Do you exalt God and praise His name?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Lord, you are my God;
      I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
      you have done wonderful things,
      things planned long ago.
(Isaiah 25:1 (NIV))

Do you believe in God?

If you take into account that the demons believe in God, what sets your belief apart from the demons?

I realize that these questions require a very deep and honest answer. Are you prepared to give an answer? Are you afraid of what your answer may be?

When Isaiah recorded these words, he stated clearly that he would exalt and praise God’s name. He then added a clause to that statement. He added a reason why he exalted God and praised His name. The translator chose to use the word “for” to begin that explanation, but the translator could have easily replaced that word with the word “because.”

Think about that in context to the questions previously asked.

You believe in God and will exalt Him and praise Him because . . .

Isaiah recorded why he exalted God and praised His name. Isaiah knew of and recorded for future generations that God is perfect in faithfulness. Whatever He promises, He does. Isaiah mentioned that God has done wonderful things. He has done so many wonderful things that no one can count them all. Only God knows all of His faithfulness. Isaiah acknowledged that God has had a plan for all of these things since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. Isaiah praised God for His wonderful plan and the wonderful unfolding of that plan. In essence, Isaiah exalted God and praised God for the gift of salvation that he knew was coming. Isaiah exalted and praised God even though he would not see that gift during his lifetime! He knew that God had promised it and that was good enough for Isaiah.

Is that good enough for you?

We live our lives over two thousand years since that promise physically came into the world to redeem the world through His blood. We can look back through history and see His faithfulness. We can look at the life of Jesus and see His faithfulness. We can look at the crucifixion, burial and resurrection and see His faithfulness. We can look at our own lives and see His faithfulness.

Again, I want to ask what sets your belief apart from the demons?

Do you exalt God and praise His name for the gift of salvation through the atoning blood of Jesus on the cross, or do you rebel against God’s love?

Do you exalt God and praise His name?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you still exalt yourself?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, `Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, `Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
(Luke 14:8-11 (NIV))

What is honor?

Honor can be a selfish, vain ego trip that greatly elevates you to a position from which humility is forced upon you, or it can be a humble, selfless act that will exalt you to a position of greatness. It doesn’t make sense, does it? Neither does honor.

The world thinks of honor as something that is bestowed because of someone’s greatness. All too often, this “greatness” has a tendency to go to your head and cause a greatly inflated ego. It is this ego that causes us to have a highly inflated self-worth. This self-worth makes us assume things and do things that are sinful in nature.

Do you remember what caused Satan to fall? It was ego. He wanted to be greater than he was. He wanted to be God. He tried to elevate himself and met with the consequences of his desires. From the Bible, we know that Jesus was with God from the beginning, yet, we do not hear about him until God chose to elevate Him. Now He sits at the right hand of God, the Father. Satan, on the other hand, has been cast down after his attempt to exalt himself.

It is a matter of attitude!

Do you still exalt yourself?

Copyright 1998 – 2021 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you wait patiently for the Lord?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the Lord.
(Psalms 40:1-3 (NLT))

What do you see in this passage? Is it that God rescued David or is it that David waited patiently for God?

All too often we see the first option where God rescues someone and then we impatiently ask why doesn’t He rescue us. What we fail to see is the patience that is exhibited FIRST by those whom God rescues!

There is a consistent message throughout God’s Word. He longs for us to know Him intimately and not just look upon Him as the one to turn to when we need help.

God asks us to seek Him!

Think about one of the things in your life that you worked hard to get. Did you give up after only a few minutes? A few days? A few months? Chances are that it took a long time to achieve what you sought. You desired it more than anything. You did not give up. That is what God desires of us. He wants us to seek Him with all that we are. He wants us to be patient in seeking Him.

Why does God desire patience when we seek Him?

Perhaps this is a test of our true desires. If He answered immediately, would we truly realize how much we desire Him. In addition, God wants us on His timeframe. We have become so fixated on instant gratification as a society that we have lost touch with the fact that we are often told to be still and to be patient.

It is true that God rescues, and when He does, we need to exalt Him, but there is a saying that God’s timing is perfect. He is never early and He is never late. He is always on time. It is we who are impatient.

