March 15, 2026

Perfection

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Great is the Lord and highly to be praised;
and His greatness is [so vast and deep as to be] unsearchable.
Psalm 145:3 AMP

These two Scriptures echo the unsearchable greatness of God:

Who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number…
Job 5:9 AMP

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)!
And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!
Romans 11:33 AMP

Ok…I admit it…I am a word nerd.  When I read Psalm 145:3, two words stuck out – greatness and unsearchable. So I researched each word to see how it was defined in Biblical times.

Unsearchable:  infinite, deep, incomprehensible, untraceable, vast. But when I looked up greatness, one word kept reoccurring—perfection. God IS Perfection. Which is something we continually strive for but cannot attain. In others words, God is described as ‘infinite, incomprehensible, untraceable perfection’.  I cannot even begin to wrap my mind around that.  I love the question that is asked in Job 11:7 (HCSB):

Can you fathom the depths of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?

Job 26:14 (AMP) asks it this way:

Yet these are but [a small part of His doings] the outskirts of His ways
or the mere fringes of His force, the faintest whisper of His voice!
Who dares contemplate or who can understand the thunders of His full, magnificent power?

We will never be able to conceive the riches of God’s greatness or His perfection.  We tend to define God by our limited experiences and our own point of view.  But God is so immense that we will not discover His full magnitude this side of Heaven.  Yet as we continue to seek Him, He continues to reveal Himself to us.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13

Hebrews 11:6 says “He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.”  Amazing! God continues to reveal His greatness and His perfection to us when we sincerely seek Him.  He is more than worthy of our praise.  But we will never be able to glorify Him with as much praise as He deserves because His perfection is beyond what our feeble minds can comprehend.  But the more I seek Him, the more He reveals of Himself to me and I praise Him more.  As I grow in knowledge of who God is, I am able to honor Him with more and more praise.

Great is the Lord and highly to be praised…
Psalm 145:3

Hold Me

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I love, I love, I love, I love the way You hold me
I love, I love, I love, I love the way You hold me
I love, I love, I love, I love the way You hold me
I love, I love, I love, I love the way You, the way You

I’ve had a long day, I just wanna relax
Don’t have time for my friends, no time to chit-chat
Problems at my job, wonderin’ what to do
I know I should be working but I’m thinking of You and
Just when I feel this crazy world is gonna bring me down
That’s when Your smile comes around

Oh, I love the way You hold me, by my side You’ll always be
You take each and every day, make it special in some way
I love the way You hold me, in Your arms I’ll always be
You take each and every day, make it special in some way
I love You more than the words in my brain can express
I can’t imagine even loving You less

Lord, I love the way You hold me
Whoa, oh, I love the way You hold me
Whoa, oh

Well ya, took my day and You flipped it around
Calmed the tidal wave and put my feet on the ground
Forever in my heart, always on my mind
It’s crazy how I think about You all of the time
And just when I think I’m ’bout to figure You out
You make me wanna sing and shout

I’m so grateful and thankful for all You’ve done
Wish I could tell You in a short story or poem
But all I have is my voice and this guitar
And You have my heart

Oh, I love
I love, I love, I love, I love the way You hold me
I love, I love, I love, I love the way You hold me
I love, I love, I love, I love the way You hold me, hold me, hold me

Written and Sung by Jamie Grace and Toby McKeehan along with Chris Stevens

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Where do you run when you have one of those days?  To Jesus???  He is our comfort….

“Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 NLT

“Gracious ‘word’ of a gracious Savior, on which the soul may confidingly repose, and be at peace forever! It is a present rest—the rest of grace as well as the rest of glory. Not only are there signals of peace hung out from the walls of Heaven—the lights of Home glimmering in the distance to cheer our footsteps; but we have the “shadow” of this “great Rock!” in a present “weary land.” Before the Throne above is there “the sea of glass,” without one rippling wave; but there is a haven even on earth for the tempest-tossed, “We who have believed DO enter into rest.”

(I love this word picture! It is taken from gracegems.org.  Click on the link to read more of this article.)

And He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Exodus 33:14 ESV

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Heavenly Father, I thank You that when it has been one of those days, we can find comfort and peace in You!  I love the way You hold me.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!!!

No One Can Fathom

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Every day I will praise You
and extol Your name for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
His greatness no one can fathom.
Psalms 145:2 and 3

“No one can fathom….”  In life we try to find a reason for everything.  We don’t want any unknowns, we need answers.  Some things will be understood by all (like the greatness of ice cream), some things will be understood by few (like math), and some will be understood by none—like the greatness of God.

There are so many times, even on a daily basis, that I don’t understand why God does what He does for me.  And for others, even those I don’t feel deserve it, and even when I don’t feel as if I deserve it.  So when the words of this psalm say to ‘…extol (or praise) His name for ever and ever’, I don’t find that a difficult task to accomplish.

