Pausing to Praise

By Esti-Marie Williams, London, England

Scripture Reading

Psalm 145

Let’s start by reminding yourself of who your God is and what He has done… who He is to you personally and how He has worked in your life for your good.

Read Psalm 145 (NLT) 

(Feel free to highlight all the qualities of God in this Psalm alone.)

Our God is AMAZING! He is AWESOME! When I think about who He is and all that He has done for His people throughout history and generations of testimonies of changed lives, I am blown away. I am inspired and have faith that God can do anything. When I consider how God has worked in my own life and answered specific prayers, shown me grace and kindness beyond what I deserve, I can only but feel gratitude. 

God created us to worship and praise Him. To be in awe of Him alone. He made the world around us to reflect His glory and to remind us of who He is (Romans 1:19-20 & Psalm 95:1-7a). The more in awe we are of our God, the bigger He becomes in our hearts and minds, the smaller everything else will become in comparison. God is able to put everything in our lives into perspective. He is the only one who can give us true peace, contentment, satisfaction and refreshment, regardless of our circumstances, situations or seasons of life. God is worthy and deserving of all our awe and praise, all of the time. 

So here is the thing I can personally find hard: pausing… pausing, in order do the very thing I know is better and more refreshing for my soul than anything else.

I am a doer by nature. Getting things done makes me feel like I have achieved something, and so I am usually very intentional about the things I need to get done from one day to the next. I am also in a particularly busy season of life with 2 young children (one almost 8 years and the other 4 years old). I have gotten in the habit of being busy—busy from morning till evening with what I would consider good and important things; things a Wife, a Mother and a Disciple of Jesus needs to be busy with. 

One of the many blessings of having spiritually minded sisters and friends in my life, especially those who have gone through the season in life I am now navigating through, is hearing their wisdom and encouragement to be intentional in pausing. Not just pausing to watch a good movie or treat myself to something nice (which can be good and helpful) – but more than that, to be purposeful in Pausing to Praise and connect with my Creator.

You may not be like me in character at all, and pausing in the midst of a very full schedule might come more naturally to you. Or you might even desire more activity and adventure in your current season. Whatever your nature or season, I believe one of Satan's biggest traps we can walk into as women is getting busy with life, whether physically, in our heads mentally, or our hearts emotionally. We can get so distracted by things around us and also within us, that God can become small and the things that worry and stress us out can become like mountains that seem overwhelming and exhausting to even think about getting over, through or around. Satan can deceive us by drawing our focus so much to these things, that it can become the centre of our worlds, what is at the forefront of our minds and the most pressing thing in our hearts. They can often steal God's rightful and created place of awe and praise in our lives. 

I am inspired by the the following passage as I continue to grow in this spiritual discipline of 'Pausing to Praise':

“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19 (NIV)

This Samaritan man's life was changed by this short, but life-altering interaction with Jesus. When he noticed what Jesus had done for him, he was compelled and chose to pause, turn back and give praise to God out of gratitude. Praising God was of greater value and of more importance than the amazing prospect of regaining his life back through the healing gift Jesus gave him. I believe this man left Jesus not just physically healed that day, but also healed within his soul. 

If we were to choose to pause more intentionally, perhaps we would have the opportunity to notice and see how God is working for our good, and consider what He has done in the past that will help us trust Him with the present and future. If we were to choose to pause more to consider our AWE-inspiring God, it might compel us more to continually turn back to Him, like this man, to praise Him out of gratitude for His mercy and grace extended towards us.  

Jesus noticed this man's gratitude and praise and commended him for it. May we imitate his heart, gratitude and praise towards God for all He has done for us through Jesus. 

Questions to consider

1. What are the things that stop you from making ''pausing to praise” a spiritual discipline in your life?
2. What are the things in your life you can praise God for?
3. How can you be more intentional, in your daily or weekly schedule, to purposefully create extended times to Pause and Praise your God?

Today I will

• Write down 3-5 scriptures that remind you of who God says He is.
• Write down all the ways God has worked for your good.
• Plan to pause (outside of your daily quiet time) to praise God with this in mind. 
• Create some time this week to praise God! Go to your favourite spot with God; arrange childcare; put your tasks on hold. Fight to be still in your head and in your heart and just be with your God praising and exalting Him. 

About the Author 

Esti-Marie Williams is a member of the South East region of the London Church. She is a South African, which is where she became a disciple of Jesus, in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2005 as a student. The United Kingdom has been her home since 2007, where she lives with her husband John of 12 years and their two children, William (7) and Ariana (4). She is a Physiotherapist (Physical Therapist) and enjoys adventures in nature, family times and making memories with those she loves.