Psa 28:6  “Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy.” [You, O LORD, the great Triune God, pure and holy, powerful and high, perfect and heavenly, persistent and humble, to you belongs all praise. You are the prayer-hearing God, you stoop down from you Heavenly throne to help us, you support us with your mighty right hand. To you be glory and honor today in my life for you are worthy of all exaltation.

I think of your mercy this past weekene in our trip to speak in a meeting. An accident on the other side of the freeway caused a huge traffic jam backing things up for many miles, while we could zoom right along and arrive in time for the gathering. Then on the way back there was another traffic jam, again on the other side, this time from all the people returning home on Sunday evening. And again we were able to zoom right along and make it home in good time. You are the provider and protector, the merciful One who watches over us in every way. I give you honor and glory, I thank you for your care.]

Psa 28:7  “The LORD is my strength and my shield;” [I am weak, so vulnerable, so easily defeated by men, myself and devils. But you, Lord Jesus, you are the Victor, you are the Most High, the Almighty. You give your strength to your children, you make yourself our rock, our fortress, our defender, our shield, our stronghold. You give us your shield of victory, your support us with your right hand, you stoop down to make us great. You reach down from on high and draw us out of deep waters, you rescue us from our powerful enemies, from our foes too strong for us, you save us because you delight in us and bring us into a spacious place. (Ps 18)   I give you praise and honor, glory and exaltation for your great goodness, Lord Jesus.]

“my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.” [Without trust much is forfeited. With trust we can praise you before we understand, before we get an answer, before relief comes. You, Lord God, are the good One whom we can trust in any circumstance that comes from the world, the devil or our flesh. As we trust, you give us peace, wisdom, guidance and protection. As we trust we give you glory and honor before all, the seen and unseen. As we trust we open the way that your salvation may come through. As we trust we are changed, you are honored, others are blessed and sinners see your glory.

Lord, may I so trust you today that you will be honored. May your strength, goodness and graciousness be evident as I reject impatience, worry, fear, anxiety, lust and over-eagerness, and instead rest in you. Praise you that I can take up your patience, your grace, your wisdom, your strength, your calmness, your joy, your light and live today in your power, protection and love.]

“It is good to praise the LORD…O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night….”  Psalm 92:1,2

It is right and important to declare Your steadfast love in the morning, O Lord Jesus.  You are faithful, You are good, and have shown Your faithfulness and love in enduring the ultimate suffering to provide permanent pardon for all who believe.  Therefore we can declare Your love before You do anything today.

Your character makes us sure that You will love us through the day, that You have gone before us to prepare good works, to protect, to allow what may be painful but profitable for us.  We can praise You without knowing what’s coming, for You are goodness itself. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

It is also right to declare Your faithfulness in the evening. As we look back on the day, we can see how You prepared, guided, protected, carried us through, worked things out, gave us strength and wisdom and insight. We can see how You answered prayer. We can now see how “goodness and mercy follows us all the days of my life.” (Ps 23:6)

We can also praise You for things that didn’t work out, that were disappointing or difficult or dangerous.  Those, too, show Your wise and loving faithfulness in bringing what we need for growth, for offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, for being weak so Your power can be perfect.  We praise You, we exalt You, we give You honor.  We bow before You in worship, we rise up to obey You today.

Yesterday was a perfect early September day, absolutely gorgeous: pleasantly hazy and sunny, 85 degrees with a slight breeze. Along with this the air had a refreshingly cool touch.

Praise be to you, Lord, for such foretastes of heaven where all will be perfect every day. There we won’t need the challenge of weather or problems to keep us occupied. Your presence and personality, filling all the universe, will be far more than enough to keep us occupied and engaged.

And I suspect you will have lots of stimulating work for us to do there. You are such a creative God: there will be no end to new things you will bring out of your infinite mind and heart.

Such a God as you, the One and Only True God, are worthy of worship and honor and glory. You are worthy of our whole-hearted, continual and complete followership. You are worthy of total obedience, absolute surrender and complete trust. You are perfect, immutable, lovely, wise, powerful, just, pure, kind, forgiving, gracious and good.

You are far better than anything we could imagine, for in you there is no flaw—we have never experienced anything like that here on earth; everything has weaknesses, problems, faults and lacks. But in you there is no lack, no end of supply, no failure, no loss.

You are all that is good; you are void of what is bad. I praise you that you cannot sin, you cannot lie, you cannot be tempted with evil, you can do no wrong. These are the opposite of your nature. You are unchangingly pure. Therefore we can call you our Rock, our Fortress, our Defender, our Shield, our Strength, our Stronghold.

You are Glorious beyond our knowledge, you are Great beyond comprehension, you are Good beyond understanding, you are Gracious beyond measure.  In you lies all we desire, for we were made to live with you, by you, for you. In you we are complete, with you we are protected, by you we are empowered, for you we can live, work, love and die.

