Includes...
We have been talking about the power of praise and the other day we said the Bible gives us something very specific to praise... God's name.
God has a lot of names in the Bible that describe who he is. As I was thinking about this, I had an opportunity to meet up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. My friend told me my name had come up in a conversation he was having, and he wanted to verify that it was me, so he said you mean Daniel Foley... the fitness guy, the author, the blogger, the business owner, etc. He started listing things I have done.
When me friend told me this I started to understand why God has so many names, they help us know who he is and what to praise him for.
Here is a short list of things the Bible tells us God is(and there are a lot more)...
Jesus is…
Lately we have been talking about the power of praise and while thinking about this, I came across Acts 2:46-47 which is about the early church. The believers were constantly fellowshipping with one another, breaking bread in their homes, and praising God. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Praise was a key part of this.
Here is Acts 2:46-47...
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Today's communion is a time of gratitude that in the light we have fellowship with God and with one another. And we are asking God to help us walk in fellowship and praise, and for him to add to our numbers daily.
Today's Health/Fitness Tip
One of the exercises on the Daily Communion Workouts...
Lately we have been talking about the power of praise to turn situations. And the Bible gives us something very specific to praise... God's name.
Over and over in the Psalms it says to praise God's name.
Psalm 103:1 Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Psalm 105:1 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
Psalm 145:1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.
As I was thinking about this, I was reminded of all the names of God. Here are some of his names, and through praising his name I believe we can know him more.
Here is this week's Yearly Cycle Update.
Recently, we passed Pentecost, which I view as the midpoint or transition of the year on God's calendar. In the Spring we play offense and as we transition into this season it is a reminder to play defense. In the Spring we plant seeds, and this is the time to defend them from weeds, pests, etc.
God has released us from darkness and transferred us into the light, but we do need to defend our position in the light because life tries to knock us out of rhythm with God and out of the light. Fellowship with God and people is a big symptom of the being positioned in the light.
There is a saying in sports that the best defense is a good offense. We can play great defense by ramping up our praise. Gratitude and praise is one of the best ways I know of to defend our position in the light.
Here is this week's filter(reminder) to write at the top of our journals each day... Defend Your Position
I am praying...
Lately I have been reading about the transition from David being king to Solomon taking over as king and the word "Dynasty," keeps standing out to me. I think there is something God is trying to show us about dynasty. Here are a few verses to meditate on today...
2 Samuel 2:27 For you, LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, have revealed this to your servant, telling him, "I will build a dynasty for you,' so that your servant has found fortitude to pray this prayer to you.
1 Kings 2:24 And now, as the Lord lives, the One who established me, seated me on the throne of my father David, and made me a dynasty as He promised.”
1 Kings 9:5 Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, just as I promised your father David, 'You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.'
I think the deeper meaning of these verses point to Jesus, that in Christ God wants to build a dynasty, because a dynasty means continuity...
Lately we have been talking about the power of praising God. But I believe praise also needs to flow out to the people around us as well. When Paul was in prison it was praise that broke him free. Praise can turn situations around, and I think it can also turn relationships that are struggling.
My mom had a friend who raised several foster children from bad backgrounds and all of them were thriving as adults. When my mom asked her friend how she did it her response was... we praised the kids consistently.
My mom asked if they ever had a kid who they struggled to find something to praise. And her friend said that there was one kid who was always in trouble, but they liked the way he combed his hair, so they praised him for his hair and he slowly began to turn.
We often think that criticizing people and being hard on them makes them want to change. But God has shown me that it is grace that changes hearts and makes us want to change.
We have...
Last night one of our partners brought up the examples of when Jesus said it wasn't his time yet. She said that in her own life there were things that she knew to do, but she found herself asking God if it was the right time.
One of our fundamentals is doing what we know to do. But knowledge does have a timing component. There are things that we know to do in life, but there is also a perfect timing of when they should be done. As I was thinking about this I was reminded of a section from my book The 8th Date, that discusses the difference between wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.
Here is the passage from The 8th Date...
What is Knowledge?
Proverbs 14:6 says that knowledge comes easily to a man of understanding.
Once we have wisdom and understanding, knowledge comes easily, because once the first two are in place, knowledge flows. Through knowledge, the deeps break open and our rooms are filled with precious treasure. Wisdom leads to...
Lately we have been talking about the power of praise. Psalm 22:3 says God inhabits the praises of his people. There is some debate on how this verse is to be translated but here are two different versions...
The Hebrew word for enthroned/inhabitest is Yashab which can be translated as.... Remain, dwell, inhabit, live, married, seated, sit down, enthroned, stay, settle.
Today's communion is a time of gratitude that God remains, dwells, inhabits, lives and stays in our praises. And we are asking for wisdom and insight into this scripture and asking for help to create the environment through praise that he inhabits the way he intended us to. And to walk in this at greater and greater levels from this point on.
Today's Health/Fitness Tip
Physical exercise sends signals to our bodies and the environment that we create in our body...
Recently we have talked about the importance of magnifying God through praise. Every day on the Daily Communion Meditation videos we talk about the fundamentals of taking our position in the light and magnifying the light. Something I feel God has been showing me lately is that when we do these 2 fundamentals it creates an environment that amplifies God's voice helping us to hear from him more clearly.
Magnifying leads to amplifying.
In today's communion we are asking for wisdom and insight into how creating the right environment through praise leads to God's voice being amplified. And we are asking Him for help to walk in this at greater and greater levels from this point on the way he designed us to.
Today's Health/Fitness Tip
During physical exercise we are sending signals to the body and I believe these signals can also be amplified so that we get better and faster results. The key to better signaling is creating the right environment....
This week on our Yearly Cycle Update we said that it is... Time to Build. As I was thinking about this, I read in 1 Kings 5 where Solomon is preparing to build God's temple and he says the following...
3 “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’
Part of the reason David couldn't build the temple, even though he wanted to, was because he was fighting battles on every side. But, when God gave Solomon rest on every side, he could build.
Today's communion is a time of gratitude that in Christ...
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