I accept that God’s greatness is one of those things in life that will not be understood until it is time—until we see Him in all of His glory.  Until this time we are asked to follow simple steps: exalt Him…praise Him…extol His name.  Why? Because.  Because His greatness keeps us going even when we don’t deserve it.  His greatness just is!  We don’t deserve it, we didn’t earn it, but His love for us allows it to flow freely.

No, I cannot say why He does what He does, but I don’t need to.  I know that I need to praise and pray, I need to worship, I need to give thanks…for ever and ever….

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Let’s pray:  Dear Lord, I pray contentment in not knowing why You do what You do. Your greatness is a blessing, Your greatness is inspiring.  Daily You shine upon us, and daily we will say ‘Thank You!’  In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Who Am I Representing?

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I will exalt You, my God and King,
and praise Your name forever and ever.
I will praise You every day;
yes, I will praise You forever.
Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise!
No one can measure His greatness.
Psalms 145:1-3

As I read these verses for our devotional this week, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “Do I exalt the Lord?  Do I praise Him daily?” Sadly, I didn’t have to ponder long to conclude that the answer is ‘no.’  The busyness of life has most definitely taken center stage.  And everything and everyone else has been pushed to the side.  School, work, trying to relax, doing homework, sleeping…because you have to sleep…making life choices.  Life can often get in the way of the most important thing—spending time with God and remembering that my life is meant to be lived for Him with Him.

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and money.
Matthew 6:24

This also can apply to other areas of your life, such as work, relationship, ministry, or children.   You cannot ‘serve two masters,’ the verse says.  First and foremost, God is to be the center of everything, and when He is we will be fulfilled, and everything else falls into place.

I was quickly reminded of Martha.  Poor Martha was so concerned with what she was doing for Christ rather than being with Christ and putting Him first.

Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted
by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair
to You that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!
There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it,
and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:39-42

I want to please God. I want to live a life for Him. I just pray that I don’t get so concerned with what I am doing and forget about living life with Him.

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Lord, help me to balance living for You, and keeping You in center place in my life.  Amen.

Blessed Be The Name of the Lord

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Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord Most High
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord Most High

The name of the Lord is a strong tower
The righteous run into it and they are saved
The name of the Lord is a strong tower
The righteous run into it and they are saved

Glory to the name of the Lord
Glory to the name of the Lord
Glory to the name of the Lord Most High
Glory to the name of the Lord
Glory to the name of the Lord
Glory to the name of the Lord Most High

Holy is the name of the Lord
Holy is the name of the Lord
Holy is the name of the Lord Most High
Holy is the name of the Lord
Holy is the name of the Lord
Holy is the name of the Lord Most High

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord Most High
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord Most High

Written by Clinton Utterbach

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Ever want to run away and hide? Pull the covers over your head—and not come out? Yep, been there, done that. In fact, the last couple of weeks I have felt like that. A LOT! But in the quiet moments I found this chorus running repeatedly through my head. It is taken from Proverbs 18:10 (HCSB).

The name of Yahweh is a strong tower;
the righteous run to it and are protected.

Other versions use the word ‘safe’ in place of ‘protected’.  But I like the image of being protected.  Can’t you just picture the Lord standing in front of us, wielding His mighty sword, daring anyone to touch us?  It is so reassuring to know that when the trials and struggles of this world attempt to bring us down, we have a secure place to run and hide.  Job 11:18 (NLT) tells us, “Having hope will give you courage.  You will be protected and will rest in safety.” Proverbs 29:25 (HCSB) says , “The fear of man is a snare, but the one who trusts in the Lord is protected.” When we have hope in the Lord we have nothing to fear…we are protected. We can rest in peace. Hallelujah! I love how Psalm 61:3 (HCSB) puts it:

…For You have been a refuge for me, a strong tower in the face of the enemy.

Whatever the enemy may be, the Lord is our Refuge and our protection. We just need to remember to run to Him.

Unceasing Praise

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I will exalt You, my God the King
I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will praise You and extol Your name forever and ever.
Psalms 145:1-2 NIV

In this psalm I am able to see that we need to praise the Lord at all times despite our adversaries that are in this life.  Ignoring the works of the devil while praising God makes the devil want to give up on us.

What is unceasing praise?

Revelations 4:8 says, “Each of the four creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around even under his wings.  Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.’

