Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Psalm 147:1-6, “Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him! The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.”
Understand:
There is something inherently good about praising the LORD. The psalmist says that it is “pleasant and fitting.” Pleasant means to “give a sense of happy satisfaction or enjoyment.” Some synonyms are: enjoyable, agreeable, pleasing, satisfying, gratifying, delightful, and lovely.
The word fitting means to “do something that is suitable or appropriate under the circumstances; something that is right and proper”.
So why is praising the LORD so good; why is it proper? Because…it reorients us back to Him. It helps us to live in reality; the reality that there is One who is ultimately in control over all things, including my life…me.
This Great One is the One who has made me; He’s given me certain personality characteristics and designed me with emotions. He is the Almighty, the Infinite One. We’re the finite ones. We only have a limited number of days on this earth and, for the most part, we can’t control them. We had no say when we were born or who we would be born to. When you think about what we do have control over, it is really quite limited.
Yet there is One who is control of all creation…the One who makes provisions for us, the One who creates us for a specific purpose, the One who heals the brokenhearted, the One who counts the number of stars and knows them by name, the One who speaks to us directly through is Word. He is the One who has unlimited power and there is no limit to His understanding. Yes, we are made in His image, but we are limited; we are not all-powerful, we are not all-knowing.
Apply:
If you’re like me, there is something humbling about reflecting on these truths. This is what I mean by living in reality. At the same time I am moved to humility, I am also moved to wonder and amazement! I’m amazed because this all powerful, all knowing, merciful and gracious God knows me and cares for me.
I can rest assured that no matter what type of situation, good or bad, that I may find myself in; He is aware of my situation. I don’t have to live by my emotions; I can live by the truth displayed and made known to me by God Himself!
It’s this truth that is pleasant. That “gives a sense of happy satisfaction or enjoyment” despite the circumstances we may find ourselves in. Rest secure in Christ knowing that we can do all things because He provides all that we need.
Live:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.