Tag: holy spirit

30daysofpraise, christian encouragement, Uncategorized

He Can Do All Things…but fail

krisshetter

Click on the photo to listen to song

Day 6

The thing about God is He is all things — comforter, healer, friend, guide, counselor, creator, and warrior. I have turned to Him for all these traits. But this year I am looking to Him to be my warrior. He has never lost a battle. And a battle is the only way I can describe what is going on in this world. A battle for the heart and soul of our country. A battle for who will sit firmly in our hearts and minds.

I love the t-shirt a friend of mine wears to the gym sometimes — “United States, Two Time Undefeated World War Champs.” I think about the strength of character and belief that we were on the side of God during those horrific wars. So many lives lost to fight back against evil. Those wars, and others, would not have been won without the work of our Lord fighting in the spiritual realm. When you read the history of various battles within those large scale wars you will find what some would call “luck,” while others would call it the hand of God intervening to help turn tides in the Allied’s direction. Cathal J. Nolan teaches military history at Boston University. In an article about war titled, “Wars Are Not Won by Military Genius or Decisive Battles,” he wrote, “Modern wars are won by grinding, not by genius.” He further states, “Winners absorbed defeat after defeat yet kept on fighting, overcoming initial surprise, and terrible setbacks.” Sounds about like 2020.

How can we keep fighting back the evil that wants to surround us? How do we find the endurance? Only through God and His Holy Spirit living and working in us and fighting in the spiritual realm. I pray boldly for God’s warrior spirit to intervene in our culture, our politics, our everyday lives so that we come out the other end undefeated. God as warrior is who I praise, who I know will stand at the gates and keep evil at bay. The slings and arrows of this world cannot touch me with Him as my shield.

Here are the words to this great song:

NEVER LOST

Miracles when You move
Such an easy thing for You to do
Your hand is moving right now
You are still showing up
At the tomb of every Lazarus
Your voice is calling me out
Right now, I know You’re able
And my God, come through again
You can do all things
You can do all things but fail
‘Cause You’ve never lost a battle
No, You’ve never lost a battle
And I know, I know
You never will
Everything’s possible
By the power of the Holy Ghost
A new wind is blowing right now
Breaking my heart of stone
Taking over like it’s Jericho
And my walls are all crashing down

What trait are you praising God for today? Join the Praise Challenge and share it with us in the comments!

30daysofpraise, christian encouragement

To The King Eternal

krisshetter

Day 3

I’ve been seeing Charles Spurgeon’s name and quotes pop up frequently in various Bible studies. Spurgeon was an English Baptist pastor in the late 1800s.  His first pastoral calling was when he was only 19 years old.  He was seen as a remarkable young man of faith with special speaking abilities.

In March, my son-in-law turned me on to the book, Spurgeon on Prayer and Spiritual Warfare.  It is six books of sermons in one.  The energy this pastor exuded through his speaking and writing is something to which any pastor would aspire.  He calls for bold faith, bold prayer, and grasping tightly to God for deliverance.  I want all of those.  Bold faith, without fear.  Bold prayer — pleading for the ones I love, the ones I meet, and our country.  And to grasp tightly to God in expectation of answered prayers.  One of Spurgeon’s sermons is titled, “To the King Eternal.”  For today’s praise, I’d like to share just a small portion of this sermon.

And don’t forget, this is a Praise Challenge — so be sure to add your praise for today in the comments!

“We would begin with adoration. We worship from our hearts the Three in One, the infinitely glorious Jehovah, the only living and true God. We adore the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. We are not yet ascended to the place where pure spirits behold the face of God, but we shall soon be there, perhaps much sooner than we think, and we would be there in spirit now, casting our crowns upon the glassy sea before the throne of the Infinite Majesty and ascribing glory and honour, and power and praise, and dominion and might to Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever.”

Charles Spurgeon, The Golden Key of Prayer, To the King Eternal

You can feel his love and adoration for God.  He longs to be with the Almighty in the most holy of places.  Can we all say the same for ourselves?  Do the people who see us each day see the Glory of God on our faces?  Do our family members feel the love of God bursting out from us and enveloping them?  That’s the kind of Christian I want to be.  I’m not there – yet.  But with God’s immeasurable grace and guidance I will be.

Please share your praise for God, our eternal King, today – who we adore and who we shall soon be with!

30daysofpraise, christian encouragement, Uncategorized

Praise God From Whom All Blessing Flow

krisshetter

DAY 2

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

About 22 years ago I started regularly attending church. As my husband’s family was Presbyterian, we decided to also join our local Presbyterian church. This Doxology, as it is called, was sung after every offering. I wonder how many of us sing songs like this from rote, forgetting the true meanings in the lyrics? How many of us, while repeating Bible verses, reciting proclamations of faith (like the Apostle’s Creed) or responding to the pastor, go through the motions without remembering or even realizing their purpose? That’s how I started viewing the Doxology. You give your money, then you stand up, the music starts, and you sing these four little lines. Amen.

When I paid attention to the words I realized what a great, quick way to send up praise throughout the day. All my blessings flow from God. All of us here on Earth should praise Him at every moment possible for those blessings. He is above all. And lastly, I praise the work God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit performs in, with and for me all day. I’ve been singing this song quietly for the last few days in my head. I haven’t sung it in church or heard it sung for probably about 7 months. But when I started thinking about different ways to Praise God, this old hymn popped up in my head. And so, I decided to look into the background of the lyrics.

This excerpt is from Carl Price’s One Hundred and One Hymn Stories about when these lyrics, also known as the Doxology, were sung at an infamous Civil War prison:

The doxology of praise to the Holy Trinity was written by the Rev. Thomas Ken (1637-1710), whom King Charles II once made a chaplain to his sister, Mary, Princess of Orange. Ken was so courageous in his preaching at court that the king often said on the way to chapel: “I must go and hear Ken tell me all my faults.”

Bishop McCabe said that while the prisoners of the Union Army during the Civil War were incarcerated in Libby Prison*, day after day they saw comrades passing away and their numbers increased by living recruits. One night, about ten o’clock, through the darkness they heard the tramp of feet that soon stopped before the prison door, until arrangements could be made inside. In the company was a young Baptist minister, whose heart almost fainted when he looked on those cold walls and thought of the suffering inside. Tired and weary, he sat down, put his face in his hands, and wept.

Just then a lone voice sang out from an upper window, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow”; a dozen joined in the second line, more than a score in the third line, and the words, “Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” were sung by nearly all the prisoners. As the song died away on the still night, the young man arose and sang:

“Prisons would palaces prove,
If Jesus dwell with me there.”

* Libby Prison was a Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It gained an infamous reputation for the overcrowded and harsh conditions under which officer prisoners from the Union Army were kept.

Hymn Story taken from One Hundred and One Hymn Stories by Carl F. Price; Hymn 78, page 86.

Please join me in adding any of your favorite hymn lyrics or excerpts, prayers you repeat in church or likewise. If something else in Praise is on your heart go ahead and add it!