Isaiah 43: 20The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
Don't miss out on this one, read to the end. ^^This is more important than current events. This is how we transform the landscape around us. This is how we transform our own lives. What is brother d talking about? Praising Him. What's the big deal? The big deal is the misery, and the depression, and the frustration, and the despair the Lord's own people bring on themselves through complaining, through failure to give thanks, and taking too many things for granted.
We already have the enemy, the world and the flesh waging war on us, then we pile onto that with our own actions. The self inflicted wounds have to stop. Instead of complaining, whining and moaning, we must, sometimes even in spite of ourselves, in spite of our feelings we must praise Him. People miss out on this one and this is perhaps one of the biggest topics, the biggest forces for change in our lives because people do not realize how big it really is.
Why do we praise Him? 1. He is Almighty God, all knowing, all powerful and there is no other 'god' like Him, period. There is no need to add anything to number one but we will add on here. 2. Have you ever wondered what you are doing on this earth? What is your purpose in life? What were you supposed to do? Look no further than this, you don't have to guess He is telling you:
21the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
This ^^ is a job. This ^^ is a purpose. And.....this ^^ is a bulldozer. Say what? Here is what so many people miss out on
Psalm 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
He, our God, inhabits the praises of His people. How is that a bulldozer? When the presence and the power of our God shows up, problems, obstacles, worries begin to get bulldozed out of your life as a secondary measure of Him showing up. Another way of looking at this is when darkness seems to be making in-roads in your life, the way to combat it is to have a floodlight show up and drive the darkness back
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Again, I cannot emphasize this enough. We must praise Him, thank Him, worship Him. There is nothing like the presence and the power of Almighty God (our Lord) literally showing up in your situation and the way that happens is you open your mouth and start to praise Him and give Him thanks.
People whine, moan, complain and grumble against the Lord then ask "why doesn't the Lord answer my prayers?"
Numbers 14:29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall--every one of you twenty years old or more
who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.
Recognize here that He is talking to His people, not the heathen, not the atheist. People can whine, moan, complain and grumble their way through their own personal walk with the Lord, but I do not recommend it. What we need is His presence and His power to show up in our daily lives. We do not summon the Lord, but He told us He would show up in our praise, or rather He inhabits our praise. So if we want His presence and power we need to liberally apply praise, worship and thanksgiving. And no, it does not matter how we 'feel' about it. Our 'feelings' are traitors. We don't 'feel like' getting up in the morning, working out, working, praising, praying, reaching out, exerting ourselves in any way for others etc. What happens to those who follow and give in to 'feeling?' Their lives are laid waste. No thanks.
What we are talking about here is the mechanism through which people can transform their lives, through their walk with the Lord, through praise. In the face of problems, weariness, hopelessness, despair, attacks from the enemy, this world and our own flesh we PRAISE HIM ANYWAY. Then we sit back and watch what happens. This by the way is what we were created to do. When we do what we were made to do, good things happen. When we blow off, take for granted and in general do not go what we were created to do, bad things happen (and continue to happen). We all have trials, we all have tribulation in this world the question is not "why did this happen?" The question is "how am I going to respond to it?"
This writer is too weak, too unintelligent and too inconsequential in this world to bring weak weapons to bear on the problems of life. This writer (and I suspect you too) need to bring to bear sledgehammer answers to the problems we face so we can actually move them. The presence and power of our God showing up in our lives through praise, worship and thanksgiving is such a sledgehammer response. Through our praise we bring consuming fire and everlasting burning to our problems:
Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?"
Summary
All of this ^^ was written from a completely selfish point of view. It was written from the point of view of what the Lord's power and presence will do for us when it shows up. What was not written is all the things the Lord has done for us. This writer has been through thin times and thick and I have always through up and down had some kind of food on my table (even if it was saltines and hot sauce), some kind of roof over my head (even if it was the roof of my car) and some kind of clothes on my back. This writer has seen multiple outright miracles performed in his own life and in the lives of others. Our God deserves our praise. My testimony is this: my God has been good to me. I will yet praise Him for all that He has done.
This nobody, your brother asks you to join in declaring the praises of the Lord our God who moves mountains, parts the seas, and meets our every need according to His riches and glory. Do it because it is in your best interest to do it, and do it because He so richly deserves us to do it.
May the grace and peace of our Father in heaven and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you and upon you.
