Sing Praises with Understanding
5 God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
8 God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted. Psalm 47:5-9 (KJV)
The Morning Exhortation
Right motives will sometimes bring pain, but wrong motives never bring any lasting profit. A talented person can do many things, but apart from Christ we can do nothing. I may be able to sing, but if there is no glorifying of God in the song it is nothing. A strong man rejoices to run his race, but if he has no gratitude in his heart for the great God above by whose grace he is made strong, it is less than nothing. “Vanity of vanities” is the repeating theme of “apart from me ye can do nothing” in the book of Ecclesiastes. The righteous will live by faith in God. Fighting the good fight means rejecting all that is not in accordance with the Word of God. We live by faith and depend on Grace. Our strength, His Grace. Our rule, His Word. Our end, His Glory. (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2; Mark 8:36-38; John 15:1-11; Proverbs 3:5-8; Psalm 19:1-10; Isaiah 5:11-15; James 4:1-8; Hebrews 10:35-39; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:4-6; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Jonah 2; Habakkuk 3:17-19; Psalm 30:12; Revelation 4:11; Psalm 72:19-20)
Today’s Bible Reading
Numbers 22; Psalms 62-63
Isaiah 11-12; James 5
The Prayer Appointed for This Week
Almighty Father who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give me grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that I may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son my Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. The Book of Common Prayer
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