Worship Devotional C

Dec 4

Originally posted to the Facebook group on 12/4/2021.

Worship Devotional for 12/5/21

Psalm 67:

"May God be gracious to us and bless us; look on us with favor (Selah) so that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, God; let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations rejoice and shout for joy, for You judge the peoples with fairness and lead the nations on earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, God, let all the peoples praise You.
The earth has produced its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him."

Psalm 145:

"I exalt You, my God the King, and praise Your name forever and ever. I will praise You every day; I will honor Your name forever and ever.
Yahweh is great and is highly praised; His greatness is unsearchable. One generation will declare Your works to the next and will proclaim Your mighty acts. I will speak of Your splendor and glorious majesty and Your wonderful works. They will proclaim the power of Your awe-inspiring acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They will give a testimony of Your great goodness and will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. The Lord is good to everyone; His compassion rests on all He has made. All You have made will thank You, Lord; the godly will praise You. They will speak of the glory of Your kingdom and will declare Your might, informing all people of Your mighty acts and of the glorious splendor of Your kingdom; Your rule is for all generations. The Lord is faithful in all His words and gracious in all His actions.
The Lord helps all who fall; He raises up all who are oppressed. All eyes look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all His ways and gracious in all His acts. The Lord is near all who call out to Him, all who call out to Him with integrity. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry for help and saves them. The Lord guards all those who love Him, but He destroys all the wicked. My mouth will declare Yahweh's praise; let every living thing praise His holy name forever and ever."

We have been celebrating Thanksgiving these past few weeks by singing psalms and hymns of praise to God, acknowledging that He is King over all the earth, and giving thanks to Him for who He is and what He does and all that we have from Him. As we transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas, we focus on a theme which both holidays have in common for us as the church: missions and bringing the gospel to every nation. Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, is King of kings and Lord of lords, the true King over all the nations. His name is exalted above every other name, and the eternal hope of salvation and life that is found only in Him is freely given to people of all nations and tribes and languages throughout the earth. We give thanks to Him for we know that He alone is worthy of all praise and honor and glory, and all the things we give thanks for come from Him and are ultimately for His glory. Above all the earthly blessings we have been given, however, we give thanks for salvation, for true freedom and deliverance from sin and death and condemnation, for the hope of eternal life as promised to us in Christ by our faithful Father in heaven, and for His eternal love which is better even than life itself. This is what we have in Christ, and the good news that is for all the world to hear is that everyone who repents and puts their faith and hope in Him will be saved and will share in this wonderful promise. As we enter the Christmas season, we remember the moment in history when Christ was born and the prophecies were fulfilled. Hope and light and salvation had arrived at last as the One who would take all our sin upon Himself and die the death we deserve, then rise from the dead and ascend on high to reign forever, was born. May we turn away from the worthless distractions of the world and set our hearts and minds on Him — on Jesus, King of the nations, Lord over all. May we give honor and glory and praise and thanksgiving with all our hearts in both word and deed, testifying in the presence of everyone we meet to the greatness and goodness of God. And may the peoples of every nation and tribe and tongue come to know the One who saves and satisfies our souls for all eternity, lifting up their hearts and voices in singing and shouts of praise to the glory of His holy name!

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