Verse of the Day Devotion: Psalm 146:2 

“I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” – Psalm 146:2

“One thing I find sad today is that many people are focused on the negative things occurring, filling their minds with fear and anxiety.  This does no one any good, in fact if has a harmful affect to the human mind and body.  With all this stress that is filling the hearts and mind of people, they become susceptible to illnesses that would in other times never make us sick.  Also, in living a stressful life, we tend to focus our conversations with all this negativity and feeding the anxieties of others as well.  This is not what God wants for us. 

It is important that we turn our minds away from all this turmoil and focus on all the positives in our lives. And the best thing we can do is focus on the one who loves us with an everlasting love.  The one who has promised to take care of us in all circumstances, no matter how bad it gets.  And the verse that tells us how to do this is, “I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” Psalm 146:2.

First, “I will praise the Lord while I live” Psalm 146:2a.  We need to praise Him all the time, as long as we are alive on this earth.  He is worthy of any praise that is given, and as much as we can give.  We should take as much time as we can in worship and praise, and the focus of our thoughts are to be always toward Him.  We should lift our voices in praise to our Lord in our quiet times alone and with our brothers and sisters in group worship.  If we open our hearts in praise and worship to Him, we will not have the room to think of our trials and troubles.  They become less important as He becomes more important. 

Also, we are to spend time in fellowship with Him, which in itself is an act of worship.  Every morning when we wake up and every evening when we lie do to sleep should be a time to interact with God, hearing what He is saying and giving our adoration to Him.  He listens to us and knows our very thoughts and will answer our pray requests with again, our best in mind. 

There is so much that can be said about spending time in worship and praise to our glorious God.  We do not have any reason to focus on all the hardships we and many are suffering through.  He wants us to have peace and solace.  He does not want us to be weighed down with fear and anxiety.  And we do not need to be afraid.  Remember to keep focused on God and not our trials and tribulations.  Give Him all the praise and glory for who He is and what He does, and all your troubles will not seem so great.  And remember what Jesus said to us.  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:6-7.  Focusing on praising God  will mitigate fear and worry.  And the more we focus on Him, the less the other things will seem all that  important. 

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.