Category Archives: Thanks & Praise

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October 20, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, God's Grace & Love, Joy, Obedience, Temptation & Sin, Thanks & Praise

PLEASURES

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. [James 1:16-17 (CSB)]

I began my prayer with the words of John Baille found in A Diary of Private Prayer. He opened the prayer by praising the “Lord and Maker of all things” for things like “the life that stirs within me” and “the bright and beautiful world around me.” But it was the inclusion of “all you have given me to fill my hours of leisure…music and books and good company and all the harmless and delightful pleasures” that gave me pause. How often do we offer praise and thanksgiving for “leisure” and the “delightful pleasures” of life? Do we regularly praise and thank Him for the taste of strawberries, the scent of lilacs, the joy of making love, napping in a hammock on a summer day, enjoying a latte and a fresh-baked almond croissant, completing a sudoku or crossword puzzle, a good workout at the gym, a game of mahjong or golf with friends, snuggling on the sofa with the cat, eating s’mores around a campfire, playing Crazy 8’s or Uno with the kids, binge watching Netflix on a rainy day, or warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream? Each of us has our favorite leisure activities and sources of pleasure and yet pleasure is not one of the words typically associated with Christian belief. In fact, many consider pleasures to be the devil’s tool used to keep us from a godly life!

“I know we won many a soul through pleasure!” writes senior demon Screwtape when advising his nephew Wormwood on ways to capture a young man’s soul in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters.  Screwtape, however, clarifies that pleasure was God’s invention and reluctantly admits that, “all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one!” The elder demon explains that God “has filled His world full of pleasures. There are things for humans to do all day long without Him minding in the least – sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, making love, playing, praying, working.” Because pleasure is God’s work, the demons’ job isn’t to introduce pleasure but to encourage their victims to take pleasure in ways, degrees, or at times that God (“the enemy”) has forbidden. Screwtape makes clear that, “Everything has to be twisted before it is any use to us.”

Our God-given pleasures are useless to our enemy until he has falsified, warped, distorted, perverted, or misrepresented them in some way. Evil is not found in the pleasure; the evil is in its abuse! When twisted, any pleasure can move into sin territory—relaxing can become laziness and sloth, love can become lust, the joy of sex can get perverted or exploited, the satisfaction of achievement or mastery can slip into pride or obsession, the delight in something new can become an increasing demand for novelty, and the enjoyment of food and drink can become gluttony and drunkenness. Satan’s job is to distort and corrupt our pleasure in such a way that our enjoyment diminishes while our craving increases. When he perverts and distorts God’s gifts of pleasure, Satan’s victims get nothing in return!

Our good God has given us nothing that isn’t good and our faith proclaims the goodness of His world. We have been blessed with the ability to enjoy God’s gifts of pleasure—let us honor Him by being as happy as we can in the delights of every day. On the other hand, we also have been called to be people of prudence and moderation. While pleasure is God’s department, the misuse of it is Satan’s! We have not been given license to enjoy God’s pleasures outside of His law. We are not to indulge in destructive, warped, or excessive pleasures nor are we to neglect our responsibilities for the sake of pleasure. Most important, we are never to love the blessings of pleasure more than we love the One who blessed us with them! Having duly noted these warnings, let us honor the Lord by finding pleasure in His everyday gifts!

There are but two lessons for Christians to learn: the one is to enjoy God, in everything; the other is to enjoy everything, in God. [Charles Simeon]

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. [1 Corinthians 10:31 (CSB)]

This is the day the Lord has made; let’s rejoice and be glad in it. [Psalm 118:24 (CSB)]

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September 4, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Temptation & Sin, Thanks & Praise, Wisdom & Guidance

HONING

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. [27:17 (NLT)]

This proverb about iron sharpening iron reminds me of Sunday dinners when I was a girl. After the roast beef was placed in front of my father, he picked up the carving knife and a steel rod. With dramatic flair, he would run the knife back and forth against the steel before carving the meat. For the perfect slice of beef, he used iron to “sharpen” iron.

At the time, I thought he was sharpening the blade; instead, he was honing it. Whenever a knife is used, its sharp edge begins to bend and catch on whatever is being cut. Pulling a knife’s blade along a honing steel brings its rough edges back into an upright position so the knife can perform at its best. A whetstone is necessary to sharpen a dull or damaged knife. But, because it rubs away some of the blade to create a brand-new edge, the more a knife is sharpened, the thinner the blade gets and the shorter its lifespan.

Just as there is a difference between a steel honing rod and a whetstone, constructive comments and words of correction differ from harsh criticism and disparagement—one enriches and improves while the other gradually diminishes. When called to do a little sharpening, we should proceed prayerfully and gently, always remembering that we should be more like honing steels than whetstones. Rather than grinding off any mettle, our purpose is to enhance by smoothing out the rough edges. Moses’ father-in-law Jethro did some honing when he pointed out Moses’ mistake in thinking he could manage two million people by himself. Jethro offered excellent advice on how to delegate responsibility and Moses became a better leader because he listened.

