Start today! Give God praise for the good and bad in your life!

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I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  --Psalm 34:1 Have you ever wondered why we are commanded to offer praise continually as believers? First, when we praise the Lord, it encourages others. Psalm 34:2 says, “My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.” I think you’d be amazed at how people, Christian and non-Christian alike, respond to something as positive as honest and sincere praise to God when something good or bad happens to you. Second, praising God naturally brings fellowship. Psalm 34:3 says, “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!” There is a closeness… a bond… that is created when you’re praising God together. And last, praising the Lord gives you power for your day-to-day life. Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” I don’t know what you may be facing today, be it a temptation you can’t let go of or a sin you can’t escape. Whatever it is, praise will help bring you out of it! God responds to your honest, genuine praise of Him. So I urge you to make praise a habit, like our Scripture verse for today suggests, no matter what you may be going through. Start today! Give God praise for the good and bad in your life!

When Your “Lion” Barks

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the LORD to war, And will go all of you armed over Jordan before the LORD, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, And the land be subdued before the LORD: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the LORD, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD. But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.”
Numbers 32:20–23

In 2013, a zoo in China—desperate for a new attraction to draw visitors, but unable to afford the purchase of an actual lion—came up with a plan. They purchased a large Tibetan mastiff and had it groomed to look somewhat like a lion. They attempted to pass the dog off as the king of the jungle, and excited visitors lined up to see the new attraction. But guests soon complained to authorities about fraud because they heard the “lion” barking and realized that what they were seeing was not what they had been promised. The zoo was shut down by the government for their deception.
All of our efforts to conceal our sins are doomed to failure. Our “lions” always bark sooner or later. We may “pull the wool” over people’s eyes for a while, but God sees our hearts. And He has ordered our world in such a way that deception will not succeed forever. The human tendency is to try to hide our sins. But God’s remedy for sin is not concealment, but cleansing and change. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

The proper response to sin is not to conceal it, but to confess and forsake it as quickly as we can.