No Other Choice But Praise

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Today's Passage: Habakkuk 3: 17-19
Memory Verses: Habakkuk 3: 18-19

No matter what denomination we profess to be a part of in Christianity, we're taught for the most part that praise is what we must do whether everything is going well with us or not. But you've got to have a special relationship with God (totally devoted, really)to still allow every fibre of your being to be in agreement with giving your God praise when you have a physical excuse not to do so. Let me explain.

In a hospital room at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL lies a lady who is fighting for her very life. Three weeks ago, she was life-flighted to that hospital from church service, where she had been doing what she does every Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday: praising her God. When her family arrived at the hospital, they were told that she had had a stroke. For the last few weeks, she has been heavily sedated in between several surgeries, and still has not regained her speech. The doctors are saying that she has a tremendous amount of rehab and physical therapy ahead of her.

But what my courageous sister DOES respond to is prayer, the name of Jesus, and genuine praise. Without hesitation, when anyone who enters the room begins to pray, sing, or speak the Word of LIFE over her, you can see her hands begin to creep upward, although hindered by the tubes. Pretty soon, her hands have formed the posture of praise, and you just KNOW: this lady is in the very throneroom of the Father.

Saints, if there were ever a time to have an excuse not to praise God, that would be it. At what point does God understand we just don't have the strength to show our adoration? Someone who might not know Him that well may think Him cruel for expecting us to give our all even after we've nothing left to give. What kind of God would allow you to be knocked down and almost out, then require praise?

Praise is the thing our Creator placed within us that we can use which instantaneously transports us from the middle of our circumstances into His presence. He knows that, at the moments when our flesh would have us to remain depressed and focused on what it looks, sounds, and feels like, we NEED to praise Him so we can gain the strength to get His will to manifest from the spirit realm into the natural on our behalf. Don't you know that, although my sister cannot say a word that we can hear, her uplifted hands are a physical sign that her spirit is crying out, "Lord, I'm still here! I know You have a plan, and I trust You to see me through this!" And to that, I'm more than confident that God heard and is responding with healing. May those of us who have the use of our faculties take advantage of the strength God has given us to praise Him without reservation IN SEASON, so that when we do walk through the seasons of pain or great testing, every part of us will have no other choice but to praise.

Prayer: Father, thank You for reminding me that there is NO season I could ever go through where I wouldn't be able to find some way to praise You. You are my peace in the storm, my joy in sorrow, and my only hope in a dark place. May everything within me give You praise NO MATTER WHERE I may find myself. As long as I have breath, I WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU PRAISE. In Jesus' Name, Amen.