Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
2 14 2025
I’m sorry I am a little late today. I woke up in bed today and remembered that it’s Friday, and I haven’t sent a devotion yet. I wrestled with what to share today. Then I heard.
What does the sacrifice of praise cost?
As you know my mom died Tuesday in her 100th year. Isaiah 38:18 says, “The dead cannot praise you,” highlighting the importance of the living to continue to offer up the sacrifice of praise. It signifies a commitment to trust in God’s plan even when we are experiencing extreme loss or pain or
facing our own Red Sea.
It’s a choice we must make every day. How often do we even think of acknowledging that God is in control of our Fridays, one day at a time, let alone this wall of fear wanting to swallow us up?
Every day is another test of demonstrating our Faith despite the hardship…whatever it is.
Offering you praise is a form of worship despite the pain of it.
Have you acknowledged today that God is above all circumstances and holds the ultimate power of the universe? Or is he this fog out there in the distance that lifts and disappears as the day warms up and we get into the busyness of living?
Is there a sacrifice of praise if the offering costs you nothing?
I remember the story Jesus told about the widow who put in her two mites –
tiny coins that weren’t worth anything. He commended her offering as giving more than all of the others. The offering was not big because of the size of the sum but because of the size of the sacrifice.
She gave everything
Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise –
the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”
When God has blessed us, helped us, and protected us, we feel generous and praise him. But that praise does not cost us anything. It is not a sacrifice.
I know that my Mom was praising God in the middle of her battle for life.
It required more than being ready to go home to be with Jesus.
It was her attitude…her faith, in the middle of it, that set the tone for her life,
even in the pain of her suffering and wanting to leave that broken-down body.
Why, because she not only trusted God for the outcome but for His timing.
Praising God in those times requires personal sacrifice.
It takes an act of the will to lay everything at the altar to God that we don’t completely understand.
“His ways are so far above our ways”.
There are times when God does not come through the way that we thought he would.
The spouse wants to divorce; a child is wayward, and cancer. It can be 1000 things. God seems far away, and praise is the last thing to bubble up from our hearts. We can’t see his goodness, and circumstances scream that he has forgotten us.
When we bring the sacrifice of praise, which we choose to believe, even though life isn’t going the way we think it should, God is still good and can be trusted. Psalm 135:2 – Nahum 1:7
When we choose to praise God in spite of the storms, God is honored, and our faith grows deeper.
And we can walk in God’s peace.
What is the sacrifice of praise worth? Malachi 3:13-17 says,
The sacrifice of praise comes from a humble heart that has been purified by fire. It rises from the spirit that is chosen to honor God despite the pain that life is causing.
Psalm 51:16-17 “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[a] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise”.
What does the sacrifice of praise cost?
Sometimes they cost everything.
Please pray for my mom’s familyand for those others who are carrying their own cross;
I remember a song my mom often listened to.
“Great is thy faithfulness.”
Lord if you want to take me home, I will continually praise you along the way.
“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be on my lips!”
Ps 34: 1-3
“Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever.” ― Rick Warren
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My website to view past devotions is https://fearlesslycourageous.com
I’d Rather Have Jesus/Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Medley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3rCAbdxRI
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