Friday, January 30, 2009

Praise Him! Praise Him!


God is good towards us and His gifts are seemingly endless. No matter how dark things seem to be sometimes, there is a silver lining to be found to every cloud. Often the best way to dispel the clouds is to offer praises up to God for His goodness in every situation. As you praise Him, so you will find that your spirit lifts you towards Him as a praise offering. There is nothing better that we can offer than ourselves, and nothing that God wants more than such an offering, confirming that just as He is our God, so we are His people. This is the subject that my friend Joanne Lowe writes of in her Meditation for today. I share it with you, dear reader, in the hope that it blesses your day as you think about it and offer your praises up to our heavenly Father.

THE STORM CLOUDS OF LIFE

“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.”
Psalm 113: 3 (King James Version)

We have a lot of storm clouds in our lives due to the vicious attacks of satan and the world. We have storm clouds of disappointment, discouragement, fear, abuse and depression. There are storm clouds of divorces and broken homes. Then we have teenagers killing other teenagers and even killing their own parents. Our teenagers also taking drugs, drinking alcohol and are involved with gangs. We wonder why our teenagers go astray and sometimes become violent.

I believe with all of my heart that many times it is because of what their parents have allowed them to watch on television. They watch movies where people kill each other and the idea is planted. One of the most frightening and devastating weapons we have is the television. It is full of violence, sex and cursing. However, there are teenagers who are not allowed to watch these things and have been in church all of their lives yet they still go astray.

These things not only break the hearts of their parents, they also break the heart of Jesus. When our children go astray, it puts terror in our hearts and it is a very devastating storm cloud. We now have another storm cloud in our lives because of the lack of money and jobs due to the economy. Yet no matter how many storm clouds we have in our lives, our precious Saviour is more than able to bring us through every one of them victoriously. There is nothing too hard for Jesus. He can do anything!

If ever someone deserved to be praised from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, it is Jesus. He takes our hands and walks with us through all of the pain, the heartaches and the turmoil of our lives. He never leaves us, not even for one minute. At night when we can’t sleep, and the night seems like it will never end and all of our fears and problems return to haunt us, He puts His arms of compassion around us and draws us closer to His loving heart. He whispers softly “I love you” as He gently kisses our tears away.

There is no one like Jesus. No one loves you like Jesus loves you. He loves you more than your spouse loves you and more than your family and friends love you. He not only loves you; He loves you unconditionally. There is nothing you can do that would make Him stop loving you. You will never have a better friend than Jesus. What a Saviour! What a friend, this Jesus of Nazareth!

Are you praising Jesus from the time you get up in the morning until you go to bed at night? Are you praising Him in the bad times as well as in the good times? Do you remember to thank Him when He does something for you? Most important of all, are you telling others about the wonderful things He does for you? If you haven’t been praising Jesus, I urge you to start praising Him from the time you get up until you go to bed at night.

Our precious Saviour is worthy of our praise and adoration. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the great I AM! He is the bright and morning star and the fairest of ten thousand to our souls. Thank You, Jesus, for all that You do for us. I am so glad to know that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that You are Lord. You deserve all of our praise, all of our time and all of our lives!

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