Offer to God a Sacrifice of Praise

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice (an official sacrifice prescribed by God; hence an offering the Lord accepts because offered on His terms. #2378 Greek)   of praise (a thank-offering, (A. V. 'sacrifice of praise'), presented to God for some benefit received #133)    —the fruit(praises, which are presented to God as a thank-offering #2590)  of lips that confess (agree ("confess"); to profess (confess) because in full agreement; to align with (endorse).#3670)   his name (the manifestation or revelation of someone's character, i.e. as distinguishing them from all others. Thus "praying in the name of Christ" means to pray as directed (authorized) by Him, bringing revelation that flows out of being in His presence. "Praying in Jesus' name" therefore is not a "religious formula" just to end prayers (or get what we want)! #3686) (NIV with Greek word studies added in)

Hebrews 13:15

Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name. (Amplified)

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. (King James)

I find myself looking at the words – constantly and continually.

One definition of constantly is - Continually occurring; persistent.

One definition of continually is - Recurring regularly or frequently

So I am seeing that our (my) ‘sacrifice of praise’ should be frequent and persistent (Refusing to give up or let go; persevering obstinately)

And since it is ‘the fruit of our lips’ I should be audible with my praise and in the Greek praise is a thank-offering. I confess His name which means I need a revelation of His Name(s) so I can know His character.

So let me put Hebrews 13:15 in Christena’s version for my life today.

In Jesus’ Name, I, Christena, will not let anything keep me from offering up praises with my mouth to the Lord. I will open my mouth and speak of His greatness.  I say He is the Lord of my life!

No matter what I may be going through – be it a daughter that has walked away from her family; loss of a close friend; an unexpected bill; a lie spoken about me; a negative report from a doctor – or things that are positive – a prodigal returns; a new friend is made; the bill is covered; truth prevails; body is healed ------

I will give praise, I will give thanks through all of this, knowing He is my Yahweh Jireh (God will provide); Yahweh Shalom (Lord of peace); Jehovah Rapha (Healer) – and the list goes on.

It took me awhile to realize the power of praise and thanksgiving. Once you get a revelation of  who God is you begin to praise and thank Him constantly and at all times because you know His Word is Truth, God does not lie.

I challenge you to get your Bible out and begin to do a study on the names of God. Use biblos.com or biblegateway.com to help you look up the Greek or Hebrew meanings of His Name.

As you do this, begin to praise and thank Him for being your Healer, Peace, Provider…..you will find yourself going through your day and your spirit will recognize a Name of God you have learned and out of your mouth will come  --  I thank and praise You Father, I needed peace and You are Yahweh Shalom!

Don’t feel intimidated with the Greek or Hebrew pronunciation , praise Him in your language-tell Him how awesome He is and that He is the Lord of your life, He is your Healer, Provider, Redeemer, Father and Protector.  Give Him a sacrifice of praise for the strength He gives you to get through each day; for the hope you have in your prodigal returning; for the promise of healing and how our body is obeying it’s maker right now and all sickness is leaving; for being the peace that you needed in a time of test and trail.

If you have been having trouble in this area, ask yourself – am I really walking with the Lord or am I  saying….well, I went to church today, now it’s up to God to blah blah blah so I’ll just kick back this week and watch some tv, play some games, check out my neighbors wife/husband…….God expects us to know Him and obey Him, He is not Santa Claus or a magical fairy.

So if you are tired of being in the same place day in and day out – if you are doing the same thing over and over don’t expect different results – you either believe or you don’t and if you believe, you WILL hunger and thirst after God, your desire will be to know Him and then you begin to desire to change, as you change you see His Word is true and you seek more from His Word -  then you begin to live in joy and peace, even when those times of trials knock on your door, you find you stand tall in the armor of God and know the victory is yours through Jesus Christ.

For in the day of trouble

he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle

and set me high upon a rock.

Then my head will be exalted

above the enemies who surround me;

at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Psalm 27:5-6

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100

Encouragement Then Correction

Encouragement Then Correction?

This seems backwards to me!

However this is how the Lord has been moving in my life lately. And I think I’m beginning to understand why.

I have had a growing desire to share my life and shout the victory to God.  I want to jump and shout – look what God has done in and through me!!  He set me free, He healed me and He gave me wisdom and revelation as I read His word and began having a relationship with Him.

We have had several people (some professional doctors) tell my husband and I we should be doing marriage seminars.

It is the desire of our heart to get God’s word out there, to show people how to use the Word of God to overcome, to find strength during the time of change, to have the peace that passes all understanding, and to know how much God loves them.

God wants us to follow His commands because He loves us not because he is some mean, angry God. Our Father knows what will harm us and what will bless us. He gave us His word for a reason and it wasn’t for it to sit on the coffee table or to open only on Sundays (that’s what I use to do, therefore no victory).

Proverbs 30:5-6  “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

So, if I’m going to share God with people, I need to know His word – not add to it nor take away from it.

Here is where some encouragement comes in for me. 

I have been growing and walking with the Lord, closely for about 5 years. My husband and I read the Word together and pray when we wake (before getting out of bed) and before turning out the lights for our evening rest. We pray over each other before we go places, we speak God’s word over each other. We have a walk with our Father in our marriage of ‘one’.  That is an amazing encouragement to me. We support each other through everything, be it our flesh or the enemy that comes against us.

