Praising Through Our Pain (8.26.13)

Praise heals brokenness in a way that words alone cannot. 

When we praise through our pain, GOD supernaturally empowers us
to do what seems impossible:
to rise above our circumstances. 

Our praise redirects our focus on Him, rather than our rejection, 

and reminds us that GOD always welcomes us into His presence.

Praising GOD is easy when life is full of happiness and success. 

However, when we're dealing with rejection, 

praising GOD can be difficult; it can feel like a sacrifice. 

It's not necessarily easy to offer a heart of thanks 

when we feel like we don't have much to be grateful for. 

 However, the writer of Hebrews advises us to 

"continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to GOD, 

that is, the fruit of lips" - Hebrews 13:15b. 

Just like fruit is sweet and pleasing to our taste, 

praise is sweet and pleasing to the Lord. 

Praising through the pain 

(and if we're honest, sometimes through the self-pity) 

seems to take strength we don't have to give. 

But the author of Hebrews 13:15 tells us that

our ability to praise in hard moments comes through Jesus.

As we tap into His power, 

our sacrifice of praise will generate more strength to praise, 

which will generate more praise.

It is a beautiful cycle! 

Praise lifts our eyes from the rejection 

and sets it on all that we have in Jesus 

which is peace, comfort and acceptance.