Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - Nov. 24, 2010

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Sacrificial Praise

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.—Psalm 63:3-4

A hospital chaplain kept a record of 2,000 patients who were apparently in a dying condition and showed signs of repentance. But he noted that of those who were restored to health, only two showed a marked change in their spiritual lives after their recovery. In other words, when people thought they were dying, they remembered God, but when they recovered, they forgot about Him.

Maybe you have had a crisis recently, and it got your attention. Remember to call upon God. Remember to put your trust in Him. Far too often we ask God for help, but we don't give Him anything in return. What would you think of a person who was always asking for resources and favors, but never took time to thank you?

It is one thing to give thanks when things are going well. But we can also give thanks when things are not going well. Psalm 63, one of my favorite psalms, was written at a time when David was in exile in the wilderness, running from his son, Absalom, who wanted to take over his throne. David was an elderly man at this point. Yet in the midst of his anguish and personal pain, he wrote, "Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name" (verses 3-4).

Praise and worship can sometimes be a sacrifice, because we don't want to do it. That might be because we are depressed or because things aren't going well. But the Bible does not say we are to give thanks to the Lord because we feel good. It says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!" (Psalm 107:1). Sometimes we need a change of perspective.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
Listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com.

Watch Greg Laurie's weekly television broadcast on LightSource.com.

SPECIAL OFFER

Use this gift to keep teaching and proclaiming the gospel.

Presented with fresh and encouraging illustrations each month, our hope is that you will not only learn the names of God contained in the Bible… but that each name's meaning would give you the comfort, the security, and the peace to know that God is with us and is involved in our world.

You can have your own copy of The Names of God 2011 Calendar in appreciation for your gift to Harvest Ministries this month.