Introducing our 20 days of praise

You may have seen the Becky Harling book entitled "30 days of Praise" in a bookstore or online -- I haven't read the book, but I was intrigued by the idea.

I decided that this month would be an ideal time to take a break from our studies in John, and refresh ourselves with praise for our God. Since our study blog is posted on weekdays, that gives us twenty days in the month of November for our praise focus.

Another book by Kenneth Smith states that we should: ". . .create the habit of praise! The Bible tells us that praise stops and confuses the enemy ... if the door won't open, praise God in the hallway!"

Join us, won't you?

On this first day of praise, let's start at the beginning:

               In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
               was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were
               made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life,
               and that life was the light of all mankind.    John 1:1-4

Today, on our first day of praise, let's praise the Father, and the Son. Let's spend some time in thought today, reflecting on the mystery of the Trinity.  Praise Him for mercy and grace that had a plan, even in the beginning, to ransom us from our sins. Thank Him for the gift of the Spirit, that indwells us daily.

Our grateful hearts should sing praise when we think of His creating the world and all of the things in it, both large and small. It always amazes me when I hear people talking about things that make "intelligent design" so obvious, and yet they do not attribute this design to God. For example, recently I watched a television report that gave information about a tiny weather system that is created by mushrooms. Yep, you heard me right! The mushrooms have a way of utilizing humidity and air temperature to create a very, very, very small wind current that carries their spores out from under the mushroom and into higher air currents, so that the spores can be distributed. Kinda like a "be fruitful and multiply" system for mushrooms and toadstools!

To me, that just screams, "God made that!" He planned it, He designed it, and it's incredible! But of course, most of the scientists today would simply say that the process was a proof of evolution.

Today as you pray and enjoy a quiet time with God, praise Him for Who He is, and for the Son and the Spirit, and for the incredible love and wisdom that created our world.

Proverbs 30:18-19 Mysteries

¹⁸ “There are three things that are too amazing for me,
    four that I do not understand:
¹⁹ the way of an eagle in the sky,
    the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
    and the way of a man with a young woman.

Ah, the mysteries of life! In addition to inspiring songs, they should also provide amazement, and then, in a Christian, should motivate praise to God the Father!

In other words, these are mysteries of our Creator; these are things that amaze us because they "shouldn't" work or function as easily as we might think . . . and so they are proof positive of the Divine Design that is in our world.

The first wonderful thing is the way of the eagle in the sky: that is, the soaring, seeming effortlessness with which the great bird defies gravity. Eagles are very large birds, very heavy. If you could ever lift one up it would amaze you that so much weight can navigate the sky with such seeming ease. The condor, for example, when it is aloft, flaps its wings on average once per hour! And the condor is even bigger than the eagle! Wonderful indeed.
            The second is the movement of a serpent on a smooth rock. It has no legs and the rock has nothing to grab onto, but a snake moves lickety-split across the rock and even as you watch it is not easy to see precisely how it manages to move as quickly and easily as it does. The zoologists would tell us that is because of their well-developed muscles and their ventral scales! This is wonderful, too.
            The third is a ship on the high seas. The marvelous thing is the way it defies the hidden depths of the sea and is untroubled even by great waves. In those days ships were smaller than our large ships today but even the mighty ocean with its terrible power couldn’t drag them under. They would disappear in the trough between two waves and seem certain to be buried, but then would pop up on the crest of the next wave, safe and sound. Again, a wonderful thing, how the ship is able to float and navigate on the top of the water.
             The fourth thing is the "way" of a man with a young maiden. The Bible is not prudish when it comes to our sexuality, as we will see in our study tomorrow. (Have I gotten your attention?) We all have seen the mysterious and wonderful attraction of love, romance, and sexuality between men and women. It is indeed wonderful, and it is something to be celebrated!

Aren't you glad, like I am, that our Father created a wonderful world for us to live in? So many things point to His authorship, and cause us to praise Him!