We were created by God for His good pleasure. We were created to walk in relationship with Him. He loves being in our presence. He enjoys being with us and walking through life with us…yet we - even believers in and followers of Jesus Christ sometimes have a difficult time believing this most basic truth. That is why we must constantly be about the renewing of our minds…the putting off of the lies of the enemy and the putting on of the truth of God’s Word cornering our core identity! This is why worshiping and praising God is so vital. It helps us focus our entire being on that relationship!

The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD;
Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD?
Who among the sons of the mighty is like the LORD,
A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
And awesome above all those who are around Him?
O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD?
Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
Psalm 89:5-8 NASB

Very often, the enemy tries to drag me down through deception – through lies. Most generally the enemy attacks my identity and worth. When those lies come, I simply remind my soul of the truth. Yes, at one point I was unworthy and a sinful wretch, but the redeeming blood of Jesus has cleansed me and made me righteous by His righteousness. At one point in my life I was hopelessly lost, yet the Good Shepherd had searched for me and found me and rescued my life.

When I began to focus on these truths rather than upon the enemy’s lies, gratitude began to fill my heart. As I released the gratitude to Christ, the enemy had to flee from the presence of my Redeemer and praising God became a natural part of my true identity and a natural way to walk in intimacy with my God!

When I remember how lost I was and how much Jesus had to pay for me, my heart is filled with an awesome awareness of His mighty, loving presence. I simply begin doing what I know to do…approaching my Father in gratitude for all He has done. He who has been forgiven much, loves much.

I am reminded that I was once an outcast, like the leperous group of men described in Luke 17…and how Jesus touched me in my unclean state with His pure, cleansing, healing, forgiving love and I was never the same. Let us have the same attitude as the leper Jesus healed in [Luke 17:15-16 NASB which says this: 15 Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, 16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.

When I think of all the ways in which God has displayed His love toward me, I get overwhelmed with the thought that He created me just for Himself. In other words, I was literally created to love Him, to be with Him and to know Him intimately. Sometimes my feeble little mind can only contain so much of this truth without feeling totally dumbfounded and incapable of rational thought. His thoughts are so much higher than mine…His ways so much higher than mine…His love for me so much higher than my love for Him. Let’s bathe in that thought - daily!

Colossians 1:16 NASB says 16 For by Him all things were created, [both] in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him.

We were created to love Him! What does that thought do for your soul? For your emotions? For your mental awareness? For the way you think about yourself? Such thoughts help me renew my mind and put down the lies of the enemy that tell me I am unlovable. God created me for His good pleasure…and He takes pleasure in my presence…whether or not I take pleasure in His. I don’t know about you, but that makes me want to love Him and thank Him even more!

In Ephesians 2:10 NASB we find this treasure trove of truth about who we are: 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Make this week about praising God and let’s give Him thanks as we allow His great and magnificent love for us to permeate our entire being. Talk about an abundant life! We can have that abundant life any time, anywhere, under any circumstances simply by relating to Him through our worship and praise. That is how much He loves us!
Dennis Jernigan

To listen to The Dennis Jernigan Podcast on this subject, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/i-will-praise-you/

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