Thursday, July 21, 2016

Day of Praise

Friday, 07/22/16, "Day of Praise"

Jude 1:24-25 - "To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

I've been blessed in life to have two fabulous parents. One of my big memories with my dad is that he traveled a lot with his job. So, when he was home, we four kids would try to get the other seat next to him at dinner. Of course, mom sat next to him too. 

Our eagerness to sit next to my dad was matched by his pride in us kids. Though I don't remember this actually happening, today's Bible verse stirs an image in me of how our dad may have displayed his pride in us kids. It's this image of a dad whose small child is walking in front of him. The child stumbles. But the dad, ever-vigilant, quickly reaches forward and keeps the stumbling child from falling to the ground. And then the dad, strongly and gently, helps the child get reset on their feet, as he looks up to see if anyone's watching so he can look at them and say, "I'm proud of my child!" I could see my dad having done that.

And, in today's Bible verse, that's what I definitely hear God saying that he does for us all in Jesus Christ. God is always ever-vigilant in walking with us each day. And when, for whatever reason, we start to stumble, God "is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy" (Jude 1:24-25). God so loves us, keeping us from falling to the ground. And then strongly and gently helping us get reset on our feet, as he looks up to see if anyone's watching so he can look at them and say, "I'm proud of my child!"

So, friends, come what may today, remember that God is with you through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. He loves you. He's watching out for you. And he'll help you stay on your feet to keep moving in the path he has planned for us in order to show all the world his great love for and pride in you!

Trust him and you'll see!

So have a great day with God. And remember to claim his blessings by praising him aloud!

Praise God!


Pastor Chris 
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

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