Your Imperishable Crown | Daniel Henderson | Strategic Renewal

The Super Bowl hype has ended, the game is completed, and a new team has been crowned champions for a season, but who will win the Imperishable Crown?

Second Corinthians 4:18 says, “For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Whatever the earthly value of any awards, they are passing away. The Apostle Paul tells believers that we compete for “an imperishable crown.” This crown is unseen for the moment, but will be very real and eternal in the ultimate analysis.

5 Ways to Pray for the Incoming Trump Administration | Joshua Arnold | The Washington Stand

As God’s word commands, let us pray for our public officials according to God’s word, with confidence that God will be glorified and in hope that our nation might be blessed with good leadership — both from the incoming administration and from those that will succeed it. Read more here.

A Prayer For MLK Day and Inauguration Day

Lord, we praise You first as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You are
the first and utmost authority in heaven and earth as well as in our hearts
and homes. In honor and prayer, we celebrate those who hear Your call on
their lives and obey You even in great sacrifice or the shadow of death, but
our worship belongs to You alone.

Thank you for the life and sacrifice of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and all
who stood with him for righteousness in a righteous manner. May we never
engage in or excuse sin for the sake of a cause in the name of Christ.

We pray now for all who You have called to serve in our government from
our President to Congress, throughout the White House and the Capitol,
in the courts across our country, and all You have established with
governmental authority in our states, cities, and districts. We pray they will
seek You always and serve under Your authority, anointing, and
appointment. Preserve and protect them from any earthly agenda
whispered by the enemy that leads us into wickedness apart from Your
Word, will, and ways. We commit to pray fervently for them and serve
beside them to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with You.
Deliver us from evil, as You engage and equip us to stand together and
fight the good fight, spreading Your gospel and making disciples
throughout our days.

Please guide and guard their hearts, families, and staff as You strengthen
these leaders to stand and serve, knowing Your Word will guide them, Your
lovingkindness will hold them up, and Your comfort and courage will
delight their soul.

May they lead as You lead them. In the mighty and matchless name of
Jesus we pray, Amen!

-National Day of Prayer resource

The Path of Righteousness | Derek Prince | Derek Prince Ministries

“The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” (Proverbs 4:18, NIV)

Righteousness in the Bible is a path. A path is something that we walk on, something we move along. It suggests motion, change, development. Some people would like righteousness to be some kind of static condition. “Well, I’m saved! Here I am; I’m righteous. All I need to do now is sit in church and sing hymns until the Lord calls me home.” That’s a mistake. Any static condition in which you do not change, progress and develop is not the righteousness of the Bible.

The righteousness of the Bible is a path. And we enter into that path through an encounter with the Son of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He shines into our lives, that’s like the first gleam of dawn. It’s the beginning of light. And then, as we move on in that path, the words are beautiful: “The light shines ever brighter till the full light of day.”

If you are walking in the path of righteousness, today’s light is brighter than yesterday’s and tomorrow will be brighter than today’s. So do not settle down and say, “I’ve arrived,” because that’s a mistake, that’s a deception. The path of righteousness leads us always on until we come into the full light of the noonday sun and to the full and final revelation of God in eternity.

So if you are on that path, keep moving on, and if you haven’t yet found the path, you need to meet the Son of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Read and listen to The Word From the Word devotional here.

Praying, O Come, O Come, Immanuel

O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.

2 O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who ordered all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show
and teach us in its ways to go. Refrain

3 O come, O come, great Lord of might,
who to your tribes on Sinai’s height
in ancient times did give the law
in cloud and majesty and awe. Refrain

4 O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,

unto your own and rescue them!
From depths of hell your people save,
and give them victory o’er the grave. Refrain

5 O come, O Key of David, come
and open wide our heavenly home.
Make safe for us the heavenward road
and bar the way to death’s abode. Refrain

6 O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
and bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
and turn our darkness into light. Refrain

7 O come, O King of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
and be yourself our King of Peace. Refrain

The Wonder of the Story Behind JOY TO THE WORLD | Ann Gabhart |

Did you know Isaac Watts, one of the greatest hymn writers ever, never intended “Joy to the World” to be a song and certainly not a Christmas song? In 1719, Watts published a book of poems in which each poem was based on a psalm. In his poems he wanted to show how the psalms related to how Jesus was revealed as the Savior of the world in the New Testament.

“Joy to the World” was one of those poems based on Psalm 98 as Watts interpreted this psalm to be a celebration of Jesus’s role as King of both his church and the whole world. He intended the words of his poem to show the return of Christ rather than His birth. Watts never knew that the poem he wrote became one of his most famous hymns when more than a century later a Boston music teacher named Lowell Mason discovered his poem and set it to music. Because it was released at Christmastime, it quickly became a holiday favorite and went on to become the most published Christmas carol in America.

Joy to the world! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of his love!
And wonders of his love!
And wonders . . . wonders . . . of his love!

Here are a few verses from Psalm 98. I like that line about the rivers clapping their hands. That matches the verse where all of nature rejoices in the coming of the Lord.

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;

Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. ~Psalm 98:4 (NKJ)

Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it:
Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord.
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And peoples with equity. ~Psalm 98:7-9 (NKJ)

So, are you singing “Joy to the World” in your head now or maybe right out loud to rejoice in the birth of Jesus? But now you can also consider the thoughts of Isaac Watts as he considered the joy of Christ’s return while writing his poem.

Read the full devotion here.

Advent Love | Robin Basselin | Today Devotional

Our call to Advent Love comes from Matthew 22:37-39, “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” And so this Advent, let us ask how we can love God and love our neighbor more fully, so that we might fulfill the call of Jesus Christ!

Exalt Christ the Lord Our Emmanuel

“Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name
him Immanuel, which is translated ‘God is with us.'” – Matthew 1:22-23

With the name Emmanuel, we exalt our Lord’s humble and holy birth. It brought our holy God to us as sinful people. Humbly, God came in Christ to dwell with us, his promise fulfilled. As we go forward in our daily lives, what a promise to know he is with us and promises to be with us in our sorrow. He is with us in our joy, in our sickness and in our health. This name Emmanuel is and will be our anchor when the winds of life blow.

Even before the full revelation of Emmanuel in Matthew 1:23, God promised throughout the Scriptures “I will be with you.” Emmanuel will give us confidence: “When [not “if”] you go through deep waters, I WILL BE WITH YOU [“I will be Emmanuel to you”]. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you” (Isaiah 43:2 NLT). We praise you Lord that your name Emmanuel gives us boldness for whatever our future holds and we can trust you.

Emmanuel is a whisper and a joyous proclamation we are never alone. We exalt Christ the Lord; He is with us now and forever. Our hope is in God alone – in his presence there is fulness of joy!

PRAYER
We exalt you Christ the Lord who is with us in our neighborhoods and in our communities. We lift up the names of our family and friends and communities, and we ask that they sense your presence and will humbly exalt Christ the Lord our Emmanuel. Amen.

It’s Okay to Lament During Advent | Justin Jeppesen | Strategic Renewal

For those who grieve this holiday season, It’s Okay to Lament During Advent. “Biblical and redemptive lament is the prayer that takes our pain vertically to our compassionate Heavenly Father with uninhibited honesty. But it also is a prayer that paves a path forward towards the fulfillment of God’s promises.” ~Justin Jeppesen

9 Prayers for a Post-Election Church | Intercessors for America | Gloria Robles

Here are some suggestions on how to pray for the Church in the aftermath of the elections. Read more here.