Praising God is a lifestyle, not a one day a week event!
Psalm 145:2 “Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever.”
Today is a tough day; but I am reminded that even days like today are worth praising God. The thing I love about this verse this morning that is says “everyday” I will God, not just when things are moving and shaking but even those days when it seems that everything is falling a part. So today I choose to praise God and remember God’s unfailing presence in my life regardless of the situation or the discouragement of the day. I do this because I know that this God is a God of resurrection and the discouragement of today will not last, but will give way to light and God’s victory in my life.
Lord give me the grace to praise you through the discouragement and trust in your abiding grace to bring light to my dark life. Save me from myself and give me the grace to praise you throughout the day. Thank you for your unfailing presence in my life. Amen!!!
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If I love him so much, and I know he loves me more,why do I battle living some days?
Debra,
Thanks for your comment/question! It is a question that everyone, if we are honest, deals with at different times throughout our lives. Why can life be so bad at times if God loves us and we love God? Why is it so hard to keep going if we love God and God loves us? My short answer is that this is because of the presence of sin in our lives and the world.
I’ll try to unpack that a little bit. At the beginning of Genesis we learn that we (humanityàrepresented in Adam and Eve) choose to resist God and that resistance gave birth to the presence of sin in the world. Since that time we can see the presence of sin all around us. It doesn’t take long to look at our lives or our world to see that there are some things that are pretty screwed up. I believe this brokenness is a result of the presence of sin in our lives and our world. My working definition of sin is “separation from God.” Since we (humanity) rebelled against God and are responsible for bringing sin into the world we also bring about the penalty of sin on our lives, which is simply we are born and destined to be separated from God forever. However, in Jesus Christ, God chose to not leave us abandoned but came to free us from the penalty of sin, so we would no longer be separated from God. Once I have experienced the saving grace of Jesus Christ I am now freed from the penalty of sin and able to live a life seeking to obey and follow God. However, I still live in a world where sin is a reality and because I am human I still suffer from the “disease” of sin, even though I have been freed from its penalty. Hence, the rest of my life is allowing the Holy Spirit to heal me from this disease of sin. This simply means that the more I respond to God’s grace in my life the closer I get to God and the less sin has control over my life. However, because I still live in a world where sin is present I still find myself at times giving in to temptation, doubting my faith, questioning God’s presence, acting selfishly, etc. During these times where the presence of sin is weighing me down I must rely on God’s grace to help me recognize this presence and ask God to take it away and cleanse me a fresh that I may continue to follow God with my heart, mind, and body. Finally, one day, I will leave this world and when I do, I will go to be with God and be delivered from the very presence of sin. The difference between our world and heaven is the presence of sin. Our world has it, heaven doesn’t!
I believe it is by God’s grace that you were able to write that comment and it was a way God is working in your life to remind you of the reality of our world but also to assure you of God’s abiding presence in your life that will never abandon you. Respond to God’s grace and allow the Holy Spirit to continue to heal your life that you may become more like Christ and be His instrument in the world.
Keep the faith; Never loose hope; always love!
Chad