Praise from My Heart

“I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; before the gods I will sing your praise.”

All hail the power of Jesus’ name….” I will sing! Thank You God for a voice to sing. I will rejoice in You. You are my joy.

“I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.”

How can I thank You enough for Your unfailing, everlasting love and for Your Word which always accomplishes what You send it to do (Isaiah 55:11)? Without You, I am nothing, and yet You chose to love me and give me purpose. Not only that, You do that for any of us mere people who seek You!

“When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.”

Therefore, I will receive Your strength and take courage, and abound in Your work (1 Corinthians 15:58).

“Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.”

So I humble myself before You and thank You and praise You forever.

“The Lord will fulfill [his purpose] for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever….”

Thank You, Lord. Every praise belongs to You. I will praise You for Your enduring love and faithfulness.

Amen.

(From Psalm 138)

[Pinterest image of Ps 138:8 –

http://rachelwojo.com/confident-bible-reading-week-1-summary/ ]

Sing Praises to Our King

1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
2 How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth!

In these times of turmoil, Lord, how good it is to remember Your sovereignty!

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

I will sing praises when I count my blessings because every good gift I have comes from You.

I know I need to sing praises when I encounter trouble because You are refining my character, but too often I forget to do that. Please help me, Holy Spirit!

When I see the trees and rocks and flowers and animals, I will sing praises to You, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Our hearts rejoice and sing praises when we remember Your unending love and Your mighty power.

7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.

I will sing praise to You because You are Sovereign God and King of all.

8 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

(From Psalm 47 NIV) (Underline emphasis mine.)

What a good reminder this psalm is to me when I’m tempted to anger or discouragement over national and world events! The kings of the earth belong to God, and God reigns over the nations. I can trust Him no matter what happens.

(Psalm 47:1 picture from Pinterest)

A Jubilant June Thanksgiving

The blue-violet blooms along the fence first caught my eye,
And milk-white blossoms splattered the green weeds around them.

I found a bunch of bright golden black-eyed Susans nearby.

And look! A puff of pink wild roses.

Fragrant white-crowned yarrow marches beside the road
While tumbling water clatters through the rocky roadside ditch.

Thank You, Lord, for these beauties attending my morning walk
On this cloudy day in June.
This visual feast—Your gift to me—eases my weariness from yesterday’s disappointments.
My faltering faith leaps to life again as I remember Your presence and love.
All praise and thanks belong to You, God.
Let heaven and earth, all people and all creation give
Glory and honor to You, O Lord our God! Amen.

Invisible Made Visible

Lord God Almighty, the invisible God, You have made Yourself visible in Jesus Christ Your Son. Hallelujah!

Jesus, Son of God, You existed before anything was created since You are the Word who was with God and was God. Nothing was created except through You. I lift praises to You!

Jesus, You hold everything together and sustain everything by Your powerful Word. You are before all things—Number 1 first, before time, before creation. I praise You, Lord!

All the fullness of God dwells in You, Jesus. When I see You, I see the Father. Holy Spirit, please help me see Jesus better.

All thanks and praise to You God! I used to be alienated from You, but now You have reconciled me to Yourself through Christ’s death on the cross. So I am holy in Your sight without blemish and free from accusation because I am in Christ Jesus.

Praise You, God–Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit!

(See Colossians 1:15-23, John 1:1-3, Hebrews 1:3 and Romans 8:1.)

(Image from Pinterest)

Chosen Part 2

Some years back, a Bible Study group I joined sang a song based on 1 Peter 2:9:

“But you are a chosen generation,
A royal priesthood, a holy nation,
A peculiar people, that you should
Show forth the praises of Him
Who has called you out of darkness,
Out of darkness, out of darkness
Into His marvelous light,
Into His marvelous light.”

A piano rendition is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPZgG83drMY.
The song was apparently written by Jeanie Clattenburg.

As I said before, how wonderful to be chosen, and how marvelous to be called for a purpose!
Lord Jesus, thank You for making my life worth living. Amen.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” –1 Peter 2:9

Colossians 1:13 also talks about that amazing transfer from darkness to light.“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”

Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord.

(Image from Pinterest)

Journey Reblog 5 – Stepping Stones in the Valley

Reblogged August 14, 2019

God gave me “stepping stones” amid the muck of physical symptoms, doubts, and fears in Anxiety Valley. They didn’t make me feel any less anxious, but they helped me get through the days of struggle. Here are a few I wrote down:

1. Psalm 116:1, 5, 7 (New Living Translation): “I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.” “5 How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!” “7 Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me.”

I will believe God’s love. Then my soul can rest because in believing I remember God’s goodness and His presence with me. I choose to believe Him instead of listening to the lying anxiety feelings.

Romans 15:13: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Holman Christian Standard Bible).

2. I love God. I want to love Him more. I want to grow in knowledge and discernment and depth of insight so I can know what is best and what really matters. (Philippians 1:9-10 “I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return” New Living Translation.)

