Praise part 4
Praise doesn't come first. You don't praise your way into things. That's backwards. You can't praise something that hasn't happened yet. You can't make something happen by giving praise. If my kid does something awesome, that's when I can praise him. And, listen, don't get me wrong. I can encourage my kid SO THAT he does something awesome. But that's different. And God doesn't need our encouragement. He doesn't need us to tell Him how wonderful He is in order for Him to be wonderful. Look at Hebrews 13:15, "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." The praise--that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks. "How great is our God?" Answer: He's great. Because He's shown us His greatness. He has lavished His love on us. Given us everything we need. Blessed us with all Spiritual blessings. Given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has literally given us Himself. Every bit of Himself. He gave us His only begotten Son. And then His only begotten Son, Jesus, gave us His. Jesus gave His life FOR us, and He gave His life TO us. So that we could have it. So that we could enjoy it. So that we could experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Love as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. And that's the best thing about all of this: God has given us every reason to praise Him. We just need to shift from an attitude of trying to get, get, get into an attitude of gratitude. Count your blessings, right? Be happy with what you have instead of being upset about what you don't have. If your focus is always on what you don't have--or what you THINK you don't have--then you're robbing yourself of what you DO have. And oftentimes what you think you don't have IS what you actually do have. Like the Wizard of Oz, right? The journey isn't GETTING something, the journey is finding out that you already have what you need. You're looking for a heart, but you find out that you've had one all along. You find it out by USING it. By guarding and keeping your heart... by keeping it open. Keeping it open to love. Letting God's love fill you up to overflowing and then praising Him--giving Him thanks--for it. Stop trying to get, and be thankful for what you've got. That's as simply as I can put it. Receiving, yes. But receiving and releasing. Letting what's inside come out. Filling yourself to overflowing with what God has filled you with. And then that attitude of praise just feeds that love so that it grows and grows. What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. What you feed is what will grow. If you focus on what's really important--what you have, not what you want--then you can enjoy what you have. If you're always chasing the carrot but only ever getting the stick, that's so frustrating. So hard. But if you stay in your lane and let God take care of you, that's when His love inside you can flow out of you. That's when you can enjoy what you have instead of ignoring what you have in pursuit of what you think you want, or need. It's not begging God for stuff. That's not praise. It's thanking God for who He is and what He's done... and letting the love--the God--in you come out!