While a carving knife has no choice about accepting that steel rod, we do. Nevertheless, if we want to maintain our sharpness, be properly aligned, and work at our best, a little honing might be necessary. Solomon’s son Rehoboam certainly didn’t take his father’s warning that, “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.” [Pro 12:15] Rather than accepting sage counsel from his father’s trusted advisors, he turned to his sycophantic friends because they would tell him what he wanted to hear! His foolishness and their poor advice resulted in a divided kingdom of Israel.

God puts wise people in our lives for a reason and it’s for more than encouragement. Matthew Henry said their purpose is to “improve both others and ourselves…to provoke one another to love and to good works and so to make one another wiser and better.” Like Moses, we can accept the correction that comes from those who love us or, like Rehoboam, we can resist the honing and insist on doing it our way. Just as we are tested by the way we respond to praise, we are tested by the way we respond to correction and constructive criticism. In both cases, we must remain humble and thankful.

The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. [Norman Vincent Peale]

If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding. [Proverbs 15:31-32 (NLT)]

Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. [Proverbs 27:6 (NLT)]

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August 28, 2025

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Faith & Hope, God's Grace & Love, Knowing Him, Thanks & Praise, Wisdom & Guidance

MARVELOUS WORKMANSHIP

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. [Romans 1:20 (NLT)]

We were discussing when and how we came to believe in the existence of God. Those who’d been brought up in families of faith said there never was a time they weren’t aware of God’s presence. Others spoke of believing in God because He is visible in His creation—in flowers, majestic mountains, birds, sunrises and sunsets, the vastness of space, or the miracle of birth. One came to believe in God while attending Vacation Bible School with a neighbor and another met God through a campus ministry. After apologizing in advance for “grossing” us out, one woman shared her experience while in medical school.

Not a believer at the time, she was sure science explained everything that needed explaining until she dissected a human brain. As she cut into the tissue and started labeling parts, she began to wonder. While slicing through the 100 billion neurons of a man’s brain, she questioned where she’d find the part that loved stroking his wife’s hair, knew the sound of his children’s laughter, taught his boys how to play football, or built a dollhouse for his daughter. She wondered which of those billions of neurons learned the alphabet and times tables, struggled to learn Spanish, loved his parents, knew how to play the guitar, told jokes to his friends, called blue his favorite color, or enjoyed both the Beetles and Bach? With each slice she asked things like, “Is this the part that knew sorrow at his child’s death or joy at his daughter’s wedding? Where is the memory of his first bicycle, first kiss, or honeymoon?”

She held the most fascinating and complex organ of the body in her hands and knew the name and function of every part of it but she couldn’t find the answers to her questions. Touching this man’s brain, she knew him more intimately than anyone. Nevertheless, she couldn’t uncover what made him who he was. When she couldn’t find his essence—his very soul—she realized that man is greater than the sum of his parts. Understanding that inside us all there is something unique that cannot be seen, cut into, labeled, or even explained was her “Aha!” moment. It was then that she recognized something or someone far greater is in charge. That moment she finally believed in God—the creator of heaven and earth and all things in between.

When she finished speaking, there was dead silence in the room and she started to apologize again for talking about cadavers and dissections. We reassured her there was no need for apology. Her compelling story had not turned our stomachs; rather, the beauty of it had taken away our breath! We sat in stunned silence as we each reflected on this great and marvelous Creator God who reveals Himself in such wonderful and unique ways.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. [Psalm 139:13-15 (NLT)]

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June 5, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Church & Worship, Sharing Our Faith, Thanks & Praise

THE FIRST HYMN

…be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…. [Ephesians 5:18-20 (ESV)]

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, [Acts 16:25 (ESV)]

In the ruins of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, a scrap of parchment known as P.Oxy. 1786 was discovered in 1918. Only 11-inches long and 2-inches wide, it consists of four lines of text along with musical notations on the back of a grain contract. Found in an ancient garbage dump, it was just one of 500,000 parchments dating from the 1st century BC to the 7th AD. Along with grocery lists, official records, and business contracts, the rubbish heap yielded a play by Sophocles, poetry by Sappho, portions of the Old Testament, fragments of both Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels, and an arrest warrant for a Christian.

