The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 96 (day seven)

Sing to the Lord a new song. vs 1

As 2024 draws to a close this week, it gives us a chance to reflect on the year that has passed. There have likely been moments of surreal joy, but there have likely been moments of pain and sorrow. Each year it seems to be the same old routine of enduring this roller coaster of emotions. It becomes natural to feel stuck, but a new year brings hope. We begin to set our mind on goals we want to achieve and things we want to do. We believe that the next year will be even better than the last.

This is true in our spiritual life as well. It can become too natural to feel stuck in your walk with the Lord. Though we are promised that God is constant and will always be the same, we have an equal promise that His mercies are new everyday (Lamentations 3:23). The manifestation of His grace is fresh in our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. The truth is the same, but the revelation is new. When we realize this, our heart cannot help but sing.

Whether you feel stuck in a rut or are in a season of growth, God has something new for you each day. How will you look for the movement of His Spirit in 2025?

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 96 (day six)

Glory to God in highest heaven,
    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. Luke 2:14

¹⁴ So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. John 1:14

The root of the Hebrew word for glory is “heavy” or “weighty,” as in heavy treasure. Something glorious has inherent value. Therefore,  “ascribing glory” (Psalm 96:7) is not adding value but acknowledging value.

When John writes, “We have seen his glory,” he is saying that they encountered the whole nature of Jesus, the Son of God; they saw him for who he was. It is an awesome thought that the Creator became man (entered creation) so the disciples (and others) could behold his glory or see him for who he really was. And now, through their testimony, so do we.

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 96 (day five)

What do you believe about worship?  How central and prevalent is it in your life and faith?  When, where, why, and how do you worship the living God? This Psalm will teach, encourage, and correct.

A few quotes that challenge me and my view of worship:

“Worship is the goal and the fuel of missions: Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Missions is our way of saying: the joy of knowing Christ is not a private, or tribal, or national or ethnic privilege. It is for all. And that’s why we go. Because we have tasted the joy of worshiping Jesus, and we want all the families of the earth included.”- John Piper

“The message of worship is not some hidden truth reserved only for the seasoned saints of the deeper life. It’s a street-level message that will challenge the imagination of even the most hardened among humanity: ‘God is looking for worshipers, and you could be one of them.’  Worship is not some kind of acquired skill that can only be learned after years of religious training. It is actually the most natural response of God’s creation to His manifest presence”.

“Worshipers, don’t just enjoy God’s wonderful presence for yourselves. Call others to join you there through faith in Christ. And those of you who want to see the world come to Christ, don’t just call men and women to believe, call them to worship.” Gerrit Gustafson

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 96 (day four)

Merry Christmas, church family! The presents may all be unwrapped and Christmas dinner is eaten, but the celebration continues! On the liturgical calendar, Christmas is a twelve-day season in which we say, “Hallelujah!” Our waiting in Advent is over and Christ has come!

Psalm 96 beautifully prophesies of the glory of Jesus. We who live on this side of the resurrection know it to be an accurate depiction of Christ. But pretend for a moment that you don’t know the rest of the story, and consider how Jesus came to earth. He came as an infant, to a poor family living under an oppressive government, born amongst animals because the world had not yet been taught to “prepare him room.” Nothing about this situation sounds glorious, yet Psalm 96 commands that we ascribe him glory.

The incarnation redefined reality. Jesus redefined glory. Glory no longer exists in gold and silver, crowns and palaces, but in goodness, mercy, humility, and justice. Glory has taken on a new form, which gives us every reason to keep the celebration going. We’ll examine Christ’s glory more in the coming days, but for now, celebrate and lift your hallelujah! God sent us the Messiah, just like he said he would.

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 96 (day three)

“Proclaim good tidings of his salvation from day to day.”

The word salvation often gets associated with escape from damnation. But its meaning is, of course, wider than that. The God who is able to save you from hell is also able to keep you from being swallowed up by the demands of the day. That is surely one kind of salvation. It is in the mundane (in the sense of the daily, necessary, stuff of life) that you live most of your life. And Jesus stood right in the middle of that reality when he taught about worry concerning food, clothing, safety. When Jesus was a helpless baby, he did not die, though shelter was meager, Herod was cruel, and paternity was questioned. Jesus knew God’s salvation on the daily. And he will not keep it from you when weekdays are hard.

