The Power of Praise: An Act of Faith

It is so incredibly easy to praise God when things are going really well, isn't it?  When I see the hand of God working in my life, when I receive answers to my prayers, when my life is going pleasantly, then "Praise ye the Lord!!!"  But what about those times that things are not going well?  When it doesn't appear the hand of God is anywhere near my life, when I don't receive answers to my prayers, when my life is not going pleasantly, then "Praise ye the Lord!!!!"  does not come pouring off of my lips so easily.  I begin to fret and worry, complain and grumble; begging God to please straighten out the mess, to take it away from me, and to quickly fix it.  I want to be in the middle of the solution, because then I feel something is being done.  However, in the midst of all this,  I am prompted to do something unthinkable, something that goes against all of my feelings.  I am prompted to praise.

I have been sick.  I counted it up the other day.  5 times in 5 months.  It has stopped a lot of my activity and changed my days.  My focus is no longer on getting a list done, but more on getting out of bed, taking a shower, and hopefully getting the basics done.  I have no idea why I have been so sick and it is completely out of the norm for me.  I'm a once a year sick person . . . not 5 times right in a row.  I found myself last week, sick again.  I found myself completely at the end of my strength, slouched in a kitchen chair, crying; so tired of being sick.  And yet, prompted to praise.  God had been so good in teaching me about focusing on the unseen and not on what is seen.  Focusing on Him in the midst of the  trial and praising Him.  Focusing on the promise of what happens to me in this physical world has no affect on my spiritual life.  What a promise! 

The first couple of days, it felt a little easier to tackle this challenge.  However, as the days have gone on, the more negative thoughts have come.  With each thought, though, I would capture it, say no to it, and replace it with praise or with a verse.  Have I reacted to everything perfectly?  Noooooo, I haven't.  I would love to tell you that I have been perfect in this.  But, I have snipped at my husband, been a bit more grumbly, and I have had shortened patience.   I would like to tell you that if you do steps one, two, and three in praising God during the tough times that everything mellows out, the problem gets fixed, and life goes back to normal.  That is the thing, it isn't a magical formula and we can't treat it like one.  Sometimes things still remain unchanged and unseen.  But that is where the rest of it fits in.

A couple of days ago, I was reading in 2 Chronicles and came across the 20th chapter.  I got all fired up reading it.  An army was coming to attack Judah.   Judah sought after God, God answered them, they praised God, and God defeated the enemy.  AMEN!  Hallelujah!  I was so excited about the power that is in our praise to God . . . and yet, I kept feeling like I was missing something. One verse kept bugging me.  The question kept coming back to me, but what about when we can't see the victory taking place?  What about when we still feel like we are struggling?  I have praised, praised, praised, recited verses over and over . . . . but right now I am still sick.  Right now, I still feel at the end of my rope.  And this is what I felt God share with me today:

There is power in praise.  Not because it is magical or super christian of us to do it, but because our praise in the midst of storms, trials, sickness, and before we ever see the victory,  speaks of a strong faith settled way down inside of our Spirits.  2 Chronicles 20 records of a time in King Jehoshaphat's life, in which he was at the end of his rope.  A vast army was coming to attack Judah.  He did not know what to do, so He called out to God.  "Help us!  We are not capable of defeating this enemy.  We do not know what to do, but our eyes are fixed on You!"  (Paraphrase mine)  God responded so beautifully.  He said "Do not be afraid, do not be shattered or broken.  Do not feel like this is the end of your life.  You will not need to fight.  This battle is not yours, it is Mine.  Set yourselves firm, stand still, and watch me save you."  (Paraphrase mine)  All of the kingdom fell down in worship and the Levites stood up and began to praise God.  King Jehoshaphat appointed singers to be on the front lines as they approached the enemy.  The singers sang, "Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever."  As they began to sing, the Lord set ambushes for their enemies.  This is the part that originally got me fired up!  Yeah, as they began to praise, God conquered their enemy!  There is power in our praise!  Yes, I will praise and God will conquer all my issues for me . . . . but then why I am still feeling defeated, frustrated, and weak?  Harumph.

It is two verses down, that has answered my question.  It is the verse that bugged me.  2 Chronicles 20:24 says, "When the men of Judah came to the place that over looks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped."  I had imagined in my mind that Judah was able to watch God defeat their enemy.  Yeah!  The way that we like it, right?  We like to watch God give it to our enemies good.  Come on, be honest.  I can't be the only one that likes to have those moments.  We like to see justice done.  But that is not what happened here.  They didn't get to watch it.  When the men of Judah got to the Desert of Tecoa, the enemy had already been conquered.  They had no idea of the battle God was fighting on their behalf  as they praised God and marched to face their enemy.  The power of their praise came in their faith in God to fight a battle they could not even see.

