365 Days of Praise

Hellooooooo! Are We Listening
05/30/2021
When Moses first asked God what His name was, He replied, “I AM.” Then, after the golden calf episode, “I AM” makes it clear that because He is our all in all, Exodus 34:11-12, 14,  we are to live accordingly.
Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day…
Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. v 14—for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—”  
It’s as if God is saying, “Hellooooo! Are you listening? I’m jealous when you put 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 minds. We look at our bank account to see where we spend our money. Our thoughts, time, and money tell us and God whom/what is our priority and object of our worship. Has something or someone other than the  Jealous I AM slipped into our life as god? If so, we must correct, not ignore it.

Heavenly Father, You are a JEALOUS God. May we not ignore but rather rectify any way we have put another thing or person above You.

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Someone Knows Your Heart and Is Praying for You
05/29/2021
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 note. Romans 8:26-27 is an example of this.
26 Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with [a]groanings too deep for words;
27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the [b]saints according to the will of God.
God voices two times that the Spirit INTERCEDES for us and explains how He intercedes for us. 1) He intercedes with groanings too deep for words for things about which we don’t even know what to pray, and 2) having searched our hearts, the Spirit INTERCEDES for us according to the will of God.”  God the Holy Spirit helping us in our weakness, searching our hearts, and praying for us.  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!

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Are Your Feet Dancing?
05/28/2021
Person joyfully jumping in the street, reflecting the excitement and praise believers have because God Is My Inheritance and eternal hope is found in Christ.
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 modest clothing and car. But then, the executor of the estate continues, “Congratulations! You’re a billionaire!” Stunned, you realize that you never knew how much 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 of 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!

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Get Rid of the Cat Clinging Guilt
05/27/2021

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 you. 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)  Instead of languishing over sin, confess it and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you. The next time you’re tempted, quote Scripture to Satan like Jesus did. Walk in God’s grace with His Spirit in your spirit and His Word in your mouth.

Wonderful, Savior, INNOCENT ONE, thank You for taking our guilt and giving us Your Spirit and Word.

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Unstinkable
05/26/2021
Food beginning to spoil and decay, illustrating the contrast between perishable things of earth and the Imperishable God whose Word endures forever.
Have you ever let something spoil in the refrigerator? You meant to eat it but didn’t. Later, you discovered the leftovers, opened the lid, and whew – it stunk!  It had perished. It was ruined. Not so with God and His Word.  First Peter 1:23 says “for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” God and His Word are IMPERISHABLE. They’re always good, always fresh. And, the great news is that Christ is in believers. Christ lives in us. He won’t die. We won’t die. We’re indwelt by the IMPERISHABLE Jesus through the living and enduring word of God. Hallelujah! Celebrate!

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

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When No One Understands You
05/25/2021
Person lying in bed overwhelmed with emotion, reflecting the comfort of knowing God has Infinite Understanding and fully knows our hearts and struggles.

Do you ever feel like no one understands you – truly understands you?  Or have you ever said to someone, “I don’t understand why you….”? Or maybe you thought, “I can’t understand how you could…”?  No doubt, as much as we may love or know someone, we can never get inside another person’s head. But God can.  Psalm 147:5 says, “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is INFINITE.” God’s understanding is limitless, endless, and impossible to measure. And the most amazing thing is He loves us. How can we not run to Him in love and gratitude? Why would we not talk to Him about everything on our heart and mind? Why would we not quietly wait and listen for God’s instructions and guidance?  (By the way, it helps to have our Bible when we pray so as He stirs our heart we can look up verses He brings to mind.). When no one understands you, remember – God does and He loves you. Run to Him. Pray to Him. Stay near Him.

Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus Christ, You have INFINITE UNDERSTANDING of me and my situation. Thank You for guiding me as I wait in Your presence.

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Jesus Isn’t a Cavity
05/22/2021
Dentist treating tooth decay, illustrating the contrast between earthly corruption and Jesus as the Incorruptible Lord who conquered death and decay.
Have you ever had a cavity, a tooth that decayed? If so, you know it isn’t a good thing. Can you imagine what an eternally bad thing it would have been if Jesus’s body had decayed in the tomb? It’s what the Jewish leaders expected to happen. It’s what the Roman government expected.  It’s what many in our day think or hope happened. Why? Because they don’t want the Lord Jesus in their lives. They want to do their own thing without consequences for violating God’s eternal laws. Romans 1:18-25  points out the seriousness of this mentality, of those who ignore the glory of the incorruptible Christ who will never undergo decay. “
21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image…24 
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 
For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie…”
Some people ignore their teeth. Some people ignore Jesus.  There are consequences for both.
Lord, You are incorruptible. May we who are saved represent You to others so they turn to You and are saved.
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Are You a Low Viewer or a High Viewer
05/21/2021

Do you need a place to go that is higher than you  – where you can look at life from an eternal perspective? If you said yes, that’s understandable. The daily grind can become just that – a grind. The thrill of the chase ends. Romance changes. The kids grow up. The job ends. The money runs out. The other side wins. Sin gets the best of us. We’re disappointed with our life. What do we do in those cases?  Isaiah 33:16 tells us we can go to a place to 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 going to God and doing that.  Or, are we trudging through our day 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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Unchanging God
05/20/2021

Have you ever been with a person whose convictions changed as often as the seasons? Perhaps they read a book and decided to follow that person’s opinion and philosophy of life.  Then they read another book and decided to follow a different view. Thank goodness believers don’t have to worry about God flipping His opinion every other year.  Thank goodness and thank God that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) In other words we can depend on Him. Christ and His teaching are  IMMUTABLE. They are unchanging. What He called holy yesterday is holy today and will be holy tomorrow. What He called sin yesterday is sin today and is sin tomorrow. And, the grace God extended yesterday is the grace He extends today and extends tomorrow. We follow and serve an unchanging, IMMUTABLE God.

Lord Jesus, we praise You, IMMUTABLE, unchanging Lord God!

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On Level Ground
05/19/2021
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 heavy 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 most faithful Christian’s prayer. How wonderful that we stand on the level ground with one another – 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 share Jesus with others. 

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