“Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” – Revelation 5:13

C.S. Lewis wrote: “The most obvious fact about praise—whether of God or anything—strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless …shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes 

politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds, praised most, while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least...Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made audible.”

May the desire of your heart be to praise our eternal, loving God! Today in prayer, let us praise Jesus; because He took us from darkness to His glorious light.

“All hail the power of Jesus' name!

Let angels prostrate fall,

Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord of all.” – E.P. Scott

God’s Word: “to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” – Jude 1:25

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING †

“In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.” – Isaiah 12:4

In January 2025, when Peter and Jacqueline Halpin evacuated the home they lived in for 36 years due to the Eaton wildfire, they had no idea they would never see it again. 

The Halpins evacuated their Altadena, California, home on Jan. 7 due to the incoming Eaton fire with nothing but the clothes on their backs, some paperwork, a beloved icon, and a few family photo albums. 

The next day, their son-in-law visited the neighborhood where all six of the Halpin children grew up to find the home completely destroyed. Peter and Jacqueline Halpin decided to gather their children and return to their property to pray and thank God for their time at that house. 

“It was just, ‘Let’s just get up and pray and thank God for the wonderful memories that we’d had there,’” Jacqueline Halpin said. “We believe very strongly in the virtue of hospitality. We’ve had a lot of gatherings, so I just wanted to pray and thank God for our safety and ask him for protection.” 

When we realize the marvelous work of Christ’s resurrection, our soul cannot help but to praise Him. Today in prayer, praise Jesus that He has conquered death and gives everlasting life.

“The great thing, and the only thing, is to adore and praise GOD.” – Thomas Merton

God’s Word: “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!” – Psalm 105:1

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING †

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” – Ephesians 1:3

Elaine Creasman wrote: “When tragedy struck on February 28, 2012 due to the suicide of my brother, there was a part of me that wanted to stop praising God. How can I praise a God who refused to intervene to save this precious life? But those thoughts were short-lived as I determined to stay in praise no matter what my emotions told me.

As I have stayed in the Word—especially in the Psalms—I've been reminded that God is deserving of all my praise. Praise the Lord! I've recalled all He has brought me through. Praise the Lord! I've recollected how at times He has carried me when I've felt too weak to go on—both in this tragedy and in the midst of calamities in the past. Praise the Lord!

Not only do I praise God for His faithfulness in days gone by and in my present struggles, but I also praise Him for His promise to be faithful in the future. I feel excited about what He is going to do next to continue to bring good out of this latest heartbreak as He has done with every challenge in my life.”

During time of turmoil, each of us needs to take a step back and praise the Lord. Today in prayer, praise the Lord that you can join those in heaven right now in worshiping Jesus.

“So let it be today we shout the hymn of Heaven

With angels and the saints, we raise a mighty roar

Glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave

Holy, holy is the Lord” – Phil Wickham

God’s Word: “May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!” – Psalm 134:3

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING †

“I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.” – Psalm 34:1

In August 2024, US track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke the world record for women’s 400-meter hurdles. She said: “I credit all that I do to God. He's given me a gift. He's given me a drive to just want to continue to improve upon myself,” she said. “I have a platform and I want to use it to glorify Him, and so whenever I step on the track, it's always the prayer of 'God let me be the vessel in which you're glorified' whatever the result is, how I conduct myself, how I carry myself, not just how I perform.”

She added: “So it's just freedom in knowing that regardless of what happens, He's going to get the praise through me.”

When our eyes are on Jesus Christ, our troubles melt away. Today in prayer, praise the Lord that He is our deliverer from all of our troubles.

"I thank God for the mountains. I thank Him for the valleys.

I thank Him for all He’s brought me through.

For if I never had a problem. If I had never had to worry.

I’d never know what faith in God could do!

Through it all, through it all. I’ve learned to trust in Jesus.

I’ve learned to trust in God.” – Andre Crouch

God’s Word: “My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.” – Psalm 71:8

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING †

“Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” – Psalm 103:1

In 1988, Rich Mullins released the song “Awesome God” and it made its way to the top of the Christian charts. The song aims to capture the traditional meaning of "awesome" as awe-inspiring, powerful, and majestic, but also merciful. In 2004, CCM Magazine named “Awesome God” the #1 greatest song in Christian music history.

In 2025, Phil Wickham and his band were reminiscing about growing up with the original song in the studio, leading to a spontaneous moment where Wickham started writing new lyrics over the familiar chords. After getting permission from Rich Mullins estate, Phil recorded the song.

Wickham's lyrics aim to convey the original, more profound meaning of "awesome" — a sense of awe and wonder at God's holiness and majesty. 

This Monday, praise the Lord in all that you do. Today in prayer, know that Jesus is an Awesome God. 

“Our God is an awesome God

He reigns from heaven above

With wisdom, power and love

Our God is an awesome God” – Rich Mullins

God’s Word: “Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, O my soul.” – Psalm 103:22

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING †

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” – Psalm 42:11

Madeleine L’Engle describes how her young adult novel A Wrinkle in Time was dismissed by eight publishers before it eventually landed with the publishing house of Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. For L’Engle, the decade of her thirties was set on the spin cycle of rejection. 

On her fortieth birthday, her husband called L’Engle in her writing studio to say that another rejection letter had come from yet another publisher. In a fit of melancholic despair, L’Engle shrouded her typewriter with a sheet. She would never write again. 

