December 23, 2024

This Week…Psalms 136:1-3

November 20, 2015 by

seekingHimthanksgivinggraphic

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
His faithful love endures forever.
Psalms 136:1-3

*   ~   ♥   ~    ✞    ~   ♥   ~   *

Here on the Seeking Him devotional blog, we are focusing our thoughts for the next few weeks on giving thanks, gratitude, and being thankful.  This week our devotional writers have been so encouraging in reminding us that about our good God—Whose faithful love endures forever.  Please click on the indivdual links to read each complete devotional; here are a few excerpts from their thoughts….

In God’s Goodness, Ann wrote about our good God Whose love endures forever…

“This repeated refrain ‘His love endures forever‘ teaches us that God’s love is the foundation for all His actions on our behalf and the fountainhead of all our thanksgiving.  His love includes His mercy,  His faithfulness, and His kindness.  God, by His nature, is good.  We are seeing His love always.  He sent His Son to die for us…”.

❦

In Aware of Being Thankful, Tina  encouraged us to recognize the opportunities we have to be thankful (and say so)…

“Everyday, every morning, before our feet touch the ground, we should give thanks to God for a new day, a new opportunity to praise and serve Him.  As we do this, our hearts will change, we will grow stronger in our faith walk…”.

❦

In Steadfast, Cynda defined the word for us and gave us a broader understanding of God’s steadfast love…

“I don’t know about you, but there is nothing in my life, outside of God’s love, that is immovable…not subject to change…resolutely firm and unwavering.  Life seems to be constant change. How wonderful it is to know God’s love remains firm…”.

❦

In What If, Ahmee shared a childhood game and the perspective it placed on thinking about God’s faithful love…

“Remembering that made me think…

  • What if God’s love did not endure forever?
  • What if God was not the only True God?
  • What if God’s love were not faithful?

Could you even begin to fathom what our lives would be like if God was not the way He is?..”.

Filed Under: Seeking Him Daily Devotional Tagged With: , , , , , ,

God’s Goodness

November 19, 2015 by

seekingHimthanksgivinggraphic

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.
Psalms 136:1-3

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

This repeated refrain ‘His love endures forever‘ teaches us that God’s love is the foundation for all His actions on our behalf and the fountainhead of all our thanksgiving.  His love includes His mercy,  His faithfulness, and His kindness.  God, by His nature, is good.  We are seeing His love always.  He sent His Son to die for us (John 3:16).  All for His love for us—the love that endures forever.

The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of His unfailing love.
Psalm 33:5

Being full of His unfailing love means not ever reaching a point of lack in all aspects of life because He is giving Himself fully to us.  It is only  when we realize this kind of love and meditate on this kind of love that we appreciate how deep the Father’s love is for us, how incredibly vast beyond measure.

Our God loves us with all His heart.  Let us reciprocate by loving Him,  too, with our inner being.  Let us not live a life that displeases Him but rather a life that is set on pleasing Him.

Some people depend on chariots, substituting other gods for the One True God.  Remember God is the only One who is good.

“Why do you ask Me about what is good?” Jesus replied.
“There is only One who is good.
If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.
Matthew 19:17

I just love how He loves us all! Even those that are living in sin He still loves them because He created them.  However there is judgement to them that are not in Christ Jesus. And those that are in Christ Jesus they testify of His love that endures forever for they shall not be judged and so the joys shall never cease.

Therefore let us choose, brethren, to live a life that pleases the Lord. We should love Him for He first loved us.  We should also exercise the same love and goodness to others for we are created in His own image and likeliness.  There has to be no difference.

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

Father, we give You all the praise and all the glory for You are the great God, the ‘I AM who I AM,’ the all-knowing and always present God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth.  The earth is full of Your lovingkindness, dear Lord, and so we worship You.  Heavenly father, thank You for showing us Your goodness and mercy that endures forever in Your Scripture.  We love You and adore You; and thank You for the love that is given to us.  We pray for forgiveness for at times we have taken Your love for granted.  Teach us to appreciate Your love more and more.  And to love others and do good to them.  We adore You and give You thanks; in Jesus’ name we have prayed. Amen.