We often feel we have to do something big to prove and show our faith.  We need to be part of performing a miracle, speaking in tongues, cast out a demon.  It can almost become a bragging point.  "I had enough faith, so the healing happened", or I had enough faith so God gave me the ability to speak in tongues".  These kinds of statements only bring condemnation to those who have not had these experiences.  It is easy to respond sadly and with a bit of pity to those who have not experienced something like that, "well, you must not have had enough faith."  If we are one of those people, it is easy to beat ourselves up for not having enough faith.  But the Bible says, all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed and we can move mountains.  A mustard seed is a teeny, tiny package with the promise of a very large result.  Faith is believing without seeing.  It is  steadfast, set firm, staying still, while allowing God to do His work whether we can see it or not.

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with miracles, signs, and wonders.  They most definitely have their place.  However, we cannot use signs and wonders as a comparison about who has the most faith or who can perform the most miracles.  It is a misuse of them.  The focus is on faith the size of a mustard seed.  A small package, filled with a big promise.

Praising God, especially in the hard times, can seem like such a small thing.  We want to be a part of something "big", in the middle of the action, part of the solution.  Instead, I can see Jesus gently picking us up, moving us to the sidelines, out of view of the battle, saying:  "you don't have to fight.  This battle is mine and I will fight this battle for you.  You stay here, set yourself firm, be still and watch me save you!"

So then, let us praise Him!  Our feet set firm on the Solid Rock, with our voices raised high; praising the One whom we have put all our faith in to fight our battle for us whether we can see it or not!  Praise can seem  like a small act in the midst of turmoil and trouble.  No matter how small an action it seems to us, though, it is filled to the brim with faith in our warrior Jesus Christ, our Alpha, our Omega, our El Shaddai, our Jehovah Jireh!  That is the where the power of praise comes from.  Our faith.

The Heart of the Matter

Recently, I have come across a couple of different passages in the Bible that have caused me to stop and ask a few questions.  There have been two instances, that I have read about, in which God has become angry at a king for actions  he took.  Now normally, if the king or person has done something wrong, I don't question God's anger.  But in these situations, I have read the scripture and I think . . . . "now what was wrong with that?  If I had been in the same situation, I might have done the same thing." 

One of these instances was with King David in 1 Chronicles 21 and the other was with King Asa in 2 Chronicles 16.  Both of these men loved God and followed His commandments.  However, both of them made decisions that angered God.  King David took a census and King Asa made a treaty with another king to help him protect Judah from the King of Israel.  In both of these instances, I had to ask the question, what was so wrong about what they did?

I began to explore this more and talked to a couple of people about it.   The answer I recieved to this question was  both of these men had an issue of the heart which God was dealing with.  God was angry with them because they had both turned to something or someone else for support instead of Him.  The issue was not necessarily the action they chose to take, but who or what they were putting their hope and trust in.

I have asked myself, ALOT, as I have walked through the journey of eating disorders, why? 
*Why have I been given such specific directions on how I should eat? 
*Why have I been made like this? 
*Why don't other Christians have to eat like me?  Why is it ok for others, but not for me. 
*Why do I have to be different!? 
*Isn't the way that I am eating, if I stick to it strictly, being legalistic?

God has given me answers to these questions. 
*I have been given specific directions because I cried out to God for His help.  So, He gave me specific directions on gaining freedom. 
*Who am I to question how I have been made, because I know that I have been fearfully and wonderfully made. 
*Others don't have to be just like me because God is taking me on a journey, which by the way, He does for all of us.  Our journey's are not always the same.  He is a very personal and specific God and knows exactly what we each need to bring us closer and closer to Him.
*I cannot compare myself with others.  God made me to be me, not someone else.  (Profound, I know!) 
*No, it is not legalistic, it is called obedience. 

The heart of the matter in all of these questions; which if I am being extremely honest with myself I only ask because I am throwing a little . . . ok a big. . .  fit about what I have been instructed to do, is this.  God is teaching me about the same issue  He was dealing with in King David's life and King Asa's life.  He wants me to fully rely on Him, fully hope in Him, fully trust in Him to be my provider, sustainer, peace, and my everything.  He does not want me to ever turn to any other person or substance to fix my problems.  He wants me to turn to Him and Him alone.

