Gospel.com Blog

Cold, wet and dark are three of my least favorite things, and winter has them in spades. This winter though, I’ve been attempting to find God’s handiwork in the season rather than just being upset that it’s not spring yet. Needless to say, it’s been a very enlightening experience.

Appreciation of Creation is a way in which we worship the Creator. It’s almost trivially easy to do in spring, summer and fall; the colors and smells draw us into a celebratory and worshipful mood. To find praise-worthy elements of winter has meant being purposeful about noticing the world around me.

One quick example: call me dense, but it took me until this winter to really realize how serene a heavy snowfall can be. There are few sensations as relaxing as standing in a freshly blanketed field looking around at the world covered in a white sheen. This year, the snow was even enough to force cities into a rare and well-needed quietude. Just being able to soak in the silence and sit in the awe of the expansiveness of God’s Creation has been wonderfully refreshing.

What about you? Do you take time to thank God for all of the seasons? Is there anything you find praise-worthy about winter?

God deserves our fear. After all, He is the Prime Mover of the Universe. In Him alone is the power to control all of Creation. However, as we read in this devotional from Our Daily Bread, God’s desire isn’t for us to just cower in fear before Him, but to praise Him:

The prophet Isaiah caught a glimpse of this God. In a vision that mingled the wonders of a Messianic kingdom with the promise of a new heaven and earth, he describes One who makes the skies His throne and the earth His footstool (Isa. 66:1).

Yet Isaiah saw something even more overwhelming. He saw a great God who wants His people to be glad and rejoice forever in what I create (65:18). In response, lets bow before Him in humble adoration (66:2).

Astoundingly, despite holding all the power in the world, God chooses to delight and please us with all that He does.

Do you find it easy to praise God for the good things He’s given us? What in Creation draws you to praise Him?

When was the last time you praised God in another language?

In high school and college I took a few Spanish classes, which means that I know just enough to know that there’s a whole lot I don’t know about the language. My brother’s family attends a bilingual congregation that sing in both Spanish and English. The few times I’ve worshiped there have shown me three things:

The only thing that’s worse than me speaking in Spanish is me speaking in Spanish.

It’s hard for me to praise God while fumbling with unfamiliar words and grammar.

For native Speakers, Spanish is the way to sing praises to God.

And just like for me it’s easier to praise God in my language, it’s probably true across the wrold. It’s because of our distinct cultures that ministries like Farsi Praise exist. It’s easy to forget about that little bit from the bible concerning every tongue, tribe and nation.

Farsi Praise’s is:

dedicated to train worship leaders around the globe, provide extensive worship resources, encourage an innovative worship culture and spread Christ’s love through praise and worship among Farsi-speaking Muslims and Christians worldwide.

It’s a lofty goal, but a necessary one. You can check out what they’re doing to connect to Farsi speaking people on their site, jump over to their artist page, or jump in and try some Farsi songs with the tag “Praise”.