Your Benefits Package

I was led to Psalm 100 and the subject of PRAISE a week ago today.  I actually started thinking about it sort of “out of the blue” while I was still in a semi-sleep state before I got up for the day.  Once I started studying on the subject I couldn’t help but get excited as it brought back a whole slew of memories surrounding Piper’s and my dating days and the first twenty some years of our marriage.  During those days I guess you could say that we were heavily into PRAISING THE LORD! 

We had a business/ministry for many of those years called “The Praise Work’s” through which we sold a set of Scripture Confession Cards that Piper had put together on the subjects of praise, healing, love and finances, along with a thirty day devotional for children that I had penned that we sold directly to customers and on assignment through three or four local Christian bookstores. 

My creative juices were freely flowing at that time and I also wrote a fictional children’s adventure novel entitled “The Adventure at Pine Lake” which I tried unsuccessfully to get published for quite some period of time.  I finally set that project aside as Piper and I prayed over other potential projects including a web site, a daily blog, a line of wooden children’s toys and a daily encouraging word to be called “Piper’s Proverbs” that stemmed from her uncanny ability to always seem to have the right word at the right time attached to the right scripture!  I also always dreamed of publishing the myriad of youth and children’s ministry skits that I had written as well as the countless original puppet skits I had penned for our extensive puppet ministry at our church at the time.  And the thing that fueled all of this creative activity was our life of PRAISE! 

The mid-eighties and nineties was also the period of time when Piper was in the prime years of her homeschooling adventures with our kids.  Like I’ve stated in many blogs, this was simply a great passion of my wife’s!  It was like she ate, slept and lived homeschool.  Every moment was turned into a learning experience with which she had the knack of turning into a fun filled project for our four kids… And she enjoyed just about every single minute of it!

And how do I know this?  By the smile on her face, the shining light in her eyes and the almost continual PRAISE that came out of her mouth!  I should also mention that during the early to mid-nineties we went through the most difficult time with our finances with our home that we have ever experienced before or since.  But we finally made it through and by 1996 our income had changed (for the good) so dramatically that it was hard for us to recall those most difficult of times… and through it all we kept up with the PRAISES of God.  FOR IT WAS ALL WE KNEW TO DO!

After our financial situation was over and what we had gone through came out, most people who we knew told us that they would have NEVER imagined that we were going through such an ordeal.  Was it easy for us?  Absolutely NOT!  But through the thick and thin, through the extreme moments of stress, those hard meetings with the bank and other financial experts, we did our best to keep a positive thought on God’s promises, a smile on our faces and exclamations of PRAISE and confessions of God’s Word coming from our lips.  The Word of God in Hebrews 13:15 became a standby to us during those days as we learned by actual experience that: “Through Jesus we should always bring God a sacrifice of praise, that is, words that acknowledge him.” (God’s Word ©)

I have a feeling that I’ll be on this subject for a long time in the coming weeks.  Over the weekend I could not get a release to move onto another subject… and then the Pastor steps up to the podium yesterday and announces that his subject for his sermon is: “The Untapped Power of Praise!”

Hummm… see what I mean!  When he made that statement I could not help but to burst out laughing as I turned to my wife and said” “See!  Is that confirmation or what?”  He proceeded to share eight benefits for the ones who choose the lifestyle of PRAISE.  I’ll share those steps and a lot more over the coming weeks… So… get ready to learn about and then become… if you’re not already… one whose trade mark is the words, “PRAISE THE LORD!”

Have a great new week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting to receive the benefits available to the ones who PRAISE the Lord?”