 

3. Father, You have sent help. Praise music and Your Word offer comfort. You said that You will never fail or forsake me (Joshua 1:5 and Hebrews 13:5). You have promised, and You are faithful (Hebrews 10:23). You sent the pastor and the counselor. You even provided a calmative medicine to help me get through this. You gave me friends and family and church family who love and support me. And the devotional readings! Some seem especially appropriate on the particular days they show up in my e-mail.

Thank You, Lord, for all these expressions of Your love and grace. Amen.

Creation Praises

Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me bless His Holy Name!
O Lord, You paint the eastern sky with sunrise every morning,
And at end of day You brush sunset colors over the opposite canvas.
Dark of night reveals the multitude of stars which populate the heavens.
Your creation praises You! I will join them with a song of joy.

I will praise and thank You for the symphony of blooms in our front yard.
The Bridal Veil and Forsythia blooms began the melody.
Then the Bradford Pears added their white-frosted branches to the mix.
Their flowers faded out, but the lilacs chimed in with their fragrant purplish mounds.
Our Spirea bushes pour forth fountains of flowers.
The flowering cherry trees add their own notes of beauty.
And daffodils, daylilies, and irises of various hues complete the chorus
To You, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Let Your people praise You! Let all the people praise You, Creator and Lord!

People can admire creation’s beauty and write about its loveliness. Some can paint replicas of nature on canvas. But we couldn’t begin to create life. You alone create living things, whether plant or animal.
You are the awesome, amazing, living God! Let everything that has breath praise You! Amen.

From the hymn “God Who Touchest Earth with Beauty”

photo by Tricia Opitz

God, who touchest earth with beauty, Make me lovely too; With Thy Spirit re-create me, Make my heart anew.

Like Thy springs and running waters, Make me crystal pure; Like Thy rocks of towering grandeur, Make me strong and sure.

Like Thy dancing waves in sunlight, Make me glad and free; Like the straightness of the pine trees, Let me upright be. …

(Lyrics by Mary S. Edgar; music by Frederick Arthur Gore-Ouseley)
(Source – Baptist Hymn Book )

Our Help Is in the Lord

One of my favorite names for God is “Maker of Heaven and Earth” because it spoke peace to me in a crisis a few years back. At that time I searched for comfort one night by leafing through the Psalms. I came upon Psalm 124:8—“Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth (NKJV).” I could relax. No matter what happened, my hope was in the God who made heaven and earth. It would be all right.
So when God points out to Job in Job 38 the greatness of His creative acts, I’m reminded to praise the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Some things to praise God for from Job 38:4-11 NIV:
You, Lord God,

• Laid the earth’s foundations;
• Marked off its dimensions;
• Shut up the sea behind doors when it first burst forth;
• Clothed it with clouds;
• Wrapped the sea in darkness;
• Fixed limits for it;
• Told the sea, “You can come this far, no farther,” and “Here is where your proud waves halt.” (And it obeyed.)

Wow!!
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation. Oh, my soul, praise Him, for He is my help and salvation! All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near. Join me in glad adoration.”–from the hymn ”Praise to the Lord the Almighty” (lyrics and video at https://www.godtube.com/popular-hymns/praise-to-the-lord-the-almighty/

Thanksgiving and Praise

“O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!” (1 Chronicles 16:34)

Yes, Lord, You are so good! You are good and do only good (Psalm 119:68 NLT). I praise You for Your total goodness. I also thank You for Your goodness to me.
Thank you for your unending mercy and loving-kindness! How I need Your mercy! If I continued to look at how often I’ve failed to show love or have gone my own way, surely I would faint from discouragement. But Your mercy is fresh every morning (Lamentations 3:23), and it endures forever! Thank You!

In the New Living Translation, “loving-kindness” is translated “faithful love.”Thank You, Lord, for Your faithful love! Your love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).

“Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?” (Psalm 106:1-2)

“All the praise that is due God”—indeed, Lord, You are worthy of unending praise. No matter how many praises I sing or say, You are worthy of more.

“Bless (Affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!” (Psalm 103:1)

O my soul, when you are tempted to feel sad or discouraged, remember God’s goodness and mercy and faithful love. Put into words some of His mighty deeds. Then affectionately and gratefully praise your Lord and bless His holy Name. And remember that His mercy and faithful love (even for you) ENDURE FOREVER!

(Scripture quotes are from the Amplified Bible.)

 

Only a Tent

My body is only a tent, a temporary dwelling place. I can try to take good care of it. If I should need things like medicines or eye glasses, they are like tent patches. They help my physical body. When my body dies, the real me will live on.

From 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.” (NKJV)
Romans 14:8 “For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” (NKJV)

Whether I live or die, I am the Lord’s. I trust in Him.

Psalm 29:9: “The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’” (NIV)
My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 6:19). Let all within me cry, “Glory! Glory to the Lord God almighty!”