Praise the LORD!

Prayer – Praise the Lord! You, Lord, are powerful and worthy of praise. We wait patiently for Your return…and in the meantime…we sing praises to You and honor You for our hope is in You, Lord.

 

Praise the LORD! How good to sing praises to our God! How delightful and how fitting! The LORD is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing the exiles back to Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension! The LORD supports the humble, but he brings the wicked down into the dust. Sing out your thanks to the LORD; sing praises to our God with a harp. He covers the heavens with clouds, provides rain for the earth, and makes the grass grow in mountain pastures. He gives food to the wild animals and feeds the young ravens when they cry. He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might. No, the LORD's delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love. Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For he has strengthened the bars of your gates and blessed your children within your walls. He sends peace across your nation and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat. He sends his orders to the world—how swiftly his word flies! He sends the snow like white wool; he scatters frost upon the ground like ashes. He hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold? Then, at his command, it all melts. He sends his winds, and the ice thaws. He has revealed his words to Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel. He has not done this for any other nation; they do not know his regulations. Praise the LORD! Psalm 147:1-20

 

Meditate and praise the Lord.

 

Sing praises to the Lord! Are Christmas carols still going around in your head? They still are in mine—and I love hearing and singing those hymns and songs. I think my favorites are “Mary, Did You Know?” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain” because they focus on the real reason for the season—the birth of our Savior Jesus. The Mary song is almost haunting because it is so thought provoking. Did she know what lay ahead for her son? It is a very recent song with the lyrics written by Mark Lowery in 1984 and the music composed in 1991 by Buddy Green (Google search). Most of the traditional hymns were written over two hundred years ago, although “Go Tell It on the Mountain” is reported to have been gathered with other Negro spirituals in about 1865. What is your favorite Christmas carol? Share in the comments section below.

 

Snow on my wreath.
Christmas greetings continue.
Stay Warm.
Sing praises to the Lord!

This has been a vicious winter. Cold bone-chilling temperatures and snow across the nation. Good time to stay home and stay warm. It was interesting in this scripture passage from Psalm 147 that God…sends the snow like white wool; he scatters frost upon the ground like ashes. He hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold? Then, at his command, it all melts. He sends his winds, and the ice thaws. We’ve a weather prediction here of thawing this week with high winds. Chinook winds are typical for our area in the Columbia Basin region of the Pacific Northwest. I remember as a kid that it would snow and then the next day after a Chinook wind, the snow would be completely gone. Snow is so beautiful and it is amazing that each snowflake is unique. My daughter’s friend caught some on a piece of clear tape and the flakes were distinctively different. Amazing. What is beautiful to us is devastating to those without homes. Pray for protection from the cold for those who are homeless or displaced by the weather closing roads. One church in my community opened its doors to provide evening shelter for stranded or homeless. What a great ministry treating others as we would want to be treated. They are living the Golden Rule and glorifying the Lord. Praise the Lord!

 

Verse of Salvation ~ For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

 

Memory Verse of the Week ~ Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD! Praise the LORD! Psalm 150:6

 

© 2022 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

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