31 Days of Praise: Enjoying God Anew

31 Days of Praise: Enjoying God Anew

31 Days of Praise: Enjoying God Anew

31 Days of Praise: Enjoying God Anew

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Overview

Christians who long to experience God in a fresh, deep way will treasure this powerful, personal praise guide, rereleased with an updated cover. Every day for just one month, a Scripture-based devotion cultivates the "heart habit" of praise and worship. Readers will be gently inspired to appreciate and adore the Lord in all things — yes, even in the midst of pain, disappointment, and heartache. A deeper intimacy with God — and a greater love for Him — is the sure result. Come into His Presence with Praise

Praise. It leads you into God’s awesome presence, into the delight of His Word, into the sure knowledge of His great love for you. If you long to experience God in a fresh, deep way, you’ll treasure this personal praise guide.

Every day a different Scripture-based devotion helps you cultivate the “heart habit” of praise and worship. You’ll be gently inspired to appreciate and adore the Lord in all things, even in the midst of pain, heartache, or disappointment.

A deeper intimacy with God—and a greater love for Him—is the sure result.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781590525586
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Publication date: 05/26/2005
Series: 31 Days Series
Pages: 160
Sales rank: 189,559
Product dimensions: 4.67(w) x 7.52(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Ruth Myers

Ruth Myers and her late husband Warren served with The Navigators in Singapore beginning in 1970, teaching men and women how to experience God and his Word. Ruth and Warren have co-published several books and Bible studies, including the top-selling 31 Days of Praise.

Warren Myers

Ruth Myers and her late husband Warren served with The Navigators in Singapore beginning in 1970, teaching men and women how to experience God and his Word. Ruth and Warren have co-published several books and Bible studies, including the top-selling 31 Days of Praise.

Read an Excerpt

31 Days of Praise

Enjoying God A New
By Ruth Myers with Warren Myers

Multnomah Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 1994 Warren and Ruth Myers
All right reserved.

ISBN: 1576733343


Chapter One

An Introduction to Praise

If you're just beginning to praise and worship, you're on the threshold of a great adventure. You'll find that your gracious, mighty and majestic God is delightful beyond imagining. You'll discover what a high privilege it is to praise Him! And whether you're a beginner or someone who has long understood the benefits of praise, you'll find that the more you glorify the Lord, the more He will refresh you and deepen your experience of Him.

This book has been in the making for years. It was born during my years as a widow. It flowed out of truths that had long motivated me to trust and worship the Lord in the varied seasons and experiences of my life-as a single girl in my native land ... as a young wife sojourning in Taiwan, in the Philippines, and in Hong Kong ... during my first husband's months of intense suffering with cancer before the Lord called him Home ... during my years as a widow with two young children.

Woven into this book you'll find truths about God that affirm A. W. Tozer's words: "The man who has God as his treasure has all things in one, and he has it purely, legitimately, and forever."

And you'll find truths that time and again have brought me up short,enabling me to let God into the experiences of my life, whether joyful or painful. Truths that confirm Hudson Taylor's reflections on John 7:37, written about the time his first wife, Maria, died:

"If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink."

Who does not thirst? Who has not mind-thirsts or heart-thirsts, soul-thirsts or body-thirsts? Well, no matter which, or whether I have them all-

"Come unto Me and" remain thirsty? Ah, no!

"Come unto Me and drink."

What, can Jesus meet my need? Yes, and more than meet it. No matter how intricate my path, how difficult my service; no matter how sad my bereavement, how far away my loved ones; no matter how helpless I am, how deep are my soul yearnings-Jesus can meet all. All, and more than meet.

I discovered this in a new way after my first husband died at the age of 32. I grieved and shed my tears; I felt deep loneliness, along with the pressures of being left alone to raise two young children. At times I felt overwhelmed at making all the family decisions.

Yet at the same time I found bright rays of sunlight shining into my heart. How grateful I was to the Lord for His many blessings: for Brian and Doreen and the joys of being their mother, for other people in my life and their loving help, for special answers to prayer, and for small delights, such as gazing at a sunset or a unique branch silhouetted against the sky.

