Praise for your Promise!
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Listen to Dianna Hobbs’ audio version of this devotion below:
In seasons when we’re waiting on God to make a move, we don’t always feel like praising. In fact, if we allow it to, frustration can set in and rob us of our motivation to rejoice.
But the Lord is challenging you through this devotion to release a praise for your promise, knowing that in due season, He will release those preordained, abundant blessings He has in store for you.
I laugh at myself all the time now. When I make mistakes. Say words wrong. Forget stuff. Or even hear something pop out of my mouth that I didn’t intend to say, all thanks to brain trauma.
I laugh. Heartily. But I didn’t always.
I used to sit around feeling sorry for myself, asking why me?
Why did I have to be allergic to an antibiotic that less than five percent of people have a negative reaction to? Why did that rare allergy trigger a mini stroke and multiple seizures in me? Why were some of my brain cells and immune cells destroyed? Why was I left with these hard-to-handle mental and emotional challenges?
Why God?
I was singing the kind of blues that could rival the sad songs of the late, great B.B. King. I was convinced, the thrill was gone for me too.
I spent a lot of days crying through my therapy sessions. Frustrated with my limitations. Feeling angry, like life was unfair.
Just sad. Devastated. Bewildered. Shattered. Gutted. Dazed. Confused. Lost. Broken. Pitiful. Depressed. You can go ahead and fill in the blank with any word-substitute for despair. It would likely describe how I was feeling on any given day in the earliest days of adjusting to my new normal.
Then I began to think of the goodness of Jesus and all He had done for me. I said, shucks, I’m tired of this mourning.
Forget what I lost.
Baby, look what I’ve got left. Surely the Lord has been good to me!
I had a little talk with myself. My very own Psalm 42:11 talk. That passage says, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!”
Sometimes, you must decide to just praise God anyhow. Praise Him when you don’t understand. Praise Him when your heart is broken. Praise Him, because despite the bad, He’s yet good.
It’s easy to praise Him in the daylight but what about at midnight?
“God said, ‘Praise me like you know I am the God who cannot lie and will do exactly what I said! Am I not faithful to perform My word?’”
One of history’s greatest Baptist preachers, Charles Spurgeon, said, “Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full, man draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him, any man can praise the God who gives a plenteous harvest.”
In other words, praise is easy when times are easy. But what about lean times? Times of hardship? Sickness? Strife? When you’re under attack? When you’re waiting on the promise to be fulfilled?
God wants the praise in these moments too, which is why I so love the beautifully poetic and praise-filled passage in Habakkuk 3:17-18 NLT.
The prophet writes what I like to call a song in the night. He says, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!”
I believe God sent me to tell somebody, don’t wait until daylight to sing Him a song of praise. Rejoice even in the dark. Bless His great name while you wait.
It’s like that popular saying, “Until God opens the next door, praise Him in the hallway.” I’m also reminded of what the seasoned mothers in the church used to say: “When praises go up, blessings come down.”
Somebody receiving this word needs to know, there is power in your praise. Praise causes every wall that’s keeping you out of your place of destiny to fall flat. That’s what happened for Israel in Joshua 6. As the Israelites praised, God knocked down the impenetrable walls of Jericho, and they entered their Promised Land.
I dare you to praise for your promise. Rejoice like you’ve already got it. Send up a hallelujah like you know the God you serve is faithful to perform His word.
Dr. Tony Evans has a saying that stirs up my spirit every time I hear it. He says, “Faith is acting like something is so, even when it is not so, in order that it might be so, simply because God said so!”
Do I have anybody willing to act like you’ve already got it. You may as well, because God cannot lie. If He said it, He’s going to do it. But sometimes, He tests you to see if you will praise Him while you wait. And in those times, when you release a praise, He will release your breakthrough.
And since you don’t know when God wants to do it, make sure you’ve always got a praise at the ready just in case today is your day. Be like David in Psalm 34:1 KJV—which is what I’m stirring into your cup of inspiration. He said, “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, no matter what it looks like today, God sent a praise and prayer warrior named Dianna Hobbs to tell you to praise for Your promise. As you heed this word, I believe God is putting you on notice that He will supernaturally release blessings that have been stored up just for you.
Now, pray this prayer with me.
God, thank You for reminding me of Your faithfulness and confirming that Your word shall come to pass. In the meantime, even during the storm, help me praise You for the promise, knowing that it is only a matter of time before I see it fulfilled. I believe it and thank You in advance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you desire prayer, please allow me, along with my intercessory prayer team, to stand in faith with you for breakthrough. We would be so honored. We have seen God work over and over again. There is power in agreement. Click here to request prayer now.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may today's cup of inspiration uplift, encourage, and empower you!
