Give Him Praise

“Give Him Praise”

By Zach Wood

Psalm 100- “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

If you take time to read through some of the Psalms, you will quickly see praises being lifted up to our Almighty God. The Psalms are full of these passages and they are very uplifting.  Sometimes, we just need to read these passages and be reminded of how great and awesome God really is and His mighty power. 

Whether we are having a good day or a bad day, it is good for us to bring praise to Him whatever the circumstances.  It’s easier when we are having good days and harder when the bad days come.  We tend to focus on the negative and our frustration often times.  But if we remain strong in the Lord and look past those things to His power and comfort, we can still come before Him with praise and grow through our hard times. 

My favorite part of this passage is the last verse where we see that God’s love endures forever and that His faithfulness is never-ending.  That is comfort and an amazing feeling.  It’s so inspirational, even in the midst of trying times, when I can just be by myself and lift up praises to Him and focus on Him.  I want to always be mindful of how awesome He is and all that He has done and continues to do for me.

Have you come before Him with joyful songs in your heart and in complete praise?  He truly deserves our adoration and praise. 

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever!  

The Power Of His Great Love

“The Power Of His Great Love”

By Zach Wood

Romans 8:38-39

There’s something powerful about this passage every time I read it and share it with others.  I am always reminded that, no matter what happens in my life and what hard times I go through, God’s love will always be strong to protect and comfort me.  Jesus Christ went to the grave, but He rose and conquered sin and death!  There is nothing greater than the love that comes from God.  I am held by that love and promised that love will never go away.

For most of us, we are fully aware that God’s love will never end.  However, we know people who are hurting and struggling and they need to be reassured of God’s love and how deep it truly reaches and the pain that can be comforted by His love.  His love is greater and deeper than any ocean.  I am reminded of the song “Your Everlasting Love”.  His love is higher than the sky, deeper than the sea and it reaches out to the deepest hurt we could have.

I hope you are thankful that our Father is so strong that His love brings comfort that the world cannot give to us.  There is absolutely nothing that will take God’s love away from us.  His love is beyond our comprehension and is so strong that we’ll never realize exactly how much He truly loves us.  That, to me, is a fantastic feeling and I hope you feel that as well! 

The power of His true love is the most amazing love we could ever know.  The power of that great love of God is an encouragement to those that hurt so much today from the pressures of the world and its lies.  People hurt so much from others and the lies they have been told, but God promises a love that is greater than anything we could ever hope for or imagine.  A love that transcends anything we have ever known. 

I am so thankful for a love that powerful and beyond my comprehension.  That is a love unlike any other.  Do you believe in the power of His great love?

Breathtaking Beauty

“Breathtaking Beauty”

By Zach Wood

Psalm 19:1

Out of all the wonderful things I’ve seen through my years of life, nothing takes my breath away like when I see a beautiful sunrise or a sunset.  I could be just taking a walk by myself, with my family or be in the car going somewhere.  No matter when I see a beautiful view like that, I want to stop and just take that all in!  I’m sure many of you feel the same about seeing a beautiful sunrise or sunset. 

In a movie I saw many years ago, two guys were sitting on a hill chatting.  They looked up at the beautiful sunset and one guy said, “Just look at that!  Yep, that’s the big guy!  Quite a paint brush He’s got!” 

That scene has been forever sketched into my mind and it was a great scene!  We could look at the beautiful view of a sunrise or sunset and know that God does, indeed, have quite a paintbrush, so to speak.  I like the view of mountains and hills, but nothing seems to compare to see a beautiful view in the sky of a sunset or sunrise.  It’s a beautiful view only made by the work of God’s hands. 

Years ago, I heard another quote about a sunset and it went like this, “God, I never thought purple and blue went together until I saw You put them into a sunset.”  What a response from a beautiful view only made by our Creator!

The heavens and skies do most certainly proclaim the work of His hands.  He is the awesome, Almighty Creator!  Let us always remember His beautiful Creation.

What Holds You Back?

“What Holds You Back?”

By Zach Wood

Matthew 19:21-22

Here is the story of the rich young man that so many of us have read about time and time again.  I’m sure many of us learned about him in Sunday School through the years and have heard several sermons as well regarding his encounter with jesus.

