Why is any one DOWNCAST?
Ivan
Pattison, Australia
How many of us get
despondent when things are not going our way. King David must have went through
such times as he said in Psalm 42:5.
Psa 42:5
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And [why] art
thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him [for] the
help of his countenance.
There is a very old
song I sang in Sunday School, "down in the dumps I will never go, for that
is where the devil keeps me low". How true, there are not more truer words
said than these, for when we are downcast in our soul, the devil does keep us
low, unless we put our trust in God, and keep looking up to Him for our
strength. The Joy of the Lord is our strength.
Neh 8:10
b for [this] day [is] holy unto our Lord: neither be
ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
Exd 15:2
The LORD [is] my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he
[is] my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will
exalt him.
The men of God in the
Old Testament knew where their strength came from, and that was from having joy
in the Lord, praising Him in all things.
King David was a great man in praising God, when he was low in his soul. Cain
became low in his spirit when God did not accept his offering as God did Abel's
offering. No doubt Cain started to feel sorry for himself, instead of turning
around and making his offering acceptable unto the Lord, he became jealous of
Able, and in that jealousy, he killed Able, his brother.
Gen 4:6
And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth?
and why is thy countenance fallen?
How often when we are
feeling low that all sorts of things start manifesting, such as anger, strife,
and other unpleasantness, and we are not the person we should be. This is the
time satan can come in and be destructive in our life, when we allow our
countenance to fall. It is the time to praise God when situations don’t
favour us. King David said bring my soul out of prison so I may praise your
name, and we know today that praise will bring us out of prison, so lets praise
God in our situations, and be full of joy when things are not going so well
with us.
Our chains of
despondency will fall off, our countenance will increase to a higher level, and
God will bless us immensely.
Psa 142:7
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy
name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully
with me.
Remember Paul and Silas
in prison, and when they prayed, and sang praises unto God: their
physical chains fell off, well the spiritual chains that keep us in bondage
will fall off, when we sing praises unto our God and Saviour.
Please read Acts
16:22-26
O for a thousand
tongues to sing, my great Redeemers praises, well you and I only have one
tongue to sing His praises and that is enough for God to work in our praises. God
lives in the praises of His people. Psa 22:3
We have a new hope, and
a new Joy in Jesus Christ, so let us make a new decision, that we will praise
God, whatever situation we come into.
I have a saying;
"Ivan has Love that is hard to quench, and that is the Love of Jesus,
because Jesus has set His Love upon me". Let me change that to "Ivan
has Praise that is hard to quench, and that is the Praise of Jesus, because
Jesus has set His Praise upon me". Have you come to this place
where you can say; I Praise God in all situations!!!
Jude of Canada has a
saying "By His Grace, in His Strength and for His Glory". I
love these words, as these words are so true.
Love Ivan
