"I will offer sacrifices of joy..."
This morning as I went downstairs to spend some time with the Lord,
the "Not About Me" challenge that was given to us by Laura of
Brag on God Friday was on my mind.
I didn't have to wonder long about what God wanted to show me.
My Bible opened up to Psalm 27,
and my eyes immediately fell on verse 6 as quoted above.
God had spoken to me before about the
"sacrifices of praise" mentioned in Hebrews 13:6 that says,
"...Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God,
that is, the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to His Name."
And now here it was again. Was it the same thing?
God had previously shown me that when my life with its situations
and challenges seemed out of control, they would come under His control
when I would praise and worship Him.
He would give me His peace as I placed my thoughts on Him,
and He would work out all things for my good.
Looking at notes in my study Bible, I read that although we
no longer have a need to bring the thanksgiving sacrifices to God described
in the book of Leviticus, we are to offer spiritual sacrifices.
According to Hosea 14:2, we do this by "taking words with us",
and using our lips to speak His praise outloud to Him.
So, to me it looks like the "sacrifice of joy"
and the "sacrifice of praise" are really the New Testament version
of the "sacrifice of Thanksgiving".
How appropriate is that for this season?!!!
As we praise Him for WHO HE IS
and celebrate the blessings He has given us,
He fills us with His JOY and STRENGTH!
In giving up my rights to pout, be discouraged,
or nourish negative feelings, it is a sacrifice.
I have a right to feel that way if I want to dwell on it.
But what a trade-off if I let go of it and praise God instead!
When I praise Him, I take my hands off my problems
and give Him room to work.
JOY instead of self-pity!
JOY instead of gloom and doom!
I don't know about you, but today I choose JOY!
And that's my JOY4TODAY!
To see Names of God on rocks,
hop on over to my ROCK4TODAY blog!
Linking with Women Living Well Wednesdays,
Brag on God Fridays,
and
Spiritual Sundays.
5 comments:
That's a wonderful Joy today! This is a wonderful season for thanksgiving, praise and joy!
Hi Esther-Joy - great post. I especially like the bit where you said, "But what a trade-off if I let go of it and praise God instead!" Its so true that when giving up our 'right' to our feelings, we are filled with God's joy in the freedom of knowing He is in control.
God bless
Tracy
I got up this morning, and come to the verse in Psalms 27 that talks about a Sacrifice of joy, and I began to meditate on it. What come to my mind was giving God all praise even when we didn't feel like it... I'll be honest, I have struggled staying in God's word, and getting in His presence like I use to do because I have let the weight of the world weigh me down, and this just comes back to what the word says about giving Him our burdens, laying them down, and how is that done? By giving a Sacrifice of praise.
I wasn't sure I fully understood Sacrifice of joy earlier so I googled it, and sure enough your blog was the first to show up, so I read it and I want you to know, your blog has helped me tremendously. Keep on keeping on. Love you sister in Christ.
This post is so good. It is almost what I have been feeling of late. Everything around me seems to not be okay but when I read the Psalms 27, it just spoke to me. This word has given me hope for a new day. Given me more confidence to see whats in store for the next day. I feel a peace in my heart.
Your post has given me a e deeper understanding of the bible passage. Thank you very much
GOD Bless you! Thank you for being a light!
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