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”Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Eph. 5:19-20
Here we have one of the greatest secrets of successful Christian living. We all have times when we feel on top of the world and times when our world comes crashing down around us. Our emotions can drive us to delight or despair, but through it all we need an anchor.
Faith in who our God is will keep us stable regardless of what is happening around. They say that in the eye of a hurricane is a space of perfect calm. Faith can walk in that eye. We see beyond the present and touch the eternal.
That
kind of faith is expressed in praise and thanksgiving regardless of the
circumstances - good or bad. Sometimes we think of praise only when it
is a sacrifice, i.e. when we are in trouble. Certainly we need to
express praise and thanksgiving in our darkest hour showing our faith in
the care of God. But praise and thanksgiving are to be a life-style.
It is easy to forget about God when things are going good. Some dark days are necessary, but sometimes God has to put us through more then we would otherwise need in order to keep us in touch with reality. A stable Christian life is a disciplined life. In other words, we remain constant in relationship with God regardless of what is going on around us. Neither prosperity nor pain will move us from our lifestyle of praise and thanksgiving. As we move into taking our “Canaan” and taking possession of all that God has for us, we must be mature enough to face the giants with praise. When God grants the victory we must be mature enough not to let our heads be turned with success, but to humbly give thanks for all things.
That is not to say there are not times of sorrow and that we always go about with a plastic smile glued to our faces. Life is real. We do go though struggles and have to be realistic enough to get help when we need it. But the undercurrent of it all is a life-style of praise and thanksgiving. Even if sorrow brings us to our knees, we can still lift our eyes to God in faith knowing that somehow He is working all things out.
I know that this is nothing new for you but a stirring up of your holy minds by reminding you of something that is simple...yet so easy to forget.
For more information about Glenn Davis see our About Glenn page and/or his Author's Page.