God was looking for full reliance on Him from King David and from King Asa, and that is what He desires from me as well.   The thing is, no matter how much I turn to food or others to fill the holes in my life  left from painful situations, it cannot satisfy me like God can.  He is and always will be the only one that will fill my every need. He desires me seeking Him, desiring Him, and relying on Him for everything.

The heart of the matter is God is concerned about our heart posture . . . . our heart attitude behind our every action, thought, and word.  When we begin to put our hope and faith in something other then God, and begin to rely on something or someone other then God to fix our problems, then we are committing idolatry.  Wow.  That sounds harsh to me as I write it . . . but it is the truth.

"But take Heart! I have overcome the world" Part 2

When I wrote the last post, I did not realize how very quickly I would be given the opportunity to put into practice what God had spoken to me.  Thursday night I went to bed with an extremely sore throat.  I assumed that it came from the 3 hour chior practice that I had just been at.  I was sure my throat was just raw and it would be better by morning.  I woke up at 3 AM with pain and took Excedrine Migraine, the only pain meds I could find in my groggy, half awake state of mind.  For the rest of the night I tossed and turned.  I got up in the morning feeling somewhat ok.  However, as my day progressed things just got worse and worse.  I took the kids with me to go get groceries (which is not ever a very pleasurable experience with all three of them since none of them want to be at the grocery store).  Somehow, an extremely short grocery list turned into almost a 2 hour expedition in which I had to stop several times to discipline and reprimand my energetic children.  My patience felt thin and my body began to feel even weaker.  On the way home, I began praying for strength to get through my day and decided that I would refuse to give into the temptation to complain, but that I would praise God.  I would trust Him to give me what I needed for today.

By the time we made it home, I had made lunch for the children and put away the groceries, I discovered that I had a 101.8 fever.  My whole body was aching and my throat was killing me.  I texted a couple of friends to be praying for me as I felt at the end of my rope with not feeling well.  I have been sick a lot this year, which is not normal for me.  I finally took a moment to sit down and take some medicine and the tears just started coming as I felt God place on my heart the verse that He had given me earlier in the day.  2 Corinthians 4:16-18.  These trials on earth are momentary compared to eternity with Jesus.  I continued to cry out to Jesus and continued to praise Him, reciting verses that would come to my mind and doing a lot of rebuking towards Satan. 

I was overcome by how personal my Jesus is!  How He speaks so personally to me.  He continued to lay verses and songs on my mind and heart throughout the day.  One of those verses was Isaiah 54:10:

 "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you."

Truly, if God is for me then who can be against me!  No sickness, no death, no angels, no demons, no heights, no depths, nothing can ever seperate me from the love of God!  He is here and He is able to carry us through our deepest trials and our weakest days.  His strength is enough and His power is made perfect in weakness.  He has overcome and is greater then he that is in this world!  Thank you Jesus for overcoming death, sin, and sickness!  Thank you for grace that is sufficient for me!  Thank you for being my everything!

"But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Peace, in my mind, is having no trial, no hardship, and no pain.  It is what I seek after.  I desire to make it through this life peacefully, without too many hiccoughs, and to die in peace.  It is what I pray for; health for my body, a good day, and God's protection over my body, family, and our lives.  My prayers often sound like this:

Dear Heavenly Father, I love you so much and I thank you for this beautiful day.  Help me to have a good day and to get done all the things I have to do.  Help us to get along with each other and for the children to have good attitudes.  Thank you for protecting us and for giving us good health.  In Jesus Name, Amen

It is a good prayer in and of itself and covers all of the things to which I gauge whether a day has been blessed and good.  However, where does a prayer like that leave me when I don't get everything done, Rob and I don't get along, I endure bickering children, and find out that I have some health issues.  It leaves me in a place of doubting God and His ability to protect me.  How can He love me so much and yet allow hardship in my life?  A prayer like this is missing the point.  It is focusing on my physical life and not on my spiritual life. 

I love to read those verses in the Bible that have such awesome promises, such as:

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

and

Romans 8:31 "What, then, shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us who can be against us?"

I love those verses!  However, I have been understanding them through the eyes of the world, physical eyes, not through the eyes of Jesus.  I misinterpret them to say,

"And I know that because God loves me, He will not allow anything bad to happen to my body, my family, and my home."

and

"God is for me, so I should never be hurt or suffering.  No one should ever do anything bad to me."

