Fuel for the Fire, #10:
Fresh
Springs of Praise
How
happy are those who can live in Your house, always singing Your praises… When
they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing
springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains!
Psalm 84:4,6 NLT
It’s
easy for our faith to become drained in such times… and as our faith goes, so
goes the battle against the enemy of our souls.
What’s
a follower of Jesus to do? How do we see our heart refreshed,
our soul restored, and the vitality of our faith renewed?
If
you have been feeling at all weary, spiritually fatigued, or dry in your faith,
I have a tried and tested word of exhortation for you: Open
up a fresh spring of praise in your life!
But
I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more.
Psalm 71:14 NKJV
Think
back to the time when your trust and joy in Jesus were at their best ~ I bet His
praise was often on your lips, no? The truth is,
praise
is the voice of faith.
Nothing
else is simultaneously so glorifying to God, so refreshing to a weary heart, and
so frustrating to the enemy as a child of God who chooses to
praise
instead of worry, fear, or complain.
If
you Build it, He will come
King
David wrote that the Lord
“inhabits the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3). The
word for “inhabits” in Hebrew (ya-shab) literally means “to remain, to
dwell, to sit down, to abide.” God abides, remains, dwells
within the praises of His children. The message is clear:
nothing so brings the manifest Presence of God to a Believer’s life like
steadfast praise.
Choose
to keep praising Him – regardless of your circumstance – and you’ll experience
His Presence in a fresh and renewed way.
See,
I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a
way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:19
NIV
A
word to the seasoned saints: take a sentimental journey with me back to the
1980’s and early 90’s… God was doing a “new thing” in the area of corporate
worship. Fresh worship songs were everywhere, people were
excited to get to praise Jesus with their brothers and sisters, and lives
were being transformed in the Lord’s manifest presence.
Don’t
you long for that again? Don’t you desire to see a “new
thing” in the American Church? I know I do… I’m tired of so
much church worship being commercialized and lacking anointing, of singing songs
that emulate the latest style in the world, and of the celebrityism we’ve
attached to worship leaders. I want to see a fresh
outpouring of the Lord’s Spirit in the Church, and I know that it
requires fresh praises from His people – like you and me.
As
for me, I’ve turned off the radio news in my car and turned on some of
those old worship CD’s that had such a touch of God on them. I’m
making my commute times a sanctuary of worship, and I'm making praise a
greater priority in my daily life. I’m making room for a fresh spring of
praise in my own life and I believe it’s going to invite a fresh move of God
in my heart, my family, and my church… Will you join me?
“Abba
God, we cry out for the American Church to experience Your presence once again…
Beautify Your house with Your presence, crown the humble with salvation, and
purify Your people to offer up praises that are pleasing to You.
Visit us again, set Your house in order, and make the Church a loving,
living witness to the King of Kings once more. Let the World
see that we resemble our Savior, for we have been sitting at the feet of
Jesus. Reignite the flame of our first love, and grant us
fresh grace to praise You through the battle and worship You in Spirit and
truth. In Jesus’ Name, amen.”
May
you rejoice in His love this week,
Pastor
Matthew Casey
©
Springs of Life Ministries, 2012
www.matthewcasey.org
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