And even more, the Lord blessed me through times of worship and praise, often with tears of joy mingled with sadness.

I found immense comfort as I expressed to the Lord my grief at losing my loved one, and then let Him speak words of love to my heart. Words like the first part of Isaiah 43:4: "You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you" (RSV). Then I'd tell Him how glad I was that I still had my Most Beloved One with me: "Thank You, Lord, that I can enjoy Your love-the best love of all! Your love is intensely personal; it never fails. And with You I can enjoy an intimacy far beyond what even the dearest earthly loved one could ever offer, for You live in me and You're with me every moment, day and night." As my human aloneness pressed me to love and adore the Lord in new ways, He gave me joy in the midst of sorrow.

As C. H. Spurgeon wrote, our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise; they are simply the bass notes of our life song: "To God Be the Glory."

The months passed, then the years-eight in all before the Lord brought Warren and me together. And it seemed that God used sorrow and loneliness and perplexities to stretch out spaces in my heart for deeper joy than I'd known before-especially the joy of loving and praising Him.

Perhaps you, too, have found that God uses tough situations to draw you nearer to Him and to enrich your praise.

Our Goal: A Lifestyle of Praise

The thirty-one days of praise in this booklet have been designed to help you praise and give thanks both in your times of blessing and in your times of trial. These praise pages will expand your praise life and help you develop the practice of "giving thanks always for all things" (Ephesians 5:20 NKJ). They will help you cultivate a lifestyle of praise.

But before you begin, let's take a look at what praise is and why it's so important-why it's more than a pleasant pastime.

Worship? Praise? or Thanksgiving?

In the Bible, praise is closely linked with worship and thanksgiving. Through all three we honor and enjoy God.

It helps me to think of worship as a beautiful crown adorned with two brilliant jewels. One jewel is praise; the other, thanksgiving.

Throughout the Bible people expressed their worship in several ways. They bowed before God, often with a sense of awe, to honor Him and show their devotion. They offered special gifts to Him, the chief gift being themselves.

Today, as in Bible times, worship includes yielding to God as our Lord and Master. We see this in Romans 12:1, where God asks us to offer Him our bodies, our lives, our entire person. This, He says, is true worship.

In genuine spiritual worship, we bow before the Most High God, the most merciful and reliable and winsome of all beings, and we crown Him as Lord of all that we are. We consent to His gracious, transforming work in our lives; we agree that He can work in us, so that we'll be willing and able to do His will. In other words, we choose to let Him be God in our lives. This is our greatest privilege, the highest thing we can do.

Worship also includes adoring God, admiring Him, appreciating Him, and letting Him know how grateful we are for His mighty works and the blessings He bestows on us. Thus worship includes praise and thanksgiving. As in ancient times, all three-worship, praise, and thanksgiving-overlap as we glorify and enjoy God. Sometimes we do this in speaking, sometimes in singing, sometimes in silent reverence.

In thanksgiving we express gratitude to the Lord for His love and goodness to us and to others, for His constant acts of care, and for His gifts, including the spiritual blessings He has lavished upon us.

In praise we admire God for who He is and what He does. Praise can be quiet and meditative. But it can also include celebrating and exulting in the Lord's majesty and splendor, His sovereignty, His limitless power, and His bountiful love-which we do not in the least deserve. In praise we extol our wonderful God; we exalt and magnify Him. Praise includes speaking highly of God to other people, as well as directly to Him.

So mounted in the crown of worship-the basic act of offering God our lives, of honoring Him as God-are the jewels of praise and thanksgiving. Jewels that radiate the glory of God, to His delight and ours.

It's fine if we blend worship, praise, and thanksgiving any way we like. God isn't in the least concerned if we say "Thank You" when "I praise You" or "I worship You" might be more appropriate. And it doesn't matter whether our words are stumbling or eloquent. God looks on the heart; He's searching for people who simply want to honor Him.

I find that my worship is richer when I offer the Lord praise and thanks for three things: who He is, what He does, and what He gives.

Over and over the Scriptures encourage us to worship and praise and give thanks.

