Quick Praise (Prov. 12:28)

There is life in the path of righteousness, but another path leads to death. (Proverbs 12:28)(HCSB)

Are you on the path to life?

Quick Praise (Ps. 33:6)

The heavens were made by the word of the Lord; and all the stars, by the breath of His mouth. (Psalm 34:1)(HCSB)

Sounds like the "Big Bang" was just an exhalation from God!

Jesus is the Door

"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (John 10:9)

Enjoy this devotional by Charles Spurgeon about the Door to life eternal: Jesus.

Jesus, the great I AM, is the entrance into the true church, and the way of access to God himself. He gives to the man who comes to God by him four choice privileges.

1. He shall be saved. The fugitive manslayer passed the gate of the city of refuge, and was safe. Noah entered the door of the ark, and was secure. None can be lost who take Jesus as the door of faith to their souls. Entrance through Jesus into peace is the guarantee of entrance by the same door into heaven. Jesus is the only door, an open door, a wide door, a safe door; and blessed is he who rests all his hope of admission to glory upon the crucified Redeemer.

2. He shall go in. He shall be privileged to go in among the divine family, sharing the children's bread, and participating in all their honors and enjoyments. He shall go in to the chambers of communion, to the banquets of love, to the treasures of the covenant, to the storehouses of the promises. He shall go in unto the King of kings in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the secret of the Lord shall be with him.

3. He shall go out. This blessing is much forgotten. We go out into the world to labor and suffer, but what a mercy to go in the name and power of Jesus! We are called to bear witness to the truth, to cheer the disconsolate, to warn the careless, to win souls, and to glorify God; and as the angel said to Gideon, "Go in this thy might," even thus the Lord would have us proceed as his messengers in his name and strength.

4. He shall find pasture. He who knows Jesus shall never want. Going in and out shall be alike helpful to him: in fellowship with God he shall grow, and in watering others he shall be watered. Having made Jesus his all, he shall find all in Jesus. His soul shall be as a watered garden, and as a well of water whose waters fail not.

Quick Praise (Ps. 34:1)

I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. (Psalm 34:10)(HCSB)

What were you fixin' to say?

Knowing That We Know

"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments" 1 John 2:3 ASV

How can we know that we are saved? And, Are we saved by our works? Let's see how these questions are answered in this devotional by Dr. Robert M. McMillan:

Knowing That We Know

When we speak of salvation by "works" we seldom stop to define the term. "Works," as applied to salvation, means the submitting to God of words, thoughts and deeds of ethical value which might be expected to outweigh our unrighteousness before Him who is Judge. The whole premise of this argument is that we are condemned before God for our deeds, whereas, in the Bible our condemnation is based upon the nature of Adam which becomes ours at the moment of conception in our mother's womb. (Psalm 51) The deeds of sin are the inevitable results of the disease of sin. Calvary touches and heals the disease by imputation of Christ's righteousness while the discipline of Christian ethics tackles the symptoms which still remain. After we are saved, then, our problem is not with the disease of sin but the symptoms that remain in our lives. We should make it clear, therefore, that because of the foregoing I am not saved by my works, nor yet does my salvation continue in accordance with my works.

John now declares his doctrine of works and, simply stated, it is, "The believer does not work to be saved but he works because he is saved." The genuinely born-again believer needs no impetus toward Christian ethics other than that which is his by the new birth. Thus John says that the impetus to keep the commandments of Christ is certification of the new nature within us. Before we were Christians it was of little moment whether our ethics were Christian or not. Now that we are saved it becomes a constant concern of our lives to be like Jesus. This new motivation is the means by which we know that we know Him. A true believer ought not to be cajoled and coerced into living by the Christian ethic for it should spring up within his heart as a stream of living water.

Quick Praise (Ps. 33:1)

Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones; praise from the upright is beautiful. (Psalm 33:1)(HCSB)

Do you want to make a beautiful sound? Rejoice and praise the Lord!

Mere Christianity Quotes (pg. 24-25)

Below is a passage from Mere Christianity, the classic by C. S. Lewis that speaks about the basics of what all Christians believe.