If the four creatures were able to say ‘Holy Holy Holy,’ what more you and I who are created in His very own image—us who were given dominion over the creatures?  He gave us the power over things.  And here the same creatures are saying ‘Holy Holy Holy!’ (How about us?)  I feel ashamed when sometimes a day passes without being able to praise the Lord in the name of being busy.  Praise has to come from deep down in our heart.  It has to be a daily thing to do and a thing that we need to love to do.  Let us therefore choose to praise the Lord at all times.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea
and all that is in them singing: ‘To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever.’
Revelations 5:13

Praise the Lord forever! In Psalm 35:28 we read,

My tongue will speak of Your righteousness and of Your praises all day long.

The birds of the air are able to praise God; what more you and I?

I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Psalm 104:33

Praise can only done when you are alive. Let us give the best to our Lord now while we are alive. If we die it becomes another issue altogether. Let us make best use of our time to praise the Lord.

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Father, I thank You for Your answers to prayer always and for the revelations each time I come to You. Lord, You are indeed worthy! Glory and honor be unto You. Father, give us the grace to praise You more each day and without ceasing forever and ever.  I pray for an intimate relationship with You, Lord.  Let Your Presence saturate us with Your anointing always.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Chicken and Rice

 

Chicken and Rice resize

This is a recipe I learned when I was in 7th grade Home Economics. (Do they still offer that in schools?)  I liked it so much, I brought the recipe home and asked my Mom if I could make dinner for the family for the first time.  I did – and it was a success!  How’s that for boosting your kitchen self-confidence?  Your kids can make this too:  Chicken and Rice!

There are any number of variations you do make:  add onions or garlic to the rice.  Sauté the mushrooms in wine and herbs before you add them to the casserole.  Marinate the chicken in Italian dressing first.  Parboil brown rice and use that instead of white rice.  The sky is the limit, or you can keep it simple.  I made it like this last night and my whole family loved it.  Yours will too!

Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:

  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 can of milk (see below)
  • 1 cup white rice
  • 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopped
  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375*F.  In a large casserole or baking dish, spray some cooking spray on the bottom and sides.  Evenly place the six chicken thighs in the dish.  Season with salt and pepper.
  2. In a large bowl, empty the can of cream of mushroom soup.  Fill that empty can with milk and mix with the soup.  Add in the rice.  Chop the mushrooms and add to the soup mixture.  Add salt and pepper, stir, and pour over the chicken.  You want the rice mixture to be evenly distributed in the dish.  Depending on the size of your dish, that may mean it nearly covers the chicken, or not even halfway.  Just spread it out so it lies pretty flat.
  3. Cover the dish with foil and bake for an hour.  Check for doneness – you want the thighs to be 175*F.  Serve hot!

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana


To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

 

Cracks

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Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart, You, God, will not despise.
Psalms 51:15-17

The words of this Amy Grant song began to play in my head as I read these verses…
We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah…

I think so often we want to impress God with our performance—with what we do, say, and with our actions—that we forget that our brokenness speaks in volumes.  I don’t fault us for wanting to do this, we want to seem ‘put together’ to those around us, to ourselves, and to God.  We want to seem as if we are in control, following God’s word from “Genesis to the maps”, (as my pastor says).  But life happens. We are humans who fall and we break.  Yes, God does love us when we are doing well, when we are walking in righteousness.  But there is more to daily life than that…when we hurt, when we cry out in pain, when we are broken.

I always think of the story of the shattered pot.  Yes, the pot was a beautiful piece of art when it was whole but somewhere along the way it was knocked over, breaking into small pieces.  From the looks of it, there was no fixing it.  But God takes those pieces and mends them together; He fits each piece back where it belongs.  The difference is not that the light shines through the cracks but God’s light shines through us.  It was something to say that the potter created…a beautiful piece to begin with.  But it is another thing to say that God took something that was thought to be trash and made it beautiful again.  The care He took in repairing it is like the care He takes in repairing us.  Our broken and contrite hearts.  Our broken pieces that others may look at and want to throw away.  When we are broken, we may not want to turn to God.  Perhaps out of shame or pain; there may be many reasons.  But it is during these times when we need to turn to Him the most, when we need to allow Him to touch our broken lives, healing us in ways that will allow His light to shine through our cracks.  This gives Him glory and shows our faith in Him.  Yes, He delights in us doing good because that’s what were supposed to do, but as His Word says in Psalm 51, sometimes, a lot of times, our sacrifice is our brokenness.

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Let’s pray: ‘Better than a Hallelujah’, Lord!  Only You can make our broken into beautiful.  Only you can mend the hurt and pain.  We live in a performance-based society…we’re told that doing good all the time will get us where we need to go.  But You, Lord, open Your arms to our brokenness.  Thank You!  Please touch our hearts and remind us daily to turn to You when we are broken and battered.  Your light will shine through the cracks and display beauty.  Broken and contrite, Lord…this is our sacrifice to You.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Better Than A Hallelujah
Amy Grant

Sacrifices

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The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God,
You will not despise.
Psalm 51:17

God is looking for men and women who are willing to come to the point of accepting their wrongs, their sinful nature…and repent.