Filed Under: Seeking Him Daily Devotional Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aware Of Being Thankful

November 18, 2015 by
seekingHimthanksgivinggraphic

 Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Psalms 136:1-3

*   ~   ♥   ~    ✞    ~   ♥   ~   *
Two weeks ago, one of the ladies I volunteer with on Thursday nights came in asking for prayer for her husband. He has leukemia and has received a bone marrow transplant. He is now in remission but is having  infections from his compromised immune system. In his most recent emergency room visit, they discovered nodules on his liver. He was to have a test the next day to determine if the cancer had spread. We all gathered around her and one of the young women prayed such a powerful prayer filled with God’s authority to take this disease captive and acknowledging that our bodies are not made to be diseased.  We all declared his body would be healed and that no cancer would be present.  How inspiring that was!  The following Saturday, I received a text from the wife saying the test was negative!  She gave praise to her heavenly Father for His faithfulness as did all on the text!
Think about this: If we are praising God with our mouth, can we speak words of criticism of others without a check in our spirit?  I think not. Everyday, every morning, before our feet touch the ground, we should give thanks to God for a new day, a new opportunity to praise and serve Him.  As we do this, our hearts will change, we will grow stronger in our faith walk. We will develop the courage to speak and declare God’s words over any and all situations.
With reference to Psalms 136:1-3, Matthew Henry’s Commentary states, “Whom we must give thanks to him that we receive all good from, to the Lord, Jehovah, Israel’s God (v. 1), the God of gods, the God whom angels adore, from whom magistrates derive their power, and by whom all pretended deities are and shall be conquered (v. 2), to the Lord of lords, the Sovereign of all sovereigns, the stay and supporter of all supports; (v. 3). In all our adorations we must have an eye to God’s excellency as transcendent, and to his power and dominion as incontestably and uncontrollably supreme.”
God is in control. When things do not seem to go the way we want, we need to stop and ask God if we are going our way, or His. Have we asked God what He wants us to accomplish for Him? It may not be easy. We may have to make sacrifices to achieve His way, but I imagine the rewards will be far better than anything else we could ever have imagined on our own.
*   ~   ♥   ~    ✞    ~   ♥   ~   *
Father, we give You all the praise, honor and glory!  You are the reason we are here.  You have the ultimate authority in our lives.  You, Who put rulers in place, and can remove them.  Father, lead us, let Your Holy Spirit direct our paths when we seek Your will for our lives. Forgive us when we are prideful and forget to ask You.  Teach us to wait, be still, and listen for Your guidance.  Father, we forgive those who have wronged us; and, in so doing, we receive the blessings You have for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen!!!
Filed Under: Seeking Him Daily Devotional Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

What If…

November 16, 2015 by

seekingHimthanksgivinggraphic

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
His faithful love endures forever.
Psalms 136:1-3

*   ~   ♥   ~    ✞    ~   ♥   ~   *

Being thankful is something that should be done on a daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute basis.  I had heard of people who kept gratitude journals or thanksgiving diaries.  For a complete month, I wrote down what I was thankful for, even on the bad days when I felt like nothing was going my way.  When I started, I was certain it was going to be impossible to write down thirty things.

I’ll admit, I did struggle on some days because I was being stubborn. This was during a time when I was having real issues not being focused on what was wrong in my life. You see, if all you focus on are the things that are wrong…then it sure will be hard to see what is right and good.

Psalm 136:1-3 says to, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever.”  When my brother and I were younger we used to do “what if” scenarios all the time.  Remembering that made me think…

  • What if God’s love did not endure forever?
  • What if God was not the only True God?
  • What if God’s love were not faithful?

Could you even begin to fathom what our lives would be like if God was not the way He is?  I think that if God were different, life would be a lot harder, and potentially unbearable.

  • What if God decided to be more like a dictator than a loving Father?
  • What if God did not care for our well-being, and we were just puppets?
  • What if we didn’t have freewill!?!??!

We can only imagine what our lives would be like if God were different.  So, I’m thankful that He is the way that He is and that He allows me to have freewill.

*   ~   ♥   ~    ✞    ~   ♥   ~   *

Lord, thank You for being who You are—loving, caring, kind, compassionate, forgiving, faithful, trustworthy, honest, helpful, strong, Almighty, and just plain awesome!  Amen.

Filed Under: Seeking Him Daily Devotional Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Give Thanks

November 15, 2015 by

seekingHimthanksgivinggraphic

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
Psalms 136:1-3

*   ~   ♥   ~    ✞    ~   ♥   ~   *

 

Give thanks to the Lord (for He is good)
For He is good
Give thanks to the Lord (for He is good)
For He is good
Give thanks to the Lord (for He is good)
For He is good
His love endures forever

His love will reign forevermore
His power will reign forevermore
His grace will reign forevermore
His peace will reign forevermore

His love endures forever (praise the Lord)
His love endures forever (Hallelujah)
His love endures forever

Filed Under: Seeking Him Daily Devotional Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,