Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. Hebrews 13:15 In his farewell chapter to the Hebrews, the writer listed down a few things worth reminding his readers of namely: • Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters • Dont forget to show hospitality to strangers • Remember those being mistreated • Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful • Dont love money; be satisfied with what you have • Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God • Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say • Dont forget to do good and to share with those in need. • Let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God Among all these things, isnt it interesting that he needs to remind the believers to praise God? I understand how we Christians forget some of the things we learned thats why we need to be reminded but it appears we arent as grateful and consistent with giving praise to God as we ought to be. What praising God does, aside from making us more grateful, is it declares to others who our God is. It is a declaration of the one giving praise and to the one hearing it that God is active in this world and that He is active in the lives of individuals. But this act of praise is not a one-time thing, it should be a regular habit for the Christian to praise God for anything and everything that one can think of. Why? Heres three reasons. 1. A praising heart worries less. Not that all of our worries will go away completely but when we are grateful to God for who He is and what He has done, we focus on the good that God is doing more than the situation that we face. 2. A praising heart smiles more. Praising God will do wonders for our outlook in life. When we stop worrying because we are constantly praising God, then smiles are more likely to be seen on our faces than frowns which brings us to our next reason for praising God. 3. A praising heart is a healthy heart. Researchers have observed that smiling helps reduce the bodys stress which, in turn, helps the heart. If this is so, then we can reduce the chances of heart problems when we praise God constantly. Since counting your blessings is good for you, start looking for the good things, even the little ones, that come your way even during stressful moments. Remember to thank God for His goodness which He has shown you in the past and will continue to show you in the future. Give praise to God, not only because you want to, but because He deserves it for who He is.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 10:13:57 +0000