Friday, July 24, 2015

SACRIFICE of PrAiSe


Recently, the phrase "Sacrifice of Praise" stood out to me in a different way. Earlier, I had thought of it as coming before God and praising Him, which is true. What made a difference in the way I thought of it was the word "Sacrifice". The definition of sacrifice can be translated into "surrendering a possession or giving up of something that we desire to hold close".
It's easy to praise God when He answers a prayer, sends us sunshine when we are tired of rain, or heals us from something. Happiness fills our hearts, and we want to praise God. Life feels conquerable.
But we are also to bring God the SACRIFICE of PrAiSe. Which means, praising God even when things don't work out the way we want them too. It means surrendering our will and believing that God is still sovereign no matter what. That He is still good. We often say when our prayers aren't answered the way we want them too, that God didn't answer. But He did. Just not the way we desired. It is in these moments, that we need to come before God and still praise Him. Maybe its on our knees, or with tears running down our face, it doesn't matter how we are, but we need to surrender whatever we are holding close and lay it at Jesus' feet. Sacrificing is giving up of ourselves, and that's why it can be so hard, because we want to hold close the things we love.
For me, bringing God the sacrifice of praise is more than just saying "God, I praise you." It's more than words, its experiencing that sacrifice of praise in my heart. Recently, I was struggling with something and I just wanted to talk to someone, and then I realized that I need to go to God. He knows our hearts, and He knows exactly what we are feeling. Sometimes, we don't want to admit that we are angry or bitter, but God already knows that. So we can confess it to Him, and ask Him to help us through that.
We can know all this, but it comes down to our choices. We can know that we need to let go and praise God anyway, but that will do us no good, if we don't CHOOSE to do it. "Choices can change our lives profoundly. The choice to mend a broken relationship, to say yes to a difficult assignment, to lay aside some important work to play with a child, to visit some forgotten person-these small choices, may affect our lives eternally" (Gloria Gaither) . When we choose to live a life where we praise God no matter what happens in life, it changes perspective. That life is not just about here, but that we have an eternal home to live for and to strive for.
God has a plan for our lives and we need to remember that sometimes things happen for a reason. We might not always know that reason, but the God who created us, can also be trusted with our lives and whatever happens in them.
Sometimes I feel like all I do is mess up, and I wonder if God is going to give up on me. Of course I know, He won't, but it can feel that way. Another quote I love, "Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them... Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight. When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our lives, or in the life of another" (Helen Keller). Sometimes our faults overwhelm us, sometimes we want to ignore them and hope they go away, but if we face them, and take them before our God, He can help us overcome them. We won't always be perfect, we won't always praise God when we should, but we can do our best. We can ask God to help us. It's not through our own strength that we are able to be more, but the strength of Jesus Christ that He enables us with.
Take courage.
Be who God wants you to be.
Take Him that sacrifice of praise.

*More ramblings of Kelsi*