Day 30 - Rejoice in the Lord Always!

Rejoice in the Lord always.
Again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentleness be known to all men.
The Lord is at hand.
Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God;
and the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 4:4-7

30 Days of Thanks - The Thankful Heart

"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies;

but the thankful heart will find,
in every hour, some heavenly blessings."
Henry Ward Beecher

But You Were Washed...

I just LOVE this verse. It's another one of those verses that the Lord had been bringing to my mind recently, not just for me but one that was to be shared....and here it is again. And along with it, comes a fabulous quote from my Tozer devo tonight. Hope you are blessed!

And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were
sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God.
--1 Corinthians 6:11

"Jesus was able to see potential in the woman at the well that we
could never have sensed. What a gracious thing for us that Jesus
Christ never thinks about what we have been! He always thinks
about what we are going to be. You and I are slaves to time and
space and records and reputations and publicity and the past-all
that we call the case history. Jesus Christ cares absolutely
nothing about anyone's moral case history. He forgives it and
starts from there as though the person had been born one minute
before."
-AW Tozer

30 Days of Thanks - The Fruit of our Lips

For here we have no continuing city,

but we seek the one to come.

Therefore by Him let us continually offer

the sacrifice of praise to God, that is,

the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Hebrews 13:14-15

Day 27 - Joy Comes in the Morning

Psalm 30:1-5

I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O LORD my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me.
O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.

A Recurring Theme

My mom raised me well, always telling me, "in everything you do, do it as unto the Lord". That was something that has been in all my thoughts since I was a child. Whether it is work or school, or missions or whatever...in the back of my mind I can hear my mom saying that to me.

Well I guess the Lord wanted to be sure this was something that was not only in the back of my mind but grounded in my heart. During the past 2 weeks or so, this theme has been shown to me over and over again, in different ways, in different verses and in different devotionals. I love it when the Lord does this, when in my everyday devotion time with Him, He shows me something. It's not at all that I went out looking to find similarities, but that He brought them to me.

It all began with a Bible Study I was watching by Louie Giglio, called "The Signature of Significance". (If you missed the link to it that I posted you can watch the study here) The main verse for that study was:

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
-Colossians 3:17

In the study Louie talked about living a life of significance. A life that makes a difference, that stands out....and living your life, no matter what your passion is, no matter what your job is, in a way that glorifies God, and doing all that you do in the name of Jesus and with thanks.

Wow, what a great study that was I thought. Then the next day I open up My Utmost for His Highest daily devotional that I read, and the verse for that day is:

"whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
-1 Corinthians 10:31b

In the devotional Chambers talks about living your life in a way that you are almost not the one noticed. In other words, living your life in a way that when people look at you, they glorify Jesus shining through you. And to live your life as a Christian shining is not something you do only in the "big" things, like missions or preaching or the areas everyone sees. But living your life as a shining light in the little things, in the everyday interactions, at work or at home. Chambers said,

"If you are properly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the lofty height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time...The true test of a saint’s life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life. We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life 'hidden with Christ in God' in our everyday human conditions (Colossians 3:3). Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the ideal life of God should be exhibited."

Wow, so that is pretty much what Louie said the day before. To live our lives to glorify God, to do all things unto the Lord. To live life at work or at home in a manner that is worthy of Jesus, and turns the mundane life into a life of significance just by how we are living it. At this moment I thought, 'cool, lesson learned'. But I guess the Lord was not finished with me. A week later in my devotional, guess what verse re-appeared?

"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
-1 Corinthians 10:31

In this devo Chambers was warning us to not think that the little things in life, the "shallow" things as he referred to them, were not ordained by God. As though God was not concerned with the little things.

"Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of life are not ordained by God; they are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound."

