PRAISE IS SO IMPORTANT TO GOD

Hello to All!

I'm BACK!  I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, but I hope to get back into a normal routine and start blogging again.  We are "snowbirding" in the Hot and Sunny state of Arizona until March, and we have FREE WIFI, so I don't have to worry about Internet usage fees and all that jazz.  No, the motor home isn't ours we are staying in a 28' travel trailer.  Quaint, but home sweet home for the next several months just the same.  Sure beats that old "pop up" trailer we used to have.

Please bear with my pictures until I can figure all of this out.  I haven't been on since they changed all of this, and I'm not quite sure how to adjust the size of pictures now.

I was going through my e-mails and a fellow blogger was blogging about cheering competitions and sportsmanship.  A very thoughtful post I might add.  It got me to thinking on another route of "cheering" though.  My kind of "cheering" is called PRAISE.

I have heard and read MANY times that for a child to grow up healthy emotionally, he must be given praise.  Even as adults we need praise from our employers and our spouses to have a healthy outlook on life.  If this is so, then I hope you will read the following with open hearts and eyes.

Why is it that people can go to all kinds of sports events, music concerts or other types of events and cheer, scream, applaud, and jump up and down, yet when it comes to doing what the Bible says to do according to Psalms and using King David as an example, they go to church on Sunday mornings just to sit quietly in their pew, some even falling asleep.  That seems strange to me.

The Bible tells us that God inhabits our praises, it tells us that we are to enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.  Why then do people sit and show no emotion at all?  I know I may sound strange to some, but I am ecstatic about what God has done for me and where He brought me from.  I was
in a very dark place when I was much younger, and He got me out of that place.  He has saved my life LITERALLY more than once, physically, mentally and spiritually, so I feel the VERY LEAST I can do for Him is show Him praise.
Did you know it is also contagious?  It is.

Right before Thanksgiving, I went to a community church service in my town.  Of course it was a conglomeration of all denominations.  We stood to sing some songs and to pray.  I raised my hands to praise God and a young man who was in front of me glanced back and then did the same.  We were the only two in the whole church to do so.


God came to this earth, went through everything we as a human race through at Him, allowed the devil to try and tempt Him, and Ultimately allowed His fleshly body to die for us just so we have the chance to go to heaven, yet so many of us sit like "bumps on a log" in church.  Are we afraid we will spend what energy we have on Him and not have any for the Sunday Football game on TV, or our kids soccer game  next week?   We should be ashamed of ourselves.

I'm not trying to come off as being judgmental, as I know that a lot of denominations don't do that.  What I am trying to do is to help people in general understand that it tells us in the Bible to do this.  It tells us to lift our voices, it tells us to shout, it tells us to clap our hands it tells us to leap, and dance for the Lord.  It also says to LIFT UP HOLY HANDS.  The word Holy means "set apart for God's use.  When we lift our hands toward God, that is exactly what we are doing.  We are setting them apart for praising Him.

All I know is the more I praise Him and the more demonstrative I am toward Him, the closer I feel to Him.  He tells us not to become complacent in our walk with Him.  What that tells me is when I start feeling "comfortable" in the way I praise Him, I need to step it up a little and step out of my comfort zone.  Show HIM that what others think of me is irrelevant, it is what I am willing to do for Him that counts.

Well, I guess I've spouted off enough for one post.  I hope when you are sitting in church tomorrow, you will think of this post and lift up a hand or two toward God and maybe even shout a hallelujah or Amen once or twice.

Have a wonderfully blessed Day.

May God Bless you all,