your worship, and your declarations of Who He is, what He has done and is doing. I pray you can trust that He IS for you and with you.
Of course, having an entertainment background, my flesh said to me, “You need a big finish!” as I close these 31 Days of Praise………Ha! Really? So, has my heart not yet fully understood that HIS glory is paramount? It’s not about me?
As it turned out, events on my last day of January prevented me from having my usual study and prayer time, so I could not post. I was forced to surrender.
My pride was arrested yesterday, January 31. Yes, I am confessing that I had a certain pride in having accomplished the discipline of 31 days of study, meditating, praying and posting. That may seem like an “OK” attitude to have, right?
It is honorable to keep your promises, say what you mean and mean what you say, right? (My husband and I remind one another and our sons of that all the time.)
Yes, but there was something else going on deeper that was a distraction…the fact is, I had set myself up for accountability, a “do or die” situation, and at times during this 31 days, I need to confess, I was more motivated by concern over my reputation, than love of God and His Word. Ouch!
I know many of you can relate. Even the concept of daily devotions and worship, even with right intentions and pure motives, can become a tool of the Devil and a stumbling block to true worship when it becomes another “thing on our to-do list”. Can anybody hear me?
No wonder the Bible calls our worship a “sacrifice of praise”. I know I’ve said this before, but it does require putting all else aside to focus our complete attention on God.
As David so passionately bared his heart to all of us in this Psalm 145 and in his other psalms, we would be brought to nothing, utter despair, ruin and ultimate banishment to the fires of Hell without the overwhelming love, compassion and provision of Our Creator God, demonstrated through His Precious Son Jesus Christ, and the guidance of His Holy Spirit.
We have every reason to abandon ourselves to worship and praise our glorious God! LORD, help us be more like David!
This morning my eye came across Hebrews 13:15 which jumped out at me in connection with this final verse of David’s psalm. David declares that his mouth will speak the praise of God.
And here is what the writer of Hebrews says :
“Therefore, by Him(Jesus) let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
The Holy Spirit pierced my heart : “Don’t ever let the fruit of your lips become lip service.”
Let those who have ears to hear listen to what the Spirit of God is saying!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Psalm 150:1
O Holy God, How you love us! How personally You walk with us! Revive our hearts once more to love You and live lives which bring You glory and pleasure! Thank you for always speaking to us through Your Word and by Your Spirit whispering to our hearts, even when we are stumbling around in our weaknesses.
I will speak the praise of God forever and ever. Because of You, I live! Amen!
It should be easy to post a comment now. I made an adjustment to the site.
ReplyDeleteSorry I didn't realize the setting limited how you could post!