365 Days of Praise

The first Bible study I was asked to write was Discovering His Passion. It’s one of my favorites. The premise of the book? Luke 19:10. Jesus explained who He was and what He was doing on earth; that He came from heaven to SEEK and to SAVE us. If you ever feel like your life has no value; or, when you get down on yourself…look up to the heavens. Gaze beyond the beauty of the clouds to the royal eternal home of Jesus. Then, think how He left heaven’s glory to come to earth to save your soul. Glory in that.

Lord Jesus, Thank You for Your passion to SEEK and to SAVE the lost, to save us. We praise You and can’t wait to be in Your presence. 

Click HERE to learn more about Discovering His Passion. 

Have you ever said, “Thank You, Jesus, seed of salvation“? I haven’t. But, I am now. The Bible refers to Jesus as the Seed of the Woman, the Seed of Abraham, and the Seed of David. Commentator Herbert Lockyer’s explains the following:

Christ as the Seed, holds the secret and sustenance of life. Christ as the Seed assures us that He Himself is the Source of life. But in order to produce fruit the seed has to be buried in the earth, a truth Christ applied to Himself as falling into the ground and dying in order to bring forth much fruit (John 12:24). He came as the Seed of a woman, in order that all born of man might become His children by His finished work and the regeneration ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-18).

We are born of Christ’s seed; seed that springs up into eternal life. What a praise to our Heavenly Lord!

Lord Jesus, Seed of Salvation, You are in the garden of our hearts, and Your life seed changes us. Thank You! May we nourish Your seed so Your life in us bears much fruit!

I wish I wouldn’t sin any more. I long for the day in heaven when I don’t. But as long as we live in our earthly bodies, as much as we long to be perfect, we’ll deal with our in-born sin nature.  The good news is that God has chosen, by His grace, to SANCTIFY us. That means He has set us apart as His. He has also taken it upon Himself to make sure that we’re perfect. Think about it. You and all who call upon the name of the Lord will one day live together in His presence – sinless. Does knowing that cause you to want to kneel in awe or stand with arms lifted in praise?

God, we praise You, our SANCTIFIER. Thank You for setting us apart for Yourself and for taking it upon Yourself to sanctify us complete and without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can’t wait!

Do you ever feel that things change so fast you can hardly keep up with them?  Does it seem that people change what they say from one day to the next? It’s difficult to know people’s true beliefs. But, God doesn’t change. He is the SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, FOREVER. Society may shift its standards and morals, but God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Lord God, thank You that You do not change.  You are the SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, and FOREVER.

Has anyone ever sacrificed something for you? Have they sacrificed sleep so you could sleep? Have they sacrificed advancing so you could? Have they sacrificed their plans so you could do yours? Sacrifice. Sometimes we may sacrifice, but do so begrudgingly. We can tend to look out for ourselves. But Jesus did the opposite. He willingly SACRIFICED His life as a fragrant aroma for us. He thought of us, not Himself.

Lord Jesus, thank You for willingly giving up Your glory, Your comfort, Your life for us; for being a SACRIFICE to God on our behalf so that we can live in heaven. 

I’m tired! I’m tired of work. I’m tired of the tension in my life. I’m tired of struggling. I’m tired of taking care of…. How would you finish the sentence? God understands. He gets it.

The Bible makes a point that God rested on the seventh day after creating the world. One of the Ten Commandments is to keep the Sabbath Day as a holy day and to cease from work on it. Jesus’ work of gaining our salvation on the cross resulted in our not working for salvation; but rather resting in what Christ accomplished on the cross.

God cares about you being weary. We will one day enter God’s ultimate provision of His presence – an eternal Sabbath rest. Until then, we can thank God that life won’t always be so hard. We can thank Jesus for paving the way for our future rest. And, we can prayerfully ponder Matthew 11:28-30. “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Lord, thank You for the eternal SABBATH REST we have in You. Thank You that even though our day is spinning out of control, we can come to You and find rest.  

Do you sometimes wonder about our world and what the future holds? Revelation 1:5 gives us great comfort. It reminds us to look heavenward in confidence to the ruler of the kings of the earth.

While things may seem (or be) chaotic in regard to the rulers of our earth; there is One who is the supreme ruler. He reigns with justice and mercy. All praise to our Heavenly King!

Lord Jesus Christ, what a glorious blessing to know that this world is not spinning out of control. You are enthroned, RULER OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH. 

I’ll be honest. Until a few years ago, I didn’t understand why Jesus is referred to as the ROSE OF SHARON. Then, scholar Herbert Lockyer shed light on the subject for me. “Amongst flowers, the rose always and everywhere, with us now and still more in the East and of old, has held the foremost rank; and amongst the rose, the ROSE OF SHARON was chief. In the words of an ancient author, ‘If a king were set over flowers, it would be the rose that should reign over them, being the ornament of the earth, the splendor of plants, the eye of flowers, the beauty of the field.’ So, Christ’s title, Rose of Sharon, calls to our attention the splendor of Christ, His heavenly fragrance, and kingly display of love and beauty.

Lord Jesus, You are the ROSE of SHARON; the fragrant aroma of heaven. We love and adore You!

“You rock!” Do you recall hearing the slang term which means someone is really great? In relation to God, the term “You rock!” aptly applies. He does rock! And, He is the ROCK. He’s the ROCK OF OUR SALVATION. He’s the foundation stone, the strength, the unmovable power by which and on which our faith is built. Joyfully singing God’s praises is good. Shouting joyfully, “You ROCK of our salvation” is great.