I have so much to praise God for right now. School is going well for my kids, my husband published a new book, I published a new book, and an anthology I was accepted in is available now! (All should be available on my website soon-ish, but clicking the links above will take you to Amazon. My husband’s book, “The Brave Little Seagull,” is also available on most major online retailers… mine will be soon, too.)
I wanted to take this month and encourage you to praise God.
Many of the Psalms are dedicated to praising God. I want to highlight Psalm 150. The ESV version says:
“Praise the Lord!
“Praise God in his sanctuary;
“praise him in his mighty heavens!
“Praise him for his mighty deeds;
“praise him according to his greatness.
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“Praise him with trumpet sound
“praise him with lute and harp!
“Praise him with tambourine and dance;
“praise him with strings and pipe!
“Praise him with sounding symbols!
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
“Praise the Lord!”
Praise is a big deal.
Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”
That’s all praise is – giving God honor and credit for what He has done. It’s acknowledging that He is good, and we are not. He is God, and we are not. He is Creator, perfect, loving, Savior, [insert other name for God here], and we are not.
God deserves our praise, but He deserves more praise than we can give in our sinful state.
When we praise, we acknowledge our weakness and His strength.
He knows we can’t give Him what He deserves; He just wants us. He wants a relationship with us. He wants us to depend on Him. (“God, I can’t do it on my own, please help me.”) Then for us to praise Him when we see Him working in our lives.
God deserves so much praise.
The angels understand this. Revelation 7:11-12 talk about how the angels stand around God’s throne in Heaven, falling on their faces, and worshiping God.
Even when life is hard, we can find reasons to praise God. At the very least, He saved our souls from Hell! Definitely worth praising Him for.
I want to encourage you today, think about what God has done for you recently. Think back to when you first became a Christian and remember what He saved you from. Watch what He’s doing in your family and friend’s lives.
I encourage you to spend some time telling God how you’ve seen Him lately. Thank Him for those ways. Thank Him for who He is. Watch how it change you.
And if you are just so excited and and want to share what you’re praising God for – my inbox is always open. Just click on the “Contact” button at the top of the page. 🙂