A Psalm of Praise to God

"Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"  (Revelations 7:12)

What wisdom does God have for His children?  What lessons does He hope to instruct?  What blessings does He cover His own creations with?  What mercy does He offer His humbled children?

The foolishness of God is greater than the greatest of man’s wisdom. The instructions of God are detailed in His Holy Word. The blessings of God are far beyond our greatest dreams and hopes.  The God who created us: He is Love - love that is never ending; He is Faithful - faithfulness that lasts forever; and He is Mercy -  mercy that knows no bounds.

How can we worry, when the God who spoke the universe into being has our name written in the palm of His hands?
How can we wander, when God’s Word is a light upon our path?
How can we waste a single breath, when every creation with breath was created for praising God?

All praise and honor belong to God, every perfect and good gift is from our Heavenly Father, He showers His children with favor and grace.

The Lord our God is the Great I Am, His Majesty and Power never end, He is the Holy of Holies, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow - He is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty Fortress, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Immanuel, the Way, the Truth and the Life, all praise and honor and glory to Him!

Ain't No Valley Low Enough

Psalm 77 (NLT)

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.

Oh, that God would listen to me!

When I was in deep trouble,

I searched for the Lord.

All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,

but my soul was not comforted.

I think of God, and I moan,

overwhelmed with longing for his help.

Interlude

You don’t let me sleep.

I am too distressed even to pray!

I think of the good old days,

long since ended,

when my nights were filled with joyful songs.

I search my soul and ponder the difference now.

Has the Lord rejected me forever?

Will he never again be kind to me?

Is his unfailing love gone forever?

Have his promises permanently failed?

Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he slammed the door on his compassion?

Interlude

And I said, “This is my fate;

the Most High has turned his hand against me.”

But then I recall all you have done, O LORD;

I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

They are constantly in my thoughts.

I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

O God, your ways are holy.

Is there any god as mighty as you?

You are the God of great wonders!

You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.

By your strong arm, you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Interlude

When the Red Sea saw you, O God,

its waters looked and trembled!

The sea quaked to its very depths.

The clouds poured down rain;

the thunder rumbled in the sky.

Your arrows of lightning flashed.

Your thunder roared from the whirlwind;

the lightning lit up the world!

The earth trembled and shook.

Your road led through the sea,

your pathway through the mighty waters—

a pathway no one knew was there!

You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep,

with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds

I'm always comforted when I read in the Bible, real people that experience what I'm going through or can relate to! As you can see, this Psalm writer experienced times when they thought they were alone or that GOD had turned HIS back on them. Recently I read an article that made me think about the times when Christians feel alone and feel same way. I know I’ve been in a valley for a while now, that’s how I would describe when I’m going through so many trials and battles that I feel so beat up, pushed down, and alone, that I’ve lost that ‘loving feeling’. 

Our Pastor reminds us all the time that we can’t go on these feelings and I’ve read in the Bible and heard from other Pastors that we can’t be led by our flesh (aka ‘feelings’), we need to be led by the spirit.

So how do we get past those ‘whoa whoa feelings’? What I’ve discovered the easiest way to get past my feelings, is to get past me. That’s right, put me on the back burner and move someone else to the front – no matter what I’m going through that’s causing me to feel so bad, there is someone else who is going through a trial and/or storm that is struggling the same or more. Here's some ideas: there's always praying (I mean real praying- either praying with them or just setting aside time each day by yourself to concentrate on that person and pray for them), sending a person a note (call them, text them, Facebook them, let them know that you are thinking of them and would like to 'be there' for them), volunteering (countless ways to volunteer, check with your church for an outreach program or serving in your church), or just pray to GOD to allow you to help a stranger (safety first ladies- I'm talking about a person in the grocery store who doesn't have enough to pay for their groceries, buying the person behind you at Starbucks their drink, our church calls these 'Random Acts of Kindness').  This is so beneficial on so many levels: 1) you’re helping someone else out, so that person is now experiencing a blessing, (2) you are helping yourself by concentrating on someone else’s needs and not focusing on your own issues, (3) it always brings an added bonus of joy to know you have helped out another person.

