Daily Archives: May 18, 2012

Relentless Pt. 4

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Today we continue with excerpts from a recent sermon I preached at Cornerstone Church. If you have missed out on the beginning of the relentless posts here are the links:

https://jelillie.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/relentless-pt-1/

https://jelillie.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/3445/

https://jelillie.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/relentless-pt-3/

We have been discussing our need to be relentless in praise. For many of us praising God is  difficult. I understand that our ability or inability to praise God is bound up in a complex series of issues including upbringing, past experience and even personality make-up. So I hesitate to oversimplify but one reason we struggle to praise God is because we do not practice intentional praise in our private prayer time.

I once went through a battle so thick that every one of my devotions turned into a moan and groan session. I came before God. I  read the Bible and complained to Him that none of His promises were being answered.

Then one day as I sat in the middle of my  moaning God stopped me and said “Get a notebook.”

I said “A notebook haven’t you been listening God! I am hurting and you need to do something. I don’t feel like writing right now.”

God said “Notebook!”

So I got a notebook and He told me “Write down all the blessings you have.”

I said “Blessings didn’t you hear me! I am hurting and I need you to fix this before I can thank you for anything else.”

Then I begin to hear the words to this old hymn playing in the back of my mind.

Soon I had a list of ten blessings that I still possessed even in the midst of my terrible circumstance. God then began to show me some of the blessings I had been given because of the circumstance.

God said to me “I do not want you to pray about the problem anymore I want you to thank me for the possible answers.”

If you are caught in a place of negativity and you are finding it hard to praise God use your next private devotion to make a thanksgiving list. Stop talking to Him about problems and start thanking Him for the answers He is going to bring!