With Every Breath (Thanksgiving 2022)
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! — Psalm 150
Hallelujah! Come all and let us praise the LORD! Join me in this prayer:
God, you reside in your sanctuary, where there is no presence of sin, for it is holy and set apart; you reside in your mighty heavens, seated on the highest throne, rich in glory and honour!
Take this time to reflect on God’s holiness and honour. Where is this demonstrated in the scriptures?
Lord, you have displayed your great excellences by the very works of your hands, by the mighty deeds you have done! God, I can only praise you for your power, sovereignty, and faithfulness throughout all of history, and especially for your redeeming work on the cross by way of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection!
What are some more ways God has shown His faithfulness to His people? How did He demonstrate His power and authority over all in history and in your life?
God, we only have mere trumpets, lutes, harps, tambourines, dances, strings, pipes, and cymbals; we only have the works of our hands to respond back to you in praise, and yet, that still is not enough to encompass how worthy you are of our worship! But even still Lord, cause our hearts to desire to praise you, for our hearts wander every day. Help us to fix our eyes on you, because you deserve our praise; you deserve our entire life!
Reflect on how God is worthy of your entire life; He owns it all! What we ought to do is continuously respond to His mighty deeds with praise. Because our hearts are innately sinful and rebellious, ask Him to help you focus on Him and Him alone.
Lord, all things were created to bring you glory and honour. The very breath you supply to my lungs belongs to you! You give me life! So God, teach me to worship you, have your Spirit work in my heart to cause my lips to overflow with songs of praise!
With every breath that the LORD gives us, let us use it to praise the LORD!
Amen!
Further reading:
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him. — Colossians 1:16
