“It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High, to declare Your loving-kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness every night, on an instrument of ten strings, and on the lyre, on the harp with a solemn sound.” Psalm 92:1-3
It is indeed good to continually thank and praise the LORD our God — with our voices and with musical instruments — for His mercy and for His faithfulness toward us in Christ Jesus, our Savior!
“We praise Thee, O God, our Redeemer, Creator, in grateful devotion our tribute we bring; we lay it before Thee, we kneel and adore Thee; we bless Thy holy name, glad praises we sing.” ( Tr. Julia B. Cory, 1902)
[Scripture quotations are taken from the Barbour Simplified KJV, copyright 2022, 2025. Used by permission of Barbour Publishing, Inc. Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683. All rights reserved.]
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40
When Jesus was asked what the great commandment in God’s law was, He said it was to love God with all one’s heart, soul, and mind, and then to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Indeed, “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10). If we love God with all our being, we will gladly and willingly obey His commandments from the heart, and if we love our neighbor as ourselves, we will not disobey parents, murder, commit adultery, steal, dishonor, slander, or even covet what belongs to our neighbor. Our failure to obey God’s holy commandments reveals our lack of love for God and our neighbor.
Forgive me, O God, for failing to love you and my neighbor and keep Your holy commandments. Pardon my sins for the sake of Jesus Christ’s holy life and His innocent sufferings and death in my stead. Amen.
[Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.]
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
What does the law of God require of us? In Leviticus 19:2, God says, “Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.” Jesus taught, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” God’s commandments require not just a good effort but perfect and complete obedience in our thoughts, desires, words, and actions. We all come short. We are all condemned sinners. That is why we look in faith to Christ’s holy life and His innocent sufferings and death on the cross for our salvation!
We are guilty, O God. We have not kept Your holy commandments. Grant us pardon for our sins and a place in Your everlasting kingdom for the sake of the holy life and atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
[Scripture is taken from the Revised Webster Version of the Bible.]
“This, the first of His signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and He revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.” John 2:11
Jesus’ miracle of turning 120 to 180 gallons of water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee gave His disciples a glimpse of His power and glory as the only-begotten Son of God in human flesh, and they believed in Him. We, through the Scriptures, see His glory too. Do we also believe He is God the Son, who came into this world to be our Savior?
Dear Lord Jesus, grant that I see Your glory and place my faith in You as the Son of God and my Savior. Amen.
“You search the Scriptures, because you think in them you have eternal life. These are they who bear witness of Me.” John 5:39
Jesus’ Jewish hearers searched the Scriptures, thinking they could fulfill the demands of God’s law and obtain eternal life. But the Scriptures direct us to Jesus, the Messiah and Savior, and all He did to atone for sin and provide salvation through faith in His name.
O dearest Lord Jesus, grant that I learn of You and Your redeeming work from the Scriptures that I may trust in You and Your cross for my salvation. Amen.