Oh, how short sighted I have been!  But praise God, that He has the ability to change my perspective to His!

Jesus never promised us a life free of pain, turmoil, sickness, death, grief, insults or hardships.  (John 16:33) 

By the way, when I looked up this verse, I went back a couple of chapters in John and read those too.  It is awesome what leads up to this passage, and probably is the point to all of my ramblings!  In the chapters prior to chapter 16, Jesus is talking to His disciples about His peace and abiding in Him.  And that is the whole point here!  When we abide in Jesus Christ, fixing our eyes on Him, resting in Him, trusting Him, listening to Him, obeying Him, then it does not matter what happens to our physical bodies anymore.  Why?  Because of what comes at the end of John 16:33, "But take heart!  I have overcome the world."

Jesus says that in this life we will have many troubles.  Jesus also promised life and life more abundantly!  (John 10:10)  This is one of those verses again, where I read the Bible through the foggy glasses of world perspective.  I have assumed that abundant life, meant no hardships here.  But that is not what Jesus is talking about at all or what He is promising.  He did not come to give us life to these mortal bodies, but to give our souls eternal life!  It is not our physical bodies that Jesus and Satan have fought over, but our souls.  If we are not abiding in Christ, our minds and hearts steadfast on Him, following His voice, instruction and movement, then yes, the physical pains, trials, and tribulations will overcome our heart and soul causing us to doubt and question the goodness of God.  Possibly even cause us to turn away from God all together.  But, if our minds are stayed on Him, then we will have perfect peace.  (Isaiah 26:3)  Peace that passes all understand.(Philippians 4:7)   Peace that Jesus can only offer.  It is not like the peace that the world offers us.(John 14:27)  It is a peace that causes us to no longer be affected by this physical world.

Our souls and our lives, are held in the palm of Jesus' hand.  If He holds us, then there is no fear of this world or the pain that it can bring.  The pain that comes from living in this fallen world will affect our physical body, but it does not have to affect our spiritual bodies.  Our physical bodies will perish, endure hardship and pain, but what does that matter when I have been given eternal life!  There is nothing in this world then, that can separate me from the love of my Jesus (Romans 8). 

The question that we often face, is if Jesus loves us, how can He allow bad things to happen to us.  There could be many answers to this question.  I know for me,  it is through the tough times, that Jesus is often teaching me. So maybe, that is why bad things happen to us Christians.  However, I think it is beyond that.  The question in itself is focused on our physical life and is a self-centered question.  It is not looking deeply into the heart of what Jesus has done for us.  The truth is, bad things are going to happen because we live in a fallen world.  But that should not be our focus anyway.  Our focus should be on Jesus Christ.  When we focus on Christ, then we can be like the Apostle Paul and say "I have learned to be content no matter what the circumstances" (Philippians 4:12) and he went through some pretty miserable circumstances!  I always thought he was some sort of saint!  He could rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice no matter what!  Paul was just like you and me though.  He felt pain, rejection, sorrow, sickness and dealt with persecution that most of us will never have to deal with.  But he got it.  Paul understood that when our eyes are fixed on Jesus, we can endure anything on this earth and even rejoice through it, because we know the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.  The things of this earth are temporary and the trails and struggles we face are momentary compared to the eternal life we have in Jesus. (2  Corinthians 4:16-18) Praise God!

Therefore, we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The Garden of My Heart

It was a beautiful day today and I decided to stay outside for awhile to clean out some flower beds.  I am by no means a "green thumb", but I thought today I would pretend!  It felt good to rake all of the dead leaves and old growth out of the beds and see promises of new growth beginning to break through the ground.  As I worked myself around the house, I came to a patch of Creeping Phlox that my husband and I had planted  several years ago.  This particular patch has a lot of weeds growing in the middle of it.  I have noticed the weeds in past years and have tried to pull them out.  However, I was always afraid to pull too much because I did not want to disrupt the growth of the Phlox, and let's be totally honest, I never really wanted to put that much effort into it!    So, I would pull a little here and a little there, but never got it all out.  It is a pain to find the root of the weeds in the middle of the Phlox as they tend to intertwine with each other.  So today, since I had nothing better to do, because it was beautiful outside, and because I did not want to spend the day sitting in front of the tv watching a movie-which I new the kids would beg for if we went in, I decided to put forth the effort and try to pull out the weeds.

