Tag: Praise

⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth (Isaiah 53:7 ^NKJV).

2,000 years ago, around this very season, our LORD Jesus faced the darkest hour of His life. He would be betrayed by one of His twelve chosen friends and denied by one of His three closest friends, and deserted by all. Left to face the chief priests who accused Him of crimes He did not commit and sins He was not guilty of, He stood there alone, silent, and unhindered. This was the very reason why He came into the world to die for a lost world, and without His innocent blood, we would be lost.

By His shed blood, anyone who will come to Him will receive forgiveness and inherit eternal life. By the chastisement that was thrust upon Him, He brought us peace that the world cannot even comprehend. A peace that the world cannot give and the world cannot take away. And by His stripes, or by the wounds on His back, we are healed. Everything that we need for life and for excellence, He has provided.

2,000 years ago, Jesus stood silent, not answering, not retaliating, not even defending Himself—He stood silent. Isaiah prophesied that as a lamb is silent before its shearers, Jesus would be silent. And as a lamb which is led to the slaughter is silent, so would Jesus the Messiah be silent. Jesus did not rebuff one accusation but accepted all that they blamed Him for. And for the Joy that was set before Him, that is you and I and all who will come in repentance, He endured the cross. Scorning its shame, but not resisting its excruciating pain, Jesus hung on the cross, the very emblem of suffering and pain, for six hours for you and me. He took all our sin, all of our guilt, and all of our iniquity upon Himself and bore it on dark Calvary.

May the love that Jesus showed us 2,000 years ago on Calvary, may it shine in our hearts today. And may His blood not be shed in vain for us, but that we live as obedient servants, loving our God, and serving our Savior, for He died in our place so that we might live unto righteousness.

Father, thank You for Your blessings on us. Thank You for the privilege of being called sons and daughters of the LORD God, Most High, and thank You for salvation. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2 ^ESV).

The author of the book of Hebrews says that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who are encouraging us not to give up and not to give in, but to keep on pressing on. And to throw aside everything that weighs us down, and discarding every sin that tries to cling to us, and run with endurance the race that is set before us. And whenever we get discouraged and heavy-laden, we must fix our eyes on Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith. He is our example. We don’t look to the world, or even to modern-day Christians, but we look to the One who was in all ways tempted and yet without sin. The One who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, scorning or despising its shame, and has overcome. It is He who encourages us to keep on keeping on, telling us that we can make it, because He overcame the world, we too will overcome the world.

Now, about the saying, for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. It’s a little jarring to think that the cross that was the most humiliating, the most excruciating punishment imaginable, designed by the Romans to not only humiliate, but to intimidate, and severely punish lawbreakers, was the joy set before Jesus. Because, after all, what joy was there in that? The joy is bringing new sons and daughters to the Father. His blood purchased you for the Father, and now you are adopted into the family of God. Therefore, the joy that was set before Him was you and me, and all who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. We are His joy and His pride.

So when the Scriptures said, “For the joy of the LORD is our strength,” it is talking about that joy, the joy that was set before Jesus, it’s our saving grace. For the joy of the LORD, our LORD is our strength, because He strengthens us for good works.

Heavenly Father, I praise You for the good work that You have started, and I know that You are able to finish it. Thank You for the cross, LORD Jesus. Now, have Your way in my life, and help me live like the joy of the LORD is really my strength. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

When you consider all that Paul had been writing about, you cannot help but realize how great our God is and…, as Paul did…, erupt in worship of Him because of His awesomeness.

Notice Paul’s overwhelming excitement about the two things that are mentioned here. The wisdom of God and The knowledge of God. These are only two aspects of our God, but Paul is completely and totally impressed by them, and it makes him cry out in humble excitement—Oh, the depth of the riches… the riches of both God’s wisdom and God’s knowledge.

Paul is in awe of God after unpacking all of his earlier arguments: Israel’s rejection of Jesus and God’s purposes for them. Then he talks about God’s great mercy and the message of salvation. And about Gentiles being grafted into God’s plan of salvation. And the mystery of Israel’s own salvation. The words just unimpededly gush from his mouth: Oh, the depth of the riches…

Paul isn’t describing God’s bank account… or His storehouses filled to the brim with gold and silver and precious stones, when he exclaims, Oh, the depth of the riches…

No! He is describing an endless, bottomless ocean of abundant depth in God’s wisdom and knowledge—an ocean so vast and deep that there’s no fear of it ever running dry or being depleted in any way.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Praise His Depth.

⁴ Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine: the soul who sins shall die. ~ Ezekiel 18:4

Let’s unpack that suitcase. God’s speaking loud and clear claims that every soul belongs to Him, from the father to the child, with no exceptions. He’s not beating around the bush. He implicitly states that He owns us because He made us. But here’s the kicker: Even though God owns us, His words are still law with one penalty: ‘the soul who sins shall die.’ Sin’s not a slap on the wrist—it’s a death sentence, a wall separating unholy transgressors from a holy God.

It all started back in Eden, where there was one law with one consequence—‘eat and you die’ (Genesis 2:17). Both Adam and his wife Eve ate and received the due penalty for their transgression. That death sentence has now been passed down to every single person who was ever born—from them to us (Romans 5:12).

Now, each one of us has a death sentence hanging over our heads as a result. We were lost, separated with no hope because there is only one way back to God: a perfect, sinless blood sacrifice. The book of Hebrews clearly states that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). So, what to do?