The next way to help you, help yourself, is to remember what GOD has already brought you through. This isn’t your first trial, you’ve gone through some rough times before, and GOD was there for you then (as well as HE is there for you now and HE will be there for you when you go through your next trial). HE never changes, HE’s the same yesterday, today and tomorrow – so when you made it through those situations in your past, at the time you thought that was so difficult, you couldn’t see yourself getting out, but GOD made a way. HE can always make a way, GOD isn’t limited by our circumstances, HE’s empowered through our circumstances to show us HIS miracles. Have you ever noticed that you feel closer to GOD, the closer you get to your knees – when I’m face down crying in despair, I’ve felt GOD’s presence more than any other time in my life. Hindsight is 20/20, once we’ve made it through our trial, once we’ve made it to the mountain top, we can look back and gasp, seeing what we went through, what GOD carried us through, because we will realize then that we could have never made it through without GOD and that HE was with us the whole time, HE never left us!  

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.  “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth.  They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.  It is the same with my word.  I send it out, and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.  You will live in joy and peace.  The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.  Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.  These events will bring great honor to the LORD’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”

(Isaiah 55:8-13 NLT)

GOD’s Word never comes back void, when HE sends us a promise, when HE quiets us in the storm, when HE brings us strength, peace and comfort that can only be given from our Heavenly Father  - that’s the promises of the Lord God Almighty! HIS Word never changes, HIS Promises are the same everyday, HIS Mercies and Grace are new everyday. HE is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. HE IS.

The trials we go through don’t always make sense, but that’s because those trials weren’t from GOD (GOD doesn't give chaos, that's the world and the devil). We can’t always figure out the ‘why’ this is happening, but we can ‘KNOW’ that GOD will make it ‘good’ for HIS children. WE can’t always understand the ‘how’ this is going to end up for our good, but we can ‘KNOW’ that the GOD who created the universe doesn’t need step by step instructions to solve anything, HE speaks and ‘it is’.

The day I look forward to, when I don’t have to walk by faith any longer, but 'when my faith will be my eyes'. When my faith walk has completed, when my race has finished, when the prize is standing in front of Jesus and hearing, ‘well done, good and faithful servant’; that is the day when I will no longer struggle with my ‘feelings’ and the battle between my flesh and my spirit will finally be over. Until then, my faith will only continue to grow stronger through the valleys.

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 NLT)

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.  When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. (Romans 5:3-6 NLT)

Yes we can rejoice, we can count all things as joy – that doesn’t mean we’ll stand in disaster and say thank you GOD for this disaster (after all it wasn't GOD that brought the disaster), that means we can stand in the middle of the disaster and say “thank you GOD for delivering me, for I still have ‘fill in the blank’ in my life”; focus on what we still have and not what we lost.  And YES that means saying, ‘thank you’ when we don’t FEEL like saying thank you or praising GOD – that’s why it’s so important when we are on the mountain tops to praise GOD, it’s easier to thank GOD when everything is going great and once we’ve developed that as a habit, it will be ‘natural’ for us to find reasons to thank GOD during the valleys.

GOD deserves our praises ALL the time, no matter the circumstances, HE didn’t put us in the trial or situation we are in; HE is Holy and HE is GOD, that never changes – so our praises should never change. I wrote before about the sacrifice of praise, I believe when we cry through the praises, GOD counts those tears and HE receives more glory through those praises than the ones we give with a happy heart.

So right now, right where you are, thank GOD for HIS mercies, for HIS grace, and for HIS blessings. Thank GOD for HIS Son that saved you, for the new life in Christ you have been given, for being an adopted child of GOD, for the opportunity to begin anew every day. There’s always going to be something we can thank the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth for, we just have to push aside those feelings, and look to the Heavens. Remember Jesus was in the cold, dark grave for your sins BUT now HE sits at GOD’s right hand enthroned in Glory – even HE had to walk through the valley before HE could be seated on the mountain top.

