Wonderful Jesus!

Temporary Thankfulness!

1 Chronicles 16:8-9-Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! NKJV

Thanksgiving Day is just a week away! We’re all looking forward to that time away from work and school to celebrate the day with great food, friends, family, and fellowship! But it is also a time to remember all the things we are thankful for. Even people who are not Christians can find something to give thanks for! In thinking about writing a blog for this season, I wanted to give a different approach to thankfulness, and I will be looking at the Old Testament for my inspiration.

In the book of Judges, we see the children of Israel have become a rebellious group of people! Joshua and the leaders of the tribes that were with him have all passed away, and they have forgotten how good God had been to them as a nation. While their grandparents and great-grandparents may have struggled in Egyptian bondage, they have lived all their lives in the land of Canaan, and God is no longer important to them. We see that spirit is alive and well today in 2022! We have become affluent, independent intellectuals who no longer require the faith of parents, grandparents, and forefathers and live life in complete rebellion to the God who has been so good to us! Just like the Israelites.

Then trouble came knocking at their door, and they began a cycle of temporary thankfulness. They would disobey and rebel against God, then He would deliver them, and they would be thankful for a time until they no longer were thankful enough to serve Him!

God sent many judges to deliver His people, reminding them that He was there for them. He sent Othniel to deliver them from the hand of the king of Mesopotamia. He sent Ehud to deliver them from the king of Moab. Then He sent Shamgar, who delivered them from the Philistines. Each and every victory brought rest to the land of Israel. Each victory brought thankfulness towards the God who delivered them when they cried out. But eventually, they forgot about the troubles that had them bound, which prompted them to cry out, causing God to deliver them, and of course, they were grateful. But temporary gratefulness was insufficient then, and it is insufficient now.

I recall an individual who was a victim of a shooting incident. While in the hospital, people went to pray with them and the family, offering support and encouragement. As the person grew stronger in body and health, words of thankfulness flowed from them and their family. Praise reports were high, and everyone was excited. When they were released from the hospital, they came to church, testified, and dedicated their lives to the Lord. The church was excited as the praises went forth. Within a couple of months, they were no longer around. They were back out in the streets living their rebellious lifestyle, unmindful of the things of God.

This story is not unique to my experiences. All of us can think of an individual who had a great need in their life, they cried out to God, and He delivered them. They made loud declarations of their commitment to serve Him, and then one day, they were no more!

In one way, we can still rejoice with them, for the Bible clearly states that we are to give Him thanks and speak of His wonderful works!

Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works!
1 Chronicles 16:8-9 NKJV

They did exactly that! Also, we see in the scriptures that many people were grateful when Jesus healed them, much as the individual I mentioned earlier. For example, the lepers who were cleansed:

Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
Luke 17:11-14 NKJV

We know what happened next! They were cleansed on the way! All ten of them! But only one stopped to thank Jesus:

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
Luke 17:15-16 NKJV

The Samaritans were considered undesirables to the Jewish people. They were considered second-class people because they were not fully Jewish, having mixed their blood with the Assyrians who had captured the northern kingdom in 721 B. C. (See Gotquestions.org). This suggests to me that the other nine were possibly Jewish men. There was probably not much room for segregation in the leper colony because they were all in the same boat. However, only the Samaritan, who knew he was considered an undesirable person to Jewish rabbis, turned around to thank Jesus for his healing. The nine were grateful, but only one of them actually gave Him thanks while worshippping Him. As a result, he was made whole while the others were just healed.

What’s my point? We are all to be thankful to God for the things that He does in our lives. However, temporary thanks that causes a temporary turn to Him is an insufficient response to the One who has been so good to us!

David’s response to God’s deliverance was more appropriate and worthy of imitating in our lives:

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Psalm 30:11-12 NKJV

David declared that his thanks to God would be a forever thanks, not a temporary thanks! David realized that God had taken his dead situation and turned it around to the point that he could dance again! What was once hopeless has now been reversed on his behalf! David didn’t have a temporary, in the moment praise, but he had a forever thankfulness in his heart!

When God blesses us, as He often does, gratitude should be our response to Him. Not temporary thankfulness that causes us to forget Him and to return to our sin and rebellion, but forever thankfulness that causes us to respond to Him with a life of love and service. Don’t let next week be the only time you stop and thank Him for His goodness, but let your life become a reflection of the forever gratefulness that springs from your heart. Wonderful Jesus!

Rain Stops Nothing!

John 9:24-25-So they again called the man who was blind and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.” He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

When Jesus first began His public ministry, He cautioned those healed and delivered to keep the news to themselves. When Jesus healed the man of leprosy in Matthew 8, He said:

“See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Matthew 8:4 NKJV

After Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Son of God, He told them to keep that news to themselves:

Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
Matthew 16:20 NKJV

And after the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus slightly changed His warning from “tell no one” to delaying the message:

Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”
Matthew 17:9 NKJV

As a result of this, some people become hesitant to share the blessings of God they experience, believing that Jesus was setting a precedence that we are to keep those things to ourselves. I won’t pretend to understand fully why Jesus asked those individuals to keep silent, but I submit that it had more to do with timing than it did with keeping silent about a blessing.

