From Pity to Praise

Our Praise Makes A Big Impact

Living a life of praise is not only the most enjoyable way to live, but it’s also one of the most powerful ways to change our lives.

Praise shouldn’t be like a caboose that just follows the train and brings up the rear. Praise is more like the engine of a train that makes things happen. Our faith isn’t complete without praise. Colossians 2:7 says, we are to be an “rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.” So, without thanksgiving we can’t abound in faith.

Praise affects us, it affects Satan and it affects God. It touches everything and every part of our lives. Likewise, a lack of praise affects us in a negative way, it turns Satan loose in our lives, and doesn’t bless God.

We have to this area of our lives aligned with the Word of God.

I spent many years trying to help someone to come to place of praise in their life. She has destroyed her life by speaking negatively over her life. Sadly she can’t see the connection between negativity and the problems she has in her life.

Everyone agrees that praise is good, but very few feel any responsibility to praise God when they don’t feel like it. I don’t know anyone who wakes up and plans on being depressed. They would like to be full of joy and praise God, but they don’t feel like they have any control over this. They think praise is just a response that happens and that if everything goes right, they will automatically do it. But this isn’t the case.

Jesus instructed His disciples the night before His crucifixion to not let their hearts be troubled “John 14:1) This wasn’t a suggestion. It was a command. Yet today most people find this command was insensitive and unreasonable. That Jesus wasn’t being understanding or compassionate.

These disciples were about to see Jesus arrested and then flee in fear for their lives. They would see Jesus unjustly condemned, crucified, and buried. And He was telling them not to let their hearts be troubled. Heck, I can’t even watch a movie about Jesus being crucified and buried without crying, and yet Jesus said “Do not be troubled.”

Choose a mindset of praise, even in troubles.

Jesus ended His talk with His disciples that evening with a promise that they would have trouble (John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” What an understatement that is. Yet He said to be of good cheer. How is this even possible? He said it is possible because He had overcome the world.

When Jesus said that He hadn’t even been crucified, much less resurrected and seated at the Father’s right hand. It was because of faith that the disciples were supposed to rejoice. He had promised that He would be resurrected and then reign, and if they were in faith, they would rejoice in that -and so should we.

We live in a negative world, a fallen world where it seems that the ungodly are getting more and more prominent. So much of what we hear and see is just negative, and we have to make a deliberate effort to be positive and counter the culture we live in. Praise is a great tool to help us achieve that. We need to check our praise pulse, to see if we have a spiritual pulse, just as if someone were passed out we would check their pulse to see if they were still breathing. If we don’t live lives that constantly give thanksgiving and praise to God, we are not spiritually healthy. Some people may take offense to that thinking I just don’t know their situation. But Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).

It’s a command, not a suggestion. Paul didn’t say it once he said it twice. He didn’t want anyone thinking he had made a mistake or that there were exceptions to what he said. We are always supposed to be rejoicing in the Lord. It’s a command, not a suggestion to do it if or when we feel like it.

Paul lived what he preached. When he was beaten and thrown into the deepest darkest part of the dungeon, he and Silas broke out in praise at midnight (Acts 16:22-26). They didn’t just do this as spiritual warfare. They weren’t praising God through gritted teeth, just to get out of their problems. Even when the walls of the prison fell, and they were set free, they didn’t leave. They were actually praising God because they loved Him and were worshipping with a pure heart. It affected the other prisoners so that not one of them left either.

Joy is always available but we have to choose it.

We may not always feel joyful, but Galatians 5:22 says, joy is the fruit of the Spirit. If we have the Holy Spirit, we have joy. We may not feel that joy, but we can choose to lift our hands and speak praise to God by faith. Learning to praise God even when everything is going badly can change our hearts, make us much more effective, and cause our faith to abound.

Choose to reject worry and walk in faith.

We have to accept responsibility. We are not just elevated animals responding to stimuli. We are created in the image of God. We can choose to say that we are going to give thanks and rejoice in the Lord. But until we do, we can easily live as victims. We have to get rid of the excuses and just do what the Word of God says. Philippians 4:6 says,

“Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

The Greek Word for “nothing” means nothing. It means there are no exceptions. Yes, we might have problems, but we don’t have to worry about them. We don’t have to be careful about them. We can go to God in prayer with thanksgiving and make our requests known to Him.