In that moment, with what was going on in my personal life, this was a comfort to me in a couple of ways. It was applicable to the fact that the Lord does care about the little areas of my life, the things that are going on around me that I have no control of, the areas of the heart that I don't show to anyone, thoughts, fears, frustrations...all those things He sees and knows and can and does work in them and through them. But it goes beyond the fact that He knows about those areas, it goes from Him to me, and tells me that through Him, those areas in my life that are small and may not seem important in the big scheme of life, are important, and can be lived out in a way that glorifies God. My thoughts and fears and frustrations, can be taken and put against the Word and "held captive" so that even in those things no one on the outside may see, the Spirit sees, and I would want Him to be glorified in me even in those areas. To live a life of excellence that glorifies God on the journey we are on.

Then I listened to another study by Louie Giglio (click here to watch). It was called "Fully Alive". And again the theme was there, living our lives right now, today, everyday, in a manner that is significant and that brings glory to God. To live each and every day, in the little things and the big things in a way that is a light to those around us, that they ultimately see us and glorify Him. To not waste our time here on earth.

This morning I received an email devotion from Charles Spurgeon and the verse for the devotional was:

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
-Ecclesiastes 9:10

AGAIN Lord? I thought to myself. I almost feel like I must be missing something in my life. But I am loving that again He has brought this to me. I also love the way that Spurgeon ended his devo by saying:

"But where is the might of a Christian? It is not in himself, for he is perfect weakness. His might lieth in the Lord of Hosts. Then let us seek his help; let us proceed with prayer and faith, and when we have done what our 'hand findeth to do,' let us wait upon the Lord for his blessing. What we do thus will be well done, and will not fail in its effect."

Cause it isn't just about me doing everything as unto the Lord, and I think that sometimes in our strength we do that. We think that WE must do all these things to glorify God. As though we are alone in being a light to the world. But we are never alone, and the Lord would never call us to do anything, however big or small in our own power. We are representing Him in all areas of our lives. The only way to be a good representative of who He is, is by allowing His Spirit to work in us and through us and to give us the strength we need to live and do all things for Him.

Finally, I have had these verses going through my mind the past few days,

"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind."
-Philippians 3:12-16

Chambers the other day said,

"Beware of 'the cares of this world . . .' (Mark 4:19). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by 'the cares of this world.'"

Maybe you don't see the connection between these last verses and quote. But I totally do. In order to live our lives in a way that in everything both great and small we are being a light and acting in a manner that glorifies God, we have to get rid of those things that hinder us.

How true it is that the 'cares of this world' as small as they are in the scope of eternity, can be the things that cause our light to not shine, that cause us to complain instead of give thanks, that cause us to doubt instead of having faith in Him. Some of those things are distractions and are not necessary and should be gotten rid of. Some of those things may distract us, but are distractions because we have put them above the Lord's right place in our life and we need to do some adjusting. Whatever it is in our life, it needs to find it's place behind our Savior, it needs to be put in it's correct order in our life. And whether it is our outward actions in the big and small things of life, or our inward thoughts that only Christ knows, we need to do all these things to the glory of our Lord, by the power of His Spirit, and to lay aside those things that will hold us back so that we may press on toward the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.

grace and peace on your hearts,
r

30 Days of Thanks - Reflection

“Reflect upon your present blessings,
of which every man has plenty;

not on your past misfortunes
of which all men have some.”
~Charles Dickens

day 25 - Worthy is the Lamb

Then I looked,
and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne,
the living creatures, and the elders;
and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand,
and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth
and under the earth and such as are in the sea,
and all that are in them, I heard saying:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!”

And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

~Revelation 5:11-14

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Day 24 - We Give Thanks!

Psalm 75:1

"We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks!
For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near."

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Fully Alive

Great study by Louie Giglio and Passion City Church. I encourage you to watch it here.

“The person who made the greatest impact on me and my walk with Christ, died when He was 33 years old. His name is Jesus. And He did not come to this earth to live as long as He could, He came to this earth to give His life up for a mission that He deemed more important and more valuable than life itself.” Louie Giglio

“LORD, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah
Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.
And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You."

Psalm 39:4-7

Don't Settle!

