Contemplate the following:

“So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him,” Gen 21:2.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations,” Jer 1:5.

And the Lord appointed  a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights,” Jonah 1:17.

“So the LORD God appointed  a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant,” Jonah 4:6.

“He (Jesus) appointed  twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, Mark 3:14.

“Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed  time will come,” Mark 13:33.

“And inasmuch as it is appointed  for men to die once and after this comes judgment,” Hebrews 9:27.

Yes, God appoints times, people, places, events, and more. What has He appointed us to do? Read the Bible and we’ll find out!

Lord God, ONE WHO APPOINTS people, places, and times, rather than fret, help us accept Your appointed times and gratefully respond to that which You  appoint us to do.

“But of the Son He says,

When you think about Jesus, what do you picture in your mind? A body hanging on a cross? I hope not. Although we need to begin our relationship with Jesus by acknowledging His death on our behalf, there’s more to our relationship with Him. We also need to see Him resurrected, sitting at the right hand of the Father. And, by the way, He’s glad. He’s overjoyed! Why? The kingdom is His. He’s rendered the devil and death powerless (Hebrews 2:14). We’re saved. We’re safe in His presence, where we find fullness of joy.

If we realize that we’re dragging through our day and are discouraged, we can do something about it. We can look toward heaven and remember that the oil of gladness is flowing over Christ because salvation has come to us. We can ask Him to fill us with the oil of gladness so it pours through us to others.

Lord Jesus, we praise You for our salvation. Fill us with the OIL OF GLADNESS so others see and believe in You.