Be Changed!

Gratitude–expressing it–is so life-changing…not just in the long haul, but giving gratitude to God, sometimes even just with an act of my will–can even change my (and ME) NOW!!!

So, given I have been finding myself in an ever descending spiral of frustration this week, I know that expressing gratitude is the way OUT of the pit!

Psalm 22:3 says (KJV): But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

For those of you who, like me, can’t believe that the verse doesn’t actually SAY: “God inhabits the praises of His people,” after hearing it quoted that way for years, I looked up the word from KJV translated “inhabitest” and “enthroned” in other more modern translations.

The Strong’s exhuaustive concordance says this word “inhabitest” means the following:

to dwell, remain, sit, abide
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to sit, sit down
1a2) to be set
1a3) to remain, stay
1a4) to dwell, have one’s abode
1b) (Niphal) to be inhabited
1c) (Piel) to set, place
1d) (Hiphil)
1d1) to cause to sit
1d2) to cause to abide, set
1d3) to cause to dwell
1d4) to cause (cities) to be inhabited
1d5) to marry (give an dwelling to)
1e) (Hophal)
1e1) to be inhabited
1e2) to make to dwell

I have put my objections aside! 🙂

GOD DWELLS in the praises of His people. He remains, he stays, he sits down in…my praises! WHOO HOO! It works for me!

God chooses to live in, dwell amidst, show up in praises of His people.

That is pretty awesome.

So, it stands to reason, that if I am in a pit of discouragement, defeat, loneliness, lies, disobedience, shame, despair, pity…whatever my PIT walls may be made of…well, if I start praising God anyhow, giving gratitude to Him for anything and everything I can think of (no matter how trivial)…then HE MOVES IN. I have this feeling that if he moves in to my praises, it won’t be long that, as my praises lift him up and exalt him, that I will float on up out of my pit with it all! Sounds good to me!

So, I am heading over to my gratitude blog to add some more things (some may be reruns) that I am giving God praise, thanks, and gratitude for. If you want, you can use the comments and join me in giving thanks, adoration, gratitude, and praise to God. Nothing is too small…nothing too trivial.

In faith, I know that this changes me in the long haul, but it also changes me NOW. Focusing not on what I am disgruntled about (a lengthy list, it seems), but on HIM and all HE does…