When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. (Romans 6:10 NLT)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving week is upon us, Thanksgiving is an American tradition where we acknowledge all that we’re thankful for.  It’s become a tradition that many people don’t realize that it was natural in the days of the Pilgrims to have a day of Thanksgiving after a harvest, it was a custom to give thanks to GOD for their blessings. So much was it custom for people to recognize where their bounty came from that during the Civil war, Abraham Lincoln instituted Thanksgiving as national holiday. Below is part of the Proclamation that President Lincoln wrote when he issued our national observation of Thanksgiving day:

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God…..

 No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."

What I love about Thanksgiving, is so many people publicly acknowledge what they are thankful for, even on Facebook, people have been posting everyday a different reason for their thanks. Being thankful is so important, when we stop and give thanks we are no longer focusing on our problems, situations, issues or anything negative that we are experiencing. Instead our focus is now on, what we have received as a blessing, and when your focus is on the positive your heart is able to be enlarged.

When we give thanks, we allow our hearts to soften and not harden. If you’ve read my devotions before, you've read about the dangers of hardening your hearts.  I quoted my Pastor on my Facebook page, Stir Me Up Lord, ‎"When you have confidence in GOD, you focus on the potential and not the problem". When we focus on GOD; our thanksgiving will increase, when we acknowledge GOD as our source, when we give HIM all the praise and thanksgiving that HE deserves, that’s how and when everything falls into place. I love the Message translation of 2 Corinthians 9:8-9, “God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.”

“Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts.” (Psalm 107:21-22 NLT).Here the Bible tells us to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, a sacrifice means giving up something of value. The ‘value’ means that our thanksgiving is of ‘value’ to HIM. The fact that we are ‘giving up’ something is the part where it’s not easy on our part, which makes it all the more valuable to GOD. When we stop and give thanks to GOD, we are acknowledging HIM, we are putting our focus on HIM, and we are giving our time to HIM.  

When our hearts are hardened we are no longer able to give thanks, we begin to have the mindset that everything we have is of our own merit and our own hard work.  Our focus is negative, unable to see the light in any situation. We begin to become callous and stiff, unable to see the good, instead we start focusing on the bad and develop a poor attitude towards life and everyone around. We think we are owed; that we deserve this or that, to the point where giving anything, much less offering thanks becomes almost impossible.

There is only one incurable condition in the whole Bible; that is the heart that has become so hardened that it will no longer listen, it is full of rebellion, stubbornness, and self-righteousness. Pharaoh was a good example of a man so full of himself and his pride; he refused to listen to any wisdom or counsel. How many plagues were set upon Egypt and he kept his heart hardened, Exodus 8:15 “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.” Each time a plague was delivered, Pharaoh would tell Moses that he would let his people go if GOD would stop the plague, GOD would end the plague and Pharaoh would forget the ‘source’ of his relief and go back on his word. Pharaoh was seeing miracles, he would even admit that the events were from GOD himself, and yet he would stiffen his neck, rebel against all that he saw and believed, yet still he refused to obey GOD.  This constant hardening of his heart, led to Pharaoh’s destruction, “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Proverbs 29:1 NKJV)

The key to being tenderhearted is thanksgiving, if we are continually thanking GOD we are keeping our hearts pliable, moldable, and we are able to enlarge our hearts for GOD.   “Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.” (Hebrews 13:15) I’ve written before on this verse and the act of sacrifice, but right now I just want to point out that we are to ‘continually’ offer thanksgiving of praise to GOD.  Continually, means we are always offering thanksgiving, not just once a year, or even just at meal times (saying grace).

A good start to continually giving thanksgiving, is to practice this, Psalm 119:164 (MSG), “Seven times each day I stop and shout praises for the way you keep everything running right.”  My pastor’s wife, said when she started doing this, at first it wasn’t natural to her to do this seven times a day, but after a while it became habit and just second nature for her.  Today is my first day to undertake this task, they say after 21 days most people are able to form a habit from a routine, so hopefully I will be posting that in 21 days the results of my new ‘habit’. If you are not in the habit of always thanking GOD (not just when things are going right, but during the typical day to day activities, and even the tougher times), would you consider joining me in giving thanksgiving to the Lord seven times a day? 

