85 – The Power of Praise
It’s been said before: Smile and the whole world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone. This approach to life is a pretty good piece of advice. But for believers, I believe that there’s a step well beyond, one that brings about even greater results.
This has to do with tapping into the power of praise. For example, I find myself in pretty difficult circumstances right now. At times I still struggle to understand why all this is happening to me. One thing that is central to my way of thinking, as I’ve touched on before, is that verse, “All things work together for good to them that love God.” (Romans 8:28)
That verse is central to praise. Praise by dictionary definition involves “expressing approval”. So as Christians, when we praise God we’re expressing our approval that God is treating us well.
Earlier, I wrote that even if we’re in a difficult situation, we should be able to find something we can be thankful for. Well, along similar lines, even when things aren’t going so well we can praise, and thereby show our approval for what’s happening. Whether we understand it or not at this time, we can seek to accept that it’s part of God’s plan for our lives.
Now most of us are tempted to ask God “Why?” when bad things happen to us. And we do it in a non-praiseful way. This is the opposite of praise; this is basically complaining about our lot in life. And you know, not only is it all too easy to complain about circumstances that are difficult or that hamper our mode of operation but some people continually complain about things, a lot of things. And never think anything about it.
Moral of the story: Just because I am in pain doesn't mean I have to be a pain.
next chapter
This has to do with tapping into the power of praise. For example, I find myself in pretty difficult circumstances right now. At times I still struggle to understand why all this is happening to me. One thing that is central to my way of thinking, as I’ve touched on before, is that verse, “All things work together for good to them that love God.” (Romans 8:28)
That verse is central to praise. Praise by dictionary definition involves “expressing approval”. So as Christians, when we praise God we’re expressing our approval that God is treating us well.
Earlier, I wrote that even if we’re in a difficult situation, we should be able to find something we can be thankful for. Well, along similar lines, even when things aren’t going so well we can praise, and thereby show our approval for what’s happening. Whether we understand it or not at this time, we can seek to accept that it’s part of God’s plan for our lives.
Now most of us are tempted to ask God “Why?” when bad things happen to us. And we do it in a non-praiseful way. This is the opposite of praise; this is basically complaining about our lot in life. And you know, not only is it all too easy to complain about circumstances that are difficult or that hamper our mode of operation but some people continually complain about things, a lot of things. And never think anything about it.
Moral of the story: Just because I am in pain doesn't mean I have to be a pain.
next chapter
<< Home