Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Praise is a Buoyant Force!



"...Don't be sad because the joy you have in the Lord (your praise) is your strength." [Nehemiah 8:10 GWT]

"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name."
[Hebrews 13:15]


Although we are Christians and may fully be aware that we are the Redeemed of the Lord, guaranteeing many blessings, there will be days and times when we are just down or in a strange "funk" that we just cannot seem to lift ourselves out of.  We may have had to drag ourselves out of bed that morning, or the day at work just seems too long, and we are about ready to fold and have a mini break-down.  Perhaps it was that we could not even sleep because anxious thoughts loomed around our heads.


At those times, quite often, the last thing that we feel like doing is singing a song or opening our mouths to offer up praise to God.  If you are like me, you can hardly even open your mouth to voice a prayer that expresses what you're feeling inside; you want to keep your mouth shut and wallow a bit in that depressed feeling that is clouding your day.


BUT at those times, and at that moment is the BEST time to OPEN OUR MOUTHS and offer that sacrifice of praise to God in words of thanks and appreciation or through song.  God created us to offer Him praise and He delights in it (Isaiah 43:7).  But He has also designed things so that when we are concentrating our thoughts on Him, His power, and the blessing He's bestowed on us, and in turn take our focus off of our problems and other self-centered thoughts, are spirits are strengthened and lifted up in the process.


"...Don't be sad because the joy you have in the Lord (your praise) is your strength."
 [Nehemiah 8:10 GWT]


In physics, a buoyant force is a "force that is exerted vertically upward by a fluid (usually water) on a body wholly or partly immersed int it." (http://www.answers.com/topic/buoyant-force#ixzz1HPydVR7R).  Similarly, when we immerse ourselves in praise, thanking God for who He is and what He's done for us, our praise with exert a force that lifts us vertically upward and out of the "funk" that held us down and we could not lift ourselves out of.


The Bible also ensures us that as we praise, God will show up on the scene and we will be in His very presence.  And as we find ourselves in His glorious presence, there we will also find a fullness of joy that will be a definite cure for the negative feelings that were looming over us.


"But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel". [Psalm 22:3]

"...in your presence there is fullness of joy..."  [Psalm 16:11]





Get Your Praise On & Get Lifted Up!


Mad Luv~Teri

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