30 Days of Praise- Day 1 Psalm 52:9

I thought it would be appropriate since we are fast approaching Thanksgiving to post daily about the Lord who is worthy to be praised. Lately I've allowed the struggle that I've been enduring for the last few years to consume me and blot out the truth of the true source of light-Jesus Christ. Through recent prayer, fellowship and being bathed in the Word daily, it feels like His light is shining brightly inside me again.

In my Beth Moore Daniel study we've just learned about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in chapter 3 standing alone in their refusal to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, and then surviving the firey furnance they were thrown into as a result. A few things she said went straight to my heart during the video session:

1) There was a fourth person in that fire with the three Jews; many scholars believe it was a Christophany-an appearance of the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. Relate that to our own personal "firey trials" and we are reassured that we do not experience them alone. The God-head-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-are in that fire with us, and we become the "fourth man."

2) There are "faith dividends" for each trial we suffer and overcome, suffer through or that God allows us to suffer indefinitely from. Our faith is built, refined or perfected depending on what kind of trial we suffer. The common denominator is that our Lord is GOOD, His purposes are FOR us, not against us and He loves us enough to let us experience trials so that we draw closer to Him, look like Him and experience Him on a deep personal level.

3) Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego not only survived the fire, not ONE hair on their head was singed, their clothes were intact and God went so far as to keep even the smell of smoke off their clothes. The ONLY THING THAT GOT BURNED IN THAT FIRE WERE THEIR BONDS. That is key. Beth said that maybe what God is doing when we experience hard times is burning away the bondage in our lives. He's not doing it to intentionally hurt us, but to accomplish a purpose in us.

These are just a few of the profound things that God is showing me through this study; it's part of His message to me that He's trying to get across using every medium He possibly can (friends, church, personal devotions, my husband). Even though I've "known" it all my life, it's just now occurring to me that regardless of what we experience or go through here on earth, OUR GOD NEVER CHANGES. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and He is deserving of all our PRAISE. I want to show the Lord that even though I am hurting and not understanding what He's doing in my life, I submit to His will, believe that He will work all things together for my good, that He has plans to prosper me and not to harm me, that He loves me and above all IS WORTHY TO BE PRAISED. I want to "go out" praising His name, regardless of my circumstances. I WILL yet praise Him more and more.

So join me if you'd like. Let's purpose to start each day for the next 30 days with God's praise on our lips. I'll bet it will change our entire lives.

Day 1 Praise:
"I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints." Psalm 52:9