We praise you, Lord God, Father in Heaven, for your great love in disciplining us–your stubborn, rebellious, lazy and self-centered children. You are so patient, so kind, so firm, so persistent in teaching us over and over again the same lessons. Praise you that you never tire of this, and with great patience, continue to the end.
Praise be to you for giving us your Word: powerful, perfect, revealing your marvelous character, instructing us in your ways. Praise you that you preserved it down through the ages, had it translated and made available to us. Praise you that your Spirit uses it to transform us as we read, study and meditate on it. As Colossians 3:10 says, we “have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Which means that all through our lives, as we are in the Word, seeing God sightings, listening to the Spirit, we will be being renewed.
What joy there is for you and for us as we learn from your Word to trust, to praise in all, to obey without seeing or understanding all. What power there is to rejoice in you when all seems dark, to learn and live in the truth that knowing Jesus is enough for joy, period. That is truly walking in the freedom you have bought for us.
We thank you, we praise you, we lift up your name: the mighty Creator God, who is good and gracious, glorious and great, gripping and grand, deserving praise and pomp, worship and wonder, our submission and surrender through all eternity.
Prayer:” We give you glory and praise, Lord Jesus, for all that will come today. We commit ourselves to lift up your name on high by doing what we know is right. We want to praise you in all and make prayer the foundation of all we do. Help us in your power to do so. Amen” –from Edified