Devotional
PRAISE AND HOPE
I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more.
Psalm 71:14
See if you can find one Christian, just one, who is filled with praise for the Lord—but is hopeless. Or see if you can find one who is hopeful about the present and future but never praises the Lord. Hope and praise seem to go together in the Christian life—and why shouldn’t they? For the Christian, to have hope is consistent with having faith in a gracious God, meaning He is worthy of praise. One flows naturally from the other.
The psalmist combines these two elements when he finds himself in the hand of “the wicked … the unrighteous and cruel man” (Psalm 71:4). In spite of his dire situation, he says he will continue to hope and will praise the Lord “more and more” (71:14). The more the psalmist hopes, the more he praises; and the more he praises, the more he hopes! It is a self-perpetuating cycle, with each virtue stimulating the other. What about you? If you find yourself hopeful but lacking praise, check the object of your hope. If you’re praising but lacking hope, check the object of your praise.
Praise keeps hope alive while hope becomes a reason for praise.
Be not afraid of saying too much in the praises of God.… All the danger is of saying too little.
MATTHEW HENRY[1]
[1] David Jeremiah, Turning Points with God: 365 Daily Devotions (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2014), 343.
Pray This Prayer Until Resurrection Sunday Everyday
I pray Father in heaven thank you “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give me the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of my heart enlightened, that I may know what is the hope to which he has called me, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in me, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward me which I believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 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 one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
Ephesians 1:17-23 ESV as my daily prayer.
“For this reason I pray before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant me to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith—that I, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that I may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
In Jesus Name Amen
Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV
Vision
To develop people with the Word of God making them more like Christ.
To tear down the walls of misinformation in people lives, which will cause a change in their life and affect the people around them.
To create an environment of worship for all people.
To see God’s people live an overcoming abundant life.
Faith
Faith is a spiritual principle that taps into the creative power of God made available through man, so that man can transform conditions, circumstances and situations in the natural realm over which he has been given authority.
Great Commission
The most important missional conversation, the most compelling, the most invigorating, missional conversation, the one that our Lord Jesus Christ is the most interested in, is the missional conversation that you and I will have with those who don't know Him yet those who are lost, those who are last, those who are least, and those who are lonely.
Dedication
To love and serve the Lord with all of your heart, mind, strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.
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Our devotion is from the book of Mark
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