I Will Praise The Lord While I Live - Part 7

Today’s Word Of Encouragement From Wayne:

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, o my soul! I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous”

Psalm 146:1-2,8

And now, as we progress through this beautiful psalm, the tenor of this eighth verse tilts towards Isaiah's words about Messiah, from chapter 61:1, which Jesus quoted, referring to Himself, when He began His public ministry.

The psalmist wrote, “The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.” (Ps. 146:8)

Jesus said, quoting Isaiah, “The spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19).

This psalm is so close to these words from Isaiah, and therefore so close to Jesus, Who expressed this same declaration - that God really is here to benefit your life, and it all relates back to the simple statement, “I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.”

You see, it is as we live this dedicated life of praise to our God, singing praises to Him while we have our being, that our eyes become truly and fully opened, and we can now clearly realize that God has raised us up, so we may be with Him, and we are no longer bowed down under the weight of the world, the flesh, sin, and Satan. He has opened our eyes and we are singing praises to Him!

Why? I will praise the Lord because He is my Rock. He is my Sunshine. He is my Center. He is my Everything. I’ve been down the road of trusting in princes and mortal men in whom there is no salvation and, guess what? It’s a dead end, filled with disappointments along the way.

So I’ve made my choice, and we can all make this same blessed choice.

Here’s what I believe. Everyday that you “kick start” your soul; that you jump-start your soul into praising God - “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul!” - this is the same as stone, stick, and thorn removal. That’s right. You’re cultivating the soil of your heart. You’re cultivating good things when you are praising God, because you are immediately getting yourself on the same page as God’s blessings. You’re acknowledging Him. By living a life of praise to God, His blessings become personalized; they become actualized. This becomes a major part of your experience, of each day, which totally affects how you look at life, how you feel about life, how you see things in life. In another psalm it is said, “In Thy light we see light" (Psalm 36:9), and this is the blessed truth we come to know.

So, by all means, add to your list of praises today to thank God for opening your blind eyes, for raising you up when you were bowed down, and for loving you and giving you righteousness in Him! “I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” Yes, hallelujah!