Since we have been doing this we are hearing from the Lord more and more. There is a boldness rising up in me to share all the junk God has set me free from, there is a freedom from shame, there is a desire for the church as well as the unsaved to wake up and there is a desire for me to go higher Sometimes going higher means you have some cleaning up to do!

The encouragement has been coming from God, from people, from books and from sermons. Actually it is always coming from God (if I know His voice and don’t listen to the voice of a stranger). There again, you have to have that relationship with the Father so you can know His voice.

This encouragement has been in the form of blessings and I have felt overwhelmed to the point of tears on several occasions. I was at one point saying, “God no more, I’m swimming in blessings” and then I stopped and changed my mind!!!  “Don’t stop Lord, keep giving me blessings in abundance so I can give to others.” 

You see I heard the Lord tell me He loves to bless me because I recognize they are from Him. The Lord went on to say, “You are to share these blessings, they are not all yours to keep.”  I began to understand a little better why I was being overwhelmed with blessings.  And it changed my attitude to one of gratitude and joy.  I can’t help but smile, open the door for someone, and serve people.

Now in the midst of this encouragement and blessing from the Lord I’m also hearing and sharing with my husband what the Lord wants me to do.  I shared my discernment and he confirmed I have great discernment.  Here comes a correction through my husband from the Lord. “But even though you are right on with your discernment, you lack patience.”  Ouch! He is right.  He went on to say, “People know you have discernment and they receive it BUT there isn’t always an immediate response or change that will take place, it is a warning and you WAIT for the Lord’s leading, again know what His Word says.”

My husband is so wise!!  And that is another testimony because there was a time, wise or not, I would have been so hateful to him for saying this and would have shut him out for weeks.  I’ve been delivered and I have such a love for my husband and great respect that it gives me joy!

So now on this part of the journey things begin to come against me, against us because my husband and I are one.  And by ‘this part of the journey’ I don’t have one particular one in mind, there have been many, it’s just the Lord gave me revelation recently.   So, you begin to have things come against you that make you question if you heard from God.  Once again know His Word and don’t add to it or take it away.  As long as you speak God’s Word you know it’s the enemy because you’ve made someone uncomfortable.

I remember the days my flesh would scream when someone spoke God’s Word to me, they spoke truth about my situation (and still have that come against me sometimes, and even though I’m not where I need to be but thank God I’m not where I use to be-Joyce Meyer).

So to bring this all together, God gave me step by step direction on what I was to do and told me very clearly, stick with My Word, so I did. When the enemy comes against you he can’t stand against the Word of God.

So I knew what God wanted me to do in several instances, knew attacks would come, didn’t expect my doubt to come or to find I still had fear. But again this was all God preparing me for my next step. So I’m just amazed at how good I feel, how confident in Christ I am and how protected by my God and my husband I am. So I’m just swimming in the joy of the Lord and full of thanksgiving. Actually saying ‘thanks’ just didn’t seem to be enough for all He had, was and is doing in my life – but I couldn’t quit thanking Him and telling Him how much I love Him.

Then, oh no……..I begin to hear a few things here and there from the Lord that are not encouragement, they are warnings, they are showing me where I have not let God have every area of this temple He lives in. I begin to hear – when you pray are your motives right, do they match My Word? Or they are warnings for the future. God wants me to move out and speak and He is showing me things in my flesh that could get in the way. He is showing me there is still some fear and a wall begins to go up, He cannot work with a wall up.

I could tell you more but I think I’ve typed more than I planned already!

These warnings, these corrections, I’m actually beginning to see them as blessings now. Because God is advancing me and He wants me to share His power so these ‘things’ have to be out of me so He can move forward in my speaking, my blogging, in all I do.

I hope I’m more aware of His moving in my life now as I obey Him in my writing, speaking, serving, etc. Because I see how He gives me the joy of the Lord which is my strength and then as He comes in and shows me things to look at and to check in my spirit, there is more of an eagerness to make the changes, to repent and move forward in Him. You may ask, does it still hurt and my flesh cringe?  Yep, sometimes it is a struggle to admit there is something in me that is not of God. Praise God, my spirit overcomes my flesh because God lives in me and my desire is to serve Him!

I will speak the Word of God with boldness and love. I will not back down from His Truth. The Word does not change and God does not lie. But then I will also follow His leading as He is the one that will make the change in someone’s life. They have to go through what I have and recognize it, I can’t make them. But God, precious, wonderful, loving God will help them do the right thing, according to His Word, if they will just trust Him and move through those awful fleshly pains.

I can tell you, check yourself when you find yourself getting angry over the Word of God. I can guarantee you it’s your flesh warring against the Spirit. I’m tired of allowing my flesh to win – no more! I belong to God. I serve God. I believe God.

May God bless each one of you with His abundant joy, strength and peace, as you listen and obey His Word.  You will not regret it and it does get easier!

I am an overcomer in the name of Jesus and so are you!

Let's Praise The Lord !! He Is Worthy, He Is Faithful