Worship.

August 18
	And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord: Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
	Ephesians 5:18-20
When I feel things aren’t going very well, I’m tempted to lose heart. And when this happens, I know there’s only one thing to do: speak to myself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.  No wonder David was discouraged. He and his men returned from fighting the Amalekites only to discover that their town had been burned by their enemies, their wives and kids taken hostage.  ‘This is your fault, David,’ said his men. ‘You took us away from here.’ And so angry were they that they wanted to kill him.  So what did David do? He encouraged himself in the Lord (I Samuel 30:6). He sang songs. He wrote psalms. He began to praise and worship. As a result, he rallied his men once again and they recovered all that was lost.  Had David remained in his depressed state, not only would he have been rendered ineffective, but the women and children would have remained captive. And so will you until you begin to worship. God’s will is that you be free — and nothing will free you from the tyranny of your own situation like worship. You will be profoundly blessed and amazingly productive whenever you give thanks to God for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Days Journey" by Pastor Jon. "A Days Journey" is a collection of 365 short devotions from the New Testatment.