This is a great Tozer devo. We always hear people talking about "not settling" for the good things in life, or not settling for the right job or the person. But how often do we as Christians settle for God's best in our lives? How often do we settle for a shallow relationship with the Creator of the universe? If you invest time into your friendships and relationships here on earth, but don't take time to spend with your Savior you are settling for less than what He has for you, you are missing out! Settling for less does not necessarily mean you are not saved...I'm not saying that, but why would you want to have a relationship that does not go beyond Sundays and church. I promise, your life will be transformed when you begin to spend more time with Him.
:)

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should
obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments
of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being
alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness to God.
--Romans 6:12-13

"It is disheartening to those who care, and surely a great grief to
the Spirit, to see how many Christians are content to settle for
less than the best. Personally I have for years carried a burden of
sorrow as I have moved among evangelical Christians who somewhere
in their past have managed to strike a base compromise with their
heart's holier longings and have settled down to a lukewarm,
mediocre kind of Christianity utterly unworthy of themselves and of
the Lord they claim to serve. And such are found everywhere....

Every man is as close to God as he wants to be; he is as holy and
as full of the Spirit as he wills to be....

Yet we must distinguish wanting from wishing. By "want" I mean
wholehearted desire. Certainly there are many who wish they were
holy or victorious or joyful but are not willing to meet God's
conditions to obtain.

-AW Tozer - That Incredible Christian, 64.

30 Days of Thanks - Whose Pulse May be Thy Praise

Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, - a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
~George Herbert

30 Days of Thanks - Day 22

2 Corinthians 2:14

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ,
and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

30 Days of Thanks - We Thank Thee

For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day 20 - That Men Would Give Thanks

Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Psalm 107:8-9

Day 19 - A Thankful Heart

"A thankful heart is one of the primary identifying characteristics of a believer. It stands in stark contrast to pride, selfishness, and worry. And it helps fortify the believer's trust in the Lord and reliance of His provision, even in the toughest times. No matter how choppy the seas become, a believer's heart is buoyed by constant praise and gratefulness to the Lord."
~John MacArthur

30 Days of Thanks - Day 18

Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God,
and it is one that the poorest of us can make and
be not poorer but richer for having made it.
~AW Tozer

GO BUY IT!!!!

Ok so I normally don't do this on my blog, but seriously the new Chris Tomlin album "And if Our God is For Us" is so totally amazing. God's hand was very obviously in the writing and making of it.

Do you ever reach that place when you are standing in awe in front of a Holy God, and you can't find the words to express your love for the Savior? Well the words to these songs fill that void in your soul with words of praise and worship. Song after song on this album totally struck all those chords in my heart and brought me tears again and again as my soul worshiped along with the album.

Yes, it really is that amazing.

So....go.buy.it! click here or go to your local store and get it!!! today!!!!

Day 17 - Marvelous are Your Works

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.

- Psalm 139:1-14

Day 16 - Don't Forget

"Keep your eyes open to your mercies.
The man who forgets to be thankful
has fallen asleep in life."

- Robert Louis Stevenson

Significance and Excellence

Just got done listening to this study by Louie Giglio at Passion City Church. It was so encouraging and challenging. If you want to be a light, if you want to make a difference in this world, if you want to live of a life of significance, I REALLY encourage you to listen to this study!!!

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17

To watch the Study click here.
If you want to download the podcast click here and then click on
"The Signature of Significance".

grace and peace
rachel

Day 15 - It is Good to Give Thanks

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night,
On an instrument of ten strings,
On the lute,
And on the harp,
With harmonious sound.
For You, LORD,
have made me glad through Your work;
I will triumph in the works of Your hands.
O LORD, how great are Your works!
Your thoughts are very deep.

Psalm 92:1-5

Day 14 - The Sweetest Blessings

"Those blessings are sweetest
that are won with prayer
and worn with thanks."
- Thomas Goodwin

Faith or Experience?

SUCH an amazing devotional tonight from Mr. Oswald Chambers! Had to share it!

. . . the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me —Galatians 2:20

"We should battle through our moods, feelings, and emotions into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus. We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit by saying, “I haven’t had this experience or that experience”! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the throne of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith “in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:30). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!