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 96 (day two)

Sing to the Lord a new song;
Sing to the Lord, all the earth. vs. 1

Do you have this tradition in your family? It is one that I married in to. Each year on Christmas Eve April’s family tries to be the first one to say “Christmas Eve Gift”! They used to do it as they walked in the door or woke up on Christmas Eve, then it was telephone calls, and now it is who can post it first on social media. I really don’t know what you get if you win, but they take it seriously.

What are your Christmas Eve traditions? Is there a food you always prepare, a movie you watch? Perhaps you open one gift, or all go to the Christmas Eve service together (that was a shameless plug, by the way). Holidays are made even more memorable when we have those traditions to look forward to.

Do you sing? You had to know it was coming from me at some point! The outset of this psalm sets the framework for our praise. All the earth is to sing. I would like to encourage you to make this a part of your tradition at home with your family this year. It doesn’t have to be formal, you don’t even have to sing all the verses! Just sing. I promise smiles, laughter, and joy will follow. This, after all, is the command of scripture. As we put Jesus at the center of all of our traditions over the next days and weeks, why not follow this command of scripture and add more singing to your festivities. Let me know how it goes. What did you sing? How was it received? I know the Lord will be pleased.

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 89 (day seven)

Christmas through the eyes of a child is a beautiful thing to behold. As I have navigated this season with two toddlers, I have been able to capture much of the magic that beholds this season. In that, I have recognized that all of the glamour and sparkle that elicits a feeling of magicality inside of us is lined with Biblical representation that points us to the Christ.

Yet, I have also felt the stress and anxiousness that comes with keeping up this facade of grandeur. It has caused me to pause and realize that not everyone sees this season through a lens of magic. Some days just aren’t magical. This is why I appreciate the psalmist here so much.

He essentially spent 37 verses talking about how great the unfailing the love of God is. Then he turns around in verse 38 and begins to ask the question “If God is so loving, then why has He turned His back on the psalmist?”

I think we can all resonate with that. We have had those days, we have had those moments. Some days just aren’t magical, but we all come to realize that the love of God is not confined to the feelings of a day or a season. Often, God is working in those stressful and anxious times to show us something bigger is at work around us. It is not our job to question, rather, we are to trust that He is loving and good which will lead us to say:

Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.

Merry Christmas!

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 89 (day six)

For the mountains may move
    and the hills disappear,
but even then my faithful love for you will remain.
    My covenant of blessing will never be broken,”
    says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10

One of the words most often used to describe God’s love is steadfast. The word comes from the old English words “stede,” meaning place, and “fæst,” meaning firm or fixed. It is hard to imagine anything more firmly fixed in place than a mountain. Geologists estimate Enchanted Rock is one billion years old (if you are comfortable with an old earth). Even if it were a few thousand years old, that’s firmly fixed in its place. And yet God’s love is even more steadfast; it is immovable, eternally reliable, unwavering, and resolute.

We don’t always describe love in those terms. Our love can be fickle; it changes with the wind. We fall in and out of love.

God never falls in or out of love, he is love. It is that kind of love that is turned towards us in Christ.

Amen.

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 89 (day four) “I will establish your seed forever And build up your throne to all generations.  Selah.”

When we see the word “Selah”, it calls for us to pause, reflect, and contemplate what has just been said. In this case, it is the promise of God to David when he was anointed king (2 Samuel 7).

I’ve taught teenagers for decades to look for and circle the words “will” or “shall” in their bibles as that usually indicates a promise from the Lord. God is both the promise maker AND promise keeper (perfect record). What the Psalmist does here, I encourage us all to do- Recall and reflect (Selah) on the promises God has made (to us/you) through scripture. Maybe this morning one jumps out. His promised peace, strength, presence, wisdom, or forgiveness (to name a few). How might you praise Him today for His kept promises?  Maybe a big part of your prayer time today would be to praise Him for faithfully keeping that promise.