Praise the Lord

PRAISE THE Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!

Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever

From the rising of the sun to the going down of it and from east to west, the name of the Lord is to be praised! Psalm 113:1-3 AMP

What do you do when you don't feel like praising the Lord? When you look around and think to yourself, 'I don't want this circumstance anymore, I want it to be gone. I am tired, so tired. I don't feel like giving praise to the Lord, even though I know that is the right thing to do, and that He is worthy of our praise.'

Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and dominion, for You created all things; by Your will they were [brought into being] and were created. Revelation 4:11 AMP

When I woke up yesterday, I felt tired on the inside. The disappointment of 'seemingly' unanswered prayer started to take over my thoughts and become consuming. However, by the end of the day I was praising God at the top of my voice with my daughters. How did this transformation happen? 

This morning I felt to share how God guided me through the day, taking from a place of huge disappointment and lack of faith and joy, to a place full of faith and overflowing with joy and a very thankful heart. I pray that it will be of an encouragement and practical help to you. 

God's word

4.45am - feeling a bit fragile - prayer and reading of psalm 112 and proverbs 21. 

Encouraged somewhat by the following two verses, although still feeling fragile

His [spiritual] offspring shall be mighty upon earth; the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Psalms 112:2 AMP

Light arises in the darkness for the upright, gracious, compassionate, and just [who are in right standing with God]. Psalms 112:4 AMP

5.25am - daily activities start.

Prayer and God's people

8.45am - join other mums to pray for the school. I feel like crying during the entire prayer time, try not to cry, but some tears sneak through.

After the time of prayer, one of the mums asks me, 'Can we pray for you?' I say, 'No, I'm ok', but clearly I am not okay! So I dropped down my guard and said yes, and the beautiful mums prayed. I sobbed. They prayed.

More devotions

9.15 - driving home. Trying to have more purposeful quiet time with God throughout my day, so stop my car at a local park and read the Jesus Calling devotion by Sarah Young. Thankfully the crying has stopped now so I can read. Here is some of what it said for August 21,

Wait with me for a while. I have much to tell you. You are walking along the path I have chosen for you. It is both a privileged and a perilous way: experiencing My glorious Presence and heralding that reality to others. ......stay on the path of Life with Me. Trust Me wholeheartedly, letting My Spirit fill you with Joy and Peace.

After reading this I feel more encouraged, that God is with me and He knows how I feel, and exactly what I need.

Worship music

9.30 - at home, start working on bookwork for our business. I put on the worship music - out of habit, but not really wanting to connect with God through the worship. But hoping that if it is on, I will get to that place of wanting to worship Him fully. 

God's people

10am - Husband comes in and asks, are you okay? No, the tears start again. I try to explain how I am feeling without much success. He reminds me of some teaching of Charles Capps regarding the confession of our mouths. What he says resonates with me and my mind starts to shift and focus more on God rather than myself and my circumstances.

Creative Encouragement

12noon - toilet break. A friend gave us a poster of the Footprints in the Sand poem. It is in the toilet room. I don't even bother to read the top few verses, just go straight to the last verse.

The Lord replied, "The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, then I carried you."

My short prayer, 'Thank you Lord for carrying me today.'

Worship and the Word

2pm - time to go to school for the pickup. I don't really want to see or talk to anyone. If I get there early enough there will be time to 'just sit' listen to some more worship music and read some scriptures. 

With the worship music on, I read these scriptures on my laminated sheets:

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation!

The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]! For the Chief Musician; with my stringed instruments. 

Habakkuk 3:18-19 AMP

[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),

Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete. 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 AMP

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39 NLT

The breakthrough comes at last. The knowledge of Psalm 112:4, has now moved into greater understanding of God's love for me, Romans 8:35-39. His love is always there for us, no matter what is going on.

God's favour

2.50pm - pick up the girls from school. Make a stop at the local petrol station, who we have approached to help us with fundraising for Camp quality. We are blown away by their generousity.

3.15pm - helping out with kids creative group at church. All thoughts and feelings of disappointment and tiredness have gone. Praise God. Peace and Hope have returned.

Worship again 

6pm - heading home. One daughter puts on the worship music. We are all singing, My Lighthouse, at the tops of our voices. Here are some of the words

In my wrestling and in my doubts

In my failures You won't walk out

Your great love will lead me through

You are my peace in my troubled sea

In the silence, you won't let go

In my questions, Your truth will hold

Your great love will lead me through

You are my peace in my troubled sea

I won't fear what tomorrow brings

With each morning I'll rise and sing

My God's love will lead me through

You are my peace in my troubled sea

The joy has returned. His love has gently led me through this troubled day to a place where I can wholeheartedly sing praise to Him, with a thankful heart.

I pray that what I have shared today is encouraging and helpful to you. As I now reflect over yesterday, I can see that God is reminding me of how important it is to stay connected to Him through out day, via various ways. These ways include worship, His word, and positioning myself well in places and with people who are willing vessels of His truth and love. I realise that everybody's day looks different with different responsibilities and environments, but we have a creative God and He is willing and able to help us find ways to spend more time with Him throughout our daily lives. We just need to ask and listen.

Question for today, next time you don't feel like praising God, what strategies will you use to enable God to lead you to a place of praise?

Lift my eyes