Daily Devotional for Sunday March 25, 2007

Take Time to Give God Praise for what He has Done for You

(Hebrews 13:15, Psalms 35:28, Acts 2:47)

Taking time to give God the praise for what He has done for you. Every > day > in the Daily Devotional I deal with the real, day-to-day issues of life we > all have to face during our journey through life. I deal with sin, > challenging you to live a life pleasing and acceptable to God. I talk to > you about the trials and tribulations that come to all of us during our > lives. Today, I want to put to the side the problems, the situations, the > circumstances that challenge you and talk about something none of us do > enough of...giving God the praise for what He does for us! > > Listen, it is very easy, even natural to get so focused and wrapped up in > what is wrong in our life that we forget to even acknowledge all that is > right in our life. We often find ourselves day after day fighting life's > battles, dealing with the problems of our life that we don't take enough > time to think about all of the good things in our life. It is God's > grace, > His unmerited favor, His mercy, and His love that sees us through the > storms > of life. Because of that grace, and mercy, and love we don't have to be > defeated by life's problems but can still praise God despite life's > problems! > > Man has never really changed since the Garden. We are still the same. I > think about the 10 lepers who came to Jesus asking to be healed. After > doing exactly what Jesus told them to do and receiving their healing, only > ONE of the ten came back to say thank you! We quickly condemn the 9, but > I > submit to you today that you, me, we are all like those 9 from time to > time. > We take God's blessings in our life for granted and don't even have the > common decency, the manners to say "thank you." > > If you reflect back on your time of prayer each day, how much time is > spent > ASKING God and how much time is spent PRAISING God? We pray, "God I need, > I > need, I need, I need." That is fine because God tells us to ask for the > desires of our heart, to share our needs with Him. But too often we look > at > God like a cosmic concierge who is simply there to meet our every need and > jump when we speak. We can actually get to a place where we order God > around like he was a hired servant. Ready for this? When God doesn't > meet > our needs exactly when we ask Him to in the exact way we want them > met...we > get mad at God!!! > > I know I am going to catch some wrath from the ladies today for this one, > but here is a good analogy. Men, think back with me on a Saturday when > your > wife drops you a neatly typed, single spaced "honey-do" list with 16 > items. > Cheerfully, with a smile on your face and with great excitement you accept > the list and begin to work on each one. At the end of the day you have > completed 15 of the 16 things you had to do. Now, as the day is coming to > an end and you report back to your wife on how you did, what happens? > That > is right. The 15 things you did are not even mentioned. The ONE you > didn't > complete is the one you will hear about...all night long! > > We do the same thing with God. God will answer our prayers, meet our > needs, > but when we don't get the exact answer at the exact time we want it, we > have > the audacity to get mad and complain to God. Somewhere along the line we > forget that God is the CREATOR and we are His CREATION. We are here to > serve God, not the other way around. It is God's good pleasure to bless > His > children. Again, it is out of His grace, mercy, and love for us that He > gives us this great access to Him literally 24/7/365. We need to keep in > mind that not only is that access to share our hurts and pains and needs > with God, but to PRAISE HIM as well. > > Let me share a secret with you. I find more answers to my prayers when I > spend my time praising God than when I do asking God. Hear this again, it > is important. I find more answers to my prayers when I spend my time > praising God than when I do asking God. Did you know you can "praise away > your problems?" That's right. You will be shocked that as you spend more > of your time with the Lord praising Him, how many of your problems end up > not being problems any longer. When you are focused on God and who HE is, > giving Him the praise and honor He is due, your problems don't seem as > great > and you have the confidence and knowledge that YOUR GOD CAN DO ANYTHING! > > I love you and care about you so much. I want to challenge you today that > during your daily time in prayer, make sure you don't conclude without > spending some time just praising God and thanking Him for all that He does > for you each and every day. Take the time to focus on all of the > blessings > He bestows upon you each and every day, many blessings that we often take > for granted. God is worthy of our praise and I want to encourage you to > commit time each day to just praising Him for who He is. He is God! He > is > the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He is YOUR Creator! After all, > our purpose in this life is to serve AND GLORIFY HIM with our lives. So > don't miss the opportunity each day to fulfill your purpose by giving God > the praise He is due for all He does for you. > > In closing today, I praise God for YOU! I can't tell you how humbled I am > each day by those in the Liveprayer family who love me, pray for me, and > sacrificially give to support the life-changing work God is doing in > millions of lives worldwide every day here at Liveprayer. It is an honor > and a privilege for me to be able to share in your burdens, in your > struggles, to stand in prayer with you for the needs in your life each > day. > You are so special to me. I will continue to do my very best every day to > share with you the Truth of His Word, the hope and love of Christ, as > together we work to bring that Truth and hope to this lost and dying > world. > May all we do be for the glory of God! May we take time today to PRAISE > HIM! >