Pause In His Presence Part 6

Psalm 34:1-3

Do You Hear the Continual Praise?

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

A friend of mine mentioned a scripture to me this week that I have not ever paid much attention to. Mark 4:24 says that what a person listens to will be multiplied back to them.  My interpretation is that whatever I am hearing on a regular basis will manifest in my own life.  In other words, if I’m listening to things that cause fear, and if I don’t take those thoughts captive immediately and put truth and lovely things into my hearing, fear will show itself in my own world.  

That was a sobering thought for me.

It made me also think of Romans 10:17, that faith comes by hearing. It’s actually a regular practice in my life to listen to only things that will edify my soul and Spirit, and will draw me closer to God’s Presence.

Whether it be music, or the kinds of news articles I read, or even the kinds of conversation that I have, I am always trying to keep my “hearing” something that reproduces faith in my life, so that I am not multiplying back to myself things that aren’t in line with God’s truth.

Enter Psalm 34:1: “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” In light of Mark 4:24 and Romans 10:17, what would life look like if I was continually praising the Lord?

If faith comes by hearing, and what I hear is magnified in my own life, what kind of power would “blessing the Lord at all times” actually hold? How much more awesome would my life look?  How would I see God, and myself, differently if all that was being multiplied in my life was His Praises?

The next verse says to let my soul boast in the Lord.  The Hebrew meaning of that word soul is the mind, will, passions, desires, emotions.  When all of these things boast in the Lord alone, those who are in a poor and needy position will also “hear” and will have the faithfulness of God magnified in their own lives.  

What a beautiful thought that what we hear and declare affects how someone else may hear and see God!

I feel a challenge from the Holy Spirit for us to Pause in His Presence this week, and really be aware of what is coming out of our mouths. How can we change the atmosphere around us if we were continually praising the Lord? How would faith be multiplied to others in our world if we were at all times boasting on the goodness of God?

Pausing in the Presence of God to love on Him and allow Him to pour out His love upon us is the only way to remember who He is, and therefore be able to boast upon Him from the depths of our souls. Let’s do it together, and as verse 3 says, “let us exalt His name together!”

— Mandy Woodhouse