Just Keep on Blessing and Praising

I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD."                                                                Psalm 34:1-2.  NKJV

David wrote this passage just after he had feigned a mental disorder  in order to flee for his life from Abimelech. What a terrible place he must have been in to do this. However, his message is, whatever, keep on praising God because He will never let you down. Basically he was saying that we need to encourage ourselves in the Lord because as we speak His Word we hear the words as they come back to us, reminding us how good God is. Secondly, it causes the enemy so much fear as he realises that his intimidation is not working.

Let us look at this Psalm in more detail. 
SOUL (v2)
The soul is made up of our Mind, Will and Emotions. So firstly:
MIND 
This consists of our thought life. What we think about determines what we do. The mind can encourage us or lead us into despair. It controls not only what we think but what we perceive, how we react and what we remember. Some thoughts are good, some not so good. Therefore, we have to determine which way we are going to go.
WILL
James 2:17 says 'Thus also, faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.' We can stand there all day believing about something but until we step over the line into the realm of action, it won't happen at all. Our will consists of action - we need to step into the situation that we are confessing for it to work.
EMOTIONS
This is our passion, our desire and our yearning to please God and to fulfil all that He wishes us to do. It is the driving force within us, that part that keeps us going even when we feel like throwing the towel in. 

Lets note a few words that come from our text:

ALL (v1)
'I will bless the LORD at ALL times.  All means here- forever; wherever, always, everything. I will never stop blessing Him. It is a forever thing.
BOAST (v2)
'My soul shall make its BOAST in the LORD.' This is where we witness for Jesus - what He has done for us. It's our testimony - how proud and blessed we are to have Him in our lives. It's where we tell people about Jesus and when we are over the moon about what He has done for us - how we brag about Him.
CONTINUALLY v1
'His praise shall continually be in my mouth.' This is non-stop, a no matter what, I won't stop talking about what He has done for me. It is repeatedly praising and shouting for joy about Him.

James wrote 'My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.'  James 1:2-3.
Why did he write such a verse? It seems an odd thing to advise when you're going through a rough time. But he had a point to make. He was saying, 'Jesus is still on the Throne. He won't let you down no matter what is happening. Don't worry.' He is like a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24. And he wrote to encourage us to count it all joy because joy is our strength. Nehemiah 8:10.

You may be in the deepest of holes at this moment. Things may have gone terribly wrong and you may feel lost and at rock bottom. But as you bless and praise Your Father, He will give you the strength to get through each and every situation. 

Try blessing and praising Him right now.

Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@hotmail.com