Rejoice and again I say Rejoice!
So lift your hands and praise the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever! (Psalm 106:1)
Hebrews 13:15
15. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Everyone knows, lifting up your hands and thanking God is very easy, when someone has been a blessing to you. Or when you have been praying for a specific need to be met and the breakthrough comes!
You might say something like; Lord you are awesome, “God, I can’t thank You enough for this miracle!”
Here’s another scenario, what about when your trying to get ready, or your trying to get some where? And things just continually go wrong and your delayed to the point, to where you know your going to be late.
You finally get off on your way and then all of a sudden, you come up on someone with a flat tire, or their car has over heated. And you quickly realize, instead of being a few minutes late, you could have been the one stranded along side the road!
Suddenly your attitude changes and you begin to thank the Lord in a different kind of way. Almost kind of a repentant kind of thank you, never the less a state of gratitude that adds to your faith.
For some people, they won’t even realize the moment! However if your walking in relationship with God, when TBS. God will put a hedge of protection around his children, it will be comforting to know He really means it!
Psalms 91:9-11 NKJ
9. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10. No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11. For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
In the times when things don’t always go our way, we need to be thankful for the no’s, God throws in the mix!
Because God knows what’s around the corner, He knows what’s up around the bend. He knows and that’s all we need to know! That’s where the hard part comes in, because human nature feels like we ALWAYS need to know more!
TBS. GOD will open doors no man can shut and close doors no man can open. Sometimes its kind of hard though, to not want to help God be the doorman.
Sometimes we need to thank Him for the no’s! Those moments are faith growing moments! There are times a no doesn’t represent a permanent no! But rather means a not now period!
If God seems to say no, its always in our best interest! Did you ever think in the no moments, God might be miraculously working out the details for a better outcome than you were thinking? Hmm?
You say I guess that might be a possibility? Sure it would! Here’s why, so God can say yes to something bigger and better down the road. God’s blessings always exceed our expectations, every time!
I have never been underwhelmed by God! I HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMED BY GOD TO MANY TIMES TO REMEMBER!
During the times in between, is where the real test of faith and being thankful comes into play. Yes there will be times when you don’t even feel like lifting up your hands to thank and praise God!
There may even be times when your body won’t want to cooperate with you, because of aches and pains. Yet that’s where the diligence of faith and praise is rewarded.
The greatest reward comes during a sacrifice of praise! Because generally, everything else has been spent! Time, energy and means!
Sometimes praise, even sacrificially is all there is, left in the tank!
1 Thess. 5:16-20 NKJ
16. Rejoice always,
17. pray without ceasing,
18. in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19. Do not quench the Spirit.
20. Do not despise prophecies.
21. Test all things; hold fast what is good.
22. Abstain from every form of evil.
Rejoice always? Do you believe God can do all things? Then rejoice and eat cake and celebrate what God can and wants to do in your situation!
But that’s a tough one to do sometimes! God knew it would be difficult at times, because life would bring hard challenges to overcome. So God made provision, because He is the Great Provider!
Rejoice always and pray without ceasing! Impossible? No! Not impossible! Praying without ceasing, is not so hard if you pray in the spirit!
To pray without ceasing on your own would be hard, because you would run out of things in your natural realm of understanding to say. But in the spirit, it would allow Him to not be quenched, to intercede and work on your behalf, nonstop.
As much as you would pray, The Holy Spirit would be working on your behalf, on things coming down the pike that you don‘t even have a clue about!
Helping you live the life God has always had planned for you! Getting you ready for the blessings God already has prepared for you and getting you in the position to receive them.
Its in those times praying in the spirit, you find the peace that passes all understanding! Those are growing moments, when you learn to trust what God has planned for you, is always better than any plans you may have for you!
That’s when you open your mouth and begin to praise God even though you really don’t feel like doing it. That’s when you praise Him and thank Him, that He is your righteousness in spite of everything else that is happening around you.
When you make that sacrifice of praise praise, is when the breakthrough comes! YOUR praise and thanksgiving during such times is more highly prized by GOD! Than during the times when you are feeling joyful because you have already been blessed.
In other words when you’re in the valley, still you know THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR!
And when you choose to thank God for His Favor, Mercy, and unfailing love, no matter what happens in your life! Before long, you will find yourself experiencing and enjoying the blessings, Jesus has been waiting on you to get in position and ready to receive, Praise God!
We are in one of those moments right now, with the way things appear to happening in the world! This is not a time to be fearful, but a time to celebrate the One True Living God!
Not only for what God can do, But for the Amazing Things God Wants To And Is Going To Do!
This moment in time, is a time to celebrate! Because we have been chosen to be witnesses to the same type of miracles we have read about in the Bible our entire lives!
Lift up your heads and hold your hands high in thanksgiving and praise for what you are about to witness! Know if God be for us, swift justice will be served on those who dare stand against, THE ONE TRUE LIVING GOD!
Amen? Amen!
Fellow Contributors,
If you have found this teaching helpful, I invite you to check other resources and books I have authored available at all online bookstores! Or you can follow me on Facebook at my Charlie Roberts Author page.
Available now:
I AM, I CAN, I WILL “all about exploring God’s Grace”
MY SCANDALOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD “all about exposing God’s Grace”
PARKING LOT FAITH “the realization you already have enough faith to move your Mountains”