Thankfully, her resolve did not last long. L’Engle asked for the manuscript back from her agent, and it arrived as a heavy parcel of bundled typewritten sheets. Two weeks later, with the manuscript in her possession, she was introduced to another editor. He asked to read the manuscript. In another week, she had signed a contract to publish Wrinkle. 

When the book was rejected by publisher after publisher, I cried out in my journal. I wrote, after an early rejection, “X turned down Wrinkle, turned it down with one hand while saying that he loved it, but didn’t quite dare do it, as it isn’t really classifiable. I know it isn’t really classifiable.... but this book I’m sure of. If I’ve ever written a book that says what I feel about God and the universe, this is it. This is my psalm of praise.”

No matter where you are today, on the mountaintop or in a valley, Praise the Lord!

“God gets some of His richest praise amidst dying groans—and He gets delightful music from His people’s triumphant cries.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

God’s Word: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” – Acts 16:25

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING †

“Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.” – Psalm 34:3

In his book “Who’s That Knocking On My Door” author Scott Bowerman writes: “The Rule of Benedict is a document that has ordered the life of Benedictine monks for 1500 years. That remarkable document, written by Saint Benedict of Nursia, instructs the monks in how they are to live their daily lives together in community. One of the things that Benedict describes is a particular role, the “porter” of the monastery.

The porter is the one who opens the door to the monastery when someone knocks. Not much of a role, you say? Ah, but there is so much to it, so much entailed, and so much communicated in how one opens a door. Roman Catholic nun and author Joan Chittister goes so far as to say, “The way we answer doors is the way we deal with the world.”

In the Rule of Benedict, the porter is given very specific instructions. He is to sleep near the entrance to the monastery so he can hear and respond in a timely way when someone knocks. Then, as soon as anyone knocks, likely a poor person because they often sought refuge in monasteries, the porter is to reply, “...Your blessing, please.” That's before he even knows who is on the other side of the door. Before the porter knows who that person is or why he or she is there, he is to praise God for that person's presence and to ask for the person's blessing.”

Praise does not have to be extravagant, only heart felt. Today in prayer, Praise the Lord Together singing “Alleluia”.

“Praise the Lord together singing

Alleluia alleluia alleluia

Praise the Lord together singing

Alleluia alleluia alleluia

Praise the Lord together singing

Alleluia alleluia allelluia

Praise the Lord together singing

Alleluia alleluia alleluia

Praise the Lord together singing

Alleluia alleluia alleluia” – Kim and Karen Mitzo

God’s Word: “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.” – Psalm 69:30

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING †

“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” - Psalm 90:14

In his book “The Case for the Psalms”, N.T. Wright wrote: “Good liturgy, whether formal or informal, ought never to be simply a corporate emoting session, however “Christian,” but a fresh and awed attempt to inhabit the great unceasing liturgy that is going on all the time in the heavenly realms….

The Psalms offer us a way of joining in a chorus of praise and prayer that has been going on for millennia and across all cultures. Not to try to inhabit them, while continuing to invent nonpsalmic “worship” based on our own feelings of the moment, risks being like a spoiled child who, taken to the summit of Table Mountain with the city and the ocean spread out before him, refuses to gaze at the view because he is playing with his Game Boy.”

Each morning is a fresh start in our eternal life with Jesus. Today in prayer, start by praising the Lord.

“When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

God’s Word: “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” – Psalm 5:3

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING †

“‘But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? ‘Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” - Romans 9:20

In life, whenever someone achieves success, criticism usually follows—regardless of their skill or the effort they’ve invested. An old story illustrates this truth. A woman crafted artificial fruit so flawlessly that people couldn’t tell it apart from the real thing. Yet, critics never ceased to find flaws, pointing out supposed imperfections in color, shape, or texture. One day, as they gathered around a display of her work, they singled out an apple, insisting it looked particularly fake. When they finished, the woman calmly picked up the apple, sliced it in half, and took a bite. It was, in fact, a real apple.

The opposite of praising God is mocking and criticizing Him. Today in prayer, confess any sin of criticism and praise the Lord for He is good.

“The most insanely daring thing that any man can do, the most exceedingly foolish thing any man can do, the most desperately wicked thing that any man can do, is to reply against God, to enter into controversy with God, to criticize God, to condemn God. Yet that is what many people are doing.” - R.A. Torrey

God’s Word: “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘You did not make me’? Can the pot say to the potter, ‘You know nothing’?” - Isaiah 29:16

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING †

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." - Romans 1:21

In his book “Prayer” Pastor Timothy Keller writes: “Cosmic ingratitude is living in the illusion that you are spiritually self-sufficient. It is taking credit for something that was a gift. It is the belief that you know best how to live, that you have the power and ability to keep your life on the right path and protect yourself from danger. That is a delusion, and a dangerous one.

We did not create ourselves, and we can’t keep our lives going one second without his upholding power. Yet we hate that knowledge, Paul says, and we repress it. We hate the idea that we are utterly and completely dependent on God, because then we would be obligated to him and would not be able to live as we wish. We would have to defer to the one who gives us everything.”

We need to be grateful for all the Lord has given us. Today in prayer, confess any sin of ingratitude and be thankful to the Lord.

“Ingratitude is always a kind of weakness. I have never seen that clever men have been ungrateful.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

God's Word: "People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy" - 2 Timothy 3:2

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail

DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING  †