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"Then he consulted with the people and appointed some to sing for the Lord and some to praise the splendor of his holiness. When they went out in front of the armed forces, they kept singing: Give thanks to the Lord, for his faithful love endures forever."
(2 Chronicles 20:21)
Pre-game speeches are so inspiring to watch, and they get me fired up! I love when a team gives access to the camera crew and you get to hear a player or a coach give an inspiring, motivating speech! I have seen many of these pre-game speeches and have always wanted to do one. It turns out they are much harder than I thought.
Being at DBU for a couple of years and playing on the tennis team, I was asked to give some pre-game speeches. They weren't good. In fact, I am honest enough and man enough to admit that they were downright terrible, and you will not be seeing them on ESPN ever!
If people were to have recorded pre-game speeches back in the days of 2 Chronicles, Jehoshaphat's pre-game speech and antics would go down in history as some of the best ever! What Jehoshaphat did was unconventional and perhaps even comical, maybe especially to the enemy: he commanded some of his people to sing.
Why did he want them to sing? It was simple: to praise and give thanks to the Lord. God is worthy of our praise and worship in both the tough times and the difficult times.
Jesus died on the cross for our sins, rose again on the third day, triumphant over sin and death, and has given us a way to have a relationship with Him! How AMAZING is that! He is worthy of praise ALL the time because "His faithful love endures forever"!
It is easy to praise God in the good times, but what about the difficult and the obscure times? What about when times are tough and challenging? What about the times when the last thing you feel like doing is singing and praising God in that moment or at that location?
Today, I want to challenge you to take a praise break and sing to the Lord! Jehoshaphat commanded his troops (men ready to do war) to sing praise to God because He is worthy! God is still worthy! So today, take a moment and have yourself a praise break, because "His faithful love endures forever"!
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