Do you wait patiently for the Lord?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Whose acceptance is more important to you?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

“I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?
(John 5:41-44 (NIV))

Ouch! That hurts.

Would Jesus say this to us today? Have we become like the people that He was condemning in this passage?

Many claim to be part of the Body of Christ, but do our actions reflect this? Do we seek acceptance from man more than we seek acceptance from God? Do we look to people who are accepted by man and think that they must be Godly for they have been blessed with fame and fortune? How do we look upon Christian music artists and mega-church pastors? Do we praise them for their fame or do we listen and discern what they are saying with respect to God’s Word?

It doesn’t only apply at the grand scale. It can apply to a local congregation if we seek acceptance from one another instead of from God. Please do not confuse this type of acceptance with what we are called to do as a church. We, as the Body of Christ, are called to accept people as Jesus accepted people. We are not called to place the desire to be accepted by people above accepting Jesus.

After we have done something that the Lord has called us to do, do we seek acceptance from our friends, family and fellow members of the Body of Christ? I honestly believe that the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector has merit in our ways of seeking acceptance.

    To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
    “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
    “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
(Luke 18:9-14 (NIV))

When we seek acceptance from anyone else but God, we are trying to exalt ourselves. We are prideful. We want everybody to know who we are and what we have done. Is this how Jesus told us to serve?

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
(Matthew 6:2-4 (NIV))

We can seek the acceptance of man or we can seek the acceptance of Jesus.

Whose acceptance is more important to you?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Can we face the world with humility?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.
(1 Peter 5:6-7 (NAS))

In today’s society it is hard to be humble, even when you desire that with all of your heart.

Humility asks us to place others first and think of ourselves as a servant. This is a fine line to balance upon when you must always present yourself as the best in what you do just to be able to make a living.

No matter what the world may ask of us, though, we must always keep our eyes focused on Jesus and remember that what God has given to us through Jesus cannot be achieved on our own. When we reflect on this, then the worldly side of us will come face to face with the humility that God desires for us, for we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God.

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you faithful to God’s plans?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.
(Isaiah 25:1 (NIV))

If God has done marvelous things that He planned long ago, why do we wait impatiently for Him to do things in a hurry? Why can’t we get on God’s timeframe?

Human nature is an interesting thing. We are created to be in the image of God, yet our perspective is very limited. We desire to see and do marvelous things, but we expect them in a timeframe that is very short. We expect to see instant results. We, who grew up knowing fast food and credit cards, expect things without having to work for them or wait for them. In essence, we are not a patient creation. We want everything and we want it know.

If you have children, then you are willing to admit that you know that lifestyle expectancy. I propose, though, that all of us are like that. It is what drives us to strive for things that we want. It makes us build houses. It makes us start businesses. It makes us buy new cars and new toys. All too often, these things are done without knowing the consequences of our actions.

God plans. He planned the whole of creation. He planned man. He planned the crucifixion. He planned the resurrection. He planned salvation. He planned on saving us through grace. He planned on the blood of Jesus Christ washing away our sins. He planned all of this from the beginning of time. All that we can do is plan what we want to do and hope it happens. God plans what He is going to do and it does happen. Nothing can stop Him.

God has done marvelous things. He is planning on many more. He even wrote them down so that we could be in on His plans. God is faithful to His plans.

Are you faithful to God’s plans?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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How is your faith?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.
(Isaiah 25:1 (NIV))

Many people today don’t even acknowledge that God exists. There are even believers who don’t believe that God is in control and that things that are happening in this world happen for a reason. Isaiah knew the truth and has written it down for generations to read and learn.

The numbers are staggering! Have you ever considered the number of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled when He came to this earth. His coming was planned by God hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years before His actual arrival. To the Body of Believers, Jesus’ atoning sacrifice is the most marvelous thing that could have ever happened in this world. It was planned long ago.

If God planned the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, what other things has He planned? All we have to do is read the Bible and we will see page after page of prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled. These pages are alongside the pages of the prophecies that have been fulfilled. Based on this track record of what has been planned and accomplished, we can look forward to the others things that have been planned being fulfilled.

God keeps His promises. God has told us that He has planned marvelous things. It requires our faith to wait to see them fulfilled.

How is your faith? Are you waiting to see what God is going to do?

Copyright 1998 – 2012 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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