The Second way we are looking at of “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” is by the “sacrifice of praise”.
There are times where situations can be tough, and because of that we take our eyes off of who God is and who we are and we focus all our attention on the problem. By focusing all our attention on the problem we lose perspective which can create some inner turmoil. There are other times where situations are great but inside of us for whatever reason is confusion and conflict that brings frustration.
Whatever the case may be for “feeling down and out”, the sacrifice of praise is the weapon we use to wage war. When we recognize that the way we are thinking, feeling and acting are not from a place of righteousness, peace and joy, but instead from a place of fear, doubt, worry, we need to change our focus.
The sacrifice of praise is when you don’t feel like reminding yourself of the goodness and glory of God but you do it anyway. You sing your own song to God. You sing and declare the promises of God. You sing about the verses that have stood out in the past. You sing about righteousness, peace and joy. How we have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and have been brought into the kingdom of the son he loves. Remember words spoken about vision and purpose, it’s these things that revitalize hope. Jump, spin and dance, move in ways that reflect joy and epic gratefulness. It’s these things that wage violent war in the spiritual realms. It breaks us free from the emotional haze and cause us to experience peace and joy, and brings freshness of mind and revitalizes the soul. This is where we become strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that we may have great endurance and patience.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
I’ve heard it said, that if you come to Jesus full of weary and heavy burden and you leave the same way you came in, you did it wrong. This is a place of exchange. You trade your heaviness for rest. You come in with your hands full. The only way to receive rest is to let go of the crap you came in with.
My good peoples, may you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.