eNews | Sat 2nd Oct '21
Dear e-News friends & church family,
“God, you did everything you promised, and I’m thanking you with all my heart. You pulled me from the brink of death, my feet from the cliff-edge of doom. Now I stroll at leisure with God in the sunlit fields of life.”Psalm 56:12-13 (MSG)
This Psalm speaks of the very real enemies David was facing in that very moment and the daily threat to his life from the philistines. Yet, he wraps it with these lovely words ‘now I stroll at leisure with God in the sunlit fields of life'You would think he didn’t have a care in the world.The key is that David had discovered the very powerful key of bringing God into his daily challenges and stressed-filled life. That key is PRAISE. Several times in this Psalm he speaks of praise, and then of course we find it a recurring theme throughout all the Psalms.We were created to praise God, we were born again to fully declare his praises Peter tells us. This weekend we are focusing on just that, teaching on it in the morning and expressing it at night as we gather around our first ever Encounter evening.
Praise builds a landing point for God into your life.We read "God is enthroned on the praises of his people". Praise allows God to be bigger than your problem, taller than your tallest enemy, stronger than your greatest foe.The Bible also speaks about a sacrifice of praise, in other words, something we do when we don’t feel like it, not up for it or it’s costly in some way because it’s just not convenient.Praise gets you out of you!Jehoshaphat discovered that praise defeated a vast army when he was greatly outnumbered in 2 Chronicles 20.Today as we find ourselves living in this day of power failures, energy companies going out of business, no fuel at the pumps, and no gas in the pipelines. Let’s tap into God’s unending energy supply, let’s plug into his power, let’s learn fresh how to praise his name, both on our own but especially together as the opportunity is given to us.We love you guys,Looking forward to seeing you at the weekend online or in person.Andrew & Sue