{"id":2218,"date":"2011-11-02T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devonline.us\/dailyevotional\/?p=2218"},"modified":"2011-11-02T09:17:21","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T16:17:21","slug":"praise-the-lord-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/praise-the-lord-2\/","title":{"rendered":"PRAISE THE LORD!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Psalm 103:1-2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Back in the day\u2014way back in the day\u2014when Joyce and I were high school seniors, Joyce was crowned Homecoming Queen. I can still picture her sitting in the gymnasium on a makeshift throne along with her court. The crown on her head signified that she had been voted Queen. The position carried no monetary rewards and on the following Monday the other students did not bow to her. She was just the same Joyce Harper as she had been before the celebration.<\/p>\n

Two of the things the Lord has promised us are love<\/em><\/strong> and compassion<\/em><\/strong>. Joyce has them both. We are in short supply of love and mercy (compassion) in our present day world. It seems more and more that we live in a dog-eat-dog world. Even Christians seem to be caught up in the struggle to get ahead regardless of the needs of others.<\/p>\n

My sweet \u201cHomecoming Queen\u201d might have surrendered her crown after that night so long ago, but she has received a far greater crown from the Lord. She has the qualities of love and mercy as a gift from God. Across more than fifty-nine years as my wife, I have basked in her love and mercy. I can encourage people and help those who come to me for help, but this \u201cQueen\u201d of mine far surpasses me in sensing hurting people and responding in a quiet manner to bring compassionate love.<\/p>\n

In Matthew 5:7, Jesus gave this beautiful Beatitude: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”<\/span><\/em> That is such a comfort to each of us. We may feel that we do not have the gifts and talents of others, but each of us can love and show loving concern for others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I sit here trying to comprehend the words God would have me write, my mind is thrust into the love chapter of the Bible. In I Corinthians 13:4-8, Paul defines love this way: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” \u00a0<\/span><\/em>Does that describe you?<\/p>\n

Praise God that He is the One who crowns us with love and mercy!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!<\/p>\n

—Pastor Cecil<\/strong>
\n(360) 570-0074<\/p>\n

P.S.<\/strong> – You can find previous E-Votionals covering a variety of Scriptures and topics to help you in your walk with the Lord at www.Daily-E-Votional.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psalm 103:1-2 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Back in the day\u2014way back in the day\u2014when Joyce and I were high school seniors, Joyce was crowned Homecoming Queen. I can still picture her sitting in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}