Sacrifice of Praise

Psalm 136:2

“I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name. “

Praising GOD and giving thanks for every day. Being thankful for the moment we have, not dreading the next, troubles come and go, and whether we’re on the mountain top or in the valley, we’re to give GOD praise. We don’t praise GOD just because life is good, we praise GOD because HE is so good! “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22-24

Praising GOD when life is great and everything is going our way, not so difficult, yet we’re to praise GOD even when that’s not the case.  “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Hebrew 13:15 Notice this verse says to ‘continually offer the sacrifice of praise’, we’re to ALWAYS offer praise, our situation doesn’t dictate our praise, our praise is to be unconditional. 

The Greek word, thusia, was used for sacrifice, which comes from the root word, ‘thuo’. ‘Thuo’ is a verb meaning “to kill or slaughter for a purpose”.  So when we offer GOD a sacrifice, it can be that we are killing our pride, fear, or even laziness. When we’re suffering, the last thing we want to do is to thank GOD for HIS blessings, it’s not natural, and that’s why it’s a sacrifice. Praise isn’t always what we want to do; it’s what we need to do.  The sacrifice might also be related to pride, for example, if we get rewarded for some achievement, instead of telling everyone, "yes, I worked really hard for this", try saying, "thank you GOD, I couldn’t have done this without you".

Also in Hebrews 13:15, “the fruit of our lips”, we all bear fruit with our actions and our words. Remember Jesus’ words, “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad…For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.”  Matthew 12:33-36  No word that leaves our mouth is without profit or loss, the words we speak do not disappear, they will be remembered (unless we repent of those words and ask GOD for forgiveness).  Don’t you want your words to be remembered for encouraging and praising GOD?!

The good fruit and bad fruit, makes me think of it this way. We feed GOD the good fruit, when we praise GOD through the tough times, we’re feeding him the fruit of our words, we’re allowing HIM to grow larger in our lives, and we’re giving HIM the praise HE deserves!!  BUT when we give bad fruit, we’re feeding the devil, we’re feeding him the negativity and misery he thrives off of, we’re giving him a foothold into our lives, we’re allowing the enemy to steal our joy and letting him defeat GOD’s will for our lives. 

So we have to train ourselves, it isn’t natural for us to give praise when times are tough (remember our bodies are only flesh, it’s our spirit that is the new creation, and our minds have to renewed to match our spirit). “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2 The saying, ‘garbage in, garbage out’, speaks true here. We get out of ourselves, what we put in, the same goes for our diet, exercise, the TV shows we watch and books we read.  This is why reading our Bible every day is so important; if you keep putting GOD’s word into you, it will come out of you. You will find it easier to speak encouraging words and your outlook on life will change dramatically. If you listen to praise and worship music a little bit each day, you will find joy in your spirit even when the day is going wrong, you will discover that offering those sacrifices of praise are less of a sacrifice and more of a gift. Once we have conditioned ourselves with praising GOD and we are praising HIM out of habit, we will be able to bless others (and ourselves) by speaking words of encouragement and not defeat.

Here's a final thought on how we will ALWAYS have a reason to be thankful, regardless of our circumstances: We can ALWAYS be thankful for Jesus Christ . We can remember HIS sacrifice, HE came to earth, bore our shame and punishment, HE saved us before we ever knew HIM, HE loved us before we loved HIM, HE died for us before we gave HIM our hearts. And we can be thankful that today, HE sits at the Father’s right hand and righteousness is HIS, we have HOPE, we have FAITH, we have the Father’s LOVE, we have a comforter, the Holy Spirit, we are never alone and we know that no matter what we may go through on this earth, we are GOD’s children and we will overcome any circumstance and situation, we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus! So we can offer a small sacrifice to HIM, we can offer HIM a sacrifice with praise and thanksgiving in any circumstance we are going through, because the price we pay is nothing compared to the price HE paid for us.