Every day I will praise you. I will praise your name continually.
The Lᴏʀᴅ is great and certainly worthy of praise.
No one can fathom his greatness.
I remember one of the hardest times in my life.
It felt like I would never hope again and I was exhausted and weary.
Daily I prayed to the Lord to lift this heavy cloud of darkness I was living under. I kept asking Him to help me get through this season stronger than I was before, to trust Him deeper than I ever had to, and to teach me whatever He had prepared for me in the middle of it so I wouldn’t miss it while I wished for it to be over.
At one of the Love God Greatly Intensives, a wise, godly lady we had the honor of meeting and learning from shared with us the power of praising God for what He will yet do. She challenged us to praise and thank God for what was yet to come, for how He was going to work everything out for His glory and our good, and for how He was going to fulfill His promises in our lives.
This challenge and encouragement became my daily prayer during this dark season of my life. I started openly sharing with the Lord that I was at a loss and didn’t know what or why this was happening to me, but that I knew He had a purpose in it. I started praising Him for who I KNEW He was even when I didn’t feel it.
Praising God every day does not mean basing our thanksgiving on the circumstances of our lives.
In Psalms 140—144, David is praying to the Lord and asking for deliverance from his enemies. In these psalms, he is crying out to God for specific help and reminding himself of God’s character.
These five psalms are followed by the last six of the whole book, which focus on praise.
Do you see the significance? Five prayers followed by six praises! Our petitions and supplications should be always followed by praise and worship. We ask and then we praise. We request and then we thank. We petition and then we worship.
It is also worth noting that the whole book of Psalms serves Christians as a source of encouragement, challenge, and comfort in times of trouble. It’s a book that contains honest and raw prayers, reminding us we are not alone in our suffering, and ends with six full Psalms praising God for all that He is.
What is one practical thing we can take away from our Psalm today? In the midst of suffering, we focus on and recall all the incredible, magnificent, amazing truths we know about God and we repeat them to our souls even as we pray for deliverance. Maybe we even grab a pen and paper and write them down, or use the Notes app on our phones. Whatever works for us, we actively recall all we know to be true and all God’s past faithfulness we have seen in our lives, and we remind our mind, heart, and soul of them.
Why? Because everything on this earth will pass away, but His kingdom stands forever. The best is yet to come, and we have so much to look forward to. As a result, no matter what is going on in or around us, we can join David in declaring, “Every day I will praise you!”
God in His mercy helped me realize that I would much rather live a life under the heaviest cloud of darkness that brought deep intimacy with Him than under a sun-shining blue sky forgetting His name.
Praise is a decision, an attitude of the heart when we find ourselves in the midst of suffering. So let’s decide, friends!
Let’s be women who choose praise and thanksgiving and worship of their heavenly Father in any kind of circumstances because they know He is worthy and because they know a hurting, hopeless world is watching.
Praise is an expression of respect and gratitude.
Let’s be women marked by thankfulness and praise, women who live strong and brave lives despite the circumstances of their lives, fully confident in the God of heaven and earth who holds their heart.
“Thanksgiving stirs up thankfulness in the heart.” – Richard Baxter (1615-1691)
Let me close my time with you on the blog today as well as our lament study with the lyrics of one of my favorite hymns which never fails to bring me to tears, confession, and praise:
My Troubled Soul (Praise the Mighty Name of Jesus)
My troubled soul why so weighed down
You were not made to bear this heavy load
Cast all your burdens upon the Lord
Jesus cares, he cares for you
Jesus cares, he cares for you
And all your worrying won’t help you make it through
Cast all your burdens upon the Lord
And trust again in the promise of his love
I will praise the mighty Name of Jesus
Praise the Lord, the Lifter of my head
Praise the Rock of my salvation
All my days are in his faithful hands
My anxious heart, Why so upset?
When trials come how you so easily forget
To cast your burdens upon the Lord
Jesus cares, he cares for you.
I will praise the mighty Name of Jesus
Praise the Lord, the Lifter of my head
Praise the Rock of my salvation
All my days are in his faithful hands.
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.
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