We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a “prayer meeting” Jesus Christ, or a “book” Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him.

It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief."

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30 Days of Thanks - A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Prayer of Thanksgiving
Walter Rauschenbusch

O God, we thank You for this earth, our home;
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank You for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thornbush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

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Day 12 - Marvelous in Our Eyes

Psalm 118:19-24

Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD,
Through which the righteous shall enter.
I will praise You,
For You have answered me,
And have become my salvation.
The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day the LORD has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

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Day 11 - Thanks to God and Thanks to Men

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57

I would also like to say a special Thank You to my dad and brother for their service to this great country and a Happy Veterans Day to all those who have served! We have a lot to be thankful for as Americans and your service has played a vital part of that! You are the pride of our Country!

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Day 10 - Rejoice in His Presence!

How divinely full of glory and pleasure shall that hour be when all the millions of mankind that have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God shall meet together and stand around Him, with every tongue and every heart full of joy and praise!

How astonishing will be the glory and the joy of that day when all the saints shall join together in one common song of gratitude and love, and of everlasting thankfulness to this Redeemer!

With that unknown delight, and inexpressible satisfaction, shall all that are saved from the ruins of sin and hell address the Lamb that was slain, and rejoice in His presence!

-Isaac Watts

Spiritual Warfare and Sin: The Cost of Quitting

Great devotional this morning from Mr. AW Tozer!

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against
Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You
have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
--Hebrews 12:3-4

"If Satan opposes the new convert he opposes still more bitterly
the Christian who is pressing on toward a higher life in Christ.
The Spirit-filled life is not, as many suppose, a life of peace
and quiet pleasure. It is likely to be something quite the
opposite.

Viewed one way it is a pilgrimage through a robber-infested
forest; viewed another, it is a grim warfare with the devil.
Always there is struggle, and sometimes there is a pitched battle
with our own nature where the lines are so confused that it is
all but impossible to locate the enemy or to tell which impulse
is of the Spirit and which of the flesh....

My point here is that if we want to escape the struggle we have
but to draw back and accept the currently accepted low-keyed
Christian life as the normal one. That is all Satan wants. That
will ground our power, stunt our growth and render us harmless
to the kingdom of darkness.

Compromise will take the pressure off. Satan will not bother a
man who has quit fighting. But the cost of quitting will be a
life of peaceful stagnation. We sons of eternity just cannot
afford such a thing."

Sorry if the picture seems a little strange to have a scene from a cemetery up with a devotional, but I thought it was a fitting picture to go with the idea of what it means to compromise, quit and accept a low key Christian life as a norm.

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Day 9 - A Thankful Heart

The thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities, struggles as refining tools, and sinners as saints in progress.
-Francis Frangipane

Mediator and Comforter

Job is always used today to speak of faith and of trusting in God through really hard times. Times where we just don’t understand what is going on.

Tonight in my daily reading I was in Job 9. Thinking about how hard it must have been for Job to have lost so much, to be surrounded by “friends” who were really only condemning him or speaking out of spiritual ignorance. Plus, he didn’t see behind the scenes like we do from the beginning of the Book of Job, he had no clue of the conversations between God and satan. Or even how “proud” God was of him.

So I’m reading this chapter and Job is responding to his second friend, talking about God.
He says in Job 9:32-33:

“For He is not a man, as I am,
That I may answer Him,
And that we should go to court together.
Nor is there any mediator between us,
Who may lay his hand on us both.”

And immediately it hit me…that even more than the trials he was going through, even more than the not knowing what was happening behind the scenes, more than his loss, more than the ignorance of those around him….he and God were separated. Not in the sense that God isn’t everywhere at all times. But in the sense that Job had no mediator. He had no comforter.

1 Timothy 2:5-6a says:

“For there is one God and one mediator
between God and mankind,
the man Christ Jesus,
who gave Himself as a ransom
for all people.”

