40 Days Of Thanks And Praise

Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” It is important to each of us that we keep our appointments and that we are on time.  Most of us today use… Read more

Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NIV) “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Change me from the man that I am into the man that you intend for me to be. Walk with me, oh God, as with… Read more

Acts 16:25-26 (KJV) “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken:  and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.” Do you realize that in spite of imprisonment, Paul and Silas praised God?  In… Read more

Exodus 17:10-13 (NIV) “So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his… Read more

Deuteronomy 7:9 (KJV) “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” 1 Corinthians 1:9 (KJV) “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” The one thread of continuity I see… Read more

Ephesians 2:6 (NIV) “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” In Ephesians 1:19-23 Paul writes that the same power that raised Christ from the dead, seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand with all rulers and power and authorities under His feet.  Wow!  Selah ~ think on that.  Not only has Christ… Read more

Philippians 1:3 (NKJV) “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” A few years ago, as Chris and I were making wedding plans, we centered our wedding on Philippians 1:3: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” For us, because most of our pre-marriage relationship was long distance, we cherished those memories from times when we got to be together…. Read more

Luke 15:6 (NIV) “Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’” I heard this lesson at a Sunday night church group and it really spoke to me.  It was about when I’m going through trials that are hard on me and sometimes I want to blame it on God, but we all know that is NOT the answer to our… Read more

Revelation 7:12 (NKJV) “Blessing and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto our God for ever and ever.” Adrian Rogers tells the story about a man who got a little excited in a church and kept shouting, “Praise the Lord!”  One day, some of the brethren called on him while he was plowing his fields. When they were finished… Read more

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” John 5:24 (NIV) “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” God gives us… Read more

Matthew 22: 37, 39 (NIV) “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’…’Love your neighbor as yourself.” Ever had anyone tell you “I God You”? I have. It immediately raced through my mind what he might have meant or if I even heard him right as I used to have a friend that would sneak up on me and poke me and… Read more

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV) “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We meandered through Los Angeles traffic to rendezvous with friends from college.   Since we both had children, they suggested meeting at a local park.   Their daughter watched our younger children, and their son shot hoops with our older boys.  We… Read more

Exodus 13:21 (NKJV) “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.” We are called to be a people set apart – not of this world.  When others look at us we are supposed to be different. Am I? Are you?  Exodus 13:21 says, “And the Lord went before them… Read more

1 Samuel 30:1-6 (NKJV) “Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, 2 and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. 3 So David and his men came to… Read more

Psalm 71:23 (NIV) “My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you- I, whom you have redeemed.” Psalm 95:1 (NIV) “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.” Psalm 126:3 (NIV) “The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” My husband wrote a song called “JOY”, with lyrics… Read more

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV) “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” On June 13, 2010, Esteban was diagnosed with B-cell Lymphoma.  The tumors grew rapidly and the outcome didn’t look great. Here is a post on Care Pages from Esteban’s mommy: To Him be all the honor and glory…. Read more

Isaiah 53:2b-3 (NIV) “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Art, regardless of its form, is man’s attempt to create beauty in the… Read more

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Trying to live your life according to your own plans instead of God’s never gets you very far. Correction: you get absolutely nowhere. God tells us how He’s guiding our every step and is always… Read more

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” It’s all about the journey.  That could be an understatement when we consider our lives before we accepted Christ as LORD and Savior of our lives.  In my mind, that is where and when my life… Read more

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV) “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV) “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Most of you who are reading this know some of the things… Read more

Ephesians 1:3 (NIV) “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” I praise the Lord daily that He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ and that my name is written down in the Lamb’s book of life, so that on Judgment Day, I can stand faultless… Read more

Psalm 59:16-17 (NASB) “But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your loving kindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me loving kindness.” Dark gloom had enveloped my soul.  Suffocating… Read more

Philippians 4:4 (NIV) “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice!” We stop to thank God in the good times, right? Praise Him for what He’s done? Well what about in the bad times? We thank and praise God for helping us ace that test, or even for making that light turn green when we’re in a rush! But as soon as a loved one dies, or we don’t get that job of… Read more

Psalm 100 (NIV) Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and… Read more

Isaiah 40:31 (NIV) “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.” There is nothing more majestic than seeing an eagle soaring high above the clouds, his wings outstretched and high above the earth. There is strength and power in watching him… Read more

Psalm 122:1 (The Message) “When they said, ‘Let’s go to the house of God,’ my heart leaped for joy.” I thank God for the blessing that it is to be able to join together and worship God freely! When I look at this scripture, I am reminded that this is a freedom not to be taken for granted. Instead, we should leap for joy and shout it from the rooftops,… Read more

Proverbs 3:1-6 (NIV) “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.  Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and humankind.  Trust in… Read more

Hebrews 10:23 (NIV) “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Have you made God too small?  Maybe we are only a two or three on a scale of His perfect number seven.  I challenge us to all be a seven, both in heart and mind, to experience Him completely.  Most all of you who read this already know that God’s perfect… Read more

Romans 8:31-39 (The Message) “So what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose?  If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?  And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one… Read more

Genesis 8:20 (NIV) “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.” Noah and his family had been in the ark for 378 days.  He was 601 years old.  I can’t imagine what he had seen in his life to that point.  How interesting it would have been to sit with him and pick his mind… Read more

Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV) “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” One of my favorite artists sings a song written for a friend who had experienced some very difficult life struggles.  Recently, it became a song that seemed to be written for me.   Most of you know… Read more

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV) “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  This is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am… Read more

Hebrews 13:15  (KJV) “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” The best way to express our thanks to God is by giving Him praise for our many blessings, and yet how many of us do it on a regular basis? ‘Continual’ doesn’t just mean going through our routine of thanking God… Read more

Psalm 57:7–9 (NLT) “My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident.  No wonder I can sing your praises!  Wake up, my heart!  Wake up, O lyre and harp!  I will wake the dawn with my song.  I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations.” When I was preparing to write this devotional, the last thing I felt… Read more

Ephesians 1:4 (NIV) “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.” Pro-Choice. Well, I bet that got your attention.  Not exactly the word I would have chosen initially to begin this devotional, but once again God has taught me something and hopefully it will encourage and stretch you as it did me.  I do believe… Read more

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (NIV) “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.” When I first joined the church, I heard about spiritual gifts.  In Romans 12:6-8 I read that God has given each of us the ability to do… Read more

Matthew 6:34 (NCV)  “So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” The thing I struggle with most, and the thing God uses to teach me lessons about the most, is worrying.  I worry about school work, appearance, what others think about me, silly things that in reality don’t matter at all, and… Read more

Acts 14:17 (NIV) “Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Our history is rich with provision from God. All throughout the Bible when we see God’s children in peril…BAM! God parts the Red Sea and the people… Read more

Philippians 4:4-8 (NIV) “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds… Read more

Joshua 4:19-24 (NCV) “The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho. They carried with them the twelve rocks taken from the Jordan, and Joshua set them up as an altar at Gilgal. Then he spoke to the Israelites: ‘In the future your children will ask you, “What do these rocks mean?” Tell them, ‘Israel… Read more