PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Psalm 145:3–7
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts.
They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They tell of the power of your awesome works—
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
They celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
CONSIDER THIS
Have you ever withheld your praise? Don’t be too quick to answer, but think about it. Have you ever been frustrated or distracted by one thing that you just didn’t feel like offering praise? I’ve witnessed it in others and—I hate to admit it—I’ve been guilty of this offense myself.
When we are distracted by busyness or the circumstances of our days, we can forget to give our praise to God. Maybe your day has been full and you just didn’t get around to thanking God for the new mercies that met you this morning. Or you forgot to thank God for getting you to work safely or thank Him for even providing you with work today. Take a moment to thank the Lord for something.
In his psalm, David sings his praise to God, but as I read it, he is not alone. There is a generation praising God. As I read this psalm, I envision David with a choir representing a whole generation. They sing of God’s glorious splendor and in response, David meditates on His wonderful works. The generational choir sings of God’s power and David responds back with God’s great deeds. It’s this beautiful vision of building off of one another, pointing to God’s goodness, and anticipating what God will continue to do.
There’s a lesson in here for us. Maybe two. First, the power of multigenerational worship is beyond imagination. We need to be combining our voices to not only tell of God’s mighty acts but to be praying together for the Spirit’s outpouring. We need to be surrendering our praise as a cross-generational choir.
Second, let’s not withhold our praise of the generations behind us. I want to be kind as I write this because I’m aware of my own shortcomings, but we cannot become a “get off my lawn” type of person. Do you know what I mean? Instead of waiting for the generations behind us to reach some invisible “you must be this big to participate” line, let’s surrender our praise for where they are and what the Holy Spirit is doing in their lives right now. We might be surprised to find that God is using them to spread the gospel more than us. Our recognition and praise of the generations behind us will build them up and make them stronger.
There is a story the people of the Solomon Islands tell. If they want to cut down a tree that seems too difficult, they yell negative things at it and the tree will die and fall to the ground. This story may seem crazy, but if we exchange people for trees, we can see the truth. Low self-esteem and self-harm are all too common as a result of the negative voices that bombard their hearts. We have an opportunity to call out their best with our gratitude and call out what God is doing. Surrendering our thanks has powerful effects on people.
As we practice giving away our thanksgiving, it does two things: it creates a habit in us and it raises others up. I have a good friend who might be better than anyone I know in this practice. He always says, when you are given a platform, give it away. In other words, when you have a place of position or opportunity, always be willing to step aside and celebrate someone else. Surrender your praise to them. You may not have a platform, but you have praise that can encourage and raise up those around you. Surrendering your praise and commending the work of God in the life of another is commending the Lord Himself.
Let’s not be too busy or distracted to pour out our praise to God or others. Let’s give it away!
THE PRAYER
Lord, forgive us for when we have been too busy to give You praise. Wake us each morning with a word of praise on our lips and help us pour out our praise on others for Your glory. Amen.
THE QUESTIONS
Who can you praise and raise up today? How do you think this will affect their day? In what ways have you allowed distraction and busyness to keep you from thanking God?
For the Awakening,
Susan Kent
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6 Responses
Give God praise, and give people grace.
Staying 💪’n Christ
Epeshians 6:10
Finally, be strong IN the Lord and IN His mighty power.
Very well said, Doc!
I’m totally in agreement that we need to be a people of gratitude towards God and His mighty works. Also that we need to pass on this habit of intentional gratitude to those who will follow in our footsteps. I believe that there’s another group that we should attempt to include in our efforts to glorify our worthy Lord and Savior. I believe that we should make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace with other believers outside our particular tribes. I’m not suggesting that we should compromise our faith by demonstrating outward unity with folks who’ve taken a path away from God’s revealed will, but my experience has shown me that there are a whole lot of fellow believers out there that have a lot more in common with what I know to be true, that I would have never known, had I never taken the time to form a relationship with them. Jesus died so that His people could live together in peace. The current disunity of the Body of Christ is a major stumbling block towards the expansion of the Kingdom of God.
Yes it is Bob, oh yes it is😢
Jesus said more than once, we will be KNOWN as His disciples with our love for each other.
I believe more and more that Satan’s number one tactic is to destroy relationships in any way he can. The Church is made up of people, families. Bring division in families and church families and he has formed stumbling blocks for unbelievers to disregard and turn away from The Church. Sadly, I’ve seen it in my own family
For Christians to be the light that God wants us to be, we must move beyond superficiality and pride and into compassionate, humble heart-to-heart connection with each other and with all who need God’s hope and love.
Thank you for speaking truth and light!