While scholars call it P.Oxy. 1786, after hearing the version adapted by Chris Tomlin and Ben Fielding, you probably will know it as “The First Hymn.” Indeed, in a way, it is! Granted, the song sung by Miriam after crossing the Red Sea predates Christ by 1,400 years, the Hebrew Psalms were sung at Temple worship, and Biblical scholars believe passages like Colossians 1:15-20 and 1 Timothy 3:16 were hymns sung by early Christians. Nevertheless, none of those psalms or hymns include musical notations as does P.Oxy. 1786. To date, this scrap of parchment dating from around 260 AD is the oldest piece of Christian music in existence.

Although musicologists and historians have known about P.Oxy. 1786 for over a century, it remained in a sort of academic “no man’s land,” until historian John Dickson took an interest in it. Hoping to bring this obscure little hymn back to life, he reached out to musicians Ben Fielding and Christ Tomlin. The result is a new worship song, “The First Hymn.” Bringing the words of this ancient hymn back to life as a contemporary worship song seems almost sacrilegious until we understand the original music. Musicologists say the hymn used the same melodic structure  used in taverns and on the stage at pagan theaters at the time. Musically, it was a 3rd century version of a Broadway, pop, or contemporary worship song! While the resurrected version doesn’t sound like the original, it has remained true to its purpose—a Christian worship song in the musical style of the day!

This hymn was sung at a time when the Church was confronted both by the pagan gods of the Roman Empire and various heresies regarding the divinity of Jesus and the Trinity. Yet, in its 35 words, it is a bold declaration of Christian faith. Combatting heresies of the day, it clarifies both the divinity of Jesus and the three separate but equal persons of the one triune God. It also makes a not too subtle dig at the Roman god Zeus. While pagans referred to him as the “giver of good gifts,” this hymn calls God the “only giver of all good gifts.” Moreover, by calling the heavens to be silent and the rivers to be still, the hymn showed the power of the one true God!

The 3rd century was a dangerous time for followers of Christ. In 201, Rome made conversion to Christianity a capital offense and, by mid-century, every citizen was required to make a sacrifice to the gods or face death. Found in that same ancient rubbish dump was a formal certificate proving that one local citizen had offered pagan sacrifice in public. Christians who refused were martyred in gruesome ways; if they weren’t crucified or beheaded, they may have been tossed into cauldrons of boiling oil or cast into an arena to be devoured by lions. Nevertheless, this hymn speaks of a God who gives good gifts—not suffering and persecution! This defiant hymn resounds with joy with its words, “Might, praise, and glory forever to our God. The only giver of all good gifts.”

The singing of hymns has a long history in the Christian church. Psalms, a book of songs, is the longest book in the Bible and Scripture makes over four hundred references to singing and fifty direct commands to sing. The last thing Jesus and the disciples did in the upper room His last night was sing a hymn. While in prison, Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God which led to their jailer’s conversion! We find instructions to sing in Psalms, Ephesians, Colossians, and James. In the early second century, the Roman governor Pliny the Younger described the worship practices of Christians who “were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god.” Let us continue to sing the song of the redeemed as boldly as did the persecuted Christians of the early Church. Amen and amen.

Let all be silent: The shining stars not sound forth,
All rushing rivers stilled, As we sing our hymn
To the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
As all Powers cry out in answer, “Amen, amen.”
Might, praise, and glory forever to our God.
The only giver of all good gifts. Amen. Amen.
[P.Oxy. 1786 (The First Hymn)]

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [Colossians 3:16 (ESV)]

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April 28, 2025

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Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Prayer, Thanks & Praise

ORGANIZING PRAYERS

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. [1 Timothy 2:1 (NLT)]

While there are no hard and fast rules about prayer except to believe in it and do it, some people use acronyms to help organize their prayers. The PRAY method stands for Praise, Repent, Ask, and Yield while the ACTS method formats prayer into Admiration (praise), Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication (asking God for what is needed). A TACOS prayer structure is Thanks, Adoration (or Applause), Confession, Others, and Self. Rather than an acronym, I was taught “The Hand of Prayer” as a girl. Beginning with the thumb, the order was Praise, Thanksgiving, Confession, Intercession (prayer for others), and Petition (prayer for oneself).

Regardless of how we do it, we should remember that only after we’ve put God first in our prayers, are we to pray for others and ourselves. I, for one, admit that I often speed through praise and thanks along with confession and repentance to get right to the asking. Worse, I find that my personal petitions frequently preempt and outweigh my intercessory prayers.

There is nothing wrong with praying for ourselves. In the Lord’s Prayer, we were taught to ask for our daily needs, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from temptation. The Psalms are filled with pleas for God to intervene in the psalmists’ lives. Hannah, Jabez, David, Paul and even Jesus prayed for themselves. Praying for ourselves brings us into an intimate relationship with God and invites His blessings into our lives. The problem arises when we come to God just for those blessings without acknowledging Him or praying for others. Remembering our “God blesses” for others didn’t end with adulthood!

