Lord
Rethinking to Whom and What We Bow
As we have studied, there are times when God announces, “This is who I am. This is my name.” Such is the case in Isaiah 42:8 when God announced,
I am the LORD, that is My name
He continues in the same breath, explaining what it means that His name is LORD. He states He will not give His glory to another. In other words, we are to praise Him and Him alone. His announcement should cause us to think about our lives and if we are giving our praise to anything or anyone besides Him? In other words, are we making anything or anyone besides God the priority of our lives?” If we are, then we must bow before the LORD in repentance and profess Him as LORD. We must realign our lives so they are a praise to Him.
Heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty, You alone are LORD. Forgive us for putting anything or anyone before You. We bow in humble reverence and praise.
Rethinking to Whom and What We Bow
As we have studied, there are times when God announces, “This is who I am. This is my name.” Such is the case in Isaiah 42:8 when God announced,
I am the LORD, that is My name
He continues in the same breath, explaining what it means that His name is LORD. He states He will not give His glory to another. In other words, we are to praise Him and Him alone. His announcement should cause us to think about our lives and if we are giving our praise to anything or anyone besides Him? In other words, are we making anything or anyone besides God the priority of our lives?” If we are, then we must bow before the LORD in repentance and profess Him as LORD. We must realign our lives so they are a praise to Him.
Heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty, You alone are LORD. Forgive us for putting anything or anyone before You. We bow in humble reverence and praise.
Rethinking Who and What We Bow To
As we have studied, there are times when God announces, “This is who I am. This is my name.” Such is the case in Isaiah 42:8 when God announced, “I am the LORD, that is My name;” In the same breath, He continues; explaining what it means that His name is LORD. It means He will not give His glory to another. It means that our praise is to be given to Him alone. His pronouncement should cause us to rethink our lives, “Are we giving our praise to anything or anyone besides Him? Are we making anything besides God the priority of our lives?” If so, we must bow before the LORD in repentance and profess Him as LORD, giving Him praise.
God, You alone are LORD. Forgive us for putting anything or anyone before You. We bow in humble reverence and praise.
Rethinking Who and What We Praise
As we’ve studied, there are times when God announces, “This is who I am. This is my name.” Such is the case in Isaiah 42:8, when God announced, “I am the LORD, that is My name;” In the same breath, He continues; explaining what it means that His name is LORD. It means He will not give His glory to another. It means that our praise is to be given to Him alone. His pronouncement should cause us to rethink our lives, “Are we giving our praise to anything or anyone besides Him; making them the priority of our lives?” If so, we must bow before the LORD in repentance and profess Him LORD of our lives and give Him praise.
God, You alone are LORD. Forgive us for putting anything or anyone before You. We bow in humble reverence and praise.
Praise to the LORD
“‘I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.’”
As we’ve studied, there are times when God announces, “This is who I am. This is my name.” Such is the case in Isaiah 42:8, when God announced, “I am the LORD, that is My name.” In the same breath, He explains what it means that His name is LORD. It means He will not give His glory to another. It means that our praise is to be given to Him and Him alone. His pronouncement should cause us to ponder, “Have I given my praise to anything or anyone besides Him?” If so, we must bow before the LORD in repentance and profess Him LORD of all.
Heavenly Father, You alone are LORD. Forgive us for putting anything or anyone before You. We bow in humble reverence and praise.
Praise to the LORD, GOD of the SPIRITS of ALL FLESH
Friends, today is the 177th day in the year. Do you realize that means we’ve focused on 177 different ways in which God has chosen to reveal Himself? And now, today, the 177th day, our focus is the all encompasing title: “LORD, GOD OF THE SPIRITS OF ALL FLESH.” God is more than the God of the Jews. He is more than the Lord of the Gentiles. He is more than the Lord of lords. He is LORD, GOD OF THE SPIRITS OF ALL FLESH.” I’ve had so much fun the last several days gazing at the heavens, thinking of God. He has poured Himself upon us in His revelation of the Scripture. He has poured Himself upon us in the revelation of Christ. He has poured Himself upon us in the Holy Spirit. He wants so badly for us to know there is another realm; a beautiful, eternal, glorious one where HE exists. He invites us to be a part.
LORD, GOD OF THE SPIRITS OF ALL FLESH, I’m excited that YOU are my God. I praise and worship You.
