Give Thanks To The Lord
Psalm 136 tells us why we are to give thanks to the Lord. I truly believe that this is to be our place of standing when we come before the Lord in prayer, before we do anything else.
Psalm 136:1
O give thanks to the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.
Then the rest of Psalm 136 tells us the many reasons we can thank the Lord. He’s the One Who made the earth. He is the One Who made us. He is the One Who brings us out from the oppression of the enemy, satan. The Lord is the One Who has redeemed us, delivered us from trouble. He Who made the earth and the heavens, sees our lowly estate and brings His mercy on the scene to help us. What an awesome God He is!
God has given us a rich inheritance to enjoy. He not only has given us a rich inheritance; He is our inheritance. Glory to God! Everything He is and has is ours. What a cause to rejoice and give thanks to the Lord. He is good. He is a good God. O Lord, cause us to know Your goodness in the land of the living.
Psalm 145 tells us we must speak of the glory of God’s Kingdom and talk of His power. This is what we are to do in prayer. We are to magnify Him! We are to glorify Him! Unfortunately, many times what we do is magnify our problems and hardships, which is just what the devil wants because he knows that is not praying as God desires. That is focusing on the problem instead of the answer. Oh, I have done this so many times. We all have done it. You see, when we magnify God, we magnify the answer and give God the open pathway to bring the answer. But when we magnify the problem (because we really are hurting) we magnify the one who caused the problem in the first place, the devil himself. Oh, God, help us all! Yes, He is!
Also in Psalm 145 we read that the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He is slow to anger. He abounds in mercy and loving-kindness. He opens His hand and satisfies every living thing with favor or His love and power extended toward us. He preserves all those who love Him. This is only the beginning of the reasons to praise our Lord.
Psalm 146 tells us to praise the Lord while we live. Sing praises to our God while we have our being. Put our trust in Him. Happy are those who trust Him. The Lord reigns forever.
Of course, we end the Psalms with Psalm 150 which exhorts us to praise the Lord everywhere, all the time, with everything we have, our lips, our hands, our instruments, our dance. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
You have breath—-PRAISE THE LORD!