Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make more like You today, by the power of Your grace at work within me (Romans 8:29). ...
“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved;
for You are my praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).
You are our praise, O Lord. And You are at work in ways we don’t always see, speaking words we don’t always hear, moving in ways we don’t always feel. But You invite us to praise even before we see the power. You invite us to breakout in worship even before we see the breakthrough.
When we praise, You lift us up into Your embrace. When we praise, You get our eyes on You and off of what we’re going through. We don’t ignore the challenges, because the challenges are real. But we don’t give the challenges first place in our hearts and minds; we give You the place of honor and authority and glory and praise only You deserve.
You say, “Come up here with me.” You lift up our hearts. You lift up our spirits. You embrace us in the place where abide in You and You abide in us, “raised up with (You) and seated with (You) in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). In that heavenly place of Your embrace, where we’re in Christ and Christ is in us, we’re seated “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come” (Ephesians 1:21). In that heavenly place, we “set our hope on Christ” and “live for the praise of (Your) glory” where we’re “marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:11-14).
Praise puts us in that heavenly place. Praise opens the eyes of our hearts and the ears of our spirits to experience the heavenly place where we’re already abiding in You -- far above sickness and sorrow, discouragement and despair, hopelessness and heaviness, weariness and worry, and every other name that would try to exalt itself above You and who we are in You and who You are in us.
Praise is a powerful key of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 16:19). Praise is a mighty “weapon of our warfare” with “divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Praise is a breakthrough battle axe that dismantles and destroys everything that would stand between us and our inheritance in You (Jeremiah 51:20). Praise is a spiritual sword in our hand that cuts off the heads and breaks off the chains of our spiritual enemies as we trust in You no matter what we see, as Your Word powerfully proclaims in Psalm 149:
“Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
His praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
Let them praise His name with dancing,
making melody to Him with tambourine and lyre.
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He adorns the humble with victory.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their couches.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
to bind their kings with fetters
and their nobles with chains of iron,
to execute on them the judgment decreed.
This is glory for all His faithful ones.
Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 149:1-9)
In Jesus’ name I praise! And In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
My family, may your mouth be filled with the high praises of God, as He lifts you into the heavenly place of His embrace where You're already abiding in Him and He's abiding in you, far above everything you're facing, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
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My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in our life and that of our family. support and partner with my self and my family as we serve those God crosses our path with in our community with your one-time or monthly financial gift by clicking link below. Thank you!
