Hello everyone in the blogosphere, Here’s a devotion I wrote after listening to a church service on YouTube Sunday morning. Read to the end to find the link to my new book if this devotion resonates with you.

 

Praise God No Matter What

 

Guiding Bible Verse:

“Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord,” (Psalm 150:6 KJV).

 

When should we praise God? Before, during or after a promise has been fulfilled?

The short answer to this question is in all three stages of the process. Even though this is hard to do sometimes, we should praise God with no reservations as He moves in our lives.

I watched a service at a friend’s church on YouTube this past Sunday morning. The pastor’s message was called “No Reservations.” During this sermon, two things stood out to me. I want to encourage you with these two aspects of Praising God no matter what today. Number one, I encourage you to praise God anyway, meaning no matter what circumstances you face. Number 2, Praise God on the way to a promise being fulfilled. Let me break this down for you.

 

Praise God anyway.

Praise God Anyway simply means to praise God no matter what situation you’re going through or what season you’re in. Whether you’re struggling financially, have health problems, have a child or family member who doesn’t know God etc., I encourage you to Praise God anyway, even when the going gets tough.

I have had several experiences in my current season of life that could cause me to give up on writing, if I let Satan win, but I didn’t let that happen. I’ve had a serious financial struggle by no fault of my own. I was discouraged and disheartened when I got the news that my Medicaid was inactive and Medicare took a big chunk out of my Social Security check this month. I didn’t know how I would make ends meet, but through a dream God told me to trust Him. To make a long story short, I’ve learned through the past few years to praise God no matter what struggles I face.

Another example is my daughter’s salvation and her healthcare issues. Neither of these prayers have been answered yet, but I praise God no matter what the outcome and I praise Him anyway. A dear friend who I consider to be my spiritual advisor prays for blessings that have already come and blessings to come. This is why I encourage you to praise God anyway.

 

Praise God On the Way

Praise God on the way means to praise God through the process of fulfillment of His promise. We can’t pray for something to happen, then sit back and wait for God to make a move. Before God directs our steps, we must take the first tiny step, the next and the next until the assignment is complete. God cannot, nor will he direct a parked car. We must make the first move that God asks us to make for God to move within us.

This is evident in Exodus 14:21–22. God told Moses to hold out his hand over the Red Sea. Some translations say Moses was directed to step into the Red Sea or hold out his staff over the sea. Here’s how the passage reads in the King James Version of the Bible: “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.”

After Moses led the Israelites across the sea, God told him to hold his hand out over the sea again, As Pharaoh and his band of chariots followed. When Moses followed God’s command, God united the walls of water that made up the Red Sea, thus saving the Israelites from captivity. Read the rest of the chapter to see how this story ends.

The point I’m making here is that Moses praised God on the way to freeing the Israelites from their captors. If Moses, under God’s command, could praise God anyway as he led the Israelites out of Egypt, and praise God on the way across the Red Sea, we can praise Him on the way through our struggles.

 

My personal experience

I have a personal experience to illustrate this point in today’s society and culture. When God told me to write a devotional, I have to be honest. I didn’t know what I was doing. However, I wasn’t filled with a spirit of fear, God gave me a spirit of joy and excitement at the prospect of a new project. Did I freak out, You bet your boots I did, but by taking the first tiny step and moving as God directed me, I published my first mini devotional and praised God on the way from writing the first draft to publishing the book on Amazon and everywhere in between.

Remember the financial struggle I told you about? In spite of the unexpected turn my life took God provided the funds through an individual editing client for me to hire an editor for my own book, and I have a friend who formatted the book and designed the Kindle cover for me. If we take each tiny step and move as God directs our steps, we can praise Him on the way, as we receive blessings upon blessings.

 

Creative Challenge

. In a journal or notebook, make a list of the struggles you’re facing in your current season. As you reread this list, ask God to show you what things he has done as you have gone through or are going through each struggle. I suggest focusing on one struggle at a time to prevent overwhelming yourself. Praise Him anyway and on the way to each promise He fulfills in your life.

 

Journal Reflection Prompt

How has this exercise changed your outlook on life as you know it right now? Has this exercise changed your attitude about the struggles you’ve faced? Why or why not? If so, how? Write the answers to these questions in a journal or notebook and continue the conversation with God as you write down your prayers regarding the list of struggles you wrote above.

 

Call to Action

If you like devotions like these, be sure to grab your copy of Praying Through the Seasons: Seven Aspects of Prayer and Communion with God. It’s free on Kindle Unlimited, or if you don’t subscribe to this service, you can purchase it for yourself or gift it to another friend.

Until next time, you can click here to read the previous post where I share my story of how God birthed the idea of writing devotionals in me. Happy reading and may God richly Bless you.

Love and Prayers,

Ann