Worthy To Be Praised

Psalm 146;2  While I live will I praise The Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

God is worthy of our love, our devotion, our obedience, and everything we can offer Him. But most of all, He is worthy of our praise.

The real reason for genuine praise is internal, not external. We praise Him because we are saved and are His child. We praise Him because we are secure in Jesus forever, and we are headed to a city called Heaven. We praise Him because we can rejoice when life is harsh.

We also praise The Lord for His Majestic Greatness. He is the God of creation, who said, "Let there be . . . " and there was. He extends His awesome, limitless power to us in salvation and day by day support.

When We exchange the earthly for the Heavenly, the anthems of the redeemed will revolve around Jesus, Who is worthy to be praised (Rev. 5:9,12).

Prayer, A Precious Time

How important is prayer? It's the greatest tool available to believers. It's the source of our power, the means of our praise, and the avenue of our spiritual prosperity. We should pray often.

1 Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.

We can bring our grief and concerns to God with assurance, aware that He is Holy, majestic, righteous, faithful, merciful, and gracious. 

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Every prayer should worship, praise and thank God for all He is and all He has done.

In times of discouragement, ask The Lord to reveal His will for your life, then trust Him and rejoice.

It's a precious time when we commue and fellowship with our Lord.

Suffering Here, Glory There

No battle is pleasant when we are in it. However, sufferings often cause us to look toward Heaven and find hope.

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

The glory that shall be revealed in us is a change of address and appearance. In Heaven our frail, weak, dying bodies will be replaced with perfect, eternal bodies like that of Jesus. But our sufferings are not worthy to be compared to Glory.

2 Corinthians 4:17,18 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal: but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Thank God, that while there is suffering here, there is Glory there.

If You Know Him As I Do

Though I may not comprehend all that I have in Christ and all that awaits me in Heaven, I can rejoice in my relationship with Him.

I'm amazed that when I stood condemned--hopelessly in sin--that Christ came to redeem me from the penalty of sin.

Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace:

If you know my Lord as I do, you know His compassion for the lost, His matchless love and mercy and grace. Oh my; where would we be without grace?

You would know His light and His peace. That's why Christ came to earth, to bring light to the darkness and guide us to peace.

Luke 1:78,79  Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. 

Facing Our Giant

When we are in the will of God, we have nothing to fear from the world, the devil or the giant we face.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

The Disciples never knew that Jesus could walk on water until they faced the storm. Mary and Martha didn't know that Jesus could raise the dead until Lazarus died, You and I will never know what God can do in our lives until we trust Him as we face our giant.

Our giant may be large and scary and more powerful than us, but he can be defeated by the awesome power of Almighty God! When we learn to trust the Creator of all things, we are guaranteed victory over our giant.

Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. 

At The End Of The Way

King David's life ended with rejoicing. He went out with a bang, praising The Lord (1 Chron. 28-29).

A couple of songs on the CD in my file at the mortuary are toe tappers. I want people to rejoice at my funeral because I know where I'm going and it's a better place. 

2 Timothy 1:12 . . . . For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

I pray The Lord will help me to reach the end of the way rejoicing in His blessings, thankful for His grace, and leaning on Him. I want to finish like Paul.

2 Timothy 4:6-8  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

Overwhelming Circumstances

There is no shame in being overwhelmed by your circumstances--when a loved one is taken by death, when disease rears its ugly head, when your family is ripped apart or when your heart is broken.

Praise The Lord, Jesus understands our times of weeping and brokenness. He had such a time of His own (Luke 22:44).

Some of God's servants went through times of deep emotional distress.

• DAVID--When his beloved Absalom was killed (2 Sam. 18:33)
• JOB-- When he lost his children, possessions, and his health (Job 3:3,11)
• ELIJAH--When revival didn't fall after the experience on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 19).
• MOSES--When he was overwhelmed with all that he had to do (Num. 11:11-15).

The Lord can handle depression or anything you have to tell Him. He'll stand by you and comfort you.  

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.