Tag: praise

What God’s Doing – Joy, Peace, and Hope are Possible

Posted on by Dorci

I thought it would be fun to start a new Sunday thing where we share what God’s speaking into our hearts through the teaching we heard at church or in our own studies.

It’s so good to encourage each other, reinforcing those lessons and convictions, and cheer each other on as He heals us along the way.

This morning, after celebrating what God’s done in the last few years to enlarge our church, first the building, which made room for new people, (yay, God!), our pastor’s teaching centered around these words of Paul:

 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13

I don’t know about you, but sometimes joy, peace, and hope can seem hard to come by. The fires of trial and suffering just want to suck those right out of you.

BUT, “by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

That word power is no wimpy power. In the Greek it is dunamis, where we get our word dynamite. It means force, miraculous power (by implication a miracle itself), ability, abundance, meaning, might, strength, violence (as in the violence or fury quenched by our brothers and sisters in Hebrews 11:34).

God wants to do so much in and through us, and if we continue abiding in Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and keep on praying continually – about EVERYTHING, at ALL TIMES! – and praise Him through the fire, we WILL walk through the valleys with that deep down miraculous joy of our salvation, know His peace, and have hope.

What greater testimony is there to an unbeliever, or even a struggling believer, than to walk through the flames with inexplicable joy and peace.

I needed that. And if you do, too, I hope it encourages you to remember God is ready, willing, and able to give us everything we need to walk in victory. Just hang on.

Now, what is God speaking into your heart?

PS – If you need prayer, please let me know.

 

Heavenly Father, help us keep our eyes off the flames and onto You. And we ask, in your perfect timing, when the flames have done their job and burned off the dross, we ask that you would quench them and bring times of refreshing. In the meantime, as we hold onto Jesus, we pray for a generous measure of the miraculous joy, peace, and hope that only you can give. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for God’s Glory

Posted on by Dorci

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
John 21:25

 

People photo created by jcomp – www.freepik.com

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your holy Name. You are salvation, and all power and glory and majesty are yours. May we never stop singing your praises, our Abba, our Adonai, our Immanuel.

Even in my own life, I feel these words of your servant John are true. You have saved me, protected me, provided for me, blessed me, and done more for me than I could ever fully express, or even know myself.

Thank you for all you’ve done, all you are doing, and all you will do for your children, to care for us and mature us until we meet with you face to face. May your light ever shine through us, and may the words of our testimony always be seasoned with salt.

May we remember your amazing grace and mercy, especially during times of trial.  When we can’t understand, may we lean on your understanding, on your eternal plans, which are far greater than we could ever fully grasp.

May you always be our life, our hope, our peace, our constant presence.  May we get rid of those things, those bad habits, the ungodly attitudes, anything that could keep us from being filled to overflowing with your Holy Spirit who will mature us and enable us to do all you have for us.

Father, the world so desperately needs you. Use us for your glory. We desire to bear orchards and orchards of fruit and lay up our treasures in heaven. May you make it so.

In the glorious name of Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Friend, amen.

Hosanna!

Posted on by Dorci

The God of Israel had just rescued His people from their mighty enemies through a parted sea on dry ground. Dry ground. They didn’t have to wade through a little bit of water or even slog through mud. God provided a red carpet toward the Promised Land.

Days later, they camped near some springs of water and seventy palm trees. (Countless studies could be done on the significance of the number 70 in God’s Word.)

Not too long after, God ordained certain holy days to be celebrated every year, one of them being the Festival, or Feast of Tabernacles.  During the seven days this feast was observed, the Israelites were to live in tents, or tabernacles, made from the leaves of various trees, including palm trees, as a celebration and remembrance of the Lord’s deliverance and provision in the desert.

Because this joyful holiday had been celebrated generation after generation, palm leaves became a symbol of victory, triumph, and faithfulness.

So when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey just before Passover, the crowds who had gathered there, recognizing Jesus as their savior (although their idea of what He was there to do would be vastly different), it was only right that they cut down palm branches to welcome Him.

