Sunday, January 15, 2023

GATES OF PRAISE

Psalm 100:4–5

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.  For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.


How important it is for each of us to know the way into God’s presence.  How do we enter in His gates?  How do we come into His courts?  There’s only one accepted way: We enter His gates with thanksgiving; we enter His courts with praise.  It’s as we come to God with thanksgiving and with praise that we have access.

In the book of Isaiah we are told that salvation is like a city with walls and gates, and that every one of the gates is named “Praise.”  In other words, there is no way into the presence of God, the place of salvation, except through the gate of praise. There’s no other way that we can have access to God.  It’s so important that we realize this.

Sometimes we are tempted to say, “But what do I have to thank God for, what do I have to praise Him for?”  The psalmist gives us three reasons.

The Lord is good.
His love endures forever.
His faithfulness continues through all generations.

There are three reasons why we should always praise and thank God.  And notice that none of those reasons ever changes with our situation or our circumstance.  No matter what the circumstance, those three reasons for praising and thanking God always hold good.
[Devotional by Derek Prince]


Sunday, January 1, 2023

ISAIAH 61:1–2  "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn"

Isaiah said it was the year of the Lord’s favor.  Not next year.  Not five years.  Not in the Sweet By and By.  This is the year God will shift things in your favor.  He is lining it all up.  What you could not make happen on your own, God will cause you to accomplish.  It will be bigger than you thought.  It will happen quicker than you imagined, and it will be more rewarding than you ever dreamed possible.

One touch of God’s favor can get you to where you’re supposed to be.  The truth is, you are one shift from seeing a dream come to pass.  One shift from paying your house off.  One shift from seeing your health improve.  One shift from meeting the right person.

[Excerpt From Daily Readings from Break Out!: 365 Devotions to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life by Joel Osteen]