“When you don’t feel like giving praise to Jesus that’s when you need to do it the most.”
Let’s be honest, not every morning you wake up feeling awesome, like a rock star living THE LIFE, the American dream, there are days not everything goes as you planned, finals are around the corner and you are not ready, you see the bills and are terrified by them, your relationship is not where you would like it to be, your job… well you get the idea.
There are days you not only don’t want to worship or be grateful but you are almost not sure what you believe anymore and let me tell you something, you are not alone, many of us have felt this way at some point, but it’s in those moments we need to remember this:
“It’s not about what I fell but about what I know”
I love this phrase I Heard from pastor Steve Furtick “there are 2 ideal moments to worship God, when i fell like it and when I don’t” lol I couldn’t agree more.
That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.
1Timothy 1:12
Paul reminds us that is not about our circumstances, he wrote this letter from prison (not the coolest place to write from) after being scorned, beaten and shamed as if he was a criminal, the crime: preaching the gospel, he was telling people about the freedom Jesus bought for us and for that he was in chains, so he tells us that our faith is not in something we believe but in someone we know… JESUS.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romanos 12:1-2)
Our society has thought us that our behavior must go hand by hand with our circumstances; if we are happy we ought to celebrate but if things are not going our way it’s ok to be sad, to be depressed, we even have songs to play as the soundtrack of our meltdown and a culture that celebrates our rebel behavior, we lift our glasses and our fists against heaven and we dare to say “I don’t need you!” but Paul invites us not to imitate worldly behaviors but to let God transform us by changing the way we think.
I have seen a big change in my own life simply by believing God regardless how crazy it may seem, Psalms 32:1 says “I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises.” and at all times means exactly that, all times, even the times when everything is falling apart, and i can testify that when we focus in God’s goodness and we are grateful with what we have and stop complaining about what we don’t have today, something happens, when we give God the glory despite our circumstances, our circumstances change or our perspective about them changes.
So next time you find yourself not wanting to praise Him or with an ungrateful attitude, remind yourself that God is worthy of praise at all time, shake off your troubles and instead of raising your fist, raise your hands and your voice to Him who is worthy of all glory and honor.
Leo Lozano 