Jesus demonstrated the right way to bring our requests to God. He used something called the “sandwich technique,” where we sandwich our requests in between two slices of praise. We start with praise, and we end with praise.

Matthew 6:9-13 tells us how Jesus prayed. He began by pausing God with “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” And He finished by praising God with “For thine is the kingdom, and power, and the glory, for ever.” That’s the way to do it.

Even in the Old Testament, believers were told to “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise, be thankful unto Him, and bless His name” (Psalms, 100:4). But the nation of Israel didn’t always do this. In fact, God said that because they did not serve Him with joyfulness and gladness, for the abundance of all things, He was going to bring judgment on them (Deuteronomy 28:47-57). This shows that God holds us responsible for rejoicing, praising Him, and being thankful for all the good things He’s given us.

Fight Satan and bless God by choosing praise.

We face a lot of tough situations in this life, and the world expects us to fall apart when trouble comes. But God told us to respond a different way -to not let our hearts be troubled. We get to choose (Deuteronomy 30:19). We have the option of following Jesus’s Words and acting on the Word of God. I have experienced what praise has done in my life and what negativity does also. I will take praising God any day of the week, because praising destroys the works of Satan and his minions. 

If we want to stay under God‘s covering of protection we have to stay submitted to his authority. Simply put we don’t get Kingdom privileges without obedience to the King.

I called a friend the other night because I hadn’t heard from her in a couple of days. It turned out she was in the hospital from a fall. Her potassium level got so low that she passed out. My first thought was her obedience to God. I knew she had been doing some things I would consider risky and had let her prayer life slack off. Now am I in know way judging and I do not know if this was her getting out from the covering of God’s covering of protection.

But I do know God acts as a shield, refuge, and fortress, protecting us from fear, Satan’s devices against us, and destruction. God provides. An active covering that provides peace, strength, guidance, and wisdom.

Isaiah 59:2 explicitly states that iniquities build barriers between people and God, causing Him to hide His face from us.

“But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”

To restore the sense of closeness, Scripture encourages us to honestly confess our sins, allowing God’s mercy and grace to restore them to a place of protection and peace.

From my pastor.

Being led by the Holy Spirit is at the heart of every true believer. This is clear in the Bible and in the history of Jesus’s followers. If we let the Holy Spirit lead us, our lives will blossom and flourish. But if we neglect or refuse His leading, our lives will languish. Sadly, many believers today seem to misunderstand the Holy Spirit’s leading, and how it relates to personal transformation. A clear graph on what the Bible teaches about this vital truth will help us all as we seek to grow in grace.

The New Testament shows us how to be led by the Holy Spirit. The phrase “led by the Spirit occurs twice in the New Testament, and both instances are frequently misused today. First in Romans 8:13-14,

“For if you live after the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.”

It’s important to note Paul is talking about Spiritual death here, not physical death.

The immediate context of this verse is our battle with our flesh through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

The second time is in Galatians 5:17-18,

“For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

Again our context is our battle with sin. In both instances the larger concern is to show us how to live joyful, obedient lives the produce the beauty of holiness and glorify God.

It is has been said that following Jesus is impossible, and it is if you don’t have the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit only dwells in those who are born again. We must live by the Holy Spirits guidance and empowerment to lead a joyful, obedient life.

Walking by the Spirit means to live daily by the Holy Spirit‘s guidance and empowerment. And to walk in the flesh is to live a life characterized by sin and selfish behaviors.

Struggle is part of our lifelong battle against the world, the flesh, and Satan, as the Holy Spirit works to make us progressively more like Jesus. It can be easy to grow weary and discouraged with this struggle and even doubt salvation, but it is actually a sign of life.

Walking by the Holy Spirit is a pathway to overcoming the desires of the flesh and living a holy life. It’s a great encouragement to know that we do not have to stay trapped in our sins, in an endless demoralizing cycle of defeat after defeat with no way out.

