Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD. [a]
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.
Again, it's been a while since I've posted. I find myself underestimating the busyness of life and overestimating how much time I have to do things. Or maybe I'm just lazy... I know I blog to encourage and I want to do that (otherwise why am I even bothering?) but let me be transparent for just a second...
Lately my spiritual life has been lackluster at best. I've let stress and worry invade and I am barely finding time to pray, let alone dig into the Word. It's been a while since I've had a good talk with God. But I realized something in the past few days that has kind of given me a bit of a revival (though I could certainly use more!)- I should be praising God.
Regardless of my circumstances, or how tired I may be; regardless of whether I can see my blessings, or even whether I feel like it, I should be praising God. Why? Well, for a myriad of reasons but most importantly, A. I'm alive... He let me live another day and He really didn't have to; and B. I am a child of the King destined to spend eternity in Heaven with my Savior. Sounds a bit trite, I know... but nonetheless, it's true. Right? A good friend of mine told me today that I enjoy being "mopey." At first I took offense to his comment, but after mulling it over for a while, I realized he was right. After all, what do I have to be down about? So, I put some David Crowder Band on, decided to praise God, and felt a whole lot better. It's an attitude we need to have... an attitude of praise. Because, well, because God is God. Do I need a better reason?
I want to leave you with an excerpt I came across in my journal from November of last year. It has really ministered to me this past week:
"Praise God. Praise God that though I grow closer to Him all the time, I still mess up. Praise God because He is the perfect One and I am not. Praise God that no matter how close my walk with Him is, I am always a step away from failure. Praise God that when I do fail, I'm only a prayer away from being back on track. Praise God that He has already won the victory because I am incapable. Praise God that He is not finished with me. Praise God that I am no better than murderers and thieves but no lower than kings and queens. Praise God that His mercies are new every morning. Praise God because He IS God. Praise God because I am compelled. Praise God because it's the only option. Praise God."