In Mark 5, Jesus set a demon-possessed man free. The man wanted to follow Jesus because he was extremely grateful to be in his right man and to be free. However, Jesus wouldn’t let the man follow Him. Instead, Jesus gave him an assignment:

However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.
Mark 5:19-20 NKJV

In this situation, Jesus told the man to go and tell everybody in his hometown, friends and family alike, how wonderful God had been to him. And the man did what Jesus said!

When John the Baptist was in prison, he asked Jesus to confirm that He was indeed the Messiah. Jesus responded to John’s inquiry:

“Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Luke 7:22 NKJV

What did they see and hear? They saw miracles happening in the lives of the people. They heard the praises of God going forth! They saw God inhabit the situations of the lives of everyday people and that the gospel was accessible to all.

It didn’t matter if Jesus told them to keep silent or to share; the results were the same, people heard the wonderful things that Jesus did.

Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Mark 7:35-37 NKJV

Yes! Jesus does all things well! Even today! As we look forward to the Thanksgiving season in America, it’s typically a time of reflection. We tend to stop and remember the many blessings that we have experienced since the last Thanksgiving season. For some of us, it is the only time we stop and reflect because we soon lose focus on how blessed we truly are. For others, it’s just another wonderful time to thank God for all He has done or is doing in our lives. We know it, and we have no problems proclaiming it!

My wondering today is not so much if we are blessed but if we are able to handle the blessings that happen in the lives of others. Recently, I was speaking with a young lady who is experiencing a tremendous amount of favor. As a result, she has received some backlash from others. She’s being heralded as one who has to tell everyone about everything that is good in her life!

I told her that this is how people talk when they are experiencing envy over what is happening in another person’s life. They just want to rain on her parade! In the book of Proverbs is a wonderful verse:

The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.
Proverbs 10:22 NKJV

When God pours out His blessings upon you, He doesn’t add sorrow to them. But people can add sorrow to your blessings! Or they can try!

When Jacob gave his son Joseph a coat of many colors, he wanted to bless his son. Not looking at all the other things in play, we see that his brothers were unhappy about that. They rained on his parade! It got so bad they sold him into slavery! It was difficult for Joseph to enjoy the blessing with so many haters!

When Abel was told by God that his sacrifice was pleasing, Cain got angry. God told Cain, don’t be angry, do the right thing! Cain chose to rain on Abel’s parade! He killed his brother!

When the man in our key text was healed of his lifelong impairment of blindness, the religious leaders were not happy! They decided to rain on his parade. They badgered him and his parents with questions about whether he was truly blind all his life. They questioned him relentlessly about how he received his sight! They could not or would not feel one ounce of joy or thankfulness for the wonderful thing that happened in his life. And then they kicked him out of the synagogue!

I wish I could tell you that doesn’t happen today! I wish I could tell you that no one would be so hateful, so envious, or so petty that the blessings of God on your life would ever bring out such strong and negative emotions from those who are supposed to rejoice with you! Paul wrote:

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15 NKJV

That is the posture believers are to have with one another. So when another believer struggles with the blessings of God in your life, leave them to Jesus and continue to rejoice over what God has done for you! As for the unbeliever, don’t ever expect them to really rejoice with you! They don’t understand that God’s favor is upon your life. But believers should understand it and rejoice in it!

Is there a right time to share? I believe the timing is important. Is there a correct way to share the blessings of God in your life? I also believe this is a true statement. But remember that no matter how you rejoice over the blessings of God in your life, you can’t predetermine how others will receive them, so there’s no point in allowing them to rain on your parade!!

Go ahead! Rejoice in what God has done and is doing in your life! Give Him glory, praise, and all the honor because it is due Him. Let the rain fall where it may! You once were blind, but now you see! You once were poor, but now you are rich! You once were unemployed, but now you have an amazing job! You once were a high school dropout, but now you have a bachelor’s degree! Rejoice, and again I say rejoice! Wonderful Jesus!

Witness of Himself!

John 5:31-“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not valid. NKJV

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA on Pexels.com

Jesus stated that if He was to testify of Himself, His testimony would not be true! And yet, we know that if Jesus said something, it was most definitely true! However, according to Jewish Law, a person’s testimony of themselves was not valid.

So instead of arguing with them about the validity of His own testimony, Jesus tells them that He had the testimony of John the Baptist, His works, the Father, and the scriptures. So does that mean that Jesus did not testify at any point that He was the Son of God? Absolutely not! And in this blog, we will look at what Jesus had to say about Himself as the Son of God.

Not long after Jesus gives His list of witnesses, He finds Himself in another conversation where His testimony is in question, and He responds by saying:

It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”
John 8:17-18 NKJV

In this situation, Jesus again appeals to the Law stating the testimony of two or three witnesses establishes a thing. Therefore, His testimony, along with the testimony of the Father, validates His witness. He was referencing the Law that states:

“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
Deuternomy 19:15 NKJV

So in this chapter of John, we see that Jesus felt that His own witness, validated by that of the Father’s witness, was a credible source.

