THE CRY OF THE SPIRIT DEVOTIONALS – BY RICHARD E. S. TAKIM

TODAY’S DEVOTION (Tuesday 11TH August 2020)

“Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful.

Praise the Lord with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy. Psalm 33:1-3 NKJV

WELCOME TO THE 222ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING

I think we should apply some breaks today and praise the LORD. We have eaten and chewed and gained wisdom for 222 days of our year of rejoicing, it will be a good thing to praise our KING for all that.

Praise on the lips of a pure heart is beautiful. When we praise God, apart from showing our appreciation, we move Him to get things done in our lives. The rule is quite simple; if we praise Him for what He has done, He will be moved to do what He has not done.

That means, if there are things that GOD promised us that are yet to be done in our lives, sometimes it is a sign that our praise life is poor. I have come to discover that, in addition to living a life that is in total obedience to the will and ways of the LORD, People who live a praise life never lack moves of God in their lives.

Sometimes it is good to spend a whole season, in the many seasons of life, praising God for who He, is instead of asking Him to do things He is yet to do in our lives. Unfinished divine projects are finished, when praise come out of the throne of our heart, to the throne room of the God of Heaven and earth.

Personally, it pains my heart that I do not create time to praise God enough. The few times I did faithfully, I saw His marvelous acts. I do not know if the same can be said of you. My prayer this morning is that GOD will activate our praise life again, through this devotional.

We are often full of complains and prayers points. Often, we forget that God is a great King who loves hearing us His Kingdom kings, rising early in the morning with songs of praise to Him. But the way our lives are programmed sometimes, we do not wake up with praise on our lips. We wake up with silence on our lips, at most with prayers that are full of demands.

Thinking if we cry, shouts or scream, that will be fine. We forget that a life of prayer that lacks a life of praise will find significant moves of GOD missing.

GREAT MOVES OF GOD IN THE BIBLE ARE PRODUCTS OF BOTH PRAYERS AND PRAISE.

In fact, many do not know that righteous Prayers draws us closer to God, but praise from a pure heart draws God closer to us. It is therefore not always right to wake up each morning storing the gates of heaven with prayers with not time of strong season of praise unto GOD.

Disappointments and satanic provocations, failed expectations and sin, evil thoughts and strife, lack of true encounters with Go or bad marriages and family life, and a host of other things, have a way of stealing the garment of praise from us, and replacing it with the spirit of heaviness. But someone must shake that dust off this morning and lift his or her voice to GOD in praise to He who lives forever and ever.

The devil perfectly knows how to steal praises from our hearts and stop it from flowing from our lips. He knows how to fill our hearts with things that will affect our praise life. He will make us do praise only in Church, but live PRAISE-LESS lives at home. That itself is hypocrisy. It will not bring us into the fullness of the blessing of praise.

Our devotional text this morning says,

“Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful.”

That to me is a message that can change our lives forever.

Indeed, praise from the upright is beautiful!

The Bible did not say complains from the upright is beautiful. It did not say worry from the upright is beautiful. No matter how anointed or close to God you are, your worries and complains will never sound beautiful in His ears, it is your praise that will sound beautiful in Heaven. Sometimes we think because we are anointed, everything we do will be beautiful in God’s sight. The answer is no!

We worry about so many things, like Martha, But Jesus says only one thing is needful, and that is sitting at His feet to submit to Him. Which will involve learning from Him, worshiping Him, praying to Him, or praising Him.

THIS MORNING, JUST LIKE EVERY MORNING OF OUR LIVE, GOD WANTS US TO PRAISE HIM. WILL WE?

God wants righteous praise to proceed out of our lips to His throne. If there are divine promises that are pending in our lives, praise could be the only key we are yet to apply to unlock them.

So many preach that one may sow a seed to unlock divine promises, but God expects us to live praise lives. If we led praise lives, we would not need to unlock anything with a seed, our praise will get everything done by the power of the LORD, who inhabits the Praise of His people.

Praise is one powerful force that can move God to enforce His will in our lives as written in Heaven. It can move Him to enforce His will on earth as written in Heaven. It has a way of neutralizing the forces of darkness and rendering even curses of no effect.

Now, what is praise? It is important that we know! But we will begin with the first word in the order – thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is APPRECIATING GOD for His works, but Praise is AFFIRMING GOD’S WORKS. To affirm is to announce, to assert, to verify, to confirm, or to state.

It is beautiful to wake up in the morning, and start announcing, asserting, verifying, or stating God’s works to Him in songs. When we do that, we are praising God! Now, when you do it during adversity or suffering, persecution, or an unpleasant situation, it becomes SACRIFICE OF PRAISE. And that can be immensely powerful!

Sacrifice of praise, therefore, is not sacrificial giving after praising God. There is no giving of any substance in any sacrifice of praise. Sadly, greedy man and women of God have preached and led people to practice the opposite.

When God want to get sacrifice of praise from us, He knows when to expect it. Many times, the enemy attacks us for doing nothing wrong. In such moments, God expects us to still praise Him. That is when He expects sacrifice of praise from us. He is God of sacrifice. People who understand that led sacrificial Christians lives.

Sadly, the word sacrifice have been reduced to giving in the present church, making it to loose it’s meaning and power.

BUT IN THE BEGINNING, IT WAS NOT SO.

The God we serve loves His Children offering Him sacrifices because sacrifices unlock greater things for us from Heaven.

Anything we do in His kingdom sacrificially, moves Him to push significant things into our lives. I have seen God push greater glory into the lives of people in response to services they rendered, worship they offered, and His will that they did, sacrificially.

Now, it is time to begin to praise God! If it will be a sacrifice to do that then you are in the right position for greater glory! Make your mouth an instrument of praise this morning and the rest of your life. If we make our mouths an instrument of praise, God will fill our lives with what only praising Him can do.

No matter the situation you find yourself, verify His faithfulness in your life even if things look sad. Announce His mercies in songs of praise this morning, even if you are not in position to do that.

Our healing is in our praise, our breakthrough lies in our praise, our deliverance lies in your praise, our manifestation is in our praise. There is so much that is in our praise more than words can describe. Praise is a tool of divine visitation in the Kingdom of God.

Make use of the instrument of Praise this morning, and you will not just be visited, you will be inhabited by the LORD.

Let this devotional be your guide. Meditate on it and respond in high praises. You do not need to wait until you go to Church. Do it now!

MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AND ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOUR LIFE TODAY

“Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.”

“The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

“He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.”

“The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.”

“Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God, who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the mountains.”

“He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that cry. He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.”

“The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.”

“Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!”

“For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you.”

“He makes peace in your borders, and fills you with the finest wheat. He sends out His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly.”

“He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes; He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold?”

“He sends out His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.”

“He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any nation; and as for His judgments, they have not known them.”

“Praise the Lord!” Psalm 147: 1-20 NKJV