Personal Decision to Praise

Saturday 18 February
READ: Psa. 89: 1 - 2
MORE LESSON: Psa. 101: 1

In the text, we see David, the beloved of God, speak to himself. He said, I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. The first thing to note about this scripture is that it shows personal decision. Before the actual praising and singing, the first thing that David did was to say, ‘I will . . .’ He further said, 'with my mouth will I . . .' and 'for I have said . . . .' These statements show a strong personal decision. It can be inferred from this scripture, therefore, that praising God is a personal choice after all.
Thanking Jesus is foremost an individual decision before a corporate decision. If you have not made a personal decision for thanksgiving even if the church organises a praise service, you will be present but you will not give God praise from your heart. A person who has not made the personal decision to praise God could be in the house or in church where everyone is standing and praising and he stands with them in appearance but actually he is seated in his heart. He might even be singing with them but his heart is not praising God. Acceptable praise is when the praise you give actually flows directly from your heart. This starts with the choice to praise. Dancing is good and singing is important but the foremost thing is the decision to praise God
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David made the choice and you also have to make this choice. He didn't only make the choice to praise God, he also chose to make known the faithfulness of God to all generations. You also have to make the decision to make God's faithfulness known to all your generation. Parents should learn to gather their children and tell them what God has done for them in times past. When these children grow up they should tell their children what God did for them and also relay to their own children what their parents told them that God did for them. By so doing we can have generational testimonies of God's faithfulness. At family altar, time for sharing testimonies should be allowed so that we can be aware of family testimonies to pass down our generations.
A life of thanksgiving and testimonies starts with a personal decision to praise God and tell of His faithfulness to all your generations. Personal decision is about you as nobody can use another person's mouth to sing or testify. So, make that decision for yourself today and then go ahead and give Him praise.

Prayer/Action
* Lord, no situation will take away my personal decision to always praise You for all things, in the name of Jesus.
* Father, thank You for creating me for Your praise, I shall not live less than that purpose, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I activate the covenant of peace and wellbeing to begin to function in my destiny unhindered from today, in the mighty name of Jesus.