365 Days of Praise

Join me for a 4 Week Bible Study of JONAH this month! Learn more by clicking HERE.

Can you imagine the deafening silence that those who loved Jesus experienced after His marred holy body was placed in a tomb? What can be said in desperate hours and days of silence? How do followers fill their hollow hearts when it is weighed with loss or burdened by sin?  Nehemiah 9 shows us. It’s a chapter that recounts people who are in sackcloth and fasting. It’s a chapter about people who, in desperation, read the Scriptures, confess, and worship. We’re privy to their prayer. Nehemiah 9:5-8a, 

Arise, bless the LORD your God forever and ever!  O may Your glorious name be blessed and exalted above all the blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before you. You are Lord God, Who chose Abram and brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him…

What do we do in times of desperation and when God is silent? We bless God’s glorious name and recount His goodness.

“‘O may Your GLORIOUS name be blessed and exalted above all blessing and praise!’” Nehemiah 9:5

Join Debbie for a 4 week study of the book of Jonah. Begins April 6.  TBC Kerrville. Learn more or call 830.895.0100.

Have you been with someone when they died? I was with my mother, father, and mother-in-law when they died.  Webster defines death as “the irreversible cessation of all vital functions especially as indicated by the permanent stoppage of the heart, respiration, and brain activity.”  That is what happened to Jesus as a result of the horrific scourging and crucifixion He suffered. The Roman soldiers who oversaw His death were skilled in their profession. They pronounced Jesus dead. But, as we know and Romans 4:17 explains, God  “GIVES LIFE to the DEAD and calls into being that which does not exist.” Death seems final, but God. Yes, but God who gives life to the dead, gave life to Jesus, has given life to our loved ones who have gone before us, and will give life to us after our bodies cease functioning. How does it make you feel to know that God will give life to you after you die, just like He did to Jesus?

Heavenly Father who GIVES LIFE TO THE DEAD, we praise You and exalt Your name! Thank You for Jesus’s sacrificial death and resurrection. Thank You for raising our loved ones to eternal life. Thank You for the resurrection life we will one day experience. We love You and praise Your name! 

Join me for a 4 Week Bible Study of JONAH in April! Learn more by clicking HERE.

Do you ever feel like you can’t breathe because you have so much weighing on you? Or maybe you’re running so fast, it’s hard to catch your breath.  Or, at times we may feel like we’ve had the breath knocked out of us because of financial, physical, emotional, or relational blows.  When that happens, we can turn to our Heavenly Father.  Isaiah 42:5-6 says, “Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it, I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, and I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations.”  What comforting words!  God gives us His breath and spirit to walk through our day. Our BREATH GIVER reminds us that He holds us by the hand and watches over us. Our BREATH GIVER has appointed us as a light to the nations. Our identity, our comfort, and our purpose are God-breathed. In trying days, hold your Bible close to you and breathe deeply.

LORD, thank You for giving us Your BREATH and SPIRIT. May we, in turn, live for You as a light to our nation. 

Who are you following these days? An earthling or Jesus? Why does it matter?  Because we’re all going to die one day and Jesus says He alone is the “way” (John 14:6) to eternal life in heaven. Some people argue that there are many ways to heaven. Jesus says not so in Matthew 7:13-14. “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” And, in John 14:6,  “I am the way,…no one comes to the Father but through Me.” We can believe an earthly spokesman/author or we can believe the One who said He came from “above,” who was crucified, buried, resurrected 3 days later, and ascended into the clouds. I choose to believe the One who demonstrated His otherworldly, heavenly powers over an earth-born personality voicing their opinions. What about you?

LORD Jesus, we praise You, the GATE by whom all who call upon You can be saved. 

Do you enjoy pleasant fragrances? Did you know that God does, too? Did you know you can be a sweet fragrance to God? He can get a whiff of you and think, “You smell good!” How fun is that – to smell good to our Heavenly Father? How in the world can we smell good to God? Ephesians 5:2 answers that question. It tells us to “…walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a FRAGRANT AROMA.”  Christ’s sacrificial love and life were a fragrant aroma to God. And, we’re to imitate Christ. When we do, we’re a sweet aroma to our Heavenly Father.  What if we haven’t been walking in sacrificial love, but rather been selfish or unloving? We need to acknowledge our sin to our Heavenly Father, repent, and ask Jesus to forgive us.  We need to ask us to fill us with Christ’s Spirit. How does that affect our spiritual “aroma”? When writing Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion, I used my daughter’s puppy, Bailey, as an example that we smell like whatever we hold close to our heart. Bailey had a distinct puppy odor and after holding her, her odor remained on me. It wasn’t pleasant so I showered and changed clothes. Just like a dog has an odor, so sin has an odor. If we’re clinging to a “pet” sin, God and others get a whiff of it. What can we do to rid ourselves of the stench of sin? Put the sin aside and bathe in God’s forgiveness and grace. Then, as Christ was, we’ll be a fragrant aroma to God.

Christ Jesus, we praise You for walking in love and giving Yourself as an offering and sacrifice to God; a FRAGRANT AROMA. Help us follow Your example. 

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