Praise the Lord!

Yes, Praise the Lord! He has blessed us and everything He has given to us, He has given freely with His love. Yet we take Him for granted because we forget. We forget how great He is and how much of a blessing it is to have such a sweet God who loves and nurtures us every day despite our shortcomings. A God who never forgets us, but forgets our sins. A God who loves us without reservation though the world shuns us. He is truly the Light of the World! It is easy for us to bless and praise Him when things go right for us and we feel the light of God shining on us, but what about when things are NOT so right with us?
Do we still thank and praise the Lord for our trials and troubles? Well, as difficult as it may seem, this is the time that we need to praise Him.

“You mean to tell me I should praise the Lord when I am down? When my life is in disarray, I should lift up my hands and worship Him?
When everything around me is falling apart? That is the furthest thing I want to do!”

It is the very thing we need to do! Why? Because when things don’t seem right, this is when we need to acknowledge God in our life despite the circumstances surrounding us.
What are we saying to God when we praise the Lord for everything, including our misfortunes? We are saying to God:

“Thank you Lord. I don’t understand the hard times that I am having now and I know you understand my pain, but I praise you for being My Lord. Help me to see what I need to do with the situations around me and I pray that I will grow from these difficulties in a positive way. Thank You for this opportunity You are giving me to trust You to handle my life. Things may not work out perfectly as I would like, but I praise You for the good work You are doing in me. Thank You and praise You Lord.”

You see when we praise the Lord for our troubles, we are doing the opposite of what everyone else does…complaining to God and blaming Him for their problems.
In complaining we think God allows bad things to happen to us. This is not the case. Our troubles are the result of our existence on earth. Trials and heartaches are a part of the human condition. We all have them and we will all have plenty more to come.
But the difference is we have Jesus Christ. He is here to bring peace to our hearts and assurance that He is standing by us. This is why we praise the Lord, because we no longer doubt Him to free us. Praising God in the middle of turmoil is the last thing we feel like doing, but the moment we allow our lips to say the words of praise to Him, we release our hearts in trust and give ourselves over to Him completely.

Hand over your troubles to God and praise Him for the good work that is to come. What a difference it is when we acknowledge God’s greatness despite the fear, sadness,
depression and frustration that surrounds us. In so doing…God is able to set us free from the misery that shackles us.

Try it. The next time you feel overwhelmed. Stop and take a few minutes to praise the Lord and continue praising Him… for everything.
You will discover the peace that passes all understanding and the joy that only Christ can bring.

Celebrate and praise the Lord!


Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O servants of the Lord, - Psalm 135:1

 


© 2003 Edrick


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