Psalm 145 opens with a personal decision: to raise God above everything else and to speak well of His name without a finish line. It’s worship that starts in the heart, moves to the mouth, and stretches beyond today’s mood.

Exalting the King, Not the Moment

We don’t exalt God because life is finally calm; we exalt Him because He is King. The psalmist isn’t describing a passing feeling—he’s choosing a posture. And that posture quietly reorders everything: worries shrink, desires find their place, and the soul stops acting like it’s on the throne.

If you’re wondering how to do that when you feel small or distracted, Scripture gives a surprising doorway: humility. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:10) When we step down from self-rule—our need to be right, noticed, or in control—we make room to see God rightly again.

Blessing His Name With Your Whole Life

To bless His name is more than saying nice things about God; it’s honoring who He has revealed Himself to be—faithful, holy, near, sovereign, good. Jesus taught us to begin prayer this way: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” (Matthew 6:9) Before we ask for daily bread, we remember whose table it is.

And blessing His name isn’t limited to church language. It can sound like gratitude in traffic, honesty in confession, courage in temptation, and calm when you could lash out. “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.” (Psalm 34:1) “At all times” means worship is not a reward for good days; it’s a witness on hard ones.

Forever and Ever Starts Today

“Forever and ever” can feel too big—until you realize it begins with one ordinary morning. God’s faithfulness is not theoretical; it’s fresh. “Because of the LORD’s loving devotion we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22–23) Today’s mercy is enough to practice today’s praise.

And our daily praise is a rehearsal for the future we’re heading toward. One day, worship won’t be interrupted by doubt or fatigue. “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13) When you bless His name now, you’re aligning your life with what will fill eternity.

Father, thank You for being my God and King; You are worthy of praise. Help me exalt You today with my words and choices, and make my life a steady blessing to Your name. Amen.

CLASSIFICATION IS ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT of all tasks. Even in the realm of religion there are enough lights and shades to make it injudicious to draw too fine a line between men and men. If the religious world were composed of squares of solid black and solid white classification would be easy; but unfortunately it is not.

It is a grave error for us evangelicals to assume that the children of God are all in our communion and that all who are not associated with us are ipso facto enemies of the Lord. The Pharisees made that mistake and crucified Christ as a consequence.

With all this in mind, and leaning over backwards to be fair and charitable, there is yet one distinction which we dare make, which indeed we must make if we are to think the thoughts of God after Him and bring our beliefs into harmony with the Holy Scriptures. That distinction is the one which exists between two classes of human beings, the once-born and the twice-born.

That such a distinction does in fact exist was taught by our Lord with great plainness of speech, in contexts which preclude the possibility that He was merely speaking figuratively. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, He said, and the whole chapter where these words are found confirms that He was speaking precisely, setting forth meanings as blunt and downright as it is possible for language to convey.

Ye must be born again, said Christ. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. This clear line of demarcation runs through the entire New Testament, quite literally dividing one human being from another and making a distinction as sharp as that which exists between different genera of the animal kingdom.

Just who belongs to one class and who to the other it is not always possible to judge, though the two kinds of life ordinarily separate from each other. Those who are twice-born crystallize around the Person of Christ and cluster together in companies, while the once-born are held together only by the ties of nature, aided by the ties of race or by common political and social interests.

Our Lord warned His disciples that they would be persecuted. In the world ye shall have tribulation, He said, and Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

These are only two of many passages of the New Testament warning of persecution or recording the fact of harassment and attack suffered by the followers of the Lord. This same idea runs through the entire Bible from the once-born Cain who slew the twice-born Abel to the Book of the Revelation where the end of human history comes in a burst of blood and fire.

That hostility exists between the once-born and the twice-born is known to every student of the Bible; the reason for it was stated by Christ when He said, If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. The rule was laid down by the apostle Paul when he wrote, But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

Difference of moral standards between the onceborn and the twice-born, and their opposite ways of life, may be contributing causes of this hostility; but the real cause lies deeper. There are two spirits abroad in the earth: the spirit that works in the children of disobedience and the Spirit of God. These two can never be reconciled in time or in eternity. The spirit that dwells in the once-born is forever opposed to the Spirit that inhabits the heart of the twice-born. This hostility began somewhere in the remote past before the creation of man and continues to this day. The modern effort to bring peace between these two spirits is not only futile but contrary to the moral laws of the universe.

To teach that the spirit of the once-born is at enmity with the Spirit of the twice-born is to bring down upon one's head every kind of violent abuse. No language is too bitter to hurl against the conceited bigot who would dare to draw such a line of distinction between men. Such malignant ideas are at odds with the brotherhood of man, says the once-born, and are held only by the apostles of disunity and hate. This mighty rage against the twice-born only serves to confirm the truth they teach. But this no one seems to notice.

What we need to restore power to the Christian testimony is not soft talk about brotherhood but an honest recognition that two human races occupy the earth simultaneously: a fallen race that sprang from the loins of Adam and a regenerate race that is born of the Spirit through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

To accept this truth requires a tough-mindedness and a spiritual maturity that modern Christians simply do not possess. To face up to it hardly contributes to that peace of mind after which our religious weaklings bleat so plaintively.

For myself, I long ago decided that I would rather know the truth than be happy in ignorance. If I cannot have both truth and happiness, give me truth. We'll have a long time to be happy in heaven.

The rest of my fellow-workers , whose names are in the Book of Life, - Philippians 4:3

Paul was as gentle as he was strong. Winsome courtesy and delicate considerateness lay in his character, in beautiful union with fiery impetuosity and undaunted tenacity of conviction. We have here a remarkable instance of his quick apprehension of the possible effects of his words, and of his nervous anxiety not to wound even unreasonable susceptibilities.

He had had occasion to mention three of his fellow-workers, and he wishes to associate with them others whom he does not purpose to name. Lest any of these should be offended by the omission, he soothes them with this graceful, half-apologetic reminder that their names are inscribed on a better page than his. It is as if he had said, "Do not mind though I do not mention you individually. You can well afford to be anonymous in my letter since your names are inscribed in the Book of Life."

There is a consolation for obscure good people, who need not expect to live except in two or three loving hearts; and whose names will only be preserved on mouldering tombstones, that will convey no idea to the reader. We may well dispense with other commemoration if we have this.

It is hard to realise the essentially individualizing and isolating character of our relation to Jesus Christ. But we shall never come to the heart of the blessedness and the power of His Gospel unless we translate all " us "-es and " everyones " and " worlds " in Scripture into " I " and " me," and can say not only He gives Himself to be " the propitiation for the sins of the whole world," but " He loved me and gave Himself for me.’’’ The same individualizing love which is manifested in that mighty universal Atonement, if we rightly understand it, is manifested in all His dealings with us. One by one we come under His notice; the Shepherd tells His sheep singly as they pass out through the gate or into the fold. He knows them all by name. "I have called thee by My name; thou art Mine."

Lift up your eyes and behold who made all these - the countless host of the nightly stars. The nebulae to our eyes are blazing suns and planets to His. " He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by name by the greatness of His power, for that He is strong in might; not one faileth." So we may nestle in the protection of His hand, sure of a separate place in His knowledge and His heart.