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Weekly Wisdom Winnows
by Lisa Mendenhall
What is your lifestyle like? How do you respond to problems? What do you do when trouble comes? When blessings come? How do you handle everyday life? In the good and in the bad? What is YOUR lifestyle of responding to situations and the conditions of your life?
Praising God and offering up thanksgiving is my lifestyle. I choose to praise God at all times. I praise Him and thank Him in the shower, when I bless my food, when I get dressed, when I clean house, when things are going good, when things are going bad, when I have plenty, when I have none, when I am well, when I am not so well, when I am being blessed by others, when I am being persecuted by others, when I am at work, at home and at play.
Why
? Praise brings God's presence, along with God's supernatural intervention on the situation. No matter the problem if you will praise your way through it- thanking God for the answers, you will be stable and steady under pressure. You will be talking and thinking about how good, great and big God is instead of dwelling on the problem, which will drag you down. Psalm 34:1 says, "I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Praise is an expression of faith! You are declaring that God is bigger than- Bigger than what? Bigger than anything, the devil, the world, people or your flesh can bring your way.
Anybody can praise God and offer up thanksgiving when something good happens or everything is going right. But you need to learn to praise Him and thank Him when things are bad. Why? Why would I want to praise and thank Him when everything is falling down around my ears? Because you know God is bigger than and He has already given you the victory. When you offer up praise and thanksgiving in the heat of the battle you are showing God that you trust Him no matter what and He will show Himself strong in your behalf. He will look over 1000 people to get to one who is stepping out in faith. Faith pleases Him. An environment filled with praise, thanksgiving, and worship stops Satan dead in his tracks! The devil knows better than you do that God inhabits the praises of His people. So when you praise, worship and offer up thanksgiving, God is right there in you, with you , upon you and you can't help but have the victory in that kind of spirit-charged atmosphere.
Would you like to see things "shook up" a little bit? What about burdens lifted, yokes destroyed, hearts healed, bodies mended and chains broken? How would you like your "hard time" turned around in record time? You need to begin to praise God "in spite of" or "regardless of" your circumstances. This is part of the secret to "those who dwell in the secret place of the most high". They have learned to praise and adore God in the hard places. They have learned- He is just a praise away!
When you are down and out, nothing going right and you "feel" unrighteous, unworthy and like a failure. When you are wallowing in self pity and feeling sorry for yourself, when you think you are "through" and there is nothing worth fighting for -This is when you pull yourself up by the boot straps and say, "I will bless God at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. In John 4:23-24He says, those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth for He seeks such to worship Him. God seeks these types to worship Him. It is not a matter of emotions, it is a matter of faith. A matter of the heart. It is a choice we make. It doesn't "just happen". As we make the choice to praise and worship Him, our praise go up and His blessings come down. Praise, thanksgiving and worship actually helps to heal your emotions and lift off the weight of the lies and deceit of the enemy. It will stop the negative flow of your thoughts, attitudes and emotions and turn on the positive faucet of life giving water that not only cleanses you but changes you from Glory to Glory. So are you going to change your lifestyle?
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Read Article »'To separate the chaff from (grain) by means of a current of air. To rid of undesirable parts. To separate or get rid of (an undesirable part); eliminate: winnowing out the errors in logic. ...separate grain from chaff...separate the good from the bad...examine closely in order to separate the good from the bad; sift...' (www.dictionary.com) 'This study gave me direction and focus for my teaching. God had placed a longing in my heart to teach the body of Christ how to separate from carnal thinking and rid themselves of old ways that hinder their Spiritual growth. I desire to see them live victoriously, by the 'higher ways' of God's wisdom.'
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