TITLE: Boldness and Strength By Durelle Rutledge 09/16/06 |
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
SEND ARTICLE TO A FRIEND |
Read: Psalm 138:1-3
I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise into thee. I will worship toward the holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. In the day when I cried Thou answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul.
Focus: Ps. 138:3
On the day I called, You answered me. You made me bold with strength in my soul.
Notice what the writer says before he speaks about vs. 3. “I will praise thee with my whole heart”. Praise provokes God to action. It moves Him to respond to our cries – our prayers. It motivates Him to heal, deliver and uplift. When we praise Him in the midst of our storms, in the midst of our trials, in the midst of our tests; this lets Him know that we are putting Him first – irregardless of what’s going on in our lives, of whatever we may be going through, He is first! And He will respond accordingly.
Think of it this way; our praise is like making a phone call to God. When we “praise”, our praise pushes the “talk” button and dials His number. Then God answers. And responds to our requests, supplications and heart’s desires like a 911 call! He moves into immediate action on our behalf!
This leads to vs. 3. On the day we cry out to God, not just in prayer but more so in praise – God will answer! But we need to realize that His answers are not always what we expect them to be. His answer may be to give us boldness and courage and strength to “stand” during our storms, trials and tests; until He brings about the “answer” we can “see”. This is even more reason to praise Him! Hallelujah! Glory to God! He loves us so much, He gives us the ability to “stand” and “withstand” our troubles, problems and crises. This not just for our benefit but also for those who are watching us “go through”. When others see us “stand in the midst of our storms”, then they believe they can too!
“You made me bold with strength in my soul”. “Made”, it is not that God forces us to be bold and have His strength. It is that He “creates” this boldness in us. He is the Great Creator and creates boldness in our hearts, minds and souls, that produces a godly strength; for us to patiently endure all that we may “have” to go through.
Some trials, tests, crises, etc., are not meant to be prayed away. We have to go through some things. And as we go through these things, God blesses us to learn and to grow. And with growth comes elevation and exaltation in Christ!
So let’s keep praising Him, not just for Him to “move” for us but rather because He is worthy of our praise!
Ps. 150:6
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
Ps. 34:1
I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
He is worthy of all praise, all the time! So praise, praise, praise and then praise some more! Amen and God bless!
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.