TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Thursday 29TH April 2021)
“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 119th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
We give God the glory for another day. Being alive and well is praise worthy. Seeing the goodness of God in the land of the living is praise worthy. Not seeing us handed over to the sword of our enemies is makes God worthy of our praise.
Not seeing God dealing with us according to our sins, makes Him more than praise worthy. Not seeing Him allowing our foolishness destroy us makes Him worthy of our praise. Many may have been your afflictions, but you are alive today because the LORD delivered you from they all.
That is why this morning we will be looking at matters of praising God.
Sometimes we get so consumed by our worries and things we want Him to do that we forget praising Him. For some of us this is a season of prayer, but let’s add praise sessions to our prayer sessions. Private praises can be very effective, where there is no keyboard, not drum sets, not trumpet, no nothing but you, your voice, your hearts and your clap.
Last year, when Church in the House started, we wanted to be bringing musical instruments to the studio but we changed our minds because we felt this is a season of learning to worship the LORD in songs, prayer and etc. without the presence of Church instruments.
There are three words in God’s kingdom that should take your attention as a Christian. Three basic things that should form the core of your personal relationship with God. They are Prayer, Prophecy and Praise. Those three can be the fuel your faith needs to always be alive, especially in the seasons we find ourselves.
Now, when I say prayers I am referring to righteous prayers and when I say prophecy, am not referring to the dangerous habit of following people who see wreck less visions around or pursuing prophets everywhere, asking them for a word from GOD. No!
AM REFERRING TO SPENDING QUALITY TIME ON DAILY BASES WITH THE MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY, THE BIBLE.
Making Prophecy part of your life covers giving full attention to sound doctrine from the word of God, going after the rhema word we get from the logos word, and absorbing the spoken words from the testimony of Jesus Christ, until you find a WORD SEED to keep sowing into the soil of obedience.
It involves sitting with the Holy Spirit and His Holy words to impart your life with what is called the Spirit of Prophecy and bring you to the place of hearing from God. By God’s grace that is what these devotional have been facilitating in our lives. But this morning we want to refresh our minds on the third word, PRAISE!
You see, Praise on the lips of a pure can be very beautiful. When we praise God we move Him to get things done in our lives. We move Him to perform promises also. Remember the places to wait for God to perform His word that we shared yesterday? The place of praise is one other place to wait.
Sometimes, not living a praise life can be very costly. It could live many Heavenly things undone in our lives. In addition to Holy life, we should learn to lead a praise life.
People who live a praise life never lack moves of God in their lives.
Sometimes it’s good to spend a whole weekend praising God for who He is instead of asking Him to do things in our lives.
Unfinished divine projects are finished when praise come out of the throne of our heart to the throne room of the Host High God.
There are times I do not praise God enough and it pains my heart. The few moments I do; I always see His marvelous acts. I don’t know if the same can be said of you. My prayer this morning is that GOD will activate our praise life again.
He is a great King who loves hearing His “kids” rising early 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 with panic prayers, complains or even nothing on our lips.
WE MUST FIGHT THIS KIND OF SPIRIT AND STOP IT COMPLETELY.
God wants to hear our praise in the morning, noon or night. Praise is affirming His works. It is declaring what God has done or can do through songs or statements. God loves hearing that, but the enemy does not want us doing that. We inflict and afflict Him with jealous when we do that. That is why He will not have us do it!
Disappointments, carnal provocations, failed expectations, sin, evil thoughts, strife, lack of true encounters with God, bad marriage or family life, bad economic situations, lack of revelation 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.
Satan will fill our hearts with things that will affect our praise life.
He will make us do praise only in Church and 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. 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. It says “praise from the upright is beautiful.” Holiness makes our hearts upright; praise is one of the things that helps us enjoy the blessings of an upright heart.
Sometimes we worry about so many things. But like Jesus said to one of the Sisters of Lazarus, only one thing is needful. And that is sitting at the feet of Jesus to either learn. I want to add to also pray, or praise Him, because if you are really learning, it will fill you with the awe of God, causing prayer and praise to break forth in your life.
THIS SEASON GOD WANTS US TO PRAISE HIM. WILL YOU?
He has done so much in our lives but some of us have done very little to praise Him for what He has done. God wants righteous praise to proceed out of our lips to His throne. Besides, if there are divine promises that are pending in your life, praise could be the only key you are yet to apply to unlock them.
Praise moves God to enforce His will in our lives. In moves 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. The reason is, when we thank God our faith comes alive, but when we praise Him the anointing of the Holy one in our lives come alive.
Again, 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, to state, or verify. It’s beautiful to wake up in the morning, and start announcing, asserting, verifying, or stating God’s works to Him in songs. That is praise!
When you do that in the midst of suffering, persecution, or an unpleasant situation, it becomes sacrifice of praise. And that is powerful!
Sacrifice of praise can connect one to the realm of glory. That was what Paul and Silas knew hence singing hymns in a period where they should be shedding tears in regret of going into ministry, like we always do when things go bad. Maybe not regretting going into ministry but casting out the demon of divination that was in the slave girl. Do not forget that was what landed them in the prison.
Many times God allows the enemy to attack so we can offer Him sacrifices of praise and allow Him to move in His glory, maybe to save a soul like He did in Acts 16. He is God of righteous sacrifice. People who understand this lead lives of righteous sacrificial.
The God we serve loves His Children offering Him righteous sacrifices because righteous sacrifices unlock greater things from Him to us. They move Him to push significant things into our lives. I have seen God push greater glory into the lives of people in response to righteous sacrifices offered to Him.
Now, begin to praise God! If it will be a sacrifice to do that, then you are in the right position for greater glory!
We have come to the end of the month. I believe this is enough reason to praise God. So, make your mouth an instrument of praise this season and the rest of your life. Verify His faithfulness in your life even if things look sad. Announce His mercies in songs every now and then, even if you are not in position to do so.
Your healing is in your praise, your breakthrough lies in your praise, and your deliverance lies in your praise. Praise is a tool of divine visitation in the Kingdom of God. Be making use of it in your walk and talk with GOD and you will begin to lead a worry free life in a trouble filled world.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“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