PRAISE THE LORD

Hey Y'all! Take a look at this with me this morning. I was reading Psalm 34 and the FATHER said to my heart, "Oh really? Will you really?" Let's look at Psalm 34:1 and talk about it.
I will bless the LORD at all times; HIS praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Read it again...I had to! Think about what that verse says. The Psalmist is saying here NO MATTER WHAT, I WILL BLESS THE LORD; MY MOUTH WILL PRAISE HIM.
I found myself looking into the face of the FATHER this morning saying, "I've not done such a great job at this lately, have I?" Before I go on, let me say that HE is so tender with us when we acknowledge our sin.
Over and over in the WORD we see that praise is the prescription to overcome the things in our lives that cause us to be downtrodden and defeated. We are told that HE inhabits the praise of HIS people. My question then is, when we aren't praising HIM where is HE? Oh, be sure, HE'S never far away...HE never takes HIS eyes off of HIS own. BUT when we fail to praise HIM we shortchange ourselves. When we allow the waves of life to engulf us and to silence our praise we begin to drown in the sorrow of the things going on around us. I was reading a book last night and I was reminded of a song that the Imperials sang when I was much younger than I am today. In fact, we sang the song when I was in high school choir. The song is called Praise The LORD.
There is a line in the song that goes like this, "When your up against a struggle, PRAISE THE LORD. HE can work through those that praise HIM, PRAISE THE LORD."
I believe that is key to overcoming some of the difficulties that we face in life. I believe that if we begin 2008 purposing to PRAISE HIM our days will be different. Yes, we will certainly still have hard times. Yes, we will still face heartache and trial this year...GOD grows us in the garden of difficulty, BUT WHEN WE CHOOSE TO PRAISE HIM...HE will engulf us in HIS arms and hold us close to HIS HEART through the heartache. Folks, that is BIBLICAL. Look at Philippians 4...hear Paul telling us to rejoice ALWAYS.
HE WAS IN A DARK, COLD, ROMAN PRISON...He admonished us to praise the LORD because HE knew that it would keep our focus on JESUS and off of the difficulty.
NO! It won't make the difficulty go away. NO! It may not make the pain any less. BUT, it will make our perspective different. When we see our difficulty on the other side of the face of JESUS it is more bearable. It is easier to walk dark roads when we know that JESUS CHRIST is right there. Intellectually knowing it is NOT the same thing as choosing to PRAISE HIM in the struggle and then experiencing HIS PEACE through it.
My heart has struggled lately...A LOT! And this morning, the FATHER said to me, "Vicky, will you CHOOSE TODAY to praise ME regardless of the struggle in your heart? Will you CHOOSE to obey and REJOICE ALWAYS?"
Folks, that's NOT easy, BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL. Lamentations 3:22-23 remind us that HIS mercy is new every morning and HE IS FAITHFUL. You can count on that! Yes, it's dark at night, but JOY COMES IN THE MORNING...and PRAISE GOD, HE gives us a new morning every single day. We can begin again RIGHT NOW. Take it personally today. Go to your knees and ask HIM to forgive you for NOT praising HIM. Ask HIM to fill your heart with PRAISE for WHO HE IS. You see, we must remember that's it's not because of who we are, it's not because of what we've done....IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS. When you focus on that...YOU CAN'T HELP BUT PRAISE HIM.
FATHER, I COME NOW AND I SIMPLY WANT TO PRAISE YOU FOR BEING WHO YOU ARE. YOU ARE GOD. YOU ALONE ARE GOD AND WE CAN ALWAYS FIND A REASON TO PRAISE YOU. THANK YOU FOR REMINDING MY HEART THIS MORNING THAT THE PRESCRIPTION FOR A HARD DAY IS TO CHOOSE TO PRAISE THE LORD AND TO FOCUS ON WHO YOU ARE. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING THE DIFFICULT DAYS TO DRAW OUR HEARTS CLOSER TO YOUR OWN. O FATHER, TEACH US THIS YEAR TO PRAISE YOU EVEN AND ESPECIALLY WHEN THE WAVES ARE HIGH AND THE WIND IS STRONG. JESUS, WE LOVE YOU, BUT WE WANT TO LOVE YOU SO MUCH MORE. GROW US AS ONLY YOU CAN. IT IS IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS THAT WE PRAY...AMEN!