Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. Psalm
150:6
God is a wonderful God and He continues to shower us with His blessings. So many
times though, we are unable to appreciate all that God has blessed us with. It
is always so easy to look and see what is going wrong, what is not working out,
what has not manifested. If we allow ourselves to live in that realm we will
never be able to experience and appreciate the blessings of God.
Many times we miss God and do not recognize our blessings because they do not
happen the way that we expect them to happen. Sometimes we are upset,
frustrated, disappointed and this clouds our ability to be grateful and
appreciate the blessings of God.
We must come to the point in our walk with the Lord that we realize that God is
the one who sees the total picture. We only know in part. We must stop seeing
our delays as denials. We must stop feeling like we are alone and forsaken. God
is a loving Father who does not neglect His children. God's ways are not our
ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. We often try and figure out
solutions to our situations according to what we see. Nevertheless, when we
trust God, He may cause things to go in a different direction in order to avoid
a disaster that we cannot see. We must be willing to trust God no matter what
and stop trying to take things into our own hands.
We should always live a life of praise and thanksgiving to God. God no longer
desires lip praises but He wants heart praises. David said, let everyone that
has breath praise the Lord. Yes, you are hurting, but praise God anyhow. Yes you
do not see the money for the rent or the mortgage, but praise God anyhow. Yes
you got a very negative report from the doctor but praise God anyhow. Yes your
spouse is not a Christian and your children are rebelling, but praise God
anyhow. Yes the people at church are slandering and backbiting you but praise
God anyhow. Yes the boss is being very unfair to you and the person who does no
work is getting a promotion but praise God anyhow. We have to come to a point in
the Lord where we understand and believe that what God has for us no man can
take from us and when God opens a door for us no man can shut it.
Nevertheless, God wants us to be thankful people. God wants us to offer unto to
Him thanksgiving and praise in the midst of the battles, in the midst of the
fires and in the midst of the floods. Some of you might be going through a
prison experience right now, just like Paul and Silas. You feel like you are
locked in, you feel like your back is against the wall. You just do not know
what else to do or where else to turn. Sometimes we cry or we cry out to God. We
cry to others, we look to others for a way of escape. In the midst of your fires
and in the midst of your trials, begin to give God thanks and praise. No, it is
not an easy thing to do but it brings results. It is when Paul and Silas began
to sing praise unto God that the walls around them crumbled. Just so today, when
we begin to praise and worship God, giving Him thanks in the midst of the
battles, the walls that are around us crumble and God provides a way of escape
for us. Maybe, you are saying to yourself, That is easy for you to say because
you are not in it. We all have our seasons and the Bible tells us that what each
of us go through is common to man. There is nothing unique about our trials.
Your fire might not be my fire but fire is fire and all fire burns. But the
grace of God is sufficient. What should we thank God for when it seems like
things are just getting worse? We thank God for making the way of escape. We
thank God for being our deliverer. We thank Him for being our refuge and
strength, our very present help in this time of trouble.
Regardless of what it look likes, know that God is still God and He is still in
control. He knows about the situation, He hears your cries, He sees your pain.
He is a mighty God who has promised not to give you more than you are able to
bear and He is always with you even when it seems like you are all alone. Today,
I encourage you, to rise up and bless the Lord. Give God thanks and give Him
praise. God has been mighty God to you. If it had not been for the Lord who was
on your side, where would you be? It is because of the mercies of God that you
are not consumed. God is a great God. He loves you and He cares about you. Give
God thanks and praise today.