The Power of Praise Will Change Your Life

Welcome to the Recovered Christian Podcast. This is Suzanne, and today we're going to talk about praise. There is nothing more life-transforming or powerful than praise Not the praise of ourselves or the praise of others. I'm talking about praising our Father, living a life-centered ungratitude and thankfulness. One of my favorite verses about praise is Psalm 28, 6-7. Praise the Lord, for he has heard my cry of mercy. The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. What a wondrous thing that we worship a Father who hears our cries. Not only does he hear us, but he helps us. One thing I try to practice in my daily life is to reach out to Him when I need help, instead of trying to do it on my own. When I start to feel confused or concerned, I'm making it a habit to stop and talk to God. My prayers are more like conversations. I talk to Him about all kinds of things. I ask Him if I should be worried or concerned about something or if there's something I need to do about a particular situation. Sometimes I just ask Him for advice. Then I stop and quiet myself and listen. There's lots of times that I get a very clear thought as an answer. Sometimes I get a very strong feeling, and sometimes I don't get anything, and that's okay too. I usually figure that if something important needs to be told to me, it will be. I trust that he will tell me what I need to know through the Holy Spirit that abides in all of us who truly believe. Praise, gratitude and thanksgiving are woven throughout the Bible. They're not just actions, they're transformative attitudes that shape our hearts and minds. Praise is like a healing balm for the holes in our hearts, the empty spaces that we fill with all the wrong things. Words of gratitude and songs of praise will fill those holes faster than anything. Life often leaves us bruised, uncertain or empty. Yet when we turn our hearts toward praise, something remarkable happens. It's not about denying the struggles or pain, but acknowledging the presence of God in the midst of it. All the Psalms, especially, have so many verses about praise. Psalm 100, verse 4, says Enter his gates with thanksgiving, go into his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name. There's a connection between gratitude and intimacy with God. When we approach him with a heart of thanksgiving, it opens the door to a deeper relationship, and the Father wants nothing more than a true relationship with us. It's why we're here. Consider Paul's encouragement in 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 16 to 18. Always be joyful, never stop praying, be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Jesus Christ. We are called to be thankful in all circumstances, not just when things are easy or favorable. It's easy to be thankful then. It's far harder, and a real challenge to be thankful when things aren't easy, when life is throwing rocks at us and everything is seemingly falling apart. Those are the times we see the mighty power of praise. And then we have the favorite verse of everyone graduating from high school ever. Philippians 4, verses 6 through 7. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Or Colossians 3, verse 17,. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God, the Father. Or Hebrews 13, verse 15,. Therefore, let us offer, through Jesus, a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. How do you praise? Is it through words or songs, acts of kindness, silent prayers? There's no right or wrong way, but my absolute favorite way to praise is through music. I love going on long walks and listening to praise music, prayer walks that's what I call them. I take in the beauty of the world that the Father gave us and let my heart open wide to take in his love and kindness, and I offer him the joy of my soul. If I start a prayer walk on a day I'm feeling discombobulated or weary, by the time I'm done, I feel so much happier. If you spend 45 minutes praising our sweet Father and letting his goodness wash over you, of course you're gonna feel better. It works for me every time. As we go throughout today, let's try to be grateful and thankful for our lives, the big things and the little things. Let's try not to grumble or complain. Turn off the news, get off social media. I stopped watching the news a few years ago and it has made such a humongous difference in the way that I'd go about life and the things that occupy my mind. It just really has. Open your Bibles or turn on some music and let him fill all the empty, lonely, hurting places inside you. He will do it, but you gotta be open to it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you with hearts full of gratitude. Thank you for being our strength, our shield and our constant companion. Help us cultivate a spirit of praise and thanksgiving even in the midst of challenges. Help us to be grateful for every blessing you bring us, as big or small as it may be. Let our lives reflect the joy found in knowing and trusting you, and let us always have a heart full of praise In Jesus name, amen. Thank you so much for joining me today and remember, praise isn't just a response. It's a way of life that transforms us from the inside out. May you experience the joy and peace that come from a heart filled with gratitude and praise. Hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you next time. Thank you so much for listening. I hope your bite-sized devotion today was very satisfying. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be honored if you'd leave a review or a rating. We are new, so every little bit helps me bring the word to the world. I'd love to get to know you better. At our Facebook group, the Recovered Christian. I'll put a link to it in the show notes. So thanks again for being here and I will see you next time.