We must allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit. Our surrender to the Holy Spirit leading is an act of will, a choice we must make. It’s saying yes to the Holy Spirit’s leading and no to the desires of our sinful flesh.

True saving faith in Jesus involves repentance, and turning away from our sin. We play a role in cultivating awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence, and actively obeying His promptings, and relying on His strength.

That being said, sometimes we miss it, I personally have missed His prompting or have made excuses to not obey. All we can do when this happens is ask for forgiveness and try again. Being led by the Holy Spirit requires intentional, daily, and sometimes moment-by-moment surrender to His guidance rather than acting in self-reliance.

C.S. Lewis said, “ if we let him -for we can prevent Him, If we choose -He will make the blest and filthiest of us into a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom, and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright, stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale). His own boundless picture and delight and goodness.”

God knows that we are weak. He knows it far better than we do. And He has made a provision for it. That is precisely why He gave us the Holy Spirit. but there is a difference between the Holy Spirit residing in us and the Holy Spirit reigning in us. The Holy Spirit is ready and willing and eager to reign in us, but His power is blocked until we fully surrender to God. Once we surrender to God and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us, He will begin to change our lives. He will change our lives in ways It will amaze and delight us. The Holy Spirit can actively carry forward the process of transforming us through the renewing of our mind. This process works from the inside out. It is not simply a changing of external behaviors, but the changing of their source.

Solomon was one of the wisest men in the Bible. In Proverbs he talks about the wisdom he learned throughout his life. Proverbs 8:18-19 he says, “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.”

The book of wisdom is a skill for living, rooted in the fear of the Lord and express through righteous choices.

That’s why proverbs just doesn’t tell us what wisdom is, it shows us what wisdom produces: humility instead of pride, restraint instead of impulse, council instead of self trust, and steadiness instead of chaos.

Proverb is a book on wisdom that is curated to show how wisdom is formed, pursued, and lived out according to God‘s design. Whether we are studying scripture personally, was seeking direction for a specific decision, Proverbs reveals how biblical wisdom shapes our hearts, our thinking, and directs the course of our lives.

The book of proverbs present wisdom not as information to be mastered, but as something given by God, cultivated through humility, and confirmed through obedient overtime.

The purpose of Proverbs is to gain wisdom and instruction for understanding words of insight.

Which is not something we inherently possess. It is given and received. Two equally important parts. We must find the right source and then integrate it into our lives. This book is Solomon’s means of dispensing wisdom, in this case, to his sons. Just as the Father cares to provide wisdom to his children.

Proverbs 1:7 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Wisdom being with those who fear of the Lord and requires our hearts be deeply reverent, and humble before for Him.

We can only go in one of two directions -up or down. There is no neutral. We will go one way or another. And we need to decide to built up or tear down. The wise build. Fools destroy the very plank they stand on.

I used to think about what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church about “pray without ceasing was a daunting task. It seemed like a monumental undertaking. How could anyone possibly do something that required such conscious effort and concentration all the time?

I couldn’t fathom how I could manage to pray without ceasing if I had so many other things that were clamoring for time and attention every day. I am good at multitasking, but thought prayer deserved my entire, undivided attention.

It took me a while to learn what praying without ceasing really was, it is having a habitual awareness of God’s presence, and a “normal“ conversation with Him throughout the day, rather than just formal scheduled moments.

It requires a persistent attitude of dependence on God in all circumstances. It’s not about verbalizing prayers every second, but rather cultivating a mindset where our heart is constantly turned toward God, allowing for ongoing conversational communication.

It involves living with the realization that God is present in every situation, making prayer a first response to daily situations rather than a last resort.

This means having a persistent attitude. Not giving up on prayer or losing heart, but remaining in a state of perpetual trust and communication.

Integrating prayer into our daily lives. Such as thanking Himfor new mercies and being ready to ask for guidance.

Turning our concerns into prayer. When we worry, fear, or are frustrated, we immediately turning those thoughts into prayer. And actively giving things to God in every circumstance.

This means instead of long, formal sessions of prayer, using short, frequent, silent, or spoken prayers throughout our day.