Psalms 118:24, “ This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Hey OTP Family!! Just wanted to share some morning encouragement…

Praying God’s blessings be upon you and in you!

Have a great day!

Proverbs 26:16, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”

Philippians 3:13 & 14, “Brethern, I do not count myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Hey OTP Family! God is so very good to us. He is patient, faithful, and long suffering. He does not give up on us even when we want to give up on ourselves. I just wanted to take a moment to encourage to show yourself some grace. You may not always be perfect or do everything just right. You will fail and you will fall down from time to time. But the key is not to lay there and wallow in your failure. We get back up, shake ourselves and get back in line. We repent, ask for forgiveness, ask for strength to move one and continue to do what God has given us to do. Here is the key – we have to accept the forgiveness God freely gives to us.

Our problem – we still remember what we did wrong. We still think about how we failed, how we did not do what God told us to, etc. But when God forgives us, we have to forgive ourselves too. We need to receive that forgiveness with a whole heart and let the past go. Yes, the past – because that is where the failure lives. We cannot take our past failures into the bright future that God has planned for us.

The thing to remember is that no matter what your gift and calling is without repentance (Romans 11:29). Which means God’s gifts and His selection of people for a specific purpose (His calling) are irrevocable; He does not change His mind nor regret them. With that in mind, understand you do not have the option to walk away from this anointing. We need to get it together and get back to work.

But remember to give yourself grace. This race is a marathon and not a sprint. Our focus is to finish the race. You do not have to be the first to the finish line, the goal is to stay in the race and finish strong.

Trust God’s plan for your life and focus on being the vessel for his will to be done.

Prayer is essential. The believer needs to have a consistent prayer life. This is our life line. Most of our failure is precipitated by a lack of prayer. Prayer is our daily (sometimes hourly) conversation with God. This is our opportunity to seek God, to cry out God, to vent our frustrations, admit our weakness, to surrender to his will, and to get direction and guidance. The scripture says it like this – “Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6).

Show yourself some grace on this journey. Trust God and all will be well.

Stay encouraged and have a blessed night.

Psalms 150:6, “Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.”

Psalms 100: 1, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing,”

Nehemiah 8:10, “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Hello OTP Family! Have you ever ran across something that is so monumentally important for your life, but is also such a small thing that it can be easily overlooked? That is how I look at praise. It is, indeed, essential to the life of the believer, but many take the attitude that they can take it or leave it. But the truth of the matter is this – praise is one of the most important weapons in our arsenal to fight against the enemy.

Today I want to talk a little bit about praise. I want to be transparent in our conversation to share why I praise God like I do.

What is Praise?

Praise is to express warm approval or admiration. Biblically, praise is the reverent adoration of God for who He is and for what He has done, expressed through expressions of gratitude, awe, and worship.

There are 3 main reasons why I praise:

1. It is a command of God (see Psalms 150).
2. Psychologically, it relieves stress and opens my ears to hear and receive from God.
3. It confuses the enemy.

Now that we know what praise is, let’s take a deeper look at each reason to praise

The Command of God.

In Psalms 150, we see the great command from God – “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” With this command it is clear that every living being is required to give praise to God. This chapter goes into great detail on where, why, and how praise should be conducted.

Where: in his sanctuary and in his mighty heavens.

Why: for his mighty deeds and for his excellent greatness.

How: with trumpets, lute, and harp. With tambourine and dance. With strings and pipe. With cymbals.

It is clear that music and dance are essential in the praise process! But simply, we are to acknowledge the greatness and goodness of God. To acknowledge that God has been good to us and for that alone he is worthy of the praise.

Another thing to realize is that praise requires your whole being. Your mind, your body. This encompasses our attitude. It is essential to have an attitude (the way you think and feel) and posture (of your heart – humility, reverence, and obedience) of praise. It is not just lip service. It is more than surface level involvement. Praise is something that flows from your heart, from your inner man. It is passionate and expressed with deep meaning.

It involves you pouring out of your heart gratitude and thanksgiving to God. Because of this great passion it flows directly to worship for this who walk in the spirit (John 4:24). But we will save the topic of worship for another time.

Praise is a Stress Reliever.

For me, during those times when I recognize that I am under an attack of the enemy, or if I feel my mind wanting to cross into fear and wander down the ‘what if’ rabbit hole – I can go into praise and let go of the cares of this life. I don’t have to worry about bills being paid, or my job, my children, the state of the world, etc. I can leave them all at God’s feet and just rest in praise. I cannot explain the light feeling I have after a good praise session. It is a feeling of release that is unparalleled.

There are added benefits to praise. As I draw closer to God in praise, he draws nearer to me too. James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” Praise brings us closer to God so that we can better hear his voice. This encourages us as believers to exercise the word of God in our lives. We will find ourselves quoting the scripture and actively applying it to our lives. Adding works to our faith.

When are ears are open to hear what the spirit is saying, we are strengthened to walk in obedience and the favor of God. This positions us to receive from God. When we can better hear from God our ability to trust him increases. Our ability to walk in our call and anointing also increases. God is so awesome – He gave us this awesome gift of praise that brings glory and honor to him. But he also uses this same gift as a door way to receive from Him.

Psalms 22:3, tells us that God inhabits our praises. When we praise Him, we bring his presence in our midst. With an atmosphere of praise we can receive whatever we need from the Lord. Healing, deliverance, salvation, freedom, etc. Whatever we need we will have access to it with an atmosphere of praise.

Our Praise Confuses the Enemy.

The enemy just does not understand why we continue to praise God despite the fact that he attacking us on every side. 2 Chronicles 20:22 reminds us as we begin to sing and praise God, God will set up ambushments against our enemies. Our praise will cause them to attack themselves, so much so that the trap they attempt to set against us will ensnare them instead.

Praise – this joy of the Lord – becomes our strength. Through praise we are strengthened to endure, to resist the enemy of our soul. We can do this with a joyful heart because we recognize that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. We can live on this exchange principle. He takes our weakness and gives us strength. He takes our pain and gives us peace. He takes our sorrow and gives us joy.

When the children of Israel would go into battle, they would always send the praisers out first (see 2 Chronicles 20). We must also learn to lead with praise. Praise is a weapon that God has given us. We just have to be willing to use it – daily. The enemy is always looking for opportunities to attack. We must be just a vigilant to use what God has given us to thwart this plan. Praise, prayer, and thanksgiving – this is a combination that we depend upon to navigate this walk with Christ.

Summary

The matter can be summed up simply by Psalms 100:1 , praise Him, serve Him with gladness, and come before Him with a song of praise on your lips and in your heart. This is both your weapon and strength as a child of God.

Become proficient with this mighty weapon of praise.

Have a blessed night.