Grow Devotes | Grow Churches

Taking a Knee

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God…” Psalm 95:6-7 There are several Hebrew words that are translated into the word “praise,” showing us that there are several different ways that we can demonstrate our love for our God. There is a Hebrew word for praise, barak, that means “to kneel before the Lord, to bless, to...

Praise, Presence, Power

Praise, Presence, Power “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise (zamar) Your power.” Psalm 21:13 Zamar is a Hebrew word for praise that means, “to touch the strings of an instrument and to play unto its power.” Worship leaders and musicians are given to the church by God to lead all of us into worship. Whether we feel that we are talented in our...

I Will Be Still

“Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise (shabach) You.” Psalm 63:3 Shabach is a Hebrew word for praise that means “to laud, commend, adore, glory.” It also means “to soothe, still, stroke, to pacify.” The word is used eleven times in the Old Testament, of which, eight times it is used to speak praise to God. Three times it is used to describe a calming of...

I Will Celebrate

“Let them praise (halal) His name in the dance…” Psalm 149:3 Halal is one Hebrew word for “praise,” and it means “to shine, to boast, to rave, to show, to celebrate, to glory, to dance, to be clamorously foolish.” It also means to be clear, to be brilliant, used of a clear sharp tone or sound. The word “hallelujah” comes from halal. When I think about what to compare halal...

I Will Be Thankful

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” Psalm 100:4 Another Hebrew word for “praise” is towdah. It has the same root as yadah for extending the hands, but with a meaning of acceptance and thanksgiving. Towdah is thanking God for things not yet received as well as thanking Him for what is already in our hand. Towdah...

I Will Lift My Hands

“I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands.” Psalm 63:4 NIV There is a Hebrew word used in Psalm 63:4, yadah, and it means, “Extended hand, to throw out the hand, to worship with outstretched hands.” I was raised in a conservative American home in a mainline denominational church. In my early Christian experience, we did not lift our...

My Expression

“… the reverent fear [respect] and worship of the Lord is your treasure and His.” Isaiah 33:6 Amplified Praise is an expression from our hearts to our Father about our love for Him. It is an expression of our choice of surrender to be in relationship with Him. Praise is also a declaration and exaltation of who God is to us. Our praise comes from what God has done in...

Friendship Covenants

“That they all may be one…” John 17:21 Jesus prayed for believers in John 17, asking the Father to make us one with each other, one with Him and one with the Father. Becoming one is covenant talk. A covenant is a union between two or more parties. In regard to a friendship covenant, the relationship is not merely put together for the sake of unity, but because of a...

Shared Convictions

“Do not be misled: bad company corrupts good character.” I Corinthians 15:33 NIV When referring to your close friendships, the Bible makes it very clear that your inner circle, those that you closely fellowship with, should be people who share your convictions for a holy lifestyle. Obviously, they aren’t going to be perfect and neither will you be, but your lives are surrendered to Christ, yielded to what is right...

Humble Associations

“…associate with the humble…” Romans 12:16 The humble are people of valor who posture themselves to harmonize with God and His people. The opposite of a humble person is someone who is unyielding. When someone refuses to yield, submission to church authority could be difficult; criticism and withdraw are common. A person who is unyielding could become controlling, judgmental, divisive and manipulative. Christians that continually criticize God’s leaders are like...

Straight Shooters

“Wounds from a friend can be trusted…” Proverbs 27:6 NIV If your friend was driving on a mountainous road, the bridge was out, and the signs were missing, wouldn’t you do everything that you could to stop your friend from heading in that direction? A real friend is someone who will give you the straight truth because they know that the truth will save you from trouble. I know from...

Shaped by Association

Proverbs 13:20 “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” We have different levels of association. We have friends that we closely associate with, there are others that we are distantly are connected to, and then there are associations that are somewhere in between. When choosing those friends that are closest to us, we need to take into consideration that our...

Your Inner Circle

“And being let go, they went to their own companions…” Acts 4:23 God created us to have a relationship with Him, and He created us to have relationships with one another. Some relationships are closer than others. Some relationships go deeper than others. Our inner circle is the closest and deepest of our relationships. Those relationships are relationships of our choosing, and we must choose carefully. The Inner Circle is...

Whole in Your Doctrine

“Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” II Timothy 1:13 One translation of the Greek word for whole is sound. When something is sound it is “stable, sturdy, firm, flawless, thorough, entire.” God wants our understanding of Him to be correct. God wants our understanding of the things of His Holy Spirit to be...

Whole in Your Peace

“You will keep him in perfect (complete) peace…” Isaiah 26:3 The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. Shalom is a word derived from a root word meaning, “to be whole.” The definition of shalom includes peace, but it also means “completeness.” Peace describes our salvation in every area and covers our health, wellbeing, safety, prosperity, tranquility and rest. Shalom means that there is nothing missing and there is nothing...