This man was ecstatic at first because he told Jesus how he had kept the commandments and had done his checklist.  This man accumulated a lot of things and great wealth and wanted to follow Jesus.  However, we see that he was not willing to let go of what he had and give it all to Jesus in order to follow.  It wasn’t that what he had was wrong, but that his heart attitude was all wrong.  He wasn’t willing to give all he had to serve. 

In the man’s eyes, Jesus was asking way too much commitment.  He held onto too much to completely follow Christ.  This is a huge lesson for each of us to consider in our lives.  We may not be wealthy or have many material things, but with what things we do have, are we willing to give up anything Christ asks us to in order to serve Him better?  If He would ask us to get rid of something or sell it to bless someone else financially, what will we do?

There’s so much that can keep us from completely following Jesus.  We just need to ask ourselves every single day if we are completely committed.  We need to examine our hearts and ask God to reveal what it is that keeps us from being fully committed.

What holds us back from full commitment to Christ?   

Beauty From Pruning

“Beauty From Pruning”

By Zach Wood

John 15:1-2

This passage was part of the main text I used for Sunday’s sermon.  Jesus is very clear in telling us that if we are not connected to Him, we are not growing and receive no nourishment.  This is so clear and we need to take notice of this in our lives.  We all desire to grow, but when the pruning process takes place, we’d rather skip the pain and long for growth the easy way.  But, that is kind of contradictory.  How can we possibly expect to grow in our lives and not be pruned? 

Through the growing process, we live life and learn and make mistakes.  This is a part of our journey.  Mistakes are going to happen and we will fall down, but if we hang onto Jesus Christ and continue to stay connected to Him, He will prune us and help us grow more into the person He desires us to become.

There’s a book Max Lucado wrote many years ago that this passage brings to mind.  The book is “Just Like Jesus”.  The subtitle of this book reads “God loves you the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way.  He wants you to be just like Jesus.”  That hits the nail on the head!

God desires so much for our lives and it saddens Him when we don’t desire to grow.  If we want to grow in our faith and be strengthened, He must prune us so that we can bear more fruit.  Without this pruning and discipline, there will be no growth.  It’s painful, but produces not only fruit, but endurance. 

My prayer is that every one of us will allow Him to prune our lives so that we can bear more fruit. 

Are We Completely Committed?

“Are We Completely Committed?”

By Zach Wood

John 6:66

Jesus talked to the crowd about He Himself being the Bread of Life after He just served a huge feast to them.  So many were just coming for the food and for the “show”, but Jesus wanted more commitment.  Jesus shares with them that He expects more with the commitment in following Him and being a truly committed follower.  He’s asking for more than them coming again and again to get their “fill”. 

Then He watches so many just walk away.  Wow!  That had to have been heartbreaking for Him!  I cannot imagine the agony He felt when he literally watched so many people turn away and essentially say, “This is just too much to ask.  Sorry, Jesus, but this is just not for me right now.”  Following Jesus is the greatest life anyone could imagine to live, but it is also the most challenging and committed life you could ever live.  It’s very rewarding, but requires much effort for us to stay committed.

I look into my own life and I see so often how I am not fully committed and I just want the blessings without putting forth the effort to really follow Him. 

I want to encourage all of us to stay committed in our lives to Jesus Christ.  When things get tough, keep the faith and stay strong.  He asks us to follow Him and be 100% for Him as we follow.   

Will we be 100% committed?  It’s a daily journey.

Seek To Encourage

“Seek To Encourage”

By Zach Wood

Psalm 34:12-14

This past Sunday, I had a message about how it’s good for us to consider the lessons we have learned through the years and in the past year as we look into a new year.  It’s good for us to take some inventory of things we’ve done great and maybe other things we haven’t done so good and ask God to give us strength to be better servants for His Kingdom. 

None of us have the intention of speaking discouragement to others.  However, the enemy works in very sly ways to get us to be unloving in the ways we communicate with others.  That’s the last thing any of us wants to do.  It’s important for us to seek God all through the day asking Him to guide our words, especially through stressful and frustrating times.  Those are the times when it’s easy to let words fly and say things we don’t mean and end up hurting others.

Seek to encourage your spouse.

Seek to encourage your kids.

Seek to encourage your co-workers.

Seek to encourage your friends.

Seek to encourage your extended family.

Who can you seek to encourage today and the days that follow from here?

As we embark this New Year, ask God for strength each day to be encouraging to others in any opportunity.  May we all be encouraging through the words we share with others so they may see and come to know better the awesome God we serve!