By him [Jesus] therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name (Hebrews 13:15 KJV).

Be filled with the Spirit ... singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:18-20 KJV).

These verses remind me of the words of David in Psalm 34: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." And the aging man in Psalm 71 wrote, "My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. ... I will praise You more and more (NIV)."

We too can have lives filled with praise and thanksgiving.

Praising At All Times?

Giving Thanks In Every Situation?

A life of praise may appeal to you. But what does it involve? You may be puzzled about what it means to praise continually and give thanks always, in every situation. Won't this lead to denying your true feelings? Does it mean that when you stub your toe or hit your thumb with a hammer, your spontaneous response must be "Thank You, Lord"? Isn't it dishonest to give thanks if you don't feel thankful?

Several things have helped settle these questions for me.

One is that the Bible doesn't command us to feel thankful in every situation. It doesn't command us to manufacture positive feelings. Instead, it commands us to give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18). As Dr. John G. Mitchell, co-founder of Multnomah School of the Bible, put it: "To give thanks when you don't feel like it is not hypocrisy; it's obedience."

This does not mean you should deny your negative thoughts and feelings and attitudes, sweeping them under some inner emotional rug. It doesn't mean you should repress them into some deep cavern where, again and again, they can sneak back into your thoughts, press you into unwise choices, and filter past your defenses to pollute the emotional atmosphere around you.

Notice that David and the other Psalmists were honest about their feelings, facing them and telling God about them. They knew how to pour out their hearts before Him (Psalm 62:8). Often they praised God first, and then expressed their disturbed emotions, their perplexities, even their complaints. After this they went on to praise God again, despite their struggles. They did not deny their feelings or simply ignore them. Nor did they wallow in them until they'd all but drowned. And it doesn't seem that they postponed their praise until they had worked through their emotions and felt better. Instead, they mingled an honest pouring-out of their feelings with sincere, God-honoring praise.

Take, for example, Psalm 42. The psalmist composed this song in a time of exile and oppression, when he felt deeply disturbed and downcast. People were saying, "Where is your God-why doesn't He do something for you if He's the true and living God?" The psalmist told God how troubled his heart was. But even as he did so, he honored God, speaking of Him as "the living God ... my God ... the God of my life ... God my rock ... the help of my countenance." His every reference to God showed his desire to exalt and glorify Him. And he assured his soul that the time would come when he could once again join the festal worship in the house of God, and praise the Lord for deliverance. Psalm 43, written in a similar situation, likewise honors God in very special ways: "O God ... the God of my strength...God my exceeding joy ... my God."

What happens when we follow the example of the Psalmists-when we express our impressions and feelings, yet choose to keep praising in spite of how things seem to us? I find that sooner or later (often sooner) the Lord releases me from being a slave to my distressing emotions. He unties the tight knots within me and settles my feelings, though He may not answer my questions about how He's handling my affairs. And when at times praise does not quickly bring inner freedom and joy, I can say, "Lord, I can't praise You in the same way I did last week (or last year). I can't seem to respond to You with the same sense of delight and celebration. But I do choose to lift You high, praising You for what You are and what You mean to me."

Life-and praise-isn't always a feast of pure, simple gladness. Don't you find that in many situations you can experience both pleasant and unpleasant emotions? Like Paul, you can be "sorrowful yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:10). You can groan and suffer in this fallen world, yet you can learn to rejoice. You can learn to triumph in your hope, in your tribulations and the good things they produce in your life-and above all, in God Himself (Romans 8:22-23, 5:2, 3, 11).

You Have Supernatural Help!

Another help in our worship (perhaps the major one) is the Holy Spirit, that wonderful Gift sent by our risen Lord to indwell us and empower us. The Lord has not set before us the ideal of a life filled with praise and then left us alone to achieve it. How could we, on our own, reach such a high goal-with the down-pull of our old fleshly patterns of living; with the pain of our trials, large or small; with our tendency to depend on ourselves and get distracted from the Lord and do our own thing? But we have the Holy Spirit! Just think of what this means!