I’ve heard it said that Jesus never said that He was the Son of God! Of course, the people who say this either don’t read the Bible or have selective amnesia. Therefore, I would like to look at a few places where Jesus did refer to Himself as the Son of God.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.
John 9:35-38 NKJV

Jesus healed the man born blind, and when the man was cast out of the synagogue for refusing to deny that Jesus had healed him, Jesus went looking for him. When Jesus found the man, He asked the man if he believed in the Son of God, revealing to the man that He was indeed the Son of God!

Do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
John 10:36 NKJV

The Jews were ready to stone Jesus because He said He was God’s Son! They accused Him of being blasphemous! Nothing in His words could have been misconstrued as ambiguous, so He said that is the Son of God!

But if you pay close attention to Jesus, His references that He is the Son of God were not the only way of acknowledging His Sonship! Every time that Jesus referred to God as His Father, He said He was God’s Son!

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 10:32-33 NKJV

In this verse, it is clear that Jesus is referring to the God of heaven as His Father. He tells His listeners that if they indeed acknowledge Him before others, He will most definitely acknowledge them before the Father! Why would that even be necessary, seeing that God knows everything?

I believe that today, as then, people tend to think that as long as God knows they have confessed Jesus, no one else matters! That’s as erroneous now as it was when Jesus addressed it! Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? If so, you are responsible for telling others! If you don’t acknowledge Jesus, He isn’t acknowledging you. That’s tough to think about, but those are His words, not my own!

Not only does the term, the Son of God, refers to Sonship, but Messiah and Christ also refer to Sonship. When Jesus was before the High Priest, they wanted to know if He was indeed the Christ:

And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
Matthew 26:62-63 NKJV

To the Jews, the Christ and the Son of God were indeed the same person! Jesus responded to him that it was as the high priest had said. In other words, it is true! I am the Christ, the Son of God!

When Jesus went to Bethany in response to Mary and Martha’s call because of Lazarus, it looked as if He was too late to benefit them. Martha went to Him and said that if He had been there on time, Lazarus wouldn’t have died. Let’s look back at part of their conversation:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
John 11:25-27 NKJV

Jesus asked Martha if she believed that He was the resurrection and the life? He asked if she believed that those who believe in Him would live and never die? She responded by stating she believed that He was the Christ, the Son of God! God is never late! Nothing is dead that can’t live when He gets involved! That’s God!

And that leads us to the only scripture worthy of following a conversation like that!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16-18 NKJV

God’s great love for humanity brought about the plan of salvation. A salvation that was so deeply personal for Him that He sent His Son, Jesus, to redeem us! There was nothing cliché about God sending Jesus for us! Nothing is commonplace about the reality that Jesus, God Himself, loved us so much that He personally redeemed us to Himself!

I once watched a testimony of a Middle Easterner of the Muslim faith make a statement similar to this:

He said that all his life, he was told of all the things he had to do for Allah, but when he heard about Jesus and all He had done for him, it was life-changing!

If you haven’t embraced Jesus, the Son of God, in all He is, today is a great day to receive Him! You are so loved! Not just loved, but so loved by the Son of God! Now, I can rest my case, and I trust that your faith in the Son of God has been stirred! Wonderful Jesus1

Search the Scriptures!

John 5:39-You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. NKJV

We’ve been looking at the witnesses that testify to the truth of Jesus as the Son of God. First, we looked at John the Baptist’s testimony, how he emphatically stated that as the forerunner of the Messiah, Jesus was the person he was told was the Son of God. Then we learned how the works Jesus performed were a witness to His Sonship. Lastly, we looked at the affirmation of the Father to His Son. Today, we will search the scriptures and see how they testify of Him!

The scriptures hold a multitude of witnesses to the Christ, but because this is a blog and I try to limit my posts, I will only touch the surface.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the birth of Jesus long before He was actually born. In a most familiar verse, Isaiah wrote these words:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14

Every Jewish person knew of this prophetic word. Maybe every Jewish girl hoped to be the one who be that virgin. But God sent His angel to Mary, a virgin contracted to be the wife of Joseph. When he found out about the pregnancy, he was not thinking that she was the chosen virgin who would give birth to the Messiah. No! He was thinking he was being played for the fool.

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Matthew 1:19-23 NKJV

Joseph and Mary pushed their wedding date up, and Mary began to show not long after that. If she was alive today, people would be counting the months just as they most certainly did back then. But before they could settle down to married life, they had to take a trip to Bethlehem, because prophecy stated that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
Micah 5:2 NKJV

This scripture was fulfilled when God caused Ceasar Augustus to take a census of his people requiring that everyone return to their own city. Mary and Joseph were living in Galilee in the city of Nazareth. So they had to travel to Bethlehem, despite the fact that she was heavy with child:

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:4-7 NKJV

I found a site that stated it was a 1 in 300,000 chance that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.

Jesus told the Jews that Moses had written of Him, and if they had believed Moses, they would also believe Him, but apparently they didn’t actually believe the writings of Moses because they didn’t believe Jesus.

For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
John 5:46-47 NKJV

What are some of the things that Moses said about Jesus that the Jews should have believed?

