I woke up the morning of February 14th, 2018 and I prepared breakfast for my wife who leaves early to work at around 5:45 am. It was also Valentine’s day and I’m thinking to myself “what is the best way to express love to my family while financially I am broke?” So my wife leaves to work but in the back of my head, I have an idea of preparing a nice meal for my family.

Remember, I’m a work at home dad and so for me, everything is possible. At 2 pm, hell breaks loose and my son starts to convulse and I panicked a little bit but then started to administer some first aid as I prepare to rush him into the hospital. In the background I hear the song by Michael W. Smith singing, “this is how we fight our battles, it might look like we’re surrounded [by sickness, hardship, poverty, war,] but we’re surrounded by You [God]”. So as I undress my son because his temperatures were now at 38.9˚C, I felt peace in my heart and I started singing along, took my insurance card and I rushed him to the hospital. As I write this, my son is healed after spending three days in the hospital.

It was terrible for me when I saw my son convulsing and I was feeling like it was finished. But when I started praising God, everything changed, I got peace in my heart and I had the assurance in my heart that if my redeemer lives, then my son will live and he will be healed; the power of praise.

Praise works like a magnifying glass. It causes what you’re focusing on to get bigger, to be ‘magnified.’ David said, ‘Magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears’.

It’s a mistake to wait until you’ve no problems, fewer problems, or your problems are solved before you praise the Lord. Praise is one of the great Scriptural keys to problem-solving because it gets your focus on God, the problem solver.

Charles Spurgeon said: ‘My happiest moments are when I am worshipping God, really adoring the Lord Jesus Christ…In that worship, I forget the cares of the church and everything else. To me, it is the nearest approach to what it will be in Heaven.’

God has promised you ‘the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.’ It works like this. When you begin to praise him with a heavy heart, you experience a new sense of hope and joy. Through worship you are reminded that God is bigger than the situation you face; that he’s not only capable of managing your concerns but willing, wanting and waiting to. The Psalmist wrote: ‘Seven times a day I praise you’ (Psalm 119:164).

“Don’t just take coffee and tea breaks; take ‘Praise Breaks’! David Kedode”

Fill your day with praise. Don’t just take coffee breaks and tea breaks; take ‘praise breaks.’ Begin to praise God for two things:
(1) His attributes. His power, love, grace, favor, guidance, etc.
(2) His acts. Recall his goodness to you. Go ahead; take off the spirit of heaviness and put on the garment of praise.

Do you take “PRAISE” breaks?