Will vs. Want

"I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You. I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul." Psalm 138:1-3

Many times throughout the Psalms , David states how he WILL praise the Lord. Perhaps he was making a purposed statement. There are plenty of times that I know I do not "feel" like or "want" to sing praises. Perhaps I am too tired, perhaps I am too busy, whatever the excuse, I believe God is telling me in this verse that I must make a stand and a statement. I must purpose to praise Him even when I do not feel like it. I believe that the Lord honors these praises even more than when we "want" to sing to Him and praise Him. When we can begin to praise and worship God for who He is, all the time, we ignite something. When we give Him the glory, He in turns blesses us even more!

Think about it this way.... If you are a parent and you give your child a present, you bless them with something they have been wanting or needing, and they don't even bother to say thank you. They toss your gift to the side, or use it as the case may be, but they show no gratitude, do you think you would want to bless them again any time soon?

Now if you bless your child with the thing they have been wanting or needing and they show sincere gratitude and appreciation for this thing, how quickly will you want to bless them again?

We should never praise God just so we can get something more out of Him, don't get me wrong. I am simply stating that through praise and worship, we unlock a realm of blessings. And although His simple everyday blessings that we may even miss throughout the day are enough, He will choose to open the windows of Heaven and pour out His blessings when we show our appreciation.

Of course, we show our gratitude through many ways, praise is just one. Other ways are things like : obedience, generosity and love to others.

Have you taken time today to say thank you? Have you purposed time in your day for praise? If not, now is the perfect time!!!

"My Abba Father, I thank you so much for each blessing that you generously give us each day. From the clothes on my back, to my job, my friends, my family and that traffic light that kept me from getting into that accident. I pray that I might take the time to praise you everyday and to tell others of your grace and love. I thank you Father for your forgiveness and your mercy. I thank you Lord that I may be a blessing to others, through You. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!"