Your marvelous, rich, infinite and eternal character is the basis for our coming to you. In our needs and distress we can cry with the Psalmist:

Psa 25:6  Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.”  [Out of these two wonderful qualities you acted into the world, bringing complete, powerful, full-orbed salvation. Now, in our day, you are moved to act out of the same monumental mercy and long lasting love.  It is in you that our trust comes alive. It is your mercy and love that are the grounds for appeal to you. And it is out of love and mercy that you will answer with what is best, good and wise. We can rest in that truth, praising you now for what you will do without knowing what that will be.

Psa 25:7 “Remember not the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;” [How can the eternal, infinite all knowing Creator not remember this vast amount of pain producing rebellion that flowed from my heart? Yet you can choose to do so; you do choose to not remember. This is different than forgetting; the memory is there, but you will not to bring it to mind, for my sin and rebellion have been dealt with in Christ’s marvelous sacrifice. You can put it out of your mind, remove it as far as East is from West.

“according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.” [You allow us to appeal to your love; this is not just one of your characteristics, or qualities. You are love itself, it is your essence, it is what you are made of, along with life and light. We can rest in the ocean of your love and grace, your goodness and forgiveness, confident that in Christ we are cherished, delighted in and deeply loved.

What a marvelous, majestic, magnificent, mighty privilege it is to be in your family, a child of the King, fully pardoned, free of accusation, resting in your grace and goodness. We are motivated by your love to respond in love and obedience, rejecting the selfish, independent, stubborn, rebellious desires of self. Instead, within the freedom you have given us, we can choose to obey your Word and your Spirit, trusting in you, serving you, loving you.

Praise be to you, Lord God, as you have drawn us into your embrace and lead us onward and upward in our walk with you into the delightful difficulties, dangers and disappointments of this world—all of which pale to nothing in the light of your presence. With our eyes on you we can say with Asaph, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” (Psa 73:25)

Be glorified in my life today, Lord Jesus, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit. May your goodness, grace, glory and greatness overflow from my life onto all those I meet today, that they may also turn to you. Amen.

“The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us.”

John 1:9 “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”  2 Corinthians 4:6 “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”   Proverbs 4:18  “…the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.”

You have done this, Lord Jesus, bringing our dark souls out of the night into the light! May we continually walk further in the light you shed into our lives.
“You are my God, and I will give you thanks;”  Yes!  I will give thanks every day and forever and ever, for you are worthy!

“you are my God, and I will exalt you.”  I will lift up your name, praise you, glorify you, honor you, obey you, for you are worthy!  You are the Creator of all, Maker of history, Spinner of the earth, Bringer of the dawn, Savior of mankind, Ender of time.  You are worth of worship!

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”  And we will praise you forever, O Lord, the Great One, the Good One, the Holy One, the Savior, Sustainer, Transformer and Sanctifier.

How wonderful to know you, how marvelous to be in your family, how incredible to be your bride.  To you be glory today in my motives, thoughts, words and actions.

Praise be to you, my marvelous Lord and Shepherd. I awake in the night, and find you  there, watching over me. I awake in the morning and find you waiting for me.

You are faithful in your love, passionate in you care, gracious in your provision and persistent in your protection. As thoughts of evil presence came in the night, I could easily reject them by thinking of your presence and power presented in Psalm 18.

You are the protector of the weak and the provider of grace, I can trust you. Your Word corrects my churning thoughts, sooths my soul, provides perspective and shields me from Satan.

“I love you, O Lord, my strength” (Ps 18:1)—you have drawn me graciously into a relationship with you, making yourself my Lord, pouring into my life your strength, sharing with me your power, even though you know I will miss use it, rebel, disobey and disbelieve, wounding your heart.

Your love is lavished on your lazy and illogical sheep because your of what you are: faithful and forgiving, gracious and good, pure and positive. We do not deserve your love and presence, but you are insistent in having a relationship with us, pouring your time, grace, care, protection and guidance into our lives 24/7.

You are faithful in the face of our faithlessness. You are good in the face of our rebellion. You are constant in the face of our unbelief.

I praise you, my Lord, my Rock, my Fortress, my Defender, my Shield, my Tower of power, my Stronghold. I call to you, who are worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. (Ps 18:3)

I praise you for your protection, glorify you for your deliverance, exalt you for your unbelievably wonderful grace at work in me each day.

You are Lord, you are Life, you are Light, you are Love. You are my Lord, my God, my Savior, my Deliverer, my Protection. You are worthy of praise, worthy of exaltation, worthy of obedience. To you I bow down, to you I surrender, to you I give myself, this day with my desires, my plans, my preferences. I give you my will and take yours in its place.

May you be glorified in me this day, may my responses be from your heart, your Word, your power. May your Spirit overflow from my life onto all those around me so they, too, may taste of your goodness. May your Name be lifted up before all I meet today.