“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 22:16-18 NKJV

Confirming that this reference is to Jesus, Paul wrote:

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
Galatians 3:16 NKJV

People around the world experience the blessings of God through the grace of His Son Jesus. If Jesus hadn’t died for us, giving us access to God, to His grace, to forgiveness, we would still be lost in our sins. But because of His gift of salvation that He has offered to the world, we get to experience the blessings of God!

Remember the bronze serpent that Moses made when the children of Israel were in the wilderness?

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Numbers 21:8-9 NKJV

I don’t need a reference to understand that Moses was referring to Jesus on the cross because we all know that when we look to Calvary and the shed blood of Jesus, we receive life!

My personal favorite scripture from Moses is found in Deuternomy:

I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
Deuternomy 18:18 NKJV

Jesus was often referred to as a Prophet. But what made Him a prophet like Moses is the truth that He was the great deliverer. As Moses led the children of Israel from natural bondage, Jesus led us from spiritual bondage!

Paul stood before King Agrippa in the book of Acts to give an account of why he believed he was being kept in prison. He gave his testimony in a nutshell and summed it up nicely with these words:

Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
Acts 26:22-23 NKJV

I could go on about the scriptures and their testimony regarding Jesus, the Son of God, but I will stop here. If you have never looked at the prophecies surrounding the life, death, and works of Jesus, I encourage you to take some time to do that. It will certainly encourage your faith!

On the day that Jesus was put on the cross, they say He fulfilled over 30 prophetic words! Mathematically speaking, Jesus had a 10^17 (that’s 1 with 17 zeros following behind it) chance of fulfilling eight prophecies in His life, let alone 30 in one day. Mathematically speaking it would be impossible, and yet He did! (see Empower International, the Mathematical Probability that Jesus is the Christ)!

The article ended with the statement:

Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact, proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world.
Empower International

I would rest my case! But I have one other witness that can’t be ignored. Wonderful Jesus!

This is My Son!

John 5:37-38- And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. NKJV

I’ve never spent any time in the past looking at the witnesses that Jesus states bear testimony to His Sonship, so I am enjoying this study. Today, I want to look at the witness of God Himself, to the truth that Jesus is His Son!

Most fathers are delighted to have children. I recall my husband being attentive and excited throughout all of my pregnancies and at the birth of each of our daughters. When they were babies, he would love to come in from work, pick them up, and stare at them. As they got older, he enjoyed spending time with them. And now that they are adults, he relishes sharing their pictures and accomplishments with others. He’s a proud daddy.

Well, no one can outdo the joy that God displayed on the day of His Son’s birth into the earth:

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:9-12 NKJV

As believers, we understand that

God sent an angel to announce the birth of His Son. He and the angelic host was so excited that Luke wrote:

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men!”
Luke 2:13-14 NKJV

Now that’s a happy Father! When children are baptized, you can always tell the parents because they are running to the front, taking pictures, and often shedding tears. On the day of Jesus’ baptism, God spoke from heaven:

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:17 NKJV

How about that! God was so excited that Jesus fulfilled the plan according to the plan that He spoke audibly from heaven. Before Jesus is recorded as doing anything significant, God announced that He was His beloved Son and that He was well pleased with Him. That should be an eye-opener for us that God isn’t well pleased with us based on our performance.

At the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, Peter thought it would be a great idea to make three tabernacles: one for Moses, one for Jesus, and one for Elijah.

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.
Matthew 17:5-6 NKJV

There would be no building of three tabernacles! No one would share His Son’s glory! Not only that, the Law was not to be their measuring rod for having a right relationship with God. Only the words of His beloved Son, Jesus! Hear Him, the Father decreed!

And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
John 5:37-38 NKJV

Jesus made a note of the witness of the Father. Because everything that Jesus did, He did to honor the Father. He was as pleased to be the Son of God as God was to have Him as a Son. And God’s witness is true!

I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”
John 8:18 NKJV

Jesus reiterates later, in this verse, that the Father who sent Him bears witness to Him being the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God! There is irrefutable proof of John’s witness, His works, and the Father’s witness laid out for us in the Word. I know that I’m preaching to the choir, and you already believe this is true, but if you ever need to walk someone through how we have come to understand this truth, I hope these blogs will be an aid in you doing so. Wonderful Jesus!

Works That Testify!

John 5:36-But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. NKJV

The greatest reference we have in the Word about the people and incidents that testify to the Sonship of Jesus is His own words spoken while He was on earth. In my previous blog, we reviewed the true witness of John the Baptist, as he pointed others to the Son of God. Jesus said:

“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
John 5:31-33 NKJV

Jesus was passing by the pool of Bethesda when he saw a multitude of sick people lying around the pool. John wrote that Jesus saw a certain man who had been sick for 38 years, waiting at the pool to be healed. After asking the man if he wanted to be made whole, Jesus told him to pick up his bed and walk. The man was immediately healed.

This caused the Jews to become angry because it was the Sabbath day, and the man was carrying his bed on the Sabbath. But we understand that it was a greater evil than religious laws being broken at the root of their issues. Anyway, they wanted to kill Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath, prompting Jesus to talk about His Sonship and the witnesses that testify of Him.

Although Jesus called John a true witness, He said that He had a greater witness than John the Baptist.