In the words of the great Apostle Paul, we cry out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our LORD!” (Romans 7:24-25)

There was only one way for Jesus to deliver us: He had to take our place on the cross, which He did. Praise His holy Name! Thank You Jesus! By dying on the Cross, He purchased the only way back to God. Knowing that He would be the Sacrificial Lamb with way-making power, Jesus said, “I AM the Way!” Jesus is the Way, the only way to God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Praise The Way.

¹ I will extol You, my God and King, and bless Your Name forever and ever. ² Every day I will bless You and praise Your Name forever and ever. ³ Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. ~ Psalms 145:1-3

The word extol is a fancy way of saying praise, or magnify, or glorify. Therefore, the Psalmist is saying, I will praise Your Name, O my God. I will magnify You because You are my God and my King. I will glorify You with my life, and I will sing Your praise forever. I choose to honor You because I admire and adore You for all that You have done. I will worship You forever. See what the Psalmist says, “Every day I will bless You and praise Your Name forever and ever.”

And why does he do that? He tells us. It’s because the LORD is great and greatly to be praised. Because of all the wondrous things the LORD has done. So much so that they are too numerous to list and too many for us to even know all the wonders that He has performed. Just think, He created the world and all that is in it. He formed us and created us in His own image. He took all of our sins upon Himself and carried them away from us as far as the East is from the West (Psalms 103:12). God is a great God. He is a loving and kind God, and His steadfast love will never end. God is a good, good Father.

God is a God that truly cares. A God that truly loves. For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only begotten Son (John 3:16). He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will never turn His back on us. So, the next time you feel alone or forsaken like no one cares about you and no one loves you, remember that Your Heavenly Father loves you. He adores you. Jesus gave His life for you so that you can have eternal life with Him. You are loved. So, that is why we extol the LORD our God and our King. That is why we bless His holy Name. That is why we will bless Him every day and praise His Name forever because we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us so much. Thank You for dying on the cross for us. I purpose in my heart to extol You and bless Your great name every day; as long as You give me breath in my lungs, I will praise You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

¹ When David had settled into his palace, he said to the prophet Nathan, “Look! I am living in a cedar house while the ark of the Lord’s covenant is under tent curtains.” ² So Nathan told David, “Do all that is on your mind, for God is with you.” ³ But that night the word of God came to Nathan: ⁴ “Go to David my servant and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. ⁵ From the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until today I have not dwelt in a house; instead, I have moved from one tent site to another, and from one tabernacle location to another. ⁶ In all my journeys throughout Israel, have I ever spoken a word to even one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, asking: Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar? ’ ⁷ “So now this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a name for you like that of the greatest on the earth. ⁹ I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done ¹⁰ ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies. “‘Furthermore, I declare to you that the Lord himself will build a house for you. ¹¹ When your time comes to be with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who is one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will not remove my faithful love from him as I removed it from the one who was before you. ¹⁴ I will appoint him over my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.’” ¹⁵ Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.  ¹⁶ Then King David went in, sat in the Lord’s presence, and said, Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? ¹⁷ This was a little thing to you, God, for you have spoken about your servant’s house in the distant future. You regard me as a man of distinction, Lord God. ¹⁸ What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? You know your servant. ¹⁹ Lord, you have done this whole great thing, making known all these great promises for the sake of your servant and according to your will. ²⁰ Lord, there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, as all we have heard confirms. ²¹ And who is like your people Israel? God, you came to one nation on earth to redeem a people for yourself, to make a name for yourself through great and awesome works by driving out nations before your people you redeemed from Egypt. ²² You made your people Israel your own people forever, and you, Lord, have become their God. ²³ Now, Lord, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and his house be confirmed forever, and do as you have promised. ²⁴ Let your name be confirmed and magnified forever in the saying, “The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, is God over Israel.” May the house of your servant David be established before you. ²⁵ Since you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build him a house, your servant has found courage to pray in your presence. ²⁶ Lord, you indeed are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. ²⁷ So now, you have been pleased to bless your servant’s house that it may continue before you forever. For you, Lord, have blessed it, and it is blessed forever. ~ 1 Chronicles 17:1-27 ^CSB

David desired to build a house for the LORD to dwell in. He didn’t feel right that he had a house to dwell in, but the LORD only had a tent. So, King David inquired of Nathan, the Prophet, to see if the LORD was with him for this project. Nathan, without inquiring of the LORD, told David to not only build it but that the LORD was with him. When Nathan returned home that night, the LORD came to him and told him to tell David that he wasn’t to build the LORD a home.

David got the idea, checked it with the prophet, got the prophet’s approval, and then was told no. It would have been easy for David to become upset and discouraged. He could have easily become angry and aggressive. Instead, David praised the LORD.

David understood the LORD has good plans for His people. Even though David had a plan himself, he knew that God’s plan was better. That God’s plan was best. So he didn’t just accept God’s plan; David rejoiced in God’s plan. He praised the LORD.

We all have plans and desires for our lives, and so does the LORD. Sometimes, our plans are good, but they aren’t right for us. They’re a good thought but the wrong outcome. Therefore, we must rejoice and praise, even when God says no. Why? Because there is nothing greater than the plan God has for your life. Therefore, cling to the plan of God regardless of your own. Praise Him, for His plans are good and just.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Praise In No.

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