i was led to read today's entry from a book my great grandma gave me years ago before she passed away. i used to read it everyday, and probably have gone through it a handful of times, year after year after great grandma milly gave it to me when i was a teenager.
today's entry spoke to me so loudly, and spoke to me so clearly as i read. i have been unpacking the crazy year i have had just these last few weeks(there really is a lot to sift through...) and i am realizing, yet again, the importance of praise and thankfulness. i am convicted that I must OWN my testimony, i must walk in the assurance of God's protection of my life, of Him being my keeper, of Him working all things for my good because i do, i do, i do love Him. i must claim these truths for myself and walk confidently in them knowing i am His and He is mine. oh, how wonderful!
it's funny, not funny ha ha, but very interesting to me that today's entry talkes about Jesus communicating with the Father about his dear friend lazarus. this passage is dear to me, it always has been because it happens in Bethany, which is my name, a city near Jerusalem. but it is even dearer to me now as i have been thinking so much about life and death as i approach my one year anniversay of the car accident that could have been fatal and indeed, has changed my life.
there is a lot to sift through.
anywho, here is the entry from today. :)
“And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me” (John 11:41).
This is a very strange and unusual order. Lazarus is still in the grave, and the thanksgiving precedes the miracle of resurrection. I thought that the thanksgiving would have risen when the great deed had been wrought, and Lazarus was restored to life again. But Jesus gives thanks for what He is about to receive. The gratitude breaks forth before the bounty has arrived, in the assurance that it is certainly on the way. The song of victory is sung before the battle has been fought. It is the sower who is singing the song of the harvest home. It is thanksgiving before the miracle!
Who thinks of announcing a victory-psalm when the crusaders are just starting out for the field? Where can we hear the grateful song for the answer which has not yet been received? And after all, there is nothing strange or forced, or unreasonable in the Master’s order. Praise is really the most vital preparatory ministry to the working of the miracles. Miracles are wrought by spiritual power. Spiritual power is always proportioned to our faith.–Dr. Jowett
PRAISE CHANGES THINGS
Nothing so pleases God in connection with our prayer as our praise, and nothing so blesses the man who prays as the praise which he offers. I got a great blessing once in China in this connection. I had received bad and sad news from home, and deep shadows had covered my soul. I prayed, but the darkness did not vanish. I summoned myself to endure, but the darkness only deepened. Just then I went to an inland station and saw on the wall of the mission home these words: “Try Thanksgiving.” I did, and in a moment every shadow was gone, not to return. Yes, the Psalmist was right, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.”–Rev. Henry W. Frost