Before he became Pope Francis, Cardinal Bergoglio is said to have created the “Five Finger” prayer approach to help little ones remember their many “God blesses.” His method helps us remember to offer our prayers for others, as well. Because it’s nearest to the body when hands are folded in prayer, the thumb reminds us to pray for the people who are nearest and dearest—our family and friends. The index or pointing finger is a reminder to pray for those people (e.g. teachers, counselors, doctors, and pastors) who point us in the right direction. As the strongest and tallest, the middle finger is a prompt to pray for those in power and authority (even the ones with whom we disagree). Because it is the weakest digit with the least amount of dexterity, the fourth (or ring) finger reminds us to pray for the weak and powerless (e.g. the homeless, vulnerable, impoverished, and suffering). It is only when we get to the pinky that we pray for ourselves and our own needs. That little finger is a vivid reminder of how small we are in relation to God and how small our needs are in relation to the needs of others.

It is both a responsibility and a privilege to lift others’ needs to God in prayer. Abraham interceded for the people of Sodom, Job for his friends, Moses for the Israelites, the early church for the imprisoned Peter, Daniel for his captive nation, Paul for the readers of his letters, and Jesus for His disciples. John Calvin said, “To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them.” When we pray with our five fingers, we have four fingers reminding us to do just that!

We are never more like Christ than in prayers of intercession. [Austin Phelps]

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. [Ephesians 6:18 (NLT)]

Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. [Galatians 6:2 (NLT)]

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April 24, 2025

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Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Forgiveness, Holidays & Holy Days, Knowing Him, Thanks & Praise

PROOF

Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” [Mark 2:5-7 (CSB)]

white campionBy forgiving people’s sins, Jesus was placing Himself in the role of God because only God can forgive sins. Had Jesus not been God, it would have been blasphemy. When He raised the dead, multiplied food, stilled storms, and healed incurable diseases, Jesus was doing other things that only God could do. His incredible claim that He could bring Himself back from the dead, something only God could do, was another way Jesus claimed His divinity. The undeniable proof of His claim came Easter morning when Jesus demonstrated power over both life and death. The tomb was empty and people saw the risen Christ—they heard Him speak, watched Him eat, saw His wounds, and touched Him. The forty days the resurrected Jesus remained on earth, however, is about more than proof of his claim to be God; it’s about proof of our relationship to God.

Let’s return to the disciples in that locked room Easter morning. The man they thought was going to redeem Israel was dead and His body was missing. Were they any less confused, disappointed, frightened, or troubled by those events than the two Christ followers returning to Emmaus that day? Not only were the disciples perplexed, they probably were guilt-ridden, as well. Peter, John, and James had failed to stay awake and pray with Jesus in Gethsemane and Mark tells us they all deserted Him that night. After promising he’d never deny Jesus, Peter did just that three times! Jesus’ closest companions were nowhere to be found the following day when the crowd shouted “Crucify Him!” and it was a stranger who carried His cross. The only disciple at the crucifixion was John. Rather than any of the disciples, it was Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who boldly risked their positions in the high council to see that Jesus got a proper burial.

When Jesus appeared to His disciples on Easter, thinking Him a ghost, they were startled and frightened. Once they knew it was the Lord, I’m not so sure they stopped being afraid of Him. But, instead of a reprimand for their doubt, Jesus simply showed them His hands and feet. Rather than shaming them for their cowardice, He spoke of forgiveness. While they may have anticipated a rebuke for their incomprehension and confusion, Jesus patiently explained the Scriptures’ prophecies and how He fulfilled them. When He appeared to Thomas, rather than scolding the doubter, Jesus told him to believe and offered proof. When Jesus appeared to the seven beside the Sea of Galilee, He didn’t admonish them for returning to their livelihood. Instead, He provided them with an enormous catch and made breakfast! Rather than confront Peter about his betrayal, Jesus restored their relationship and spoke to him of love. We know the Lord also spent time with his family but, rather than exacting retribution from the ones who thought him a religious fanatic, He forgave them; His half-brothers (two of which wrote epistles) joined His followers. Moreover, when Jesus finally ascended into Heaven, He didn’t leave His followers alone; He gave them His Holy Spirit!

The Resurrection tells us that Jesus defeated sin, Satan, and death and proves that He was God. The forty days the resurrected Christ spent on earth, however, tells us that the God who lived as a man for over thirty years was like the man who died and rose as God. It demonstrates that He was as gentle, patient, loving, and forgiving after the resurrection as He was before. He calmed the disciples’ fears, answered their questions, eased their doubts, knew their concerns, forgave their failures, and loved each one of them. A God of relationship, Jesus continues to know, see, hear, love, and forgive us today.

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. [1 John 1:1-3 (CSB)]

And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. [1 John 4:14-16]

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