Praise

Luke 11:2a – The Lord’s Prayer: Hallowed Be Your Name

Devotions, Jesus, Praise, Prayer

The Lord's Prayer Devotions

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV)

Jesus’ closest followers came with a significant request: “teach us to pray.”  Surely, they had prayed before, but somehow they recognized their need for instruction on how to pray most effectively.  Jesus’ instruction on prayer began with this familiar statement: “Father, hallowed be your name.”  To hallow something means literally to “render or acknowledge, to set apart.”  Jesus knew that we are designed to render and acknowledge something or someone who is bigger and better than us. Continue Reading →

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Job 1:20-22 – Challenging Worship

Devotions, Praise, Prayer

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. (Job 1:20-22 ESV)

This scene of Job’s right heart toward God, even when stricken with pain and grief, is beautiful. What anguished him was the devastating news he received from four messengers in rapid succession. They brought him the news as follows:

  • First Messenger: The Sabeans have plundered your oxen and donkeys, and have killed your servants with swords.
  • Second Messenger: A fire storm of some caliber fell from heaven, consuming your sheep and servants.
  • Third Messenger: Three groups of Chaldeans raided your camels and killed the servants who were with them.
  • Fourth Messenger: Your sons and daughters were enjoying each other’s company when a freak wind storm destroyed the house they were in, crushing them dead.

Any one of these messages would have been difficult in their own right, but imagine receiving this news all at once. Continue Reading →

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Nehemiah 9:17 – Big Faith From Little Blessings

Christian Walk, Devotions, Praise, Thanksgiving

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. (Nehemiah 9:17 ESV)

The Israelites time and time again were saved by God through miracles as they were in and leaving Egypt. But they continually rebelled from God. Reading these accounts in Scripture can easily make us feel competent and prideful. Our minds are filled with the notion that if we had seen the miracles the Israelites saw, we would never have forgotten them. Generally, we could rightly assume that none of us reading this has ever seen a sea part, a river turn to blood or mana from heaven. But, we think that if we did, we would never act faithlessly as the Israelites did toward God.

What if we are looking at this scripture and others similar in the wrong way? Continue Reading →

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Psalm 23:3 – God Does It For His Name

Devotions, Praise, Psalm

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

He restores my soul.
 He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3 ESV)

Why does God lead us and take care of us? We can probably list a number of reasons. A popular one may be, “Because of his love.” We know that God is love (1 John 4:8) and that we as Christians are to love above all (1 Peter 4:8). While these are true about God and love, they aren’t the only reason he takes care of and directs his people. Scripture teaches here that he does it “for his name’s sake”. This isn’t an isolated verse or reason for God doing what he does throughout Scripture. We read in Ezekiel 20:14 that he took care of the Israelites in order that the foreign nations wouldn’t profane his name and the list of verses could go on. This can be hard to grasp. Continue Reading →

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Genesis 1:31 – God and Creation

Christian Walk, Devotions, Praise, Thanksgiving

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31 ESV)

God looked at his creation and said that it was very good. The world he created, the trees and plants, animals and insects, and even humans were a part of this “very good”. As Christians we do a good job of trying to bring the human part of creation back to the “very good” God was talking about. We tell people about Jesus in the hope that they will put their faith in him. Our hope is that they may enter into the relationship with God that Adam and Eve had before the fall.

What we sometimes forget is that nature was also considered “very good” in God’s eyes. With this in mind, Continue Reading →

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Psalm 33:1 – Living As Befits Us

Christian Walk, Devotions, Praise, Psalm

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
(Psalm 33:1 ESV)

If you found yourself at the end of life and were afforded the opportunity to both reflect upon your existence and hear what others had to say about the way you had lived, what would characterize your life? Think for a moment, what would you like others to say of you? What do you hope your life would have been recognized for? Would your friends and neighbors say, “He always seemed to notice what was wrong with everything first, complained, and was overly critical.” Or Continue Reading →

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