“On the next day, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, a great crowd who had come to the Feast took the branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him. And they cried,

‘Hosanna (oh save)! 
Blessed is the King of Israel
who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
John 12:12-13

He did indeed come to save us, but in an even much greater way than they thought. He didn’t come to only save us from a cruel and unjust government, but to save us from ourselves, from our own sins that would have brought a certain death to our souls in this life and an eternal one in the next.

The next time the apostle John would give us a look at the significance of palm leaves would be as he was given a glimpse into heaven.

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.’

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

‘Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!’”
Revelation 7:9-12

 

 


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Sunday Praise and a Song – The Beautiful Letdown

Posted on by Dorci

Our Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your holy and precious Name. We lift up high the Name above all names, our Savior, our Messiah, our King, our Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for giving us eternal life through the power of your shed blood and for preparing a place for each of us who have believed on you. 

May we never be satisfied with this world. May the disappointments and letdowns we have here remind us that we live for something, Someone, more, and may we find our satisfaction in a constantly abiding relationship with you.

I pray we remember we’re only passing through here as foreigners and strangers, and that we live for the day when we are completed in your presence and live in joy with you forevermore.  In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen.


The Beautiful Letdown
by Switchfoot

It was a beautiful letdown
When I crashed and burned
When I found myself alone
Unknown and hurt
It was a beautiful letdown
The day I knew
That all the riches this world had to offer me
Would never do

In a world full of bitter pain
And bitter doubts
I was trying so hard to fit in
Fit in, until I found out

I don’t belong here (I don’t belong)
I don’t belong here (I don’t belong)
I will carry a cross and a song
Where I don’t belong
I don’t belong

It was a beautiful letdown
When you found me here
Yeah, for once in a rare blue moon
I see everything clear
I’ll be a beautiful letdown
That’s what I’ll forever be
And though it may cost my soul
I’ll sing for free

We’re still chasing our tails
In the rising sun
In our dark water planet still spinning
In a direction no one wins
No one’s won.

See, I don’t belong here (I don’t belong)
Well, I don’t belong here, I don’t belong
I will carry a cross
With a song where I don’t belong
I don’t belong
I don’t belong here (I don’t belong)
No, I don’t belong here, I don’t belong
I’m gonna set side
And set sail
For the kingdom come, kingdom come
Your kingdom come
Won’t you let me down, yeah
Let my foolish pride forever let me down

Ah, easy living, you’re not much like the name
Easy dying, you look just about the same
Would you please take me off your list
Easy living please c’mon and let me down

We are a beautiful letdown
Painfully uncool
The church of the dropouts
The losers, the sinners, the failures, and the fools
What a beautiful letdown
Are we salt in the wound
Hey, let us sing one true tune

I don’t belong here (I don’t belong)
It feels like I don’t belong here, yeah
It goes like I don’t belong here
I don’t belong (I don’t belong)
Won’t you let me down (I don’t belong)
C’mon and let me down (I don’t belong)
You always let me down (I don’t belong)
So glad that I’m let down (I don’t belong)
C’mon and let me down (I don’t belong)
Cause I don’t belong here
Won’t you let me down!

Sunday Praise and a Prayer For the New Year

Posted on by Dorci

Hello! I pray your new year is off to a good start. And whether it is or isn’t, let us remember that the Lord has promised to never leave us or forsake us. He is with us no matter how deep and dark the trial may be.

He will give us the strength and courage to endure, and not only to endure, but as Jesus tells us in John 10:10, He came to give us not only life, but an abundant life. That word for abundant, perissos, means beyond, superabundant, superior, excessive, exceeding abundantly above, beyond measure…   You get the idea. 

This is God’s will and promise for us who walk with and in His Spirit. 

So let us set our hearts and minds on Him and let Him be the very reason we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28) and watch what He will do!

I’d love to hear from you throughout the year what God is doing in your lives so we can praise and glorify Him together. And if you ever need prayer, please do not hesitate to leave a comment, email me, or contact me through the blog’s pages on Facebook or Twitter. 

