Pastor Stephen Dedman

Tag: thanksgiving

Come Before The Lord With Praise

Encouragement

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall praise You, O Lord , and Your saints shall bless You.
Psalms 145:8-10

The best way to approach the Lord is with praise. The Lord is full of grace and compassion for those who seek Him. Even when we don’t deserve it, the Lord pours out His grace and love upon us.

If you think about the worst thing you have ever done in your life, you probably don’t deserve God’s mercy and grace. But that is the God that we serve. He is full of grace, full of love, full of mercy, and slow to anger!

We bow down to the Lord when we pray to Him. This act of bowing down is submissiveness that renders an attitude of humility. We must stay humble in order to praise the Lord.

Sometimes we need to be humbled. No one likes to be humbled, but it’s a place of surrender. Sometimes God humbles us to make us praise Him.

Don’t wait to be humbled in order to praise and honor Him. Bow down today and bless Him for who He is. Let your praise be to God and not to yourself.

Pray

Lord, there is none like You. You are so good to me and I don’t deserve Your grace and love. Thank You for being so good to me.

All Praise To God

Encouragement, Trust

Where there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?
Luke 17:18

Luke 17:11-19 tells the story of a marvelous miracle of Jesus healing ten men from the dreadful disease of leprosy.  Luke tells that there were ten healed physically, but only one was healed spiritually.  Jesus used this event to open the eyes of the spiritual blinded especially the priests.

Leprosy was associated among the people as a curse on mankind.  Lepers were the most miserable people.  Their physical pain was awful enough but they also endured complete isolation from family and friends.  

By law they were considered outcasts and remained so until their death because there was no cure.  And that is where we find these ten men, standing afar off, as Jesus passed through their village. As soon as they saw Him, they lifted their weak and raspy voices and cried out for mercy and help.  

Luke doesn’t tell us that Jesus heard them but rather He saw them.  With great compassion and mercy Jesus sent them to the priests in order to fulfill the Levitical law of healing.  And as they walked toward the temple they were all healed of the deadly disease.

Verse 15 is the climax of the story.  One of them, when he saw he was healed, returned and worshiped Jesus.  With thanksgiving in his heart and praise in his voice, the Samaritan received the spiritual blessing of salvation because of his faith.  The other men didn’t consider Jesus as God.  They were healed but not saved.

We should always be thankful for our physical blessings but we certainly show our gratitude to Jesus for saving our souls.  We do so through faithfully worshipping and serving Christ and showing compassion and forgiveness to all people.  If the only blessing we received was salvation, it is enough.  All other blessings are extra benefits.

Is there something God has done for you and you didn’t praise Him for it? Take a moment and praise Him.

Pray

Lord, I thank You for giving me spiritual insight.  I confess You as my Savior and I worship You only. I give You glory and honor for who You are.

Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

Encouragement

And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:20

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for today. And we must give thanks for everything. In everything there is something we can give thanks for.

The Apostle Paul clearly instructs us to be thankful for everything, good and bad. Paul set forth an example of how to be thankful even when his circumstances were not good. His heart was full of joy and he knew they it came from the Lord Jesus Christ.

A heart that is thankful is overflowing with joy. A heart that is not thankful is full of groaning and complaints. The difference is your heart’s condition.

God can make a difference in your life. If you are having a difficult time expressing gratitude just set your mind on praising God for all that He has done for you and you will see a difference. Hopefully you’re already praising and thanking God for who He is and what He has done for you.

Despite all the negative things that have happened in our lives we have so much to be thankful for. We have many people who we should be thankful for. We have many things that we should be thankful for. But most of all we serve a God who deserves our expression and devotion of gratitude.

Thanksgiving is more than just food, family and fellowship, it’s a way of life. Let God fill your heart with joy and let it overflow with praise and thanksgiving.

Pray

Lord, I thank You for everything. I praise You for everything. Most of all I thank You for showing me mercy and grace and giving me eternal life.