Great Is The Lord And Most Worthy Of Praise;

His greatness no one can fathom.

The Lord is great and most worthy of praise. We bless the Lord when we praise Him and He always deserves and merits the highest honor, reverence and admiration that we can give to Him. Indeed, His greatness is beyond our understanding.

This is a guest post by Beth Harris. She is a wife, mother, Bible study leader and volunteer editor for markalanwilliams.net

Did you know that praise is a gift from the Lord because it honors Him and it blesses us as well? Praise is so powerful. It is a tool, a weapon, an atmosphere changer and an attitude adjuster. It really is!

Whenever I feel discouraged or downcast I usually need an attitude adjustment and so I begin to praise the Lord. This helps me to take my mind off my problems and direct my thoughts toward Him and as a result my outlook improves.

I enjoy praising the Lord with music particularly on my morning walks and when I’m in my car. I find that singing along with the Gospel station songs is always so uplifting. Why? Because praising the Lord reminds me of His goodness and faithfulness. As a result, I feel more hopeful.

The Lord is worthy of praise because of who He is and all that He does for us. He is worthy of praise because He is worthy of glory.

But, sometimes it can be difficult to praise the Lord when we are hurting and suffering. However, He is still worthy of praise even when we don’t understand His plan and must walk by faith, trusting in Him.

When we are down, we need to praise Him the most, because praising can be the catalyst to change our feelings and help us gain His perspective on our situation.

Hebrews 13:15-16 says, “Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.” (NLT)

When we praise the Lord, we affirm His goodness and demonstrate our faith in Him.

Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. (Psalm 103:22 NIV)

The Bible says that everyone should praise the Lord. Praising the Lord is different than thanking Him. We praise Him for who He is and we thank Him for our blessings.

The Lord is worthy of praise for His amazing attributes.

Such as His:

• Holiness

• Faithfulness

• Sovereignty

• Omniscience (All knowing)

• Omnipotence (All powerful)

• Omnipresence (Always present everywhere)

• Mercy

• Grace

• Justice

• Righteousness

The Lord is worthy of praise because of all the wonderful things that He does for us.

As Psalm 103:1-5 says, “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (NIV)

The Lord forgives, heals, redeems, loves, shows compassion and satisfies us with good things!

So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. (Ephesians 1:6-7 NLT)

The Lord is worthy of praise because He purchased our freedom through His shed blood to forgive our sins and give us salvation.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Click here if you would like to now.

What are you praising the Lord for today?

Your thoughts are welcome! You can leave a comment below.

Help Spread the Word! If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.” (Psalm 145:3 NIV) |

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Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• How Praising Unlocks Heaven on Earth

• 7 Ways to Pray When You’re Suffering

• When your level of complaining is at an all-time high…

• What Does God Owe Me?

• Five Simple Steps to Conquer Complaining and Find Happiness

• How to Avoid Comparison in a World Filled with It

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth

Let’s Stop Majoring On Minors In The Christian Life

The difference between biblical essentials and nonessentials.

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Recently a friend related how he was nearly kicked out of his friend’s house for apparently majoring on minors of the Christian life. It seems that he was insisting on what seem to be relatively minor theological points. Later when relating the encounter, he explained that this was a fairly normal experience for him. He said that he has a “prophetic” gifting that compels him to confront.

(this is not the friend referred to in this article)

The issue, it seems to me, is not a prophetic gifting, so much as it is majoring on minors and doing so insistently and ungraciously. But my friend isn’t the only Christian doing this. Many Christians bicker and sometimes separate over minor issues of difference, majoring on minors in the Christian life.

So, what’s the answer? The best way I’ve heard the solution expressed is in the maxim:

“In essentials, unity, in nonessentials, liberty, in all things, charity.”

This guideline is biblical and can be quite helpful to guide us to keep from majoring on minors and yet stand firm on what is vital.

Let’s consider the three parts of this statement about majoring on minors:

1. In essentials, unity…

This means that when there are beliefs integral to the Christian faith, Christians should affirm their agreement with Scripture.

Why Scripture? Because it is our only unshifting, reliable source of God’s Truth.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)

In the Bible, we find two kinds of essentials:

• Beliefs that are central to the Gospel.

These are the beliefs that are affirmed by believers throughout the centuries. They are often expressed in the Creeds and in doctrinal statements of an organization like the one I am leading called Discipleship Journeys with Jesus. You can see our doctrinal statement HERE.

This is why various authors have warned about the book and movie The Shack. It undermines several cardinal doctrines of Christianity. In my article Warning—Stay Out of the Shack!, I reference four articles which spell out the issues, written by four excellent and well-known Bible scholars.

Other issues to which the Bible speaks clearly.

There are other topics on which the Bible speaks clearly and on those Christians must take a biblical stand. For example, Scripture says clearly that homosexual practice is sinful and while societal pressure is strong to deny it, we must side with Scripture.

A temptation for many is taking dogmatic stands on issues that are not clear in the Bible. It takes study, discernment and spiritual maturity to know when to stand firm, and when to admit that Bible-believing Christians can have differing views.

2. In nonessentials, liberty…

Scripture speaks quite a bit about Christian liberty. Here’s one example.

“So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.” (Colossians 2:17 NLT)

So, we are not to be majoring on minors, but instead to focus on Christ.