But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
John 5:36 NKJV

Jesus, let us know that the miracles He had performed and would continue to perform were not just arbitrary works but works that spoke of Him being the Son of God! As a matter of fact, Jesus said that His works were a greater witness, outranking the witness of John the Baptist! The Greek word “megas” in this verse, rendered as greater, means to out rank, or of degree and intensity, placing the witness of His works as a more superior witness.

Nicodemus went to visit Jesus during the night hours to converse with Him about His teachings. Nicodemus made this comment to Jesus:

“Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
John 3:2 NKJV

Nicodemus understood that the works Jesus did amongst them were not ordinary but extraordinary and supernatural in their very nature. Therefore, he acknowledged that Jesus had obviously come from God and that God was with Him.

Another aspect of the works of Jesus that was typical of God is His compassion for others. It was noted when Jesus raised the widow of Nain’s son from the dead that He was moved with compassion:

And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her.When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.
Luke 7:12-15 NKJV

And again, when He healed a multitude of sick people, Matthew wrote:

And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
Matthew 14:4 NKJV

The works that Jesus did, or the miracles He performed, astounded the people during His earthly ministry. People are still astounded at the events that took place during His three-and-a-half years of miracles. One that always causes my heart to shout, “Look at God,” can be found in John 9, when the man born blind received his sight. The Jewish leaders were so outraged that yet another miracle was performed on the Sabbath day that they put this man on the witness block to find out what had happened and who had done it! He testified beautifully to the marvelous work of Jesus:

Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
John 9:32-33 NKJV

In other words, he let them know that no one else was capable of giving sight to a person born blind. Not only was he born blind, but he was now a grown man. And since Jesus had healed him of his blindness, the only logical conclusion to make is that God had done it!

Again in John 10, Jesus speaks of His works bearing witness of Him:

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
John 10:37-38 NKJV

Before John the Baptist was beheaded, when death was staring him in the face, he sent messengers to Jesus to ask Him if He truly was the One? Maybe he was feeling abandoned by God and Jesus. Or maybe he wasn’t ready to die even though he believed it was imminent. But one thing we know for sure is that he had personally witnessed to the people that Jesus was the Son of God, and in the face of his seemingly untimely death, he asked Jesus for confirmation. Jesus sent this message to John:

“Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Matthew 11:4-5 NKJV

I’m not clear at what point John was placed in prison. I’m not even sure if he was able to personally witness any miracles. But when he asked for proof, Jesus told the messengers to tell John about the works He was doing.

Jesus performed miracles of healing! He cleansed lepers, gave sight to the blind, healed the lame so they could walk, unstopped deaf ears, and loosed tongues so people could speak. He exercised authority over demons and raised the dead. He displayed power over nature when He spoke to the winds, and they quieted, and when He walked on the water. And when he turned water into wine and fed the five thousand, He demonstrated that at His command and at His will, He could do whatever He needed to do! And at the end of his gospel, John said this:

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
John 20:30-31 NKJV

Truly His works speak for Him! And the wonderful news for us today is that the Son of God is yet performing miracles. If you stand in need of a miracle from the Son of God, He is able and willing to perform it! Wonderful Jesus!

A True Witness!

John 1:6-7-There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light that all through him might believe. NKJV

Growing up, I was fond of legal dramas, especially Perry Mason. Perry Mason was a defense attorney who worked with his secretary Della Street and a private investigator named Paul Drake. Between the three of them, they could effectively win cases that seemed hopeless to those charged with a crime. On the witness stand, you got to see Mason at his finest hour, for it was there he often tricked his witnesses into divulging the truth of their crimes.

The witness stand, in a courtroom, is where witnesses are called to give testimony to an event or situation that they have firsthand knowledge of. In the book of John, we encounter several witnesses that proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. Each witness is considered a true witness with exceptional character and unquestionable knowledge. Today, I want to address the nature and evidence of our first witness. Our first witness to the stand is John the Baptist!

The apostle John wrote that John the Baptist was sent by God to bear witness to the Light.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe
John 1:6-7 NKJV

The whole purpose of John the Baptist’s prophetic ministry was to act as a witness for God and to point the people to the Light so that they might believe in Him.

If you recall, John the Baptist was a cousin to Jesus. Elizabeth’s pregnancy was tied to Mary’s, and the boys were born months apart. When Mary visited Elizabeth during her confinement, Elizabeth shared an unusual greeting:

Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 1:42-43 NKJV

Elizabeth acknowledged from the beginning that the Babe in Mary’s womb was her Lord. Therefore, John, the baby Elizabeth was carrying, was in submission to the Babe Mary carried.

On the day that John the Baptist was born, his father, Zacharias, prophesied these words over him:

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God
Luke 1:76-78 NKJV

After 400 years of silence from God, we see John the Baptist on the scene declaring prophetic words to the children of Israel that they are to repent and be baptized, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Fulfilling the prophetic word his father spoke over him. John acknowledges that he was sent to prepare the way of the Lord:

He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
John 1:23 NKJV

John states that he is not that Light but a witness to the Light. John the Baptist continues to bear witness concerning Jesus when he was asked why he was baptizing people:

“I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
John 1:26-27 NKJV

John makes it perfectly clear to the people that he is not in competition with Jesus but in submission to Jesus. He isn’t vying for a position of power over Jesus because he is not even worthy enough to untie his shoelaces.

The next day, John saw Jesus again and spoke these words:

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
John 1:29-31 NKJV

I find several exciting statements in these verses. First, John said that Jesus was before him. We know that John the Baptist was born first. However, John is obviously referring to the divinity of Jesus, that He was before John ever was. Secondly, John said that he did not know Him. We know that’s probably not a reference to actually knowing Jesus, the person, but to not knowing His true identity. Thirdly, it appears to me that John is stating that he began to baptize people with water because of something he had previously seen by the Spirit of God:

And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
John 1:32-34 NKJV

John recalls seeing the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remaining on the one who was the Son of God. I believe John had a vision or a dream that allowed him to have this experience. Therefore, in obedience to the dream or vision, he began baptizing people with water, realizing that one day, he would baptize the Son of God.

Some believe John’s explanation of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove is metaphorical. In other words, he saw, by the Spirit, the Spirit of God descending on Jesus much in the same way a dove would descend on an individual. Others believe that he saw the Spirit, in the form of a dove, descend upon Jesus. However, he meant it; John knew that when it happened, it would be a witness to him that he had baptized the Son of God.

So as God would have it, Jesus went to John to be baptized. It is in Matthew’s gospel that we have a record of the baptism of Jesus. At first, John was hesitant to baptize Jesus, realizing that Jesus was the Son of God, but Jesus told John it needed to happen this way. (See Matthew 3).

John’s primary mission was to be a witness before the people for God that Jesus was the Son of God. John gave testimony to what he saw and experienced during his prophetic ministry of preparation that bore witness to the identity of the Son of God. His testimony was true!

Imagine the moment for a minute. It is finished! Everything that God had assigned John to do was complete. He had prepared the way. He had prepared the hearts of the people to repent. He had set the stage! Then God gave him the privilege to be a witness that the Son of God had indeed come, and He was in their midst. And he, John the Baptist, had been chosen before his birth to provide testimony to the true identity of Jesus, the Son of God! Wow! It had to be an incredible moment for John!

The good news for us is that we, too, have the same privilege that John the Baptist had. Not to baptize Jesus but to tell the world that the Son of God has indeed come to live not amongst us but within us by His Holy Spirit. We have the word of God with its many infallible proofs that point to Jesus as the Son of God. We have John’s witness from the Word of God. The only thing that may be lacking is our conviction that his witness is true! In a court of law, even Perry Mason couldn’t convince him otherwise! Wonderful Jesus!

The Word Became Flesh!

John 1:14-And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. NKJV

After spending so much time blogging about praising the Lord, I intensely desire to focus on Him.

If you have ever gone through a discipleship program, you may have been told to start reading the Bible in the book of John. Some suggest that it is because John is such an easy-to-read gospel, which is true. Others aren’t sure why they tell new believers to start with this gospel; they just make the suggestion out of tradition. But I submit that new and mature believers alike need to read the gospel of John because it is written with a focus on Jesus, the Son of God!

John begins his gospel with the words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1 NKJV

In and of itself, this verse may not help us to see Jesus, the Son of God. But as you continue to read the verses that follow, they clearly lead us to Jesus. Verse 2 states,

He was in the beginning with God
John 1:2 NKJV

Immediately, John lets the readers know that the Word that was, in the beginning, is indeed a person and not a thing. John continues by stating that He, the Word, was in the beginning with God. And since we understand that God has always existed, we know that the Word has always been in existence!

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
John 1:3 NKJV

John tells his readers that the Word made everything and that nothing was made without Him. Genesis 1:1 states:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 NKJV

John is therefore making a connection between the God of creation and the Word as being the same. Remember that John has already shared that the Word was in the beginning, the Word was with God, and the Word was God! Therefore, everything was indeed made through the Word, and nothing in existence is here aside from the Word.

Matthew Henry wrote these words in his commentary about the first five verses of John, chapter 1:

Austin says (de Civitate Dei, lib. 10, cap. 29) that his friend Simplicius told him he had heard a Platonic philosopher say that these first verses of St. John’s gospel were worthy to be written in letters of gold. The learned Francis Junius, in the account he gives of his own life, tells how he was in his youth infected with loose notions in religion, and by the grace of God was wonderfully recovered by reading accidentally these verses in a bible which his father had designedly laid in his way. He says that he observed such a divinity in the argument, such an authority and majesty in the style, that his flesh trembled, and he was struck with such amazement that for a whole day he scarcely knew where he was or what he did; and thence he dates the beginning of his being religious.
Matthew Henry, commentary on John 1:1-5

John told us the purpose of his book as he was bringing it to a close:

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
John 20:31 NKJV

Rex Humbard, in his introduction to the book of John, wrote that

John selected the signs he used for the specific purpose of creating intellectual (“that you may believe”) and spiritual (“that believing you may have life”) conviction about the Son of God.
Rex Humbard, The Prophetic Bible, Introduction to John

While many people believe that our faith in Jesus is blind faith, John and the other Bible writers argue that there is nothing blind about our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God! Therefore, John wrote his gospel to clearly state the evidence that points to Jesus as the Son of God and to ignite faith in its readers to receive Him!

