A Movement to Praise the Lord in this Moment

When was the last time you heard an honest-to-goodness testimony of a life changed by God?  

Have you recently heard a story about God's miraculous power that caused goosebumps to rise upon your arm racing to the back of your neck?

How about witnessing a work of the Lord that forces you to break-down the box you last nailed God into, in a wasted attempt to seal shut your own disappointment with your Heavenly Father?

What about a simple testimony, simply revealing a change of heart in someone else, when  the Word became real, trumping circumstances and deceptions from the Enemy?

Literally.  Take a moment to think about it.  Can you recall at least one testimony describing God's power at work, in the little things, especially?

My hunch is that most of us average, Jesus-loving gals can't think of one.

Why?

Because.

Because our spiritual ears are all plugged up with the noise of this life!  

Because our spiritual eyes are too weary to notice the hand of God working unless it has big screen charisma!  

Because our hearts have been hardened by the wounds of life and sin wrongly stored up, preventing us from responding to the work of God all around us!

The problem of not seeing, hearing, and responding is not new!  Throughout Scripture, there is record of God's people having this problem.  The Israelites refused to listen to Isaiah, and the Jewish people refused Paul.  God then sent is disciple to the Gentiles, using Paul to spread the Gospel.  It wasn't an easy job, but Paul was about God's business, for over two years!

Acts 28
²⁵They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet:
 ²⁶" 'Go to this people and say,
   "You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
      you will be ever seeing but never perceiving."
 ²⁷For this people's heart has become calloused;
      they hardly hear with their ears,
      and they have closed their eyes.
   Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
      hear with their ears,
      understand with their hearts
   and turn, and I would heal them.'

²⁸"Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"
 ³⁰For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. ³¹Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

God is still longing for His people to respond. 
  

My friends, I think we are like the people who don't hear, see, or respond, because we miss God working in the little moments.  Our big-screen culture and fast-paced lives has numbed us out and desensitized us.   What do you think?

Do we hear the Lord?
Do we see His work?
Does our heart respond to the Truth and understand?

How many times have we listened to a friend share a personal God-working-in-me story at Bible study group or over a cup of coffee, and walked away completely unaffected?  Worse yet, did our mind wandering down our "to do" list while disguising our distraction with a head-tilted, glazed over look, nodding "uh-huh...uh-huh...hmm..."?

Guilty.

We are all guilty of not hearing nor seeing God work through and in the mundane albeit miraculous moments of our lives. We are too tired, too busy, and too distracted to see the small, still, gentle, quiet, and personal touches of the Lord, uniquely designed by Him to show His powerful love, grace, mercy, and strength.  It is affected our faith and weakening our resolve to live godly lives.  Divinely appointed moments, meant to encourage and build our faith, vanish into thin air and history of time.

Friends, it is time we stop looking for the big-scale performances of God, and pause instead to witness the daily mighty power of His hand at work...in this moment!

It is time to listen to respond to the Lord's work, in us and others, with hearts filled thankfulness and lips that give Him praise!

Psalm 86:12

I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
       I will glorify your name forever.

Psalm 7:17

 I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness
       and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

As we develop the habit by giving thanks and praising to the Lord, God will open our ears, eyes, and hearts to His presence and power.  The "guilty" response will be replaced with words of compassion and encouragement. The temptation to doubt God's sovereignty will be trumped by remembering His faithfulness in the moment that has just passed.
I know this is a hard challenge for many, especially in the midst of trials and disappointments.  It demands our focus, strength, and perseverance to seek the Lord in the uglies, believing He is truly at work.   Trust me, I am knee deep in a half-dozen various trials, and I am continually tempted to despair with thoughts that cause me to doubt God's love and sovereignty.  But this is why I am all the more fired up about  Praising the Lord in This Moment!   What better thing could we do in the midst of a trial than focus on who God is, searching Him out in the bleakest of moments and declaring His praise for all to hear!

Will you become a woman who
HEARS, SEES, and RESPONDS to the Lord?

Will you become a woman who gives thanks and praises the Lord in this moment?

I hope you say yes.

Pray about it.  Think about it. 

Come back this week!

I some special things in store...

hint 

I have a prayer to our voices praise the Lord together...

a movement to give thanks and praise to the Lord,  in this moment


By His Grace & Mighty Power,