Thoughts of Praise

“The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words.” Psalm 39:3

She gave her heart to Jesus a long time ago, but somewhere in her life her heart became divided between her love for God, her desire to please Him, and her captivity of focusing on the negative. “How did this happen? How have I gotten to this point in my life? It almost seems difficult to find the positive in things; my thoughts always take me to the places of hurt, rejection, and failure. I am quick to see the wrong in everything. Lord deliver me from this sickness that has overtaken me.”  She cried

If this woman only knew she was not alone, if she only knew she was not the only one infected with this horrible disease of negativism.  I too struggle with the same thing daily, many of us struggle with negative thoughts. Our problems, our hurts, our pasts, our failures, our doubts, our fears, rejections, abuse, addictions, loneliness, our desires to be praised by man, our need to be noticed, to be of value, these things have consumed our thoughts placing us into slavery. They have robbed us of our joy, our health, and they have filled our hearts with sorrow and self.

It is time my brethren to break free and turn our hearts and our thoughts to that of Praise. How do we do that, I am glad you asked.

We become determined- “I am determined, O God! I am determined! I will sing and praise you!” Psalm 57:7. We determine today that we WILL praise God, we determine today to no longer focus on the negative but the positive that comes from Jesus Christ.

We awaken our soul-“Praise the Lord, O my soul! With all that is within me, praise his holy name.” Psalm 103:1. Our soul is aroused when we fix our hearts on God, by meditating on His word, works, and His magnificent ways.

We stay reminded-“I will remember the works of the Lord. Yes, I will remember the amazing things you did long ago.” Psalm 77:11

-“Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.” Psalm 103:2-4

We focus on the gift (cross)-“But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:15

-“But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17

We focus on the gift of being children of God, “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1

We treat the disease with Praise-“I will praise you, Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:1

-“With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God I will give glory to your name forever.” Psalm 86:12

-We take every negative thought and turn it into praise; here is an example.This is one of my negative thoughts.

The Negative Thought-He cares more about his job than he does us.

                The Praise-Lord thank you that my husband takes pride in what he does. I know that he loves us Lord. May all his hard work glorify You. Thank You that he has a job and is able to work. Thank You that he has the opportunity to do what he loves and that because of his efforts and his job we have a roof over our head, food to eat and clothes on our backs.

Prayer: Lord we have been held captive too long to negative thinking. Today we are determined to praise You. We want to no longer with hold the Glory that belongs to You. Amen