When Life is Uncertain…PRAISE HIM

A few weeks ago I was in our church’s Sunday morning service, standing with so many others, hearing the music, watching the band lead us.  My heart was heavy when I’d walked in, the result of a rough morning and hard week filled with too much.  I stood there thirsty, longing for a life-giving something to wash over my soul.

Then these words lifted up from the front, a song from Elevation Worship called Give Me Faith…

I need You to soften my heart
To break me apart
I need You to open my eyes
To see that You’re shaping my life

All I am,
I surrender

Give me faith to trust what You say
That You’re good and Your love is great
I’m broken inside, I give You my life

I may be weak
But Your Spirit’s strong in me
My flesh may fail
My God You never will 

I may be weak, but Your Spirit’s strong in me.  My flesh may fail, but my God You never will . . .

The more I sang, the more my heart softened.  As I stood and as I praised, the more I became aware of His presence, His strength and how it mattered that He was still there and how desperately I needed Him.  That He lived, fully alive both in the beauty of that song and the messiness of my morning.

Something inside of me shifted as I praised Him.

In the middle of that loud auditorium, a quietness washed over my heart . . . and something shifted.  The more I praised Him, the more I realized His presence.  My worship, my surrender through praise, ushered in His truth, His strength of joy, that His Spirit was still strong in me, and that He will never fail.

You probably have a similar story, a time when you stood hands high, or bowed with face to the ground, and felt that shift.  That exchange of your burdens for His joy that comes while praising our good God.

JOY CHALLENGE:

We’ve spent all of November looking at this word JOY.  This idea that we can have joy to overflowing sounds so completely unattainable, yet Jesus said it is fully available.  Joy is great in theory, but is it our reality?  How is that even possible, especially in the emotional snow-globe of the holiday season?

We’ve covered two different challenges (if you missed them, here’s the links) –

1. When Life is Hard, STAND, that His deep and abiding joy is only possible when we choose to stand in the truth of His Word.
2. When Life is Unfair, GIVE THANKS, that offering up thanksgiving to God releases the grip of ingratitude and ushers back His joy into our lives.

My last challenge for our November Joy series is this:

When Life is Uncertain . . . PRAISE HIM

Take a moment today, spend some time in the words from Psalm 66.

Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth!
    Sing about the glory of His name!
    Tell the world how glorious He is.
Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds!
    Your enemies cringe before Your mighty power.
Everything on earth will worship You;
    they will sing Your praises,
    shouting Your name in glorious songs.” 

Come and see what our God has done,
    what awesome miracles He performs for people!
He made a dry path through the Red Sea,
    and His people went across on foot.
    There we rejoiced in Him.
For by His great power He rules forever.