Hosanna Restoration Church

Browse Devotionals
Random Devotion

A PERFECT START

The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. (Luke 2:20 NLT)

A baby in a cave was, is, and always will be, the savior of the world! The shepherds heard the message, checked out the message, believed the message, and went away glorifying and praising God.
A heart full of faith is a heart full of praise. It is so important to keep the flow going. The shepherds believed that everything the angel said was true. They believed it enough to go and see it for themselves and once they saw, they were filled with praise for God. We might say that it was easy for them to believe; after all they saw an amazing sight. But the truth is all they saw was a baby. The rest they had to believe by faith.
There is something about praise that increases faith. There is something about giving God glory and honor that increases our assurance that He is more than worthy of it. One great thing about it is that it displaces doubt. If we join in praise, we remove space for doubt. On the other hand, if we prefer to doubt and concentrate on what is not good, we sink right into the hole the devil wanted us to dig.
As we begin a new year, I am challenged to make sure that praise gets first place in all things. No matter what, I want to give God some praise and glory in both hard and easy times. I have this feeling that what looks like a rough road will smooth out and that what looks impossible will suddenly have spiritual sticky notes with solutions appear.
When I consider the shepherds, I am well aware that there may have been a few who did not bother to make the journey to see the baby. They may have slept through the heavenly songs, or just did not get excited about it.
It is also possible that there were some who went along because they were temporarily caught up in the idea of seeing the Messiah but once they saw that He was only in the baby stages their enthusiasm could have gone down a bit.
We all know how this can happen. We have all experienced it or known someone who has. I ignored the truth for years. No doubt it stared me in the face often. I went looking but then went away empty because I was not looking for Him I was looking for something else. It all came together when I began to praise God because I had found Him. I was not looking for anything else; just Him. Open your praise valve and magnify God and never turn it off. Let the praise begin! That is the way to start a New Year and a new life.

All Content Copyright 2006-2024 © HosannaRC.com

Built & maintained by J. Allen R. Day