Wanted: People of Praise

Verse for Today: Friday, November 05, 2010

Psalms 48:9 We have thought of Your loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Your temple.

We are all in the same state as that of the writers of this Psalm who were the children of disobedience and rebellion. So it is a miracle that they are now in the temple of the Lord to praise Him and pray to Him. As they come to the temple and enjoy the magnificence of the presence of the Lord, they are wonder struck about the miracle of their entry into the temple. They would have been normally forbidden to enter the temple had it not been because of the loving kindness of the Lord. They are now enabled to sing in the temple as they participate in the worship of the Lord. Their enabling to sing is once again because the Lord has shown kindness to them by removing their disqualifications in becoming insiders to the temple of God. Just like these sons of Korah, we all have so much to be thankful to the Lord for all that He has done for us. We can go to Him with boldness and courage which are given to us as God's children, through rebirth into His family. We now call God our Father in Heaven and submit our worship, adoration, petitions and prayers to Him. We have the right to expect answers from Him, by virtue of His loving kindness. When we are in the presence of the Lord, we are constantly reminded that we are there by His grace, mercy and loving kindness. In His mercy He did not give us hell which we deserved, and in His grace He has enabled us entry into His holy presence in Heaven which we never deserved. This is what gives us boldness to enter into the presence of God with our petitions and prayers. On the other side, our Lord is waiting for us to go to His presence with our needs, desires, priorities, failures and difficulties and present all of it to Him without any reservation. We can speak to Him in childlike simplicity and express our concerns and anguishes to Him with all the freedom that a child can enjoy with his or her human father. But this Father is far greater in patience, love and concern than any human fathers would have because of His greater power to fulfill the desires of His children. As we sit in His presence, we experience the thrill to think that we are fortunate to have such a great and most benevolent Father who knows all about us and is ready and resourceful to meet all our needs and solve all our problems for us.

Dear friend, if there is any reason why your prayers are not answered, it is not because the Father is not able to give you, because of your inadequate asking and your lack of importunity. If you think that your problems are too big and your needs are so vast that no one can meet it, then such a thinking might pull you back from presenting all your needs to God. You also need to ask with great expectations which are your privilege as the child of this great Father. You should ask, with full faith that He is capable and willing to meet all your needs. You need the conviction that He has all the resourcefulness that is required to meet your innermost needs. So you and I can go to Him with importunity, full faith and trust in Him. If you doubt, you have developed a double mind and that will prevent the answers from coming to you. There is no need for you to waver as you ask your Father who is willing and able to give you far more than you ever ask. His schedules are perfect and He gives abundantly. So when you go to His presence, you may go with the conclusion that your needs are being met by Him and so could start praising Him for what He is yet to give you because this is an absolute certainty. You can think about His loving kindness in all that He has done for you and all that you can be absolutely sure to get from Him in the future. So when you are in His presence, don't be tempted to think about your needs, but about the loving kindness of your Lord because He has already given you what you need, and it is on its way to reach you at the right time and place in the right measure. If you know how great a giver this Father is, then you will not have the temptation to grumble in His presence, but to praise Him for all that has happened and is going to take place in your life.

Hebrews 10:23 - Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

Thought for Today
God's presence is a place of praise for our past, present and future, and not a complaint box to throw in all our dissatisfaction.

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