The Holy Spirit recently convicted me of my sin of hidden resentment. I wrote my words down in my journal as I said them. “Lord, I ask you to forgive me for the emotional energy I have spent by grousing about something I have no control over.”

Do you ever grouse, complain, whine, grumble, murmur, bellyache, object, protest, or gripe? It displeases the Lord. Repurpose means to reorient, or give something a different way of expression. How do we healthfully use our emotional energy? We glorify the Lord with it.

When we start to complain in our mind, instead we can immediately reroute it to praise. “I praise you Lord, that you are in control of this situation. I praise you because you are trustworthy, and I can trust you now to work this out for my good.”

Praise lifts our thoughts through truthful affirmation, rather than lowering them through negative defamation. We praise the Lord’s character, rather than defame someone’s actions that we don’t agree with.

Defaming one who is made in God’s image, even only in our thoughts, displeases the Lord. It is a form of cursing. Guaranteed, that if it is in our thoughts, it will come out of our mouth unexpectedly. It is like spiritual slander.

Complaining is an expression of buried unresolved resentments. It expends a lot of negative emotional energy that diverts God’s purpose for our lives. We are created to praise him. Complaining is Satan's counterfeit to praise.

We must fight against this insidious way that we have gotten caught up in. We do that through renewing our mind with hisife-giving truth. When that truth becomes our daily experience, it will influence and empower our thought processes.

Please forgive us, Father, for our hidden resentments that manifest as complaining. Help us to keep our focus on you, and praise you even when things do not go our way. You alone are in control of all things. Amen.

Additional Resource: Praising God in Hard Times



Tags: Daily Devotional Psalm 146
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