SET FREE TO PRAISE HIS NAME

“Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.” – Psalm 142:7

On August 3, 2001, Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer were arrested in Afghanistan and charged with spreading Christianity. The two women, members of the Shelter Now ministry, were accused of visiting Afghan homes, distributing Christian literature, and showing CD-ROMs on the life of Jesus. In September, they were put on trial by the Taliban government and found guilty. Their sentence was upheld while Afghanistan became embattled with the United States and its allies. On November 15, the two women were dramatically rescued. Near the end of their first press conference after being free, Heather Mercer said: “I just want again to say thank you to everyone who has hung in there with us, who hasn’t given up on us who has given their heart and soul for the last 3 1/2 months to work towards our release, to pray for us. And I think even if we had a whole lifetime to say thank you, we couldn’t do it appropriately, we couldn’t do it adequately.” She concluded her remarks by saying: “So we thank you for your time. We thank you for all your help. Again, we just want to thank God for getting us out of this and for all the people that prayed. So thank you.”

Jesus Christ is good and He is merciful. He is our Protector and Savior and His name shall be praised. During this Thanksgiving week, give thanks to the Lord and praise His name for He is a good and gracious God.

“They both said to say thanks to everybody for their prayers. They realized there is a good and gracious God.” – President George W. Bush

God’s Word: “O Lord, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains. I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the Lord.” – Psalm 116:16-17

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2001, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING pkennedy@devotional.com