At times we may wonder if life isn’t just filled with ulterior motives. For we tend to love in return for others loving us! We are quicker to praise our workers, if we receive praise ourselves! We gladly praise God when He has obviously been good to us, and seldom do we think to praise Him for who He is! But what if we did things with hopes that God would be glorified and praised by the one we helped? Let’s examine our motives for doing what we do, as we meditate on the prayer of Asaph in our Psalm today.

DATE POSTED Thursday, 2022-05-12
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

BY: Ed Algreen

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 79:19
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 9 Help us, O God of our salvation!  Help us for the glory of your name.  Save us and forgive our sins for the honor of your name.

APPLICATION: I believe that as I read this solitary verse, God spoke to me and asked what might it take for me to offer such a prayer. I know of a pastor who bargained with God for His protection in war, and he promised God that in return he would serve Him faithfully when he returned home, for the rest of his life. Praise God, that young man who prayed, returned home safely and became a pastor. He was able to retire fairly recently after many years of doing exactly what he promised God there in that bunker. For those who know the Lord, I believe we tend to follow in the footsteps of that pastor more times than not. But if we truly love the Lord and want to give Him the glory that He deserves, wouldn’t we seek to do everything with God in mind? In other words, wouldn’t we recognize and promote praise to God, rather than to ourselves? For loving us enough to provide for our every need each and every day? For blessing us for the people He has placed in our life? Wouldn’t we awake each day with a goal in mind to make someone’s life special without looking for any recognition or thanks for ourselves, but to make it known that God alone deserves the praise? I believe that anytime we could strive to see the name of Jesus lifted up by others, without looking for what’s in it for us, then we may come closer to aligning with the prayer of Asaph. Perhaps our prayer should always be: Lord, ease our pain, so that others will see our freedom, know that our release could only have come for You, so that they would raise a sweet hallelujah for the blessing of seeing You miraculously at work. Dear friends, look around you, mankind has become excessively greedy and self centered. This has caused us to almost lose hope in humanity. May we consciously stop to think of all that God unselfishly provides for us every day – especially those things that are beyond man’s ability to help us with – sunshine that provides much needed vitamins for our bodies; fish that has been proven to be one of the best meats for the body; rain that does more for our plant-life than any amount of running water we could pour on to them; good health that allows us to hold a job, earn money, and provide for our families; etc. As we count our blessings for all that God does for us voluntarily out of love, may we boldly bless others with much of what we have, so that they may also lift up holy hands and voices as they express praise and adoration to the Father for all that He provides for them!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: As we give to others from unselfish hearts filled with the love of God, may recipients always look up with thanksgiving and praise to the Almighty God, not to the one physically filling the hand that is reaching out to us.

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, You gave to us from a heart just like God. For those who have invited You into their hearts, may they realize today that they are but a channel for those blessings. That means, that they will realize that they are but a conduit that is filled with blessings by You, en route to others in need that they come into contact with each day! Teach us to never take on the attributes of the Dead Sea where everything remains locked up inside, and never passed along. May we freely give of everything we have, so that others may see the origin of those gifts being from Jesus alone. May they then glorify You, oh Lord for all that You are to them. AMEN!