Like I already mentioned, the weeds were well mixed into the plant. I had to gently lift it to find the weed's roots and untangle them from the plant.  It seemed to me that the patch of Phlox with the most weeds in it was not doing as well, as the weeds steal nutrients and moisture from the soil.  It was at this point that I felt God speak to my heart.

This flower bed is just like my heart.  Planted in my heart are many beautiful things.  However, the fertile soil is also very capable of supporting weedy sin.  It is easy  to overlook the weeds when I first see them.  They are little and hard to pull out.  And, let's be honest, I don't really want to put that much effort into pulling them out.  However, the longer the sin stays, the more intertwined it becomes with the beautiful plants that God is planting there;  hindering their growth.  It becomes more and more of a pain to unravel it all and it takes a lot of time and patience.  It is easy to justify the thoughts, words, and actions that I sometimes use for my own gain.  After all, it is not like I am out committing murder or stealing or something like that.  These are just small things:  unkind words spoken in haste, a judgmental thought, selfish actions, or holding onto unforgiveness.  It is easy to sometimes just leave them in my heart instead of taking time to find the root and pull them out before they grow into something big and ugly.  The questions I have to ask myself are:  am I willing to deal with these seemingly "small"  issues in my life right away?  Am I willing to take the time to pull them out before they hinder my growth and become so intertwined into my heart that they become a part of me?

I don't want that.   I don't want those weeds to hinder me or to become a part of my nature.  I want God's nature!  I desire to keep growing in the direction of the "Son"; soaking in His rays.  I desire to not have sin steal from me the nutrients of His love and the refreshment of His water that never runs dry. 

I know I have mentioned this verse in a previous post, but it came back to me today.  Hebrews 12:1 "..... let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles . . . "  This verse is not meant to condemn us, but to encourage us to rid ourselves of everything  that can so easily and quickly intertwine itself into our hearts and souls; hindering our growth in Christ.

What are we allowing to be planted into the garden of our hearts?  Are we quick to pull out everything and anything that keeps us from pursuing Jesus with no hindrance?  Or do we get lazy sometimes and leave it there to deal with another day?

I am encouraged in this to pull quickly and I encourage you!  Don't wait!  Take the time to deal with and pull out that sin now.  It may take some time and patience and it will most likely hurt.  (Dying to ourselves and dealing with our selfish nature is usually a bit painful.) However, the end product, is an unhindered heart, free of distractions, reaping a beautiful life for Him!

My Eyes Fixed On Jesus

I struggled with addiction for many years. I have spent time in counseling and much more time in searching for the root to the addiction. It has been a journey that God has taken me through to find freedom. Addiction can often feel like a very deep, dark chasm that has no end. However, in all of its ugliness and all of the many details that make up addictive behavior, I am finding that it really is just another distraction from Satan to find something other than God to fill our need. Addiction is striving on our own power to find healing for our pain. It is self- medication and behind every addict is pain.

For me, it was the pain of not feeling accepted for who I was. So, I chose to turn myself into someone I thought was acceptable to everyone else. The poison that I chose was food and over time food became the substance that I turned to for everything. I found solace and safety in food. It became my focus and I felt that I had to have food in order to be ok. It became a substitute for God in my life.

That is what addiction really is about. It is a substitute for the only person that can offer us complete healing, forgiveness, and wholeness. Jesus is the only “substance” that will never leave us wanting more. He is the living water that quenches our thirst and the bread that satisfies our hunger. (John 4:14, John 6:35) Jesus is the answer to addiction. When we begin to focus on Him, fix our eyes on Him, and throw aside every other thing that hinders us, we will find healing from addiction. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

If our vision is consumed with Him, then there is no room for us to focus on anything else and really nothing else matters. In Him we find completeness, fulfillment, everything. Anything that is not of Jesus, is simply a distraction.

I believe that I will always have the tendency to be a binge eater. To be tempted to turn to food for my fix. Why? I believe there are two reasons. The first is because I am human. I am prone to temptation and distraction. Satan desires to pull my attention off of Jesus, whether through addiction or some other means. Secondly, it is through my weakness that Jesus is made strong and through which His grace is sufficient for me. Because of Jesus, though, I am not a slave any longer to those tendencies. When I choose to fill my line of vision with Jesus; the temptation no longer matters. The issues in my life that are causing me distress do not matter, because I choose to focus on Jesus. He is my peace, my strength, and He is all I need.  It reminds me of an song we used to sing in church when I was a little girl:


Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.