Praise God Any Way!

Sometimes when I get real low, I think about the goodness of God. I think despite all the tragedies and sorrow associated with living every day, I can still give God some praise. Just praise God any way! Even if you don't have a reason, just give Him some praise, for He is worthy to be praise.

There is a song that goes, "when I look back over my life, I can see how God has been blessing me." Or maybe it is how God has bless me. Either way, you have to just give God some praise. Because if it had not been for God on your side, where would you be!

I have been reading a couple of articles, one on we are living in the "last days." This is scary because I thought the "last days" are days coming in the future, but now according to this article, we have been living in the "last days" since Jesus was on earth. Hard to believe, huh?

The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:1 that there will be terrible times in the last days. And what do we see now? Wars every where. Shootings in school. Disasters in weather. Parents killing children, children killing parents. Total disregard for human life every where.

Wars have always been with us. Natural disasters have plagued humanity for thousands of years. Societies have been breaking down, and violence has been erupting for centuries.

Jesus said, "you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come." (Matthew 24:26). There will be famines and disasters, but those are only the beginning of problems. There will be persecutions, and there will be predictions. People will say that the end is just around the corner, but don't believe it. Do not be alarmed. Just persevere. Just do the job set before you.

Someday the end will indeed come. The world has had many disasters since the" last days" began nearly 2000 years ago, and I am sure there will be many more.

As I was discussing with my son today. God can end our lives today, and He can end the world whenever He wants. We are at God's mercy every day. This is why we have to praise God any way! He has allowed us to see another day, and for that we must give Him thanks. What God wants from us is praise.

We need faith and hope whether or not there is a war, whether or not the end is near. We need faith and zeal no matter how evil the days are. Our responsibility before God does not change with the times.

Our job is to preach the gospel, to preach repentance and forgiveness, to teach those who believe, and to worship God.

Jesus calls us to perseverance, to running with patience the race set before us. God will take care of the timetable --- our job is to be found faithfully working, whenever the end happens to come. Correct predictions don't count for anything on the day of judgment --- only faithfulness will be rewarded.

God may not act according to our timetable and our circumstances, but God does respond to our faithfulness.

Thought for Today: Be encouraged even when there is so much doom and gloom all around us because God is faithful and He is looking at our faith!