And in our trials and tribulations we tend to be more focused on the problems than on Him, who can deliver us from our afflictions...or who gives us strength to endure...or who tests our faith through trying times...the trial by fire of our faith is the time God has chosen to allow us to suffer through trials and tribulations in order to test how strong our faith is.
When our faith stands...and having done all to stand and fight the good fight of faith....then what is equally as hard is to praise Him in all of it...the sacrifice of praise.
Quoted from Got Questions:
Then there are those times when God did not come through the way we thought He would. The medical test comes back positive. The spouse wants a divorce. A child is wayward. The mortgage company calls in the loan. God seems very far away, and praise is the last thing to bubble up from our hearts. We can’t see His goodness, and circumstances scream that He has forgotten us.
To praise God in those times requires personal sacrifice. It takes an act of the will to lay our all on the altar before a God we don’t understand. When we bring a "sacrifice of praise," we choose to believe that, even though life is not going as we think it should, God is still good and can be trusted (Psalm 135:2; Nahum 1:7). When we choose to praise God in spite of the storms, He is honored, and our faith grows deeper (Malachi 3:13-17; Job 13:15).
The command in Hebrews 13:15 says that this sacrifice is to be offered "continually." Our praise of God is not to be based on our opinion of His job performance. Praise cannot be treated as a "reward" we give God for His obvious blessings. Isaiah 29:13 says, "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Real praise continues regardless of circumstances. It flows continually from a worshiping heart in good times and bad (Acts 16:23-25).
The "sacrifice of praise" comes from a humble heart that has been purified by fire. It rises from a spirit that has chosen to honor God in spite of the pain that life is causing. Psalm 51:16-17 expresses this idea when it says, "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise."
And for me when the enemy is all around me attacking me with everything possible....
I turn on Praise and Worship music and begin to sing praises to Him....because I know that God is faithful...I trust Him to work for good what the enemy meant for bad.
At times that's all I have left is my faith and my praise, and Satan can't take that away from me.
