I Will....Will I?

"I will look up for there is none above You; I will bow down to tell You that I need You...I will look back and see that You are faithful; I look ahead believing You are able..."—Elevation Worship

“I will” is perhaps the highest, most radical form of praise because its foundation is nothing more than faith in knowing what and Who you've come to believe is true. It is a head-on collision with all the negative events, conversations, and situations that work overtime to scream doubt and fear in your ear. 

“I will” praise doesn’t merely mouth words of a song and call it a day—it chooses to grab on to the fact that just as God has proven Himself faithful and loving time and time again, He is just as active and faithful right now, even in the midst of a day, a week, a season in which you really want to “press delete and restart.”

It's good to know that even though the spring pollen has showered a blanket of sleepiness, "I will" praise is still effective when quietly internalized. But it is most potent, and only God knows why, when verbalized—whether with a bunch of other people this morning in church, or alone at the kitchen table waiting for the java to kick in, or cruising down the road with all windows down. Something mysteriously freeing, faith-building, healing, and even contagious happens when we choose to look up, trust, and praise the One whose love for us knows no bounds—or "bad" days.

For all who come this way today, let the praises ring...

"My heart is committed, O God: I will sing

I will sing praises with great affection

And pledge my whole soul to the singing.

Wake up the harp and lyre, and strum the strings;

I will stir the sleepy dawn from slumber!

I will stand and offer You my thanks, Eternal One,

in the presence of others;

I will sing of Your greatness among the nations,

no matter where I am

For Your amazing love soars overhead far into the heavens;

Your truth rises up to the clouds where passing light bends.

O God, that You would be lifted up above the heavens in the hearts of Your people

Until the whole world knows Your glory."

—Psalm 108:1-5, The Voice

[ADAPTED FROM  3-2-14]