Our duty is to glorify God in all that we do. We glorify God when we praise him and worship him. The more we know God, the more we will want to praise God, and in turn, the more our eyes will be opened to who God is and what he wants from us. It's a full circle.
Today I read Psalms 50. The Psalms are a great place to turn to when you are feeling a little down. They tend to be joyful and a great reminder of how wonderful our God is. Chapter 50 is no exception. It ends with a bang though. Verse 23 says, "But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God." Giving thanks is a sacrifice to God. Along the lines of yesterday's posting, God still wants our thanks at all times. When we have nothing to be thankful for, quite blankly, when we have nothing, we can still give God our thanks. Our thanks for who he is and who his son is and what they have done for us. We must give thanks in all situations, for God considers our thanks a sacrifice, a gift unto him.
Simply by contemplating what Jesus has done for us on the cross, we can find ourselves praising God and giving thanks. Notice how praise and thanks go hand in hand. And by following God's direction, by praising him, and thanking him, our eyes can be opened. Our eyes can be opened to WHO God really is.
Last night Zander crawled into bed with us (as he does most nights) and he had a bit of a cough. He has asthma, which means when the coughing gets out of control it's hard for him to breathe, and he needs treatment through a nebulizer. Well, his prescription for the nebulizer makes him excited. It's necessary, but it gives him a bit of a rush so I really try and not give it to him at night or before bedtime. (Of course, sometimes that can't be helped.) So last night, he's lying next to me, coughing, and I can hear his little lungs struggling, so I wrapped my arms around him and held him and snuggled him (cause he was about to get his dreaded air treatment) when I felt the urge to pray for him instead. Remembering yesterday's lesson, before I asked, I thanked. I thanked God for the beautiful little boy he has blessed me with, and I thanked God for helping him to get a good night's sleep. I went on to pray for his breathing last night, and the whole while I was praying for him, I would continuously thank God. It was an experience for me... and wouldn't you know it. Five minutes later, my little boy was sound asleep, breathing normally, and I don't think he had another cough all night long. Praise God!!!! God cleared up my little boy's lungs so he could get the sleep his little body needed. Thinking on it this morning, all I can think is, wow! God cares about the smallest of children! He cares about my son and my daughter. I just imagine Jesus bending over the bed last night and kissing Zander on the forehead, taking the bad breathing away with a kiss.
It's a great morning, and my son is especially sparkly this morning. Praise God for helping me to open my eyes further to who he is.
1 comment:
I just got chills reading about how God rewarded your thankfulness and dependence upon Him to be healer for you precious one! Thank God that He is healer of our physical bodies but more so our spiritual bodies. We are PROMISED life through that healing! Thanking Him, even when we don't get the response we are looking for, can do amazing things for you and others!
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