The Purity of Praise
Nov 16
by Victoria Robinson
The Word of God shows us that God inhabits the praises of His people. Since God is pure, then when we choose to praise Him we are focusing on purity.
The psalmist said, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Wow! If we would align our hearts with this same truth and praise our heavenly Father for how He chose to create us then the purity of praising Him would set us free. Free from thoughts like …
♥ I hate being short!
♥ I hate being tall!
♥ I hate my thin and stringy hair!
♥ I hate my thick and frizzy hair!
♥ I hate the color of my eyes!
♥ I hate my small feet!
♥ I hate my big feet!
♥ I hate my nose!
When we use the purity of praise we align with the truth. The truth is that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made by our heavenly Father. Therefore whatever height, hair, eyes, and feet we have were designed in perfection. Yet as women we can easily get focused on what we do not like about our bodies instead of understanding the freedom that protects us when we praise God for His wonderful creation.
If you are ready to focus on the purity of praise then Psalm 150 is a great place to start. This psalm is a doxology which is a declaration of praise to God or a brief hymn expressing His power and glory. Within this short Psalm the word praise is found thirteen times! Have fun praising the Lord girlfriends!
Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.
Dearest girlfriends, let us focus on the purity of praising our heavenly Father rather than bemoaning the lies the enemy of our souls tells us.
But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. ~ Psalm 22:3 NKJV
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. ~ Psalm 139:13-16 NIV
Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! ~ Psalm 147:1 NIV
Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. ~ Psalm 150:1-6 NIV
Tags: breath praise, doxology, frizzy hair, god inhabits the praises of his people, greatness, harp, heavenly father, lord praise, power and glory, praise to god, praises, psalm 150, psalmist, purity, stringy hair, tambourine, Victoria Robinson, wonderful creation, Word of God 
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The Ugliness of Pain
Mar 03
by Victoria Robinson
Have you ever seen a woman who no matter how beautiful her clothes, hairdo, and makeup are is just plain ugly? This ugliness stems from the pain of her inner self. She has been hurt deeply and is scared, bitter, or is just writhing in pain. Such appears to be the case with a woman named Naomi we find in the book of Ruth. She was so bitter that she changed her name and said, “Don’t call me Naomi, … Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty.” It is interesting to note the name Naomi means “my delight” while Mara means “bitter”. This woman went from delightful to bitter. One can only imagine the ugliness of perhaps a haggard and drawn face this poor woman might have had. Just what brought Naomi to this point? She was left alone in an ungodly foreign country where her husband and sons died.
Contrast the story of Naomi with that of a precious friend of mine, Nancy, who recently became a widow. The beauty of Nancy shined through at her husband’s funeral. I watched as she raised her hands in praise to God for His goodness even at a difficult time. Her beauty continued to glorify God as she had planned the entire funeral to bring salvation to the lost who were in attendance. This is a memory of a beautiful woman I shall forever cherish.
Later in the book of Ruth we see Naomi as a beautiful woman who had gotten beyond her pain. Her friends said, “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
Understandably in the midst of our darkest days, we may never look in the mirror and see a beautiful woman outwardly. Yet even during these trials, others can see our inner beauty if our hearts are in right standing with our Lord. Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would seek the inner beauty only godliness can give us.
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” ~ Ruth 1:19-21 NIV
The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” ~ Ruth 4:14-15 NIV
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. ~ Hebrews 12:15 NIV
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. ~ James 3:14-16 NIV
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. … ~ 1 Peter 3:3-5 NIV
Tags: beautiful woman, bethlehem, book of ruth, darkest days, dear friend, drawn face, godliness, goodness, hairdo, inner beauty, kinsman redeemer, mara, midst, naomi, poor woman, praise be to the lord, praise to god, two women, ugliness, ugliness of pain, Victoria Robinson
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