Praise is What I Do!

Praise is the act of exalting our Lord. Praise can be a noun, but God loves when his children treat it as a verb. Praise is what we do! There is so much power in our praise. Our Father loves when we genuinely praise His holy name. Genuine praise produces blessings and a closer relationship with our Father.

There is one thing about praise that many Christians confuse, and that is when to praise God.


Many Christians praise God only in good circumstances. We only tend to thank God when situations and circumstances are favorable for us. We praise God more when we are happy. We praise God more when we feel well physically and mentally. We praise God more when we have money, friends, and even sometimes other people praising us. However, when situations and circumstances seem to not be working in our favor, this is the opportune time to praise God!


You see, our Father is mysterious. We know not His ways, and our brains are not even capable of operating on His level. God is unpredictable. You never know what He is going to do with and in your life, or the lives of those around you. God is bossed by no one! He does what He wants to do when He wants to do it, and there is no force that can control His decisions and actions. How powerful He is! God will test us to see if we really have the faith that He desires in His children. He will take what we see as a good situation and turn it around. He will take all of our money just to see if we will still praise Him. He will remove loved ones from our lives just to see if we will still praise Him. He will remove our prized possessions just to see if we will still praise Him.


God must take us through a process to prepare us for our purpose, and for the day He will greet us at His pearly gates. He is the potter and we are the clay. He will shape us into what He wants us to be, and frankly, sometimes being pressed and stretched doesn't feel so good. God must know that we live totally and completely for Him and that we totally and completely trust in Him.

Despite the feelings that we have when things go wrong in our lives, we should praise Him simply because we know that He is working all things out in our favor. Many Christians have quoted, "What the devil meant for evil, God meant for good." I'm sure David would be a witness to this. You can find his praise throughout many books of Psalm when he felt endangered because his enemies were seeking to destroy him.


Remember Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. (KJV)

This includes the uncomfortable situations and circumstances that are the molding phases of our spiritual lives. There is absolutely nothing we can do about these tough times on our journey, but praise God that He sustains us to endure the process. Praise God today for your molding and stretching into the saint that He requires you to be! A songwriter once wrote, "No Cross, No Crown"!!!


Lord, I want to thank you right now just for being who You are. I may not always understand everything that appears to be negative in my life, but I know that You are my sustainer and my strength. I know that what looks bad to me, You see differently. You know what I need to endure in order to meet You someday, so Lord I ask that You continue to guide me and be my strength even when times are rough and uncomfortable in my life. Lord I praise You because that is what You created me to do. I want to give glory and honor to Your name even when I feel like I can't see the end to a bad situation or circumstance. Help me to trust You and praise You even when my life doesn't feel like it is worth living. Lord, forgive me for times when I did not trust You and praise You in the midst of troublesome times. Thank You for molding and stretching me as a potter would his clay. I love you Lord, and I want to praise Your name continuously, just because You are the only one worthy of my praise!


Amen.