This psalm is a repentance psalm which was cited after David saw that he had missed the track and wanted to get back to God and to renew their relationship. David knew, “If I am to prosper and walk in God’s abundance of blessing I need to reunite myself with my God.”

Even today, what God wants us to do is to reunite ourselves to Him.  And for our relationship to be intimate.  If you love someone you will do what that someone wants you to do.  We can tithe, we can give love offerings, we can give firstfruits, we can sacrifice our time in prayer and fasting; but if our hearts are not clinging to the mind and will of God then we lose out and there is nothing we can gain.

Check out the following Scriptures where God is explicitly saying He doesn’t need our sacrifices but, rather, our hearts.  Let us give our all to Him!

The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to Me, says the Lord, I have more than enough of burnt offerings or rams and the fat of fattened animals….
Isaiah 1:11

…For I desire mercy not sacrifices and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6

Even though you bring Me burnt offerings, I will not accept them.
Amos 5:22

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings….
Micah 6:6

I therefore pray that we yield ourselves to Him and be righteous rather than give sacrifices that the Lord does not receive.

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Father, I thank You that You hear us when we pray.  We thank You for the revelations in the Scriptures.  By Your grace, Lord, cause us to seek You more and do Your will and please You rather than offering sacrifices that are useless in Your sight.  We pray for forgiveness of our sins and iniquities.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Call It Grace

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hi there!  i would love to encourage you to listen to the entire length of the video attached below.  the first few minutes are a wonderful sharing by Chad Mattson of Unspoken about the impact God’s grace has made in his life.  if perhaps you don’t have the time right now, click ahead to 6:45 where the song begins.  <3

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It’s the light that pierces through you
To the darkest hidden place
It knows your deepest secrets
But it never looks away
It’s the gentle hand that pulls you
From the judgement of the crowd
When you stand before them guilty
And you got no way out

Some may call it foolish and impossible
But for every heart it rescues, it’s a miracle
It’s nothing less than scandalous
This Love that took our place
Just call it what it is, call it grace
Call it grace

It’s the breath that’s breathing new life
Into what we thought was dead
It’s the Favor that takes orphans
Placing crowns upon their heads
It’s the Hope for our tomorrow
The Rock on which we stand
It’s a strong and mighty fortress
Even hell can’t stand against

Amazing, unshaking
This is grace, this is grace
Unchanging, unfailing
This is grace, this is grace

Written and Performed by
Unspoken, Chad Mattson, Mike Gomez, Jon Lowry, and Ariel Munoz

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I just love the attributes attached to grace that the guys of Unspoken sing about—amazing…unshaking…unchanging…unfailing—don’t you?  Grace IS each of these things because the Giver of grace, our Sovereign Almighty God, IS all of those things.

The following are a few passages from the New Testament that are so encouraging and humbling as they remind us of the grace God has shown to us!  Each of them speaks clearly of the  ‘amazing, unshaking (steadfast, unwavering), unchanging, unfailing’ nature of our great God.

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the Promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.
Hebrews 6:17-19

So too at the present time there is a remnant, selected (chosen) by grace (by God’s unmerited favor and graciousness).
But if it is by grace (His unmerited favor and graciousness), it is no longer conditioned on works or anything men have done. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace [it would be meaningless].
For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.]
Romans 11:5-6, 29 AMP

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:4-9

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, has given grace upon grace upon grace to His people throughout the ages.  He always has been and always will be a grace-giving God!  Truly our eternal future is totally dependent on the truth and fact that He IS  ‘amazing, unshaking (steadfast, unwavering), unchanging, unfailing’

There is a famous quote attributed to a 16th century believer, John Bradford. Whether Bradford truly is the one who spoke this phrase into infamy or not, I believe we all have voiced a similar thought many times!

“There but for the grace of God go I!”

Perhaps the world considers this a fatalistic way of thinking…but the Apostle Paul believed just the same thing.  Paul clearly recognized the value and magnitude of the grace that was given to him!  Writing to the Corinthian church regarding Jesus’ appearances after His Resurrection, he said:

He <Jesus>appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles,
and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain;
but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
1 Corinthians 15:8-10

And we too, who are recipients of MUCH of God’s amazing, unshakable, unchanging, unfailing grace, know this is a foundational truth of our lives.  ‘But for the grace of God’ each of our lives would look much different!  (I hear your ‘Amen!’)  Grace cannot be earned…so just call it what it is—Call It Grace!

May I pray the final benediction given in the Scriptures over each of you…
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.  Amen.
Revelation 22:21