Command Yourself to Praise God
Scripture Reading: Psalm 103: 1–2
“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
Command Yourself to Praise God
“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the people said, Amen and praised the Lord,” 1 Chronicles 16:34–36.
We need to give unto the Lord the glory due His name. We need to bring an offering and come before Him to worship in the beauty of His holiness. Has God been good to you? Are you grateful? We have learned how to prayerfully request new things, and have done it so much that, we are perpetual seekers of something new. But we should take time to acknowledge all He has done in the past so that He can take us higher.
Nobody praises God without getting a response from Him. Nobody praises God and thanks Him without having Him open the file of their lives. What would you think if you were a father who had been blessing your child and one day that child says, Dad, I just came to say thank you for not rejecting me?
There are some children whose fathers deny them the moment their mother becomes pregnant. But if your father accepted you and you can say thank you for loving me, feeding me, sending me to school, and disciplining me, thank you for all you have done, then, as the “Thank you” is being said continuously, your father interprets your actions to mean you are ready for new blessings.
David said, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercies endureth for ever,” 1 Chronicles 16:34. And in Psalm 103:1, David said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” He is saying let my eyes and ears bless God, let my mouth, nose, hands, heart, and mind bless God because He has done great things. David says God is the one who renews our youth like the eagle’s, the one who preserves us and gives us strength to match our days. He is the one who is keeping us alive today. May we endeavor to bless Him. No matter what is happening out there, you and I owe God thanks for where we are.
The blessings of gratitude are innumerable and that is why the heart of man that is deceitful and desperately wicked encourages ingratitude. The devil encourages ingratitude because he wants to block the flow of your blessings. I encourage you to appreciate the need to thank God because if you do not thank Him, He will take note of your heart and this may limit the flow of blessings into your life. We all want to be around nice people, whereas with rude people we just endeavor to avoid them. We would rather relate to them from afar.
People who are afar do not get blessings. It is better to be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to be far from Him and be getting postages. I pray that God will give us all the grace to praise the Lord for He is good and His mercies endure forever. May God help you to become one who is blessed and who will be blessed forever in Jesus’ name. May God give you the grace to bless the Lord with your soul, and then all that is within you will bless His holy Name. May God work out the virtues of gratitude so that when people see you, gratitude flows out, and as it spills out, gratuities will come out. Yes, as gratitude flows out of you, gratuities will come. People will now begin to feel they owe you because you are grateful.
O Father, thank you because you have delivered us from the attitude of the sons of Belial. You have given us back the manners of the Kingdom: spiritual ethics, the things that bring progress, that promote, and make us honourable. Father give us the oil of praise, to say thank you in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Prayer Points:
God is saying to us that we should be grateful. Father, I ask that you empower your people to have that gratitude. You cannot be grateful except you have the power of God in you and you cannot have the power of God in you except you give your life to Jesus. If you have never given your life to Jesus, pray with me now, “Lord Jesus I surrender my heart to you.
Come into my heart. Come in today, come in to stay, and empower me to be grateful, to praise the name of Lord for He is good, and His mercies endure forever, in Jesus’ name.” Amen.
