Praise The Lord

PRAISE THE LORD

a prayer to open

Here’s my heart, Lord. Speak what is true.

Here’s my life, Lord. Speak what is true.

Praise the LORD!

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heaven!

Praise him for his mighty works;

praise his unequaled greatness!

Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn;

praise him with the lyre and harp!

Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;

praise him with strings and flutes!

Praise him with a clash of cymbals;

praise him with loud clanging cymbals.

Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD!

Praise the LORD!

After drinking deeply from the Psalms and opening ourselves to their shaping force, what can we do but praise the Lord with every tool we have at our disposal? Today it may not be a harp or lyre or timbrel or cymbal, but there is no doubt after fifty-four days of soaking in the spectrum of emotion presented in the Psalms that God has acted in our hearts, changed something that was headed in the wrong direction, transformed a bad decision, or healed a wound.

• What has God changed, transformed, or healed in your heart as you’ve read through the Psalms?
• What truths from the Psalms do you want to regularly shape your life over the next year?
• What words from the Psalms resonated most deeply with you as you read?

Lord, thank you for the compelling, life-changing words of the Psalms and for your presence in the midst of those words. Thank you for what you’ve done in my life as I’ve read and reflected on them. Continue to transform me into the likeness of Christ through the truths you implanted in me. May my life reflect my praise and worship of your name, my devotion to you, and my heart’s desire to live in your presence forever. Amen.