Christians: Praising God in the middle of the storm

Thessalonians 5:18 KJV

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

As Christians, i believe we might have heard these times without number how we should praise God even in the bad times, or how it is a good thing to praise the lord at all times,and in every situation we find ourselves. some might find it impossible to praise God during difficult times which I can totally understand, imagine loosing a job or a loved one or even facing years of disappointment, and you are asked to praise God?

Storms are part of life that every believer must pass through, it cannot be avoided. Even Jesus had to go through His own storm, before He started His ministry, He went through a storm which was being tempted by the devil, after He overcame was he able to start His ministry. Before He got a name that was higher than every other name, He had to go through another storm which was dieing on the cross. Storms are ment to not just draw us closer to God but to also take us to our next level in life. The reverse is the case these days, we tend to let the storm draw us farther away from God, feeling God didn't do His job, or He had left us.

JEREMIAH CHAPTER 29

This particular book of the bible is a very popular part of the bible mainly because of it's verse eleven, but we fail to see the bigger picture of these particular chapter. The children of Israel at that time where place in captivity in another land, and God was very much aware of their condition but in these Jeremiah twenty nine, he gave them instructions to carry out their daily and normal activities like creating a garden, building houses, celebrating marriages and the likes.

It's indeed funny, the captivity of the children of Israel was their storm at that moment but God told them to go on with their life, which means even in our hardest storms, He had given us provisions to live life Notting is happening, because the His thoughts for us are of Good and not of evil. So it is an error to feel the world around us is coming to an end even in the midst of our storm. All we need to do is seek the face of God during the storm.

David was a practical example of this, studying the life of David, you would find out that majority of his psalms where times he was in a difficult spots. Either he was being chased by the enemy or by his own son or during the death of his child, he praised God in every situation. And God saw him through because even during does storms God never left David.

TESTIMONY

The above scripture we started with tells us the reason why we should praise God, that it is His will concerning us. What about the bad things? Are they God's will for us as well? What about the deaths and sorrows, are these part of His will? Certainly not.

The month of July was a tough one for my family, we had so many things to deal with it was from one issue to another, I ended up loosing my nephew who was just three months old, and I just can't let go of the memory of him being put to rest . Like that was not enough, my phone which was like my own personal office was stolen from my bedroom that same month, they broke through the net at night while I was sleeping and they stole it, which is really funny because I am not really much of a deep sleeper. July was a very crappy month. I could no longer cry or question God, all I did was just to thank Him, I had cried enough for my late nephew, I had no more tears for my stolen phone, because I don't even have money to get a new one at the moment. I just thank God and went to church that morning. I was called to give some prayer point, and I did as the holy spirit instructed me, I gave him a sacrifice of praise, at that moment I didn't care if I was without a phone, I didn't care if I just lost a nephew, I didn't care if the every other thing around me seems like they are going down, I just praised God. And to my biggest surprise the pastor asked if anyone is willing to sow a seed of a new phone in my life, no one stood up. The whole hall was silent like no one heard. I didn't let it get to me, I was still praising God in my heart and I said, God I don't know how it would happen but if I can get a phone before Sunday, I would do this for you. Low and behold someone came on Saturday with the seed.

Looking at Isaiah chapter 42 verse 8 we serve a very Proud God that would not share His glory with anything. Now when we praise God in a situation that is not His will concerning us, at that moment what we are doing is simply seeking the face of God and drawing His attention to that situation. God comes down Himself to accept our praise, because He is a God that does not share His glory with anyone an anything, once He sees that you are praising Him in a situation that is not His doing, He would turn it around just so He can accept that praise.

• Isaiah 42:8 KJV

• I am the Lord : that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

  .

  Praising God is not just about singing, but it is singing in understanding and from your heart.

Psalm 34:1 KJV

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.