The Command in Service

Devotionals by Donna Patrick Contributing Writer September 15, 2011

I have often said there are really only two places we can safely praise God: anywhere and everywhere. That pretty much covers it. David tells us to bless the Lord at all times and to always keep a praise in our mouths. Today's meditation, I believe, encourages those in ministry. Whatever your area of ministry may be; be it the music ministry, the preaching ministry, perhaps you serve on your deacon or usher board. Perhaps you have been called to a ministry of prayer in your local church. However, the passage not only speaks to those in ministry, but to "all you works of His"; "all places of His dominion" extends to every corner of the universe because God is the Creator of all.

If we're honest, even the most dedicated servants of God get tired. You love God with all of your heart; you're walking in your calling with a passion that only the Holy Spirit could have placed on the inside of you. There is physical and mental fatigue, but there is also a spiritual weariness from having labored, prayed, endured, and stood on the Word of God, but no tangible change on heaven's part has been effected in our current situation.

In the years I have been involved in the ministries of praise & worship, what I have always found interesting about God is that He does not request we praise Him, but He commands it. He's not asking us to praise Him, He is telling us; and He's adamant about it. If you're reading this and you have grown tired in your service to God, just be still; don't speak, but let God speak to you. And if you do speak, be sure you only allow words to come from your mouth that edify.

He knows your heart, now you listen for what's on His heart.