The position of the question, then, is like this. We want to know whether the universe simply happens to be what it is for no reason or whether there is a power behind it that makes it what it is. Since that power, if it exists, would be not one of the observed facts but a reality which makes them, no more observation of the facts can find it. There is only one case in which we can know whether there is anything more, namely our own case. And in that one case we find there is. Or put it the other way round. If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe--no more than the architect of house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect it to show itself would be inside ourselves as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave in a certain way. And that is just what we do find inside ourselves. Surely this ought to arouse our suspicions? In the only case where you can expect to get an answer, the answer turns our to be Yes; and in the other cases, where you do not get an answer, you see why you do not. Suppose someone asked me, when I see a man in blue uniform going down the street leaving little paper packets at each house, why I suppose that they contain letters? I should reply, 'Because whenever he leaves a similar little packet for me I find it does contain a letter.' And if he then objected--'But you've never seen all these letters which you think the other people are getting,' I should say, 'Of course not, and I shouldn't expect to, because they're not addressed to me. I'm explaining the packets I'm not allowed to open by the ones I am allowed to open.' It is the same about this question. The only packet I am allowed to open is Man. When I do, especially when I open that particular man called Myself, I find that I do not exist on my own, that I am under a law; that somebody or something wants me to behave in a certain way. I do not, of course, think that if I could get inside a stone or a tree I should find exactly the same thing, just as I do not think all the other people in the street get the same letters I do. I should expect, for instance, to find that the stone had to obey the law of gravity--that whereas the sender of the letters merely tells me to obey the law of my human nature, he compels the stone to obey the laws of its stony nature. But I should expect to find that there was, so to speak, a sender of letters in both cases, a Power behind the facts, a Director, a Guide.

Quick Praise (Ps. 108:1)

My heart is confident, God; I will sing; I will sing praises with the whole of my being. (Psalm 108:1)(HCSB)


Lord, may I give You all that I've got in worship and song!

Isaiah

The Lord was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Hovering around him were mighty seraphim...who sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty!" (Isaiah 6:1-3)

When I think of Isaiah, my mind often goes immediately to some of my favorite passages, like Isa. 9:6-7, especially around Christmas time, which heralds the coming of the Christ child---"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." And like Isa. 6, which gives us a glimpse of God's glory and an account of Isaiah's commissioning by the Lord. Also Isa. 53, which describes the suffering that Jesus would go through as the ultimate sacrifice for you and me, as the Lamb of God. But there is much more that we can learn from Isaiah. We can learn about true worship. 


The following is a worship profile of Isaiah taken from the Praise and Worship Study Bible published by Tyndale House Publishers. I highly recommend this study bible to anyone who wants to learn more about biblical praise and worship.

Isaiah

Media polls are often taken to determine the most and least admired occupations. Doctors and scientists usually get high marks, while politicians and lawyers tend to draw dubious ratings. Had such polls been taken in ancient Israel, the occupation of prophet would probably have ranked at the bottom. Prophets had the difficult task of speaking hard words to people with hard hearts. Isaiah was a member of this select, but unpopular group.

Isaiah was a contemporary of prophets Amos, Hosea, and Micah, as well as kings Hezekiah of Judah and Sennacherib of Assyria. Educated and compassionate, Isaiah ministered faithfully for about four decades. But his countrymen mostly tuned him out. People still are reluctant to listen to Isaiah's words--words of judgment and condemnation, yes, but also words of tremendous comfort and hope.

Isaiah the Worshiper

In chapter 6, Isaiah gives us an amazing glimpse of God himself--the object of our worship. The Lord's glorious presence radiated from the throne, and Isaiah responded by cowering in fear. Yet a seraph approached him and announced pardon, enabling him to speak to the Lord. This vision foreshadows the worship we are invited to experience by God's grace.

Isaiah reminds us of the many reasons for our worship: "O Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them" (Isaiah 25:1)(NLT). Isaiah also had a great concern for the purity of worship. He constantly cautioned his hearers to give glory to God alone: "I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else. I will not share my praise with carved idols" (Isaiah 42:8)(NLT).

Learning from Isaiah

The message of Isaiah can be boiled down to a fundamental point: Loving and serving God is our highest calling. The sweep of history turns on this truth. Isaiah describes the great empires that rise and crumble at God's hand and anticipates the day of salvation. He sees the fulfillment of Israel's longing in the coming Messiah. Yet if our devotion fades, such wonderful truths become lifeless. We fall into the trap of honoring God with our lips while our hearts remain far away (Isaiah 29:13). The prophet's words, if we listen, will shake us from our lethargy and guide us to true worship.

Following the Example

If we want a complete picture of what it means to worship God, we cannot overlook the message of Isaiah or the other prophets. Theirs was a thankless but critical task. They challenge us to scrutinize our worship, to make sure we are not just going through the motions. As you read the Prophets, look for many references to worship, and ask God to open your eyes to ways in which you can become a more devoted worshiper.