Psalm 146:2 (NIV) I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

As human beings we are lifted in our spirits when things are going well, and we get down when things in our lives get difficult or turn sour. For a lot of Christians, this affects their relationship with God. When things are looking up, they have no problem praising the Lord and singing to Him, but when trouble comes, their song is usually gone and they lose their desire or their enthusiasm to worship and praise God. Little do they know that this works against them. It’s not that God punishes them for not praising Him, but that a lack of doing it affects our spirit and our soul. Whether you know it or not, your soul needs to praise the Lord. You were created to have fellowship with Him through worship and praise and when you do, your soul finds its resting place.

Praising the Lord is a powerful weapon against many things. It combats depression and hopelessness and keeps your soul healthy no matter what is going on in your life. So why do so few people know about this weapon? It’s because naturally speaking, when we are down, we don’t feel like being positive about anything. The reality is that we feel more like complaining to God than we do praising Him. So how can you find the will to praise the Lord in hard times? The answer lies in knowing and putting your faith in God’s Word. Throughout scripture, we are commanded to worship and praise our God with all of our heart and soul. Did you ever stop to wonder why we are commanded to do that? It’s because we were created to enjoy being in the presence of God. God’s presence is like a healing balm to our souls and there is an inexpressible joy that you experience when the Lord makes His presence known. King David talked about the awesomeness of dwelling in the house of the Lord to gaze at His beauty. (Psalm 27:4). One of the best ways to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord is to praise Him from your heart. When you do that, you attract His presence to you.

So how do you get to the point in your life where you can praise Him even when everything seems to be going terribly wrong? You do it by making a decision to obey the command to worship and praise Him at all times. If you want to jump start your praise, just think of some of the many times that God has rescued you or how He has protected your life time and time again. When you start out that way, you are overriding your feelings in order to obey and honor God. When that decision is firmly engrained in your heart and mind, you will do as David did in the verse above. You will praise Jesus as long as you live and as you do that, you will see that your life will be blessed and that you will receive the help you need in your trouble. There is victory in worshipping and praising God at all times. Make that powerful decision to praise Him no matter what. You will see the power, the victory and the joy that there is in praising the One who is worthy of it all.

Pastor Joey Vazquez