It is in the 14th verse of chapter 1 that John connects the Word of God to the Son of God:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 NKJV

William Barclay wrote that this sentence is at the heart of all John was writing about in his gospel:

He has thought and talked about the word of God, that powerful, creative, dynamic word which was the agent of creation, that guiding, directing, controlling word which puts order into the universe and intelligence into human beings…Now he says the most startling and incredible thing that he could have said.
Willima Barclay, Commentary on John

John noted that because Jesus was in the flesh, God was visible to all. When Moses asked God to show him His glory, God told Moses that he could only see His back. But John states that the Glory of God the Father was beheld when Jesus was seen, and He was full of grace and truth! No vision, dream, or veil was needed to experience His glory because Jesus of Nazareth embodied it in His person.

This truth is crucial to our understanding of Jesus being the Son of God. John wrote in one of his epistles:

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.
1 John 4:2-3 NKJV

It is said that 90% of the gospel of John is original to John. In other words, his gospel is different from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in that most of his accounts of Jesus are only written in his book. In the book of John, we find the “I Am” statements that Jesus made of Himself regarding His deity. I have already blogged on these statements in the past and will only mention them today:

I am the bread of life-John 6:35
I am the light of the world-John 8:12
I am the door-John 10:7
I am the good shepherd- John 10:11
I am the resurrection and the life-John 11:25
I am the way, the truth, and the life- John 14:6
I am the true vine-John 15:1-5

John also writes about the witnesses that testify that Jesus is the Son of God and the signs that point to Jesus being the Son of God. In the blogs coming up, I will focus on the witnesses and the signs.

As we progress, I hope to bring out a couple of things. First, John writes in contrast throughout his book, comparing subjects like “light to darkness” and “faith to unbelief.” Secondly, in his gospel, the verb “believe” is frequently mentioned. John wants his readers to know that those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God shall be saved, and those who do not believe in the Son of God shall be condemned.

With this as our background for future posts, I’d like to encourage you to stay tuned as we delve into why we believe Jesus is the Son of God! Wonderful Jesus!

Don’t Let the Rocks Cry Out!

Luke 19:40- But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” NKJV

Jesus was entering the city of Jerusalem. The people were going wild with their praises. As He progressed down the street, they threw their robes in the way so His donkey would not have to walk on the stone pavements. Luke wrote these words:

Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: “ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Luke 19:37-38 NKJV

The word for praise used in this verse is “aineō,” which corresponds with the Hebrew word tehillah, which means to sing! As the people sang joyously over the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the Pharisees were upset. David Guzik, in his commentary on Luke, wrote these words:

Nothing tells Satan and his followers that they have lost like the praises of God ringing in their ears. Satan loses because when God’s people are really worshipping, their hearts and minds are on Him — and not on sin, self, or Satan’s distractions.
Blue Letter Bible, David Guzik, Luke 19 commentary

These words sum up the power of praise. As we focus on praising our Lord, we have little time for distractions or other diversions that try to pull us off course. While the people were in united praise, they were not concerned about anything else.

However, the Pharisees couldn’t stand the praise that was directed at Jesus! After all, if the people were praising Jesus, then there was no focus left to give them praise. So they did the only thing that they could. They told Jesus to rebuke the people, to tell them to stop giving Him the praise due Him. Jesus responded,

“I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
Luke 19:40 NKJV

This is an interesting statement, for we all know that rocks are inanimate objects and, therefore, they do not have the breath to praise the Lord. Yet, Jesus said that if the people didn’t praise Him, the rocks would cry out!

In Psalm 148, we see that the psalmist wrote that all of creation praises God:

Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Psalm 148:2-4 NKJV

The psalmist continues by commanding everything in the seas and the oceans to praise the Lord. He calls for the lightning, the hail, the snow, and the clouds to praise the Lord! He remembers that the mountains, hills, trees, animals, birds, and every living thing on the earth are to give praise to the Lord!

In Psalm 98, the psalmist wrote:

Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord,
Psalm 98:8-9 NKJV

Even Isaiah declared that creation gives praise to God:

“For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills
shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:12 NKJV

I see it like this: creation has its way of praising God, and I don’t want to take its praise from it. By the same token, it can’t praise God for me! I’m going to give God all the praise due to His name because the rocks can’t praise Him like I can!

The rocks can’t praise Jesus for saving me! Only I can give Him praise for that! You might also praise Him for my salvation, but you can’t praise Him like I can for it! No one else loves me like He does! No one has delivered me like He has! And no one has healed me like He has healed me! Therefore, while others may rejoice with me, they can’t praise Him for the things He has done for me, like I can praise Him!

By the same token, although I might praise God for His marvelous works in your lives, only you can truly praise Him for what He has done! Only you know how good God has really been to you! Only you can testify to the greatness of His faithfulness towards you!

So not only should we not sit back and allow the rocks to praise God on our behalf, we should not allow others to praise Him more than we do for what He has done! God is too good to not give Him praise! God is too faithful to not be praised! There’s no other name whereby we can be saved except the name of Jesus, and we ought to praise Him for it! Don’t let the rocks beat you at praising God, for they have not experienced His goodness like we have!