He is within you as a fountain of water, springing up to fill you with fresh life-life that is eternal, life that is full. Through Him, time after time, you can know the refreshment that comes from the presence of the Lord. Through the Spirit you can understand the Scriptures and experience the marvelous things God has freely given you in Christ. Through Him you are linked in vital one-ness with the Father and the Son, and have all you need for life and godliness. You have all you need to inspire praise: comfort, encouragement, inexpressible joy, overflowing hope, strength in your innermost being, and power to love and serve.

You also have power to praise and give thanks: "Ever be filled with the Spirit ... continue giving thanks for everything" (Ephesians 5:18, 20, Williams). You don't have to beg the Holy Spirit to fill you; He is eager to do so. You don't have to earn His fullness, proving you are worthy of it. You have only to let the Spirit fill you ... to consent to live under His gracious influence and control. He then performs His amazing ministries in you. Among them: He inspires, reminds, and enables you to worship and praise and give thanks.

Praise Needs Cultivating

If God invites us to praise Him, if praise so enriches our experience of Him, and if we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, why do we so easily neglect it? Why aren't we at all times attracted to praise as bees are to honey?

I have worshipped the Lord for many years; I know how delightful praise is and how much it stimulates my faith. So why do I ever get so busy, even in my quiet time, that I bypass the delightful opportunity to extol and adore my wonderful Lord? Why do I, time and again, get so busy and absorbed with the pressures of daily life that I forget all about praise? And why do I at times feel reluctant to praise in the midst of everyday trials: when I hear news that makes me anxious about someone I love, or when I face a major disappointment, or when I'm angry or under a lot of pressure?

Could it be that one of Satan's major strategies is to divert us from praise? After all, he knows that God delights in our praise, and that doesn't exactly make him happy. He also detests the rich benefits praise brings to us and others. Or is it simply that our flesh prevails over our spirits, dampening our desire to glorify God? Might it be some of both?

Whatever the reason, we need to pray about a lifestyle of praise as Horatio Bonar did a century ago:

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, In every part with praise, That my whole being may proclaim Thy being and Thy ways. Not for the lip of praise alone, Nor e'en the praising heart I ask, but for a life made up Of praise in every part.

Or as the songwriter, Robert Robinson, prayed in "Come, Thou Fount": Come, Thou Fount of ev'ry blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.

In spite of all that God has provided, including the Holy Spirit's presence and power, we don't automatically praise and give thanks. Nor will you find praise all of a sudden springing up in full bloom as soon as you start praying about it. Praise flourishes as you weed and water and fertilize your spiritual garden in which it grows. It becomes more constant as you nurture your soul on God's Word and walk in His ways, depending upon the Holy Spirit. It gets richer and more spontaneous as you grow in your knowledge of how worthy the Lord is to receive honor and glory and praise.

But even then praise does not automatically flow from your life day after day, hour after hour. You must choose to cultivate the habit of praise, taking steps that will enrich your praise life.

As you use Part II, "31 Days of Praise," you'll find that praising God is an exciting adventure that yields rich dividends. The praise readings will help you make sense out of the hard realities of life. And-best of all-they'll deepen your experience of how vastly wonderful God is ... how loving ... how able to satisfy your heart and meet your deepest needs.

How To Use the Praise Pages

You'll find each day of praise in Part II a rich way to start your quiet time and to end your day, reviewing each reading before bedtime. Underline the phrases that most touch your heart. Also put a mark by the things you need to accept with thanksgiving though you do not feel like it. Ask the Lord to do a special work in your heart in these areas.

(Continues...)



Excerpted from 31 Days of Praise by Ruth Myers with Warren Myers Copyright © 1994 by Warren and Ruth Myers
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Table of Contents

Foreword7
Special Thanks and a Bit of History11
Part I
An Invitation to Praise15
How to Use the Praise Pages34
Part II
31 Days of Praise39
Days 1 through 3140
Part III
The Importance of Praise113
Part IV
Acts of Praise151
Your Most Basic Act of Worship151
Aren't You Grateful?153
An Invitation to Continue154
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