Praising Your Way to Victory Part 4
Hello again! We trust you are being blessed by this series on praising our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who made a way for us to again have fellowship with our heavenly Father.
To recap, last time, we talked about how you, as a born-again believer, can experience an every more intimate relationship with God than Adam and Eve because we have something they did not: the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We also talked about the kind of praise God enjoys- the kind that is enthusiastic, heartfelt, and even spontaneous!
This week, we want to look at something called “The Sacrifice of Praise.” Have you ever heard this term?
This is the praise we give God by obedience despite how we feel. It can be difficult because
sometimes it takes tremendous effort to overcome how we feel and to get into the right mindset and heart attitude to praise.
God gave me victory over this simply by making a decision to praise God FIRST for a specific length of
time when I wake up. It became a settled matter and non-negotiable.
The first time that I made that decision it really felt like a sacrifice but because I had made up my mind, I just did it.
And soon became easier and easier to do this. The secret is that I don’t ask my feelings any questions. I just go into my scheduled assignment with God.
After all, how many nurses ask themselves how they feel before giving their patients injection or
medication?
They simply do it.
How many pilots ask how they feel before taking off on the tarmac?
They simply do it.
How many mothers ask how they feel before preparing meals for their families?
They just do it.
How many secretaries go to office and ask how they feel before typing their daily letters and memos for their boss?
They just do it.
There are some things we just do because it’s time or our responsibility to do them. So, it should be with any of our assignments with God. Especially the assignment of praise.
Many of us make the mistake of only praising God only when we feel loved by God and when all is well in our lives. But Beloved- this is a grave mistake, because your victory comes by choosing to not listen to what your mind and emotions are telling you about a situation. It comes by looking into the face of the One who loves you and allowing Him to show you His perspective. Our adversary, the devil, knows that running into the presence of God when we have a care is our victory, so he will try and get you to not feel like doing it. He will try to tempt you to reason it through on your own. But this is foolishness! We are expressly forbidden in His word to lean on our own understanding, but to trust God with all of our hearts! (Prov. 3:5-6)
Do you have a bill due? Praise God, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills! (Psalm 50:10)
Is your heart broken? Praise God, Jesus came to bind up the broken-hearted! (Luke 4:18)
Do you need peace? Praise God, keep your mind stayed upon Him, and you will have peace! (Isa. 26:3)