A Time to Praise - December LMPS

The end of the year is usually a very important time of our lives. Usually people take out time to take stock of what the year has been like – successes, failures, disappointments, achievements, high-points, low-points and so on.

Some people finish on a high and others on not such a high. Sometimes looking back and reflecting on the past is harder for some than others.

Without a doubt, 2012 has been as eventful as one calendar year could be. We have celebrated marriages, engagements, births, graduations, new jobs, new businesses and initiatives.. We have also mourned family members, friends, lost people, had broken relationships and lost jobs.

However at LMPS, we believe that God is calling us to a time of Praise. Praise, praise and praise - Especially in difficult circumstances.

A lot of people may wonder why there’s a lot of emphasis placed on praising God in difficult situations but from experience, it is clear that praise comes easiest when things are going good and when things are all they should be. Praise comes quickly from our lips and we are willing to spend hours on end thanking God for His goodness. However, when the tough times come, it becomes HARD.. You feel like there’s nothing to inspire you, you feel that quite frankly God hasn’t dealt with you fairly and it becomes a struggle to sing praises, to dance, to rejoice..

There’s something called a SACRIFICE of praise.. The kind of praise that you give in the midst of the most difficult of situations, the type that Paul and Silas must have given in Acts 16: 23-26

" After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose." (Acts 16:23-26)

We may have all read that passage of scripture and some of us are so used to it and the impact doesn’t hit us BUT, consider this, they were in prison, about to be killed! The last thing on anyone’s mind will be PRAISING! Pleading, begging, crying… Understandable! But praising?!

Praising in the midst of the storm means you recognise that whatever happens, GOD has got your back. You have total and complete TRUST in GOD!

That touches Him, it moves Him to do more, to open doors and to ‘liberate’ us!

This year, you may not have had all your prayer requests answered or in the way you wanted it to. You may have had your fair share of battles and disappointments. You may be at the point where you feel you’ve lost out big time… It’s a time to praise! God is about to do something new, something wonderful, something special.. Besides, even if He didn’t do anything at all, praise Him because He is good and His mercy endures forever!