The Power of Praise - Beloved Women - February 9, 2024
READ: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.” (Acts 16:25-26 ESV)
TODAY’S ENCOURAGEMENT: When we are hurting it's tempting to want to curl in a ball and shut everyone and everything out. It’s times like this where it feels like we’ve taken a punch to the gut in life and we just can’t get our bearings. If your burden seems too heavy and you don’t know what to do, I encourage you to praise God. Does that sound strange to you? When we are up, and all seems well, praise comes easy. In hard times, however, praise can seem pretty difficult.
Every day that you breathe, there is a spiritual battle going on for your soul and praise is a weapon of warfare. When you praise, you are doing the opposite of what Satan intended: you are blessing the Lord and giving Him glory anyway. Your praise connects you to your Heavenly Father and wonderful things can happen when you praise God. It might not cause an earthquake, but it just might cause you to shake off that heaviness.
PRAY: Dear Heavenly Father, Your Word says if I draw near to You, You’ll draw near to me. I choose to draw near to You today by praising Your holy name. God, You are above all, and I will trust in You. Please break through this darkness so I can bask in your light. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
REFLECT: God is unchanging whether our circumstances change or not. What are some attributes of God that you can praise Him for today?
CONNECT: Find more encouragement from Danielle Hawkins here.
MORE BELOVED: Join Beloved Women for our current online Bible Study “Worth More Than Rubies: A Bible Study on the 7 Virtues of the Proverbs 31 Woman.” Too often when we think of what it means to be a godly woman we focus on what women do instead of who we were created to be. Learn how to cultivate the heart of a Proverbs 31 woman by joining our study “Worth More Than Rubies” at https://www.belovedwomen.org/rubies.
© 2021 by Danielle Hawkins. All rights reserved.
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