We as Christians today HAVE a mediator. We are not left in situations ever where we are unable to approach a Holy God. Jesus became a man, lived a sinless life, then took on all the sins of mankind, died, was buried and rose again, so that HE could be our mediator. He alone is uniquely qualified to do so. No priest could ever fully be this. For there is no one who is both fully God and fully man, like Jesus is. Who better to be a mediator than the one who became flesh and walked among men, but who is also fully God from eternity past?

I can’t imagine life without Jesus. A life where I didn’t have Him there to pray to and talk to, to turn to. And as Romans 8:34b says, He is actually interceding on our behalf to the Father.

“It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

So we have Jesus as our mediator, but we have even more than that. We have something else Job did not have. We have the Holy Spirit living in us!

“For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:26b)

Not only is the Holy Spirit interceding for us, but He is our advocate and comforter.

John 14:16-17, Jesus says:

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,
that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him:
but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

The word “Comforter” here in the Greek means:

“summoned, called to one's side, esp. called to one's aid, one who pleads another's cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate, one who pleads another's cause with one, an intercessor”

Pretty cool. Job was a godly man, full of faith. He was able to endure through horrible times, without Jesus as his mediator and without the comfort of the Holy Spirit in him. How much more should we as Christians today be victorious in all things!

What an awesome God we serve, that He sent us His Son and the Holy Spirit to comfort us and intercede for us!!

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Day 8 - Declare His Glory

Oh, give thanks to the LORD!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!
Sing to the LORD, all the earth;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.
- 1 Chronicles 16:8-10, 23-24

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Day 7 - Include Gratitude

Cultivate the habit of being grateful
for every good thing that comes to you,
and to give thanks continuously.
And because all things have contributed to your advancement,
you should include all things in your gratitude.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

DAY 6 - 30 Days of thanks

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith,
as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:6-7

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30 Days of Thanks - Day 5

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

- Psalm 30:11-12

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Day 4 - 30 Days of Thanks

Thankfulness to God is a recognition that God in His goodness
and faithfulness has provided for us and cared for us,
both physically and spiritually.
It is a recognition that we are totally dependent upon Him;
that all that we are and have comes from God.
- Jerry Bridges

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Song of the Week - Tu Esti Sfant

A Romanian song is long overdue on my sporadic Song of the Week list. This one, Tu Esti Sfant (You are Holy) is awesome. Wanna listen to it and not just read it? Click HERE! Don't forget to hit the pink play button!


Tu Eşti Sfânt

Pe Tine, Doamne, Te lăudăm
Ne-nchinăm în Duh şi-n adevăr
Glorie celui veşnic viu
Glorie celui viu
Pe Tine, Doamne, Te chemăm
Numele Tău Sfânt Îl înălţăm
Eşti Domnul care-n veci domneşti
În veci de veci domneşti.

Tu eşti sfânt, Tu eşti drept
Şi harul Tău umple templul
Numele Tău Isus Îl înălţăm
Tu eşti sfânt, Tu eşti drept
Şi harul Tău umple templul
Noi trăim pentru slava Ta Isus
A Numelui Isus

Pe Tine Doamne Te iubim
Pentru Tine noi vrem să trăim
Focul Sfânt vrem să-l aprinzi
Vreau să Te-auzim să Te simţim

Sfânt e Dumnezeu
Noi Îi cântăm, Îl lăudăm


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Day 3 - A Hymn of Praise

Isaiah 12 - A Hymn of Praise

And in that day you will say:

“O LORD, I will praise You;
Though You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.
Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;

‘For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.’”
Therefore with joy you will draw water
From the wells of salvation.

And in that day you will say:

“Praise the LORD, call upon His name;
Declare His deeds among the peoples,
Make mention that His name is exalted.
Sing to the LORD,
For He has done excellent things;
This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”

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Day 2 - 30 Days of Thanks

"Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion.
Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception.
Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude.
Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed
and limps along the spiritual road."
-John Henry Jowett

Don't forget to get out there and VOTE! Please be praying for our Nation and these elections that the Lord's will would be accomplished!

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