O For a Thousand Tongues

November 16, 2011 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and praise His name! For the Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting and His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations. (Psalm 100:4-5)

This sounds like a "too simple" formula but Chuck Swindoll said, “If you want to get rid of your worries and woes, start naming out loud what you’re thankful for.” It works! There’s something about giving thanks and praising God for all He has done for us and Who he is, that changes our focus from horizontal, where all your worries and woes are, to focus vertically, where your source of answers and help come. By intentionally giving thanks and praise we are leading every worrisome and negative thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ, and He tells us not to fret or have anxiety about anything but to think on those things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovable, kind and gracious, then we will have peace that transcends all understanding, and that peace shall mount guard over our hearts and minds, Philippians 4:6-8).

Praising and thanking God for His mercy and goodness will turn our "prison of grumbling" to joyful freedom of living in His presence. When we are in the middle of our trouble, I Thessalonians 5:18 says that we are to give thanks "in" all things, right now, in the middle of our dark hours. We can thank God that He is in control of, and is bigger than all our problems, and in its time He makes all things beautiful (Eccl.3:11).

Also, Ephesians 5:20 says we are to give thanks "for" all things. We do this by thanking Him for the lessons of faith we can learn no other way but to go through this darkness. God has planned for this fire we are going through to be a learning and refining process He has permitted to come into our life. We can be thankful "for" the fire because we are learning of His faithfulness in the midst of it, and we can be thankful because it is burning up the dross in our lives and so we can come out of the fire as pure gold – a vessel of honor.

Now how is it possible to thank God "in" and "for" our fire? It is possible only when we change our focus from looking "out" or "in" at our problem and begin looking ‘"up" at our Savior, (the problem solver). When we do this Jesus gives us the strength to give thanks in and for the fire in our life, (Philippians 4:13), “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.”

If you want to know God’s presence in the midst of your "fire" – praise Him. Psalm 22:3 says that, “God dwells in the praises of His people.” Remember the story of the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace? They had thankful and praise filled hearts and their face was set like a flint toward heaven. Then the king saw a fourth person, “like the Son of God” (Daniel 3:17,18,24,25). The Father has promised us that, “When we pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned or scorched, nor will the flame kindle upon you,” (Isaiah 43:2). So we can give thanks "in" and "for" our fire because God is with us and will keep us and bring us through, and in the end He will get the glory!

If we are looking ever to Jesus we can have joy in the midst of our fiery furnace because He says in Psalm 16:11, “In His presence there is fullness of joy.” Praise and thanksgiving is a perpetuating practice. Someone who lives with a grateful heart lives with blessings over-flowing and everyone loves to be around him. If we read, meditate and practice Psalm 100 we will be practicing the presence of God, our joy will be full and your faith growing stronger every day right through our troubles and tribulations. By being thankful "for" everything and praising God for Who He is "in" everything this will change our life.


O For a Thousand Tongues
Charles Wesley

O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.

My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim,
To spread thru all the earth abroad the honors of your name.

He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the pris’ner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean – His blood availed for me.

Hear Him, you deaf, His praise, you dumb, your loosened tongues employ;
You blind, behold your Savior come; and leap, you lame, for joy.

Glory to God and praise and love be ever, ever given
By saints below and saints above – the Church in earth and heaven.