In Christ,

 


“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13

***

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your holy and precious name. As we seek you each day, may we make choices that glorify you. We thank you in advance for what you’re going to do, how you will provide for us in every situation, and for the abundant life of your Spirit, your love, joy, peace and all the fruit we bear as we hold onto you through our Lord Jesus Christ, and may the world sit up and take notice so much that they, too, will know that in you and you only is life. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

Sunday Praise – Psalm 150

Posted on by Dorci

 

Hallelujah! Praise God in His sanctuary.
Praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise
Him for His powerful acts; praise Him for 
His abundant greatness. Praise Him with
trumpet blast; praise Him with harp and 
lyre. Praise Him with tambourine and 
dance; praise Him with flute and strings.
Praise Him with resounding cymbals;
praise Him with clashing cymbals. Let 
everything that breathes praise the Lord.
Hallelujah!

Psalms 150 (HCSB)

2022 National Day of Prayer

Posted on by Dorci

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, 
so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted 
and now being built up in Him
and established in your faith, just as you were instructed,
and overflowing with gratitude.”
Colossians 2:6-7 NASB


Thursday, May 5 is this year’s National Day of Prayer, and boy do we need it. The date has come in the middle of this nation’s war, quite literally, between life and death. 

The theme given for this year is ‘Exalt the Lord, who has established us,’ which is based on Colossians 2:6-7. 

The Hebrew word for exalt, when exalting the LORD, means “to be high actively, to rise or raise, to lift up. 

In our dictionary exalt means to raise in rank, honor, power, character, quality, to elevate. 

To praise. 

It is to see God and acknowledge Him for who He is: the Righteous One who judges all and through Christ shows mercy. To humble ourselves before Him, elevating Him in our hearts, minds and souls, praising Him as the King of kings and Lord of lords, seeking Him to do His will on earth as it is in heaven, to do in His strength what we can never do alone. 

Let’s lift our voices together, coming to the throne room of God to praise Him and to seek His mercy. 

Heavenly Father, the Holy and Exalted One, the One worthy to be praised and glorified forever and ever, our Creator, our Giver of Life, and Redeemer, we lift you up as our Lord and King. 

We humbly come before you on behalf of this nation that has been ravaged by the evil one and has turned away from you and your truth and believed lies. 

Father, we ask for the merciful pouring out of your Holy Spirit to give people eyes to see and ears to hear the truth, to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the one who bore all our sins on the cross that we might be forgiven of all our sins and have life with you now and forever. 

We pray you would pull the spiritually lost and blinded back from the brink of hell. 

Father, we pray, though, that those who have yet to know you, who are believing and proclaiming and fighting for lies, would see your love in us.

Help us remember that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12)

Though we are angry at the sin because it destroys the sinner, may we be your lights, shining your love and grace and mercy to all those whose hearts will receive you. 

May you grant repentance, LORD, and freedom for the captives. 

We are humbled and blessed beyond comprehension that you know us, and have opened our eyes and hearts to know you. Thank you for revealing yourself to us in the pages of your Word. May our love for you and our faith in you grow more passionate every day.  We pray in the precious name of Yeshuah Hamashiach, Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One, the One who was, Who is, and is to come. Amen.

 

Scripture Picture – Light of the World

Posted on by Dorci

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for My Thoughts

Posted on by Dorci

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.“
Philippians 4:8

Dear Heavenly Father, I praise your holy Name. You are my Rock and my place of refuge and strength. 

Father, in this time when so much is going on in the world and in my own life, and the enemy tries to use it all to take my attention away from you and fill my heart with fear, I ask you to help me to take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ, to fix my mind on Him, His love for me, and His power over the enemy. Throughout this week, empower me with your Holy Spirit to think on those things that will bring me hope and peace. Remind me of all your blessings and the way you constantly care for me. 

I pray my thoughts, my words, my actions, my life bring you glory. In Jesus’ holy name I pray, amen. 

***

If you have any prayer requests, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or email me.  We’re in this together. 

Thankful Thursday – Roots

Posted on by Dorci

“Let your roots grow down into Him,
and let your lives be built on Him.
Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught,
and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:7

What are you thankful for today?