Soul Praise!

Last week Wednesday was the start of the season of Lent.  Traditionally this is a time to prepare your heart for the death and resurrection of Jesus. For many it is a season of giving up something, a time of fasting and prayer to focus on Christ. Lent comes to an end on the glorious resurrection Sunday.

This year for Lent I would like to challenge you to add something on to prepare your heart during this reflective time. The other day I was reading and reflecting on Psalm 103 where 6 times the poet David commands us to “Praise the LORD!” The Hebrew word for “praise” is barak, which means to worship and praise with ones whole being.

And in this amazing Psalm we are given so many reasons to to worship the LORD with everything we have. I would call this Psalm a Resurrection Psalm.  When you take up David’s challenge to “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name..” (vs. 1) there is a resurrection which takes place in your “soul” your whole being.

Praise is the language of Heaven and something happens to us when we take our focus off of ourselves and become laser focused on the One who has blessed us in Christ with bountiful benefits beyond imagination. This Psalm is a masterpiece of highlighting the gifts of belonging to the Father’s family and the blessings of living in His home.

What my soul needs the most of is a spirit of praise that welcomes me into my Father’s house. David learned this as young shepherd boy roaming the desolate hills of Judah. The Father revealed Himself when his soul sang out praises via harp and voice. Revelation comes as we worship. In fact there is a whole book of the Bible called “Revelation” that makes this exact point. Praise reveals the love of our Heavenly Father.

We live in a world calling us to worship our own souls, feeding it and filling it with more and more stuff which leaves us empty and angry. But when our soul finds the source of True Life and we feed on it with blessing and praise! We find ourselves in the House of the LORD,  gazing on His beauty (Psalm 27:4).

So for this season of Lent I want to challenge you to ADD on some Soul Praise.  I will spend the next few weeks in this amazing Psalm encouraging your soul to find your Father’s home through praising Him for all the blessings He has given you in His Son Jesus.

“With my whole heart, with my whole life, and with my innermost being, I bow in wonder and love before You, the holy God! Yahweh, You are my soul’s celebration. How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness You’ve done for me.”