Psalm 150
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
Dear Readers,
Happy Thanks-giving to you and yours. When I was a physically free man, this was my favorite time of year. I love to cook. I worked in many restaurants during the summers on the Cape when I was a younger man. I took the skills I had honed in those restaurants and used them to create wonderful meals every holiday. I have cooked our family’s meals since I was twenty years old. These past two years are the exception, of course, due to my incarceration. My mother is a Christian woman, so she made sure our family prayed before those meals and gave thanks to the Lord. [Boy, do I miss mama’s apple pies right now.] We gave Thanks to God on that day – even those of us who were unsaved. It was tradition in our family as it is in many families. Speaking for myself, I only gave thanks on those holidays; but what about the rest of the year? You see, I didn’t appreciate God back then. Many of us do not fully appreciate Him, do we?
Now that I am a saved man and I have a relationship with Jesus, I thank Him every day. I dedicate at least 30 to 60 minutes every morning and every night to thanking Him and praising Him. I thank Him for being in jail and not dead. I thank Him for my meals and warm bed. I even thank Him for the guards and their service. [Admittedly, that last one took a while.] I thank Him for everything I can think of and I praise Him for it. Hallelujah! Praise God Almighty!
We should thank Him every day. The fact that we even exist is such a wonderful miracle. Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Where will I find the time?” I am very grateful to have a lot of time to praise my Lord and draw nearer to Him. It is the best part of being incarcerated – God and I spend lots of time together because I am what one might call a “captive audience”. I thank and praise God for the time we share despite the loss of my physical freedom. Praise God! I urge you, brothers and sisters, find the time. Give thanks and praises every day. It feels good and your blessings will increase exponentially. Praise Him! Thank Him! Do it in the morning when you awake; Do it before starting breakfast; Do it on your way to work; Do it on your lunch break; Do it on your way home; Do it when you hug your loved ones. Make it your drug – get strung out on the the Lord! Amen! Make Him your habit. There is nothing that compares to Almighty God or the promise we have in Him. Find the time. Praise Him! Thank Him! Give Him All the Glory! Hallelujah! You will be a better person for it.
I love praising the Lord. In the words of the late great James Brown, “I Feel Good” praising the Lord. Hallelujah! Take a moment right now, brothers and sisters, bow your heads, lift your hands in the air, praise God, thank Him, give Him glory. I pray you have tears of joy while you are doing it. Doesn’t it feel good? I feel great just writing this, just talking about praising and thanking God. Hallelujah! Even when I feel blue, I praise Him and thank Him and He always lifts my spirits. Sometimes we get lost in this crazy mixed up world and we forget to be thankful and praise God. We forget that all that we have, no matter how great or meager, is from God. We forget to count our blessings. We behave like spoiled children expecting everything to be handed to us and not appreciating what we have. We want, we want, we want. It’s all about me, me, me. But, what are we prepared to give in return? In order to receive blessings, we must also give them. In order to continue abounding in God’s grace, we must be thankful for it.
Some of you are in a bad situation. You feel cheated and discarded by God. Nothing can be further from the truth. He loves you. The fact that you even exist is proof of that. I know it’s hard for you, but find it within yourself to thank Him for every moment of life you have. God did not make this world bad, mankind did that with the help of the devil. It was man who polluted this world with sin, not God. You may ask, “Why does God allow bad things to happen?” Because if He didn’t, we would not have freedom of choice. Mankind is free to make their own choices. Those choices have consequences. A lot of times, innocent lives are destroyed by the evil choices man makes. Please believe me when I say that none of this is pleasing to God. He does not want us to suffer, but in order to preserve our freedom, He must allow us to make our own choices. Those of you who “have”, can choose to give to those who “have not”, and in so doing, we please the Lord for we are doing His work. We are our brother’s keeper. We must follow the Word of God and give alms to the less fortunate. That means we must give thanks and praises with our actions as well as with our words. Amen!
To any of you who are going through hard times, I want you to know that I love you because Jesus loves you. I am praying for you daily. I feel your pain and so does the Lord. You are not forgotten. Remember that and be thankful. Praise the Lord. No matter what your situation, praise Him. Bless and be blessed. For those of you sitting down for Thanksgiving with your families this year, be sure to thank and praise the Lord for what you have and do your best to remember to do it every single day.
Again, Happy Thanksgiving! May God bless and keep you!
Love in Christ,
Randall