But what are minors? Here is a comparison to help keep us from majoring on minors:

Bible verses that undergird Christian unity in the essentials listed above:

• Jesus was born of a virgin, Mary. (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38)

• Jesus rose bodily from the dead. (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20; Romans 1:3-4; 2 Timothy 2:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3-7)

• Jesus is the only way to salvation. (John 14:6; Acts 4:12, 16:31; Romans 10:14-15; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 1 John 2:23, 4:15; 2 John 1:9)

It isn’t always easy to determine what are majors and when we might be majoring on minors. To help determine which issues are and are not essentials takes:

• Careful personal study of Scripture. (2 Timothy 2:15)

• Consulting with mature Christian leaders. (Proverbs 11:14)

3. In all things, charity.

Even when we must oppose false teaching, we must remember the principle of charity. Charity in this sense means lovingkindness.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

The practical outcome of our charity (love) is that we will be kind, gracious, appealing and therefore persuasive.

“Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” (Colossians 4:6 NLT)

An old adage says, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” My friend wasn’t convincing and my hunch is that it was because whether he realized it or not, he was vinegar instead of honey, concerning issues which are not even essentials of the Christian faith.

In conclusion, may this great statement guide us:

“In essentials, unity, in nonessentials, liberty, in all things, charity.” | CLICK TO TWEET

Instead of majoring on minors, let’s focus on essentials and always, always speak and act in love.

What do you think? Have I truthfully covered the point? Your thoughts are welcome! Please leave your comment below. Just remember that if you disagree, to do all things in charity!

Help Spread the Word! If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• 3 Keys to Maintaining Unity

• 5 Outstanding Qualities of True Friends and How to Be One

• 4 Reasons You Can Love and Trust the Bible Today

• How Digging in the Dirt Proves the Bible is Reliable

• Have You Written Your Own Bible?

• Beware of Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

• Podcast: How do we know we have the right books in the Bible?

• Podcast: Why do some Bible versions omit certain verses?

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth

Have An Appointment With The Lord And Keep It.

A man is powerful on his knees

Do you wait to pray until you feel like it or do you have an appointment with the Lord and keep it? Now more than ever there are many ways to keep track of every event, meeting and appointment in our lives. But, the most important appointment with the Lord is often neglected.

This is a guest post by Beth Harris. She is a wife, mother, Bible study leader and volunteer editor for markalanwilliams.net.

This quote reminded me of a powerful little book that made quite an impression on me as a new believer almost 30 years ago called, My Heart – Christ’s Home by Robert Boyd Munger.

The book is based on Revelation 3:20 which says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (NKJV)

The author compares the human heart to a home and explains the transformation that takes place in the life of a new Christian. The Lord moves in and patiently though persistently waits for the believer to surrender each room. Ultimately, He wants access to the entire home or life including the rooms that are undesirable.

At first the new believer makes some positive changes, including a daily appointment with the Lord. But, he gets busy and begins to skip their time together. After he is convicted, he repents and reestablishes his meeting with Jesus. What really strikes him though, is the idea that the Lord has missed their time together and that He desires fellowship with all believers.

Maybe like me, you create time for appointments and activities that are necessary and some that are enjoyable too. This is not wrong, unless our schedules are too full to have an appointment with the Lord and spend time in fellowship with Him.

Hebrews 4:16 says, Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (NIV)

Praise God that He is approachable.

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are invited to come to the throne of God with confidence. He is accessible and available to meet with us at any time of day or night.

The creator of the universe, the Almighty God, is able to meet with and listen to everything that concerns us 24/7.

We are admonished in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray without ceasing” (NIV), but, some may struggle to set aside time to meet with God.

Be assured that the devil will put obstacles in our path when we try to draw closer to the Lord. As a result, our good intentions may be derailed as we face distractions, interruptions and circumstances that try to interfere.

Perhaps making an appointment with the Lord and keeping it is a challenge that needs to be overcome.

Everyone is different in terms of what time of day will work best. But, start small by scheduling 5 to 15 minutes a day with the Lord, just as you would any other appointment. Then add more time once it becomes a habit.

Pray and invite the Lord to speak to you through the Bible. It might even help to think of Him waiting to meet with you.

But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6 NLT)

God wants a personal relationship with us and the Bible encourages us to spend time privately in prayer with Him.

We may find it helpful to structure our prayer time with the Lord by using an acrostic called ACTS.

Spend some time working through each letter as follows:

A – Adoration: Spend time adoring or praising God for His attributes.

C – Confession: Ask God to help you confess and turn from your sins.

T – Thanking: Thank God for your specific blessings.

S – Supplication: Ask or present your prayer requests to God.

Our prayers are powerful as the Bible says in James 5:16: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful an effective.” (NIV)

Our humble submission to an all-powerful God results in powerful prayers. 

Finish with letting God speak to you by reading a verse or chapter in the Bible. Keep some index cards handy and take a moment to write down a verse and work on Scripture memorization.

Do you have an appointment with the Lord?

Your thoughts are welcome! You can leave a comment below.

Help Spread the Word! If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!

“Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees”—Corrie Ten Boom | CLICK TO TWEET

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• Why You Need Protecting Prayer in 3 Realms and How to Do It

• How Praising Unlocks Heaven on Earth

• So You Think You Can’t Take a Prayer Retreat?

• Why Thanking Prayers Are So Important

• Unexpected Ways It Pays to Pray

• Seven Ways to Pray When Suffering

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my helpful articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also receive my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth