Great Are You, Lord
From the breath of God, man breathed. In the breath from God, man lives. And with the breath of God, shall we not praise Him?
Salty Sound Girl
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16
The word of Christ: powerful, wise, full of grace, and truth. No wonder Paul instructs —let His words dwell in you richly!
As we study the truths revealed in Scripture, we can’t help but respond with thankfulness in our hearts to God.
So let’s do it! Let’s immerse ourselves in the Bible, where His Holy Spirit speaks, His story is told, and His wisdom and grace change us at last into lovers of God, and lovers of one another.
Let’s Sound Forth His Praise, bringing Him the adoration he deserves.
This worship playlist might help get you started!
Hello, friends!
New news! Changes are coming, and whether you are brand new to the Salty blog, or are a regular reader, stay tuned.
Very soon this Salty Blog will be included into my brand-new author site. I remain hopeful that the changes will be complete, and we will roll out my new website by the fall of ’24.
The new site will be super easy to find, both for newbies and for subscribers. At that time, if you are searching for Salty, a re-direct page will appear, and quickly bring you to my new site.
The new site will include more of what you see here, including the blog and the worship playlist, but with lots more book reviews, as well as helpful resources for growing in Christ.
I will also be featuring products to help you get God’s Word up on the walls of your home! That has been in my mind for some years, and I’m pretty excited to be able to bring it to you just as soon as I can.
So until then, enjoy this site. May it bring you closer to Him, as you connect to the Almighty in worship, Bible reading, and prayer.
We’ll see you at my new website, soon!
From the breath of God, man breathed. In the breath from God, man lives. And with the breath of God, shall we not praise Him?
“I am lost in wonder at all You do,” sings Phil Wickham in today’s addition to our practice of praise.
What an honor is ours, to enter the very throne room of God.
Praise to the Lord, the king of creation, redemption, our past, present, and future. Praise to the Lord, today!
For believers in Jesus, we fear death no more. He is risen! So we, too, will rise.
To pray for God’s will to be done, means that I will no longer delude myself into believing that the locus of control is mine. To pray for God’s will to be done, means that I will demonstrate that I trust Him. To pray for God’s will to be done, shows that I am committed to Him first, and that I am indeed His child–a trusting, humble, yielded son or daughter of the King.
We paddled furiously, but we were no match for the sea.
The song is a prayer, where the singer tells the Lord that he can’t even count high enough to name all the blessings from above.
We decide to be thankful. On our own, in the quietness of a moment alone, we make the change. We close our eyes and exhale. We let the hard thing alone for a minute, and we decide, when we open our eyes again, to pay attention to what else is in the room.
How can we praise Him enough? One glorious day, all of creation will burst forth in worship and praise to our God, who is love. Will we ever stop singing?
And yet, for many of us today, our lives might feel anything but safe, secure, or quiet. So what does Psalm 23 really mean, when our path forward throws us into rough seas, thorny patches, or terrifying terrain?
The Bible is an amazing book–light-giving, life-changing. Let’s study the Book!
The Father knew that I would need this truth for the hard years ahead.
Wickham’s lyrics invite us to join in the fray. Swords out, shields up! We join God, fighting the battles we face. And here is how we fight the good fight… we pray, we have faith, and we worship. “So when I fight, I fight on my knees…”
This old hymn is a prayer reflecting faithful trust in the Lord Jesus. When the author, Jean Pigott, penned the words “Jesus, I am Resting, Resting”, she little knew how valuable this prayer would be to missionary James Hudson Taylor, nor how beloved it would still be over 100 years later. Take a listen…
Who is the One who worthy of all worship, honor, and praise? Yes, Christ Jesus, the mighty Lamb of God is the One worthy of it all. And what a joy to sound it out! Sound it forth, this day, while it is still called “today”! Use your voice to bring to God your worship!
Phil Wickham’s new song, The Jesus Way is (I think) one of his best. And that is saying a lot! The lyrics to this song challenge, encourage, and beckon us ever onward, inviting us to state with conviction that we choose the Jesus way! Have a listen!
Turning. Sometimes it takes an effort almost superhuman. Especially when anxiety and or depressive feelings pervade. Sometimes we are too anxious, too watchful–we don’t think that we can take our eyes off of this thing even for a minute. How can we give it over to Someone else?
God’s grace: that enduring, sacrificial, unearned love that our Creator God bestows upon His children. Can we ever extol Him enough? Probably not. But let’s try, anyway!
Trust Him to be the King over your life, Sovereign over what you are facing today.
It was so weird, waiting for someone else to die, so that he could live.
I had a big sister. I have her still, though she walks this earth no…
Is He worthy? And that’s the question for the ages. Is His worthy of our praise? Mine? Yours? Even in this difficult situation, even in this? Yes! Sing it! Raise your sights to Him, scripture invites us. Lift up your voice and proclaim the truth, in the easy times, and especially in the hard. Today’s addition to our practice of praise is a timely reminder: our Lord Christ is worthy, indeed.
Today’s Practice of Praise brings back an old favorite from yesteryear. This lovely worship ballad found its way into many churches in the 1990’s. Perhaps you are familiar with it already. If not, I hope you find it enriching in your moment’s with Him.
A Thousand Hallelujah’s? Are you kidding me? Today, I can’t generate even one! Heavy sighs just kept escaping from my weary, worn-out soul. Is there a way out of my grumpiness, and into His presence?
Today marks one of the highest and holiest days of the Christian Calendar. It is a day for jubilant rejoicing, as we celebrate our great King’s triumph over death, sin, and the grave.
Do you know this Savior? Have you met this Risen Lord?
Charles Wesley wrote today’s much-loved hymn over 250 years ago. “And, can it be, that I should gain and interest in the Savior’s love?”
Wesley was overcome with the reality of God’s Amazing Love.
The song that we are adding to our practice of praise today Jack Hayford’s most popular. In fact, for over 15 years, it was consistently among the top 10 songs among Christians. Perhaps you have enjoyed praising God with this gem.
Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!”
King Jesus is Lord of the Cross, Lord of the Resurrection, and Lord of Life. Our King, All Powerful and Eternal, is worthy of our adoration!
Indeed, with each new day, the sun comes up, and it’s a new day just dawning. There’s never been this particular sunrise, you know, that one that occurred today. There’s never been this new day, the one in front of you, right now. Yesterday is past, and is now consigned to the memory bin. But today! Brand spanking new–full of possibility, full of promise, full of hope. Like the words to this song suggest, may we bless Him all day with our worship, and may we still be singing, when the evening comes.
And we look to Him, at the head of the banquet table, as He breaks the bread in celebration of our reunion. We raise our glasses, all around, and toast the Giver of the feast. Then the music, and the dancing, and the singing, as all of us unite our beings as one in our worship of His Majesty.
David got it right. He knew where to run–headlong into the embrace of his forgiving God!
From our contrition, and through heartfelt confession, we are set free.
The authors worship the Triune God: Jesus the Son, the Spirit, and lastly, the Father. The chorus then states: “You are the One that we praise, You are the One we adore, demonstrating that though three Persons, our God is One.
I was challenged to pray not just for what I hoped God would do.
Just as Christ’s body lay in his tomb for three days, even so, for three days, a blinded Saul dwelt in darkness.
In John’s Revelation, he includes these words, words that bear continuous repeating, over and over, throughout every age, forever and ever.
The song states that we will love God with everything we can, with everything we are. Both in the Old Testament Law, as well as the words of Jesus in the New Testament, we are instructed to direct our full self to loving God.
Shipwrecked by the storms? It’s easy to wobble, and times we just tip over. But we are invited to run back to Him! He is waiting.
Iron skies cast their meaningless light upon the endless supply of dreary grey brambles, which in turn carelessly encircle ugly tree after ugly tree.
Bare, stark alder limbs jut into the tomb-stone sky with an almost craven pleasure. A lone crow stares at me from one branch. He makes a rattling noise, low and ominous, like the twilight itself.
The sign is clear: “Keep Off”. The rule is plain to see. And the seagull? He doesn’t care. Watch him stare at us, daring us to change his mind. Notice his exquisite placement; of all the spots to plunk down, he has chosen defiance. He’ll land where he does. Take that.
Our God is pure love, and that, we can take to the bank. As we proclaim it, we remind our own wavering souls of this higher truth, the one that can co-exist with the struggles of life.
“A prisoner, and yet…so free!” said Corrie ten Boom, prisoner of the Nazis.
“‘It doesn’t matter, really, how great the pressure is,…It only matters where the pressure lies.” HT
The truths in this book are foundational for living a victorious Christian Life.