*Debbie Taylor Williams. Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to forward or share this material provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee for it. Any exception to the above must be approved by Debbie Taylor Williams. Please include on any web posting or printed distribution: © Debbie Taylor Williams, www.debbietaylorwilliams.com. Thank you.
Praise to the LORD
“‘I am the LORD, that is MY NAME; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.’”
There are occasions when God announces, “This is my name. This is who I am.” Such is the case in Isaiah 42:8, when God announced, “I am the LORD, that is MY NAME.” In the same breath, He explains what it means that His name is LORD. It means He will not give His glory to another. It means that our praise is to be given to Him and Him alone. His pronouncement should cause us to ponder, “Have I given my praise to anything or anyone besides the LORD?” If so, we must hurriedly bow before the LORD in repentance; and then praise the LORD.
Heavenly Father, You alone are LORD. Forgive me for putting other things and other people before You. I bow in humble reverence and praise!
© Debbie Taylor Williams. Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to forward or share this material provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee for it. Any exception to the above must be approved by Debbie Taylor Williams. Please include on any web posting or printed distribution: © Debbie Taylor Williams, www.debbietaylorwilliams.com. Thank you.
LORD, GOD of the SPIRITS of ALL FLESH
I find it interesting the way in which Moses addressed God: “Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh.” Moses understood that God was more than the God of the Jews. He is the God of the spirits of all. We do well to recognize the Lord in that way, also.
LORD, GOD OF THE SPIRITS OF ALL FLESH, I praise You and worship You.
*Debbie Taylor Williams. Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to forward or share this material provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee for it. Any exception to the above must be approved by Debbie Taylor Williams. Please include on any web posting or printed distribution: © Debbie Taylor Williams, www.debbietaylorwilliams.com. Thank you.
Lord who Turns King’s Hearts
Friends,
If you haven’t read Ezra in a while, jump in! It’s been so awesome. I’m in chapter 6 today, so let me bring you up with what’s happened since the Lord stirred the spirit of King Cyrus to let the Jews rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Ezra 1 & 2 record all who returned. It lists ALL the families. It’s neat to read through them all. Ezra 3 tells how they began reconstruction “as one man.” I loved reading that part. In other words, they really came together for this project!
Ezra 4 is so cool because it tells how their enemies, who didn’t want them to rebuild the temple, played like they did and asked to be a part. Do times ever change??? However, and this is a big however, in Ezra 4:3, Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest replied, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.” In other words, “thanks, but no thanks.” Somewhere in there is a whole sermon on being astute.Let’s jump forward to verse 4.
After the foxes in lambs’ clothes were told “thanks, but no thanks,” they got mad and began a campaign against the rebuilding of the temple. It’s a long story. You can read about it in Ezra 4:4-24. Bottom line, the rebuilding was stopped. Don’t you hate that? What a reminder that we live in a fallen world and there will always be opposition to the ongoing work of the Lord. Opposition, but not ultimate defeat! Keep reading.
In Ezra 5 the construction is renewed due to the “preaching of the prophets.” (Amen and amen to pastors preaching the Word of God.) A letter was written to counter the enemies’ letter that had thwarted the rebuilding, and guess what? King Darius not only affirmed Cyrus’ original blessing on the rebuilding, he added his own blessing. See Ezra 6:8-10.
In addition, Daius made sure no more sassy enemies would deter the Jews and rebuilding. Listen to his warning in Ezra 6:11, “And I issued a decree that any man who violates this edict, a timber shall be drawn from his house and he shall be impaled on it and his house shall be made a refuse heap on account of this.” I mean he is one serious guy. Thankfully, he’s on the Jews’ side this time!
Let’s continue with the kings’ thoughts in Ezra 6:12, “May the God who has caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who attempts to chage it, so as to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree, let it be carried out with all diligence!”Now, to the part I really want to emphasize today. Ezra 6:22, (upon completion of the temple) “And they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had caused them to rejoice, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.”
Oh, my dear friends, did you hear that? The Lord turned the heart of the king. We should never despair. The Lord hears our prayers. I pray you are calling out to the Lord who turns kings’ hearts.
For those journaling in Prayers of My Heart, this is an awesome attribute of God upon which to base your prayers for others and yourself. Need a heart change? Know someone who does? P.R.A.Y. to the One who changes hearts.
Love you,
Debbie