Songs of Praises

Good Friday morning! Ah, the day of the work week that many look forward to has arrived in all its sunny splendour. Okay, maybe 'sunny splendour' is laying it on a bit thick. It is after all still rather chilly outside this morning and it is still winter. Splendour might best be saved for the return of Christ as His glory fills the skies and shines through the clouds. Now I've flattened the day out some, dulled it to a hazy finish, dimmed the bright lights, and poked holes in the party balloon. How the emotions can so easily roll from up to down and back up again. A few words, a different day, and the emotions change more quickly than the weather. This morning I read the phrase 'songs of praises' in an old hymn. Would that we might start every morning with that phrase on our hearts and a song of praise to God on our lips.

Others have proven through experiment or trial and error that a person can change his mood by changing the thoughts. The morning might come too quickly, but our attitude toward it can change through the Word or the song of praise lifted up to God. In our morning devotional, we might read that the angels brought bowls of incense before the Lord with the prayers of the saints rising up to God. Yes, we read that and we think of those little bitty dessert bowls you get at a restaurant. This morning, I want you to think of an angel lifting up a football stadium full of the prayers of the saints to the Lord. Think of a huge bowl, not some picayune thing. God receives the prayers of the saints from a bowl the size of the Rose Bowl, a bowl the size of Crater Lake in Oregon, or maybe you want to think of a bowl as large as the Pacific Ocean. Think also that those big bowls are full of the songs of praises we are sending up to our Lord. Turn it around. Stop thinking small and think big praises and big prayers. We have a powerful... more than that, an almighty Lord in Heaven. Don't be afraid to think big.

Have one unsaved person on your heart this morning? Think of another one and send up the same prayer to the Lord. Know of one person in need of healing? Pray for all of them! Does the state of your nation bother you? List every wrong thing you can think of and pray for your entire nation this morning. Think of something big and make intercession for an organization, a company, or anything that is much too large for you to pray for, then pray for it anyway. Considering a gift to a church or charity, bring it before God and double the amount. Perhaps doubling the amount will only mean two mites instead of one. No problem, trust God to take those two mites, use them in a big way, and fill your cup of praise to overflowing.

Have a wonderful Friday!
Bucky