As I conclude this mini-series on praise, for the moment, I just want to take some time and praise God for you! Although I am blogging in obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, it would not have any value if you didn’t read it! Don’t ever think I am blogging for any reason other than to lift up the name of Jesus and encourage fellow believers! You!

So go ahead and give Him some praise so that the rocks and all of creation don’t beat you to it! Wonderful Jesus!

You Have a Reason!

Psalm 30:11-12- You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever. NKJV

Praise the Lord!

The power of praise is not just about getting the victory over an enemy you can see, but it is also about getting the victory over the enemy when you can’t see it! As we have covered the many words in the Old Testament that are rendered praise in the English language, we have seen the multitude of ways that we can praise our God. But today, I want to focus on why we should praise Him!

Psalm 30 was sung at the dedication of the house of David. David closes this psalm by stating that God had turned his mourning into dancing for him. David had wanted to build the Lord a house, a stationary place of worship. But God told him not to do it! Can you imagine wanting to do something for God and being told that you can’t do it because you have too much blood on your hands? David had to be hurt and deeply disappointed to hear this news. But God didn’t leave him there! God told David that his son Solomon would build the temple, and because of David’s heart to build God a house, God told David that He would build David a house! Therefore, David rejoiced after his home was built, declaring that God had turned his mourning into dancing!

All of us can probably relate to the concept of mourning. Whether we mourn the loss of a loved one, a relationship, a job, or a ministry, grief isn’t a stranger to any of us. Yet, David found that God was capable of turning his time of mourning into a time of dancing. As a result of what God had done for David, David proclaimed that he would “yâda” the Lord forever!

There are many reasons we should always be found praising God. One of those reasons is that we are His people, and it’s a command to us. In Psalm 150 it states:

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150:6 NKJV

Since there is breath in our bodies, we ought to be giving God praise! We all have something to praise Him for! Whether it is as spectacular as a miracle or as simple as the fact that we are still breathing, we have a reason to praise the Lord!

Praise belongs to the Lord! It’s another reason to give Him praise! He is our Creator, Deliverer, and righteousness, to name a few. No one else deserves His praise. He alone is exalted about the heavens; there is none like Him!

Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven. And He has exalted the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints—Of the children of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 148:13-14 NKJV

Yes! Let’s just praise the Lord who is exalted over the earth! And let us praise the Name of the One who alone is exalted! He’s worthy of being praised!

God delivered David from the hands of his enemies! What enemies has God delivered us from? This is what David had to say after God delivered him from the hands of Saul:

“The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, the Rock of my salvation! It is God who avenges me, and subdues the peoples under me…Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to Your name.
2 Samuel 22:47-48, 50 NKJV

About forty years ago, the IRS wanted to audit the family business. Prayer was offered about the situation because no one understood why the IRS wanted to do an audit. After much prayer, my sister-in-law had a dream where an angel went into the office and told the IRS agent to leave them alone! Sure enough, the next day, there was a call to the accountant telling him that the audit had been dropped. God is a good God; yes, He is!

I remember when one of my students thought he could get me fired from my position. He began to rant and rave in front of the entire class with several accusations against me. While I wasn’t concerned about his lies, I understood that he needed to be shut down. As I went to my classroom door to see if I could get some assistance, the principal just happened to be passing by. When I explained what was happening, the student was removed from class and suspended for what he was trying to do! Hallelujah!

Those are not life-threatening enemies, but they are enemies nonetheless, and God was the Deliverer, as He has been on numerous occasions!

Another essential reason to praise God is His mercies, which each of us has been a recipient of!

I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and Your truth unto the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth.
Psalm 57:9-11 NKJV

I never wake up thinking that God’s mercy has run out and I have to ask for it again! It is always available! So I never fail to praise Him because of His mercy towards my family and me! As a matter of fact, Jeremiah said that we get new mercies every single morning!

Through the Lord’s mercies, we are not consumed because His compassions fail not.They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV

Have you ever gotten out of bed the morning after a mess-up and realized that you had access to new mercies? If you did, I’m sure you stopped to give Him some praise because mercy is what we don’t deserve, but that which He continuously gives to us! And if we haven’t been giving Him the praise for His mercies, then we certainly should stop right now and do so!

And since Jeremiah brought up His faithfulness, it is the last reason I will mention in this post! Solomon made an astounding statement about God in 1 Kings:

“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.
1 Kings 8:56 NKJV

Solomon recognized and proclaimed the faithfulness of God! This caused praise to rise in his heart, and he had to get it out! God had been so faithful to the children of Israel and him that Solomon made it known that not one word of the promise God had made to them had failed! Not one!

I have been serving the Lord for a long time. Looking over my life, I can confidently say He has been faithful to me. I have endeavored to be faithful to Him, but there’s no doubt He has been faithful to me.

I have not exhausted the reasons why we should praise the Lord, but I thought it necessary to stop and mention that no matter our current circumstances, we have a reason to praise the Lord. So go ahead and give Him some praise! I even included a song for you to praise Him with! Wonderful Jesus!