Encouragement, God's Promises, Joy, Love, Music, Praise, Thankfulness, Worship

As Long as I Have Breath

Today has been a day of worship.  This past Sunday our church sang a song called, “As Long as I Have Breath.”  That song has been in my heart and mind all day!  As I sat down to do my Bible Journaling, I couldn’t get that song out of my mind, and I was asking God what I should do for my journaling.  We are talking about Embracing Spiritual Disciplines this month, and I just couldn’t get past the worship and praise. I looked at the Spiritual Disciplines my friend, Tracie, had shared with our journaling group, and I found that worship was one of the Disciplines.  I found a verse in my favorite book of the Bible, Hebrews, that talks about praising the Lord as a sacrifice of praise.  Hebrews 13:15 says, “Therefore, through him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.” (CSB)

My heart is so full to overflowing today.  I’ve been playing this song over and over.  If you’ve never heard this song, the lyrics are:

“As long as I have breath, I will praise you Lord!  As long as I can sing, I will sing your praise!  Wherever you lead me, I will follow You!  As long as I have breath, I will praise You Lord!”

While this song was playing over and over in my mind, my phone rang, and I received some awesome news!  I could see the hand of God in a situation my husband and I have been praying about, and it looks like things are going in the direction we have wanted, and my heart is so full of joy. 

Worship is listed as a Discipline, I believe, because some of us just don’t know how to cultivate worship in our lives, especially if music isn’t something that is not a gift or talent we have. We don’t worship God just when things are going well, we also are to worship Him even during trying times. Our verse says, “let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise.”  We are to worship God in everything and at all times, even when we don’t feel like it, and in any form, we can.

God deserves our praises!  He provided a way for us to be saved from our sins by offering His Son as a sacrifice to pay our sin debt, He loves us even when we are unlovable, He brings peace in the midst of the storm, He fills our hearts with joy, He is our everything! 

When we think of all He has done for us, our hearts are filled with “joy unspeakable, and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8 KJV)  Worship is also an expression of our love for Him, our adoration and reverence for Him.  Even in the difficult times, we can lift our voices in reverence and praise because of Who He is!

Are our hearts filled with adoration for Him?  Do we continually offer a sacrifice of praise?  There are days when it truly becomes a sacrifice to lift our voices in worship and praise to God.  Those are the days when we may feel as if we have been abandoned, even though He has promised to never “leave thee or forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5 KJV)  When we realize He keeps His promises, we know we can trust Him, and that causes our hearts to be filled with joy in knowing He loves us and will never fail us, and we can worship Him with everything inside of us.  Then we can say, “As long as I have breath, I will praise You Lord.”

Published by

Donna Knuth Rice

I am trying a blog for the first time in my life, and frankly, I feel like I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing! But, here goes. I work at a Christian Television network in the Correspondence Department, where I write letters and emails to our viewers, pray with them for their needs, and send materials they request. I am a Christian. I was saved at the age of 11 during a youth meeting at my church. My pastor led me to the Lord, and to say the least, my life has been an adventure. I am a widow. My late husband, Allen, passed away after 34 1/2 years of marriage. He had been sick the last seven years of his life, and it was a struggle, for him and for me. We met as part of a singing group that was affiliated with a Christian Radio station, and we sang together all through our lives together. We both worked in television and radio all through our married life, mostly for Christian stations. Besides singing I also play flute. I had the luxury of having parents who started out as music teachers...so music was in our house constantly. Some people describe me as being a loud-mouthed lime type...can't disagree with that. I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth more times than I can count! I also have a tendency to say exactly what's on my mind...which is why I get myself in so much trouble! LOL! Trust me, that's something me and God have been working on for a very long time. I have no children here on earth, although I have a baby in heaven. My baby here is my dog Jack. He's a black lab/ chow mix. He's a big boy....thinks he's a lap dog! Can't think of much else to say. The reason I started this blog is because a few months ago in church, a guest pastor came and delivered a message, and when he asked for those of us who wanted prayer to come forward, I did. When he came to me he asked me if I did any journaling. I told him no 'cause I wasn't very good at it. He told me to start, and prophesied over me that my journal thoughts would impact other people. I wasn't sure just how I was to go about doing this. In fact, I was a little hesitant at first. I started journaling at home, and our assistant pastor's wife asked me to submit something for our Senior newsletter. I didn't the first edition, but something I had heard on Christian radio a long time ago and has stuck with me all these years, came to mind so I submitted an article. That article will be my first post. I don't claim to have all the answers, and my thoughts may seem a little "out there", but I feel God has been prodding me to do this, and so here I am. I hope what I post will bring encouragement, and "Something to Think About".

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