"It Pays To Praise"

DAY # 40 - 'A Woman of Faith' Devotional
Verse: "So through Jesus let us always offer to God our sacrifice of praise, coming from lips that speak His name." Hebrews 13:15 NCV

'Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord! Let all God's people praise the Lord. Shake off those heavy bands, lift up those holy hands. Let all God's people praise the Lord.' Those words from an old chorus still ring true today. We need to praise God every moment every day, whether it's just a simple 'thank you' or whether you can have time to 'dance & worship' to glorify Him.

God desires our praise, we were created to praise Him and give Him glory due His name. We can't just praise God in our minds, because we all know our minds can lead us astray. We need to speak it out, to scare off the devil and his wiles. The devil thinks he can get us down with symptoms, or sickness, bitterness, anger, gossip, discouragement, etc... but if we always have praise on our lips, we can overcome his evil plans for us, and receive the blessings and walk in the plans that God has for us.

We need to not only praise God for what He has done for us, but for who He is. Do you know who He is? He is the I AM! He is whoever you need right now - the First and the Last; the Alpha & Omega; the Beginning & the End; JEHOVAH--YAHWEH, a reference to God's divine salvation; JEHOVAH-MACCADDESHEM, "The Lord thy sanctifier", JEHOVAH-ROHI, "The Lord my shepherd"; JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH, "The Lord who is present" ; JEHOVAH-RAPHA, "The Lord our healer"; JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU, "The Lord our righteousness"; JEHOVAH-JIREH, "The Lord will provide"; JEHOVAH-NISSI, "The Lord our banner" ; JEHOVAH-SHALOM, "The Lord is peace"; JEHOVAH-SABBAOTH, "The Lord of Hosts" ; JEHOVAH-GMOLAH, "The God of Recompense" ; EL-ELYON, "The most high God ; EL-ROI,  "The strong one who sees"; EL-SHADDAI, "The God of the mountains or God Almighty"; EL-OLAM, "The everlasting God". So if you need salvation, sanctifying, a shepherd, someone who is there for you, a healer, righteousness, a provider, a banner, peace, protecting angels, compensated, and MORE... then ask the one who IS all those and MORE!

Praise the Lord for He is the lifter of your heads! "But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head." ~Psalm 3:3

Think your worship and praise isn't powerful... Check out 2 Chronicles 20 - - read the entire chapter! WOW! Jehoshaphat led God's people into worship (see verse 18), and then made a decision that still baffles us all - but not really because we know our God is powerful and can do anything - - He sent the worshippers our in front of this army, and their worship allowed God to smite their enemies. (verses 20-24) Now, God is the same God today as He was then, so who or what is your 'giant' or your 'enemy'? The devil is our enemy, and when we praise and worship in spirit and in truth, GOD can and will do great and mighty things! "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24 NIV)http://www.smilegodlovesyou.org/names.html



For more on the NAMES OF GOD... Google it! Check these two out...

http://www.characterbuildingforfamilies.com/names.html

BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING!