365 Days of Praise

The following is a “Do Over” of  the “365 Days of Praise” post “God who IMPARTIALLY JUDGES.” I wanted to do it over to make a more accurate, complete application of the Scripture.

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, after we’re saved, God takes note of how we conduct ourselves. Peter reminds us that God is an IMPARTIAL JUDGE and that we should conduct ourselves in fear during our stay on earth.  “Conducting ourselves in fear” means we live in way that shows reverence for and 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 proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us our 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

In the first draft of this post, my application of the Scripture asked if we were sloppy, half-hearted, and lazy. But, those negative applications to our homes, work places, and ministries don’t touch our high calling in Christ. An unbeliever can be tidy, whole-hearted, and diligent. In our own strength, we can “self-improve.” The believer’s high calling in Christ and for which we’ll be rewarded is beyond earthly standards. It’s a life infused and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our calling is to represent the excellencies of Christ. When we do, we show reverence for Him.

Heavenly Father, thank You for being an impartial Judge. Help us conduct ourselves in reverence to You. 

Sometimes He holds me closely as we slow dance through dark nights and lonely days.

Sometimes we skip through meadow flowers laughing as sun rays dance on dewdrops.

Every day we take a needed time off the dance floor to talk quietly in hushed voices – me to Him and Him to me. No one else can hear our sacred conversation. It’s just between us. And, then, as the day and household awakens, we dance.  To the kitchen, to pay the bills, to gas up the car, to work, to the laundry room.

He’s with me. And, the fact is, the more I pay attention to His presence, the more joy filled I am. The more I choose to be consciously aware that He’s holding me, guiding me through my sometimes backward, sometimes circling, sometimes dizzying days, the more I smile…at Him, at life, at others, at myself.

In our Father’s presence is fullness of joy. 

Ariana Grande's “Dangerous Woman” world tour turned inside out May 22.

So...our 365 Days of Praise DAILY ATTRIBUTE blog post for 2016 came to a close. But, I still think of you every morning as I kneel and use one of God's attributes as the springboard for my prayers. My tattered 2016 Prayers of My Heart journal is a diary of prayers, praises, repentance, intercessions, and notes and thoughts I've had in my prayer time with the Lord.
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“Then the Lord will be ZEALOUS for His land and will have pity on His people.”

Isaiah 9:7, John 2:13-17, Joel 2:18

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Our home was filled with the laughter of grandchildren. I felt like a short order cook in the kitchen and loved every minute of it. I prayed. Lots. Christian families have an enemy who wants to destroy them and their relationships. But, we have a GOD who is bigger than any of Satan’s schemes. When we pray, God hears and moves to act on our behalf. When people say, “but God didn’t…..,” we have no idea what God DID do behind the schenes. We don’t know all the ways He acted and intervened on our behalf. We won’t know until heaven.  God is zealous for us.  In Joel 2:12, He calls us to return to Him with all our hearts, with fasting, weeping and mourning; to rend our hearts. His response to the one who does that? He relents. Why? Because He is ZEALOUS for us. He wants sin out of our lives and His joy and peace in our lives.

As we think about 2016 coming to an end, what are ways you’ve seen God’s zeal? Is He pursuing you to draw closer to Him? Is God prompting you to put aside sin so you are a more pure vessel through whom He can work?

In Jesus’s zeal, He cleansed the temple of the money changers; saying, My Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.” (John 2:17) Today, we are the house or temple of God.  So, what do you think Jesus, in His zeal, wants for us?
To be filled with sin? Or, to be places…people of prayer?

I believe our Heavenly Father wants us to be people of prayer.

Will you join me in making 2017 a more prayerful year? 

 Many of you have shared with me the powerful changes journaling your prayers has made. Others have shared that you want to journal, but don’t know how.

It’s simple. You write your thoughts to God. You also wait and listen. As we speak to God without audible words, He speaks back without words we hear.

This year, I’ve sent you an attribute of God each day to begin your praise of Him. I’ll not be doing that in 2017, but I will be continuing to focus on a different attribute of God each day in my personal prayer time. Why? The more in-depth we know God, the more our relationship with Him grows. The more we’ll trust Him and turn to Him.

I hope you’ll order your 2017 Prayers of My Heart Prayer Journal today, and give journaling a try. You can journal every day, once a week, or once a month. There’s no right or wrong way or amount to journal. But try sitting in God’s presence with your journal open; recording what God impresses on your heart. Be blessed, not stressed, as you talk to God about your day, relationships, and His will. Record your intercessions for others, then go back and write “PTL” for “Praise the Lor”d when He answers your prayers.

You can order your Journal HERE. And, if you’ve been blessed by the 365 Days of Praise attributes you’ve received in 2016, please consider making a donation to Hill Country Ministries. We are a non-profit 501 (c)(3) which depends on donations to continue our blog posts, prison ministry, ministry to moms, P.R.A.Y. with Passion Conference, and so much more. And, in 2017, we’re expanding our ministry to the deaf and Vietnamese. If you’d like to learn more about these ministries and how you can join us, please let us know.

It’s been a blessing and honor to be a part of your day in 2016, and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for us in 2017. Thank you for helping us CONTINUE.

Lord God, You are ZEALOUS for us. Forgive us when we sin. Cleanse and purify us as You did the temple so we are houses of prayer – worshipping You and interceding for others. 

“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 3:14

Jehovah (YHWH) is one of the primary names of God. Scholar Charles Ryrie explains:

• I AM WHO I AM, the inner meaning of Yahweh – “I am the ONE who is” – emphasizes God’s dynamic and active self-existence.
• Yahweh, literally, YHWH, is the most significant name for God in the Old Testament, occuring 6,823 times in the O.T. and is especially associated with God’s holiness, hatred of sin, and gracious provision of redemption.

When we read, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you,” we can’t help but be reminded that just as God sent Moses to rescue the Israelites from bondage in Egypt; God sent Jesus to rescue us from bondage to sin. Yahweh, a holy, loving, redemptive, rescuing God. How we praise Him!

YAHWEH, self-existent, dynamic I AM, we tremble at Your holiness and love for us. Rescuer, Savior, we worship and adore You with abounding thankfulness on our hearts. 

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:6

It’s Christmas! We’re excited to be with family and friends. Or, we’re not. We’re sad and alone. Or, maybe relationships aren’t what we wish they were. What do we do? Do we STAY in our melancholy mindset? No, we don’t. We go to our WONDERFUL COUNSELOR. We talk to Him. We pray and ask Him to show us what to do, what to say, whether to make that call or not. We trust Him. We ask Him to fill us with His mind and energy; to do His will and bidding. We get out of the way so He can work in and through us. It’s CHRISTMAS…Christ’s mass. We focus our eyes and hearts on Him.

Today is a reminder of the incarnation. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” the angel said to Mary. “And you will bear a child – Jesus. Christ in Mary. Born out through her flesh.

And today, each believer is given the same heavenly message. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” Jesus said. “Christ in you,” Paul explained. As Mary bore Christ through her flesh, we bear Christ through our flesh as we pray to be filled with His Spirit and walk in His will.

Today is Christ’s mass. We seat Him on the throne of our hearts so HE is borne out through our lives.

Lord Jesus, WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, rule over our minds, emotions, and wills. Bear YOUR nature in and through us. Counsel us so that our words and actions are goverened by You. As the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, fill us so YOU are borne out through our lives. We love and worship and praise YOU, Lord Jesus.