Preach A Sermon To Yourself
“Bless the Lord Oh, my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name.” Ps. 103:1
As a child, I loved to play church. I would bring all of my baby dolls to the living room and orderly line them up on the couch. I began as the mommy, with my purse filled with notepads, pencils and treats to keep the children quiet. When they were all taken care of, I then moved to the piano and pretended to play beautiful music. I would quickly stand up directing the congregation in singing a few songs of praise. I especially enjoyed passing the offering plate and dreaming that tons of money was dropped in on that particular Sunday. I would take my seat with the children for a moment to be sure they were not misbehaving, and then I would stand tall to preach a convicting sermon. I really wish I had a video to insert and we could all have a great laugh, but for today you will just have to join me in the memory.
I find that I need to preach to myself often. I am in need of shutting myself off in the pretend church setting and preach the Word that I read, reminding myself of truth. You don’t have to wait until Sunday and you don’t even have to play the part, you just need to preach truth to yourself.
As we sang the song, 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redmond, I could hear the psalmist who originally penned the words preaching to himself.
“Soul: Bless the Lord.
Self: Worship the Lord and sing like never before.
You need to stop everything and bless the Lord.
Think about all you have to praise Him for.
Go ahead, Self, and sing it.”
“Bless the Lord, O, my soul
O, my soul,
Worship His holy name Sing like never before O, my soul, I’ll worship Your holy name.”
We find David preaching and counseling himself again in Psalms 42:5
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Do you need to counsel yourself to put your hope in God? Do you need to tell yourself to praise your God and your Savior? Do you need to count your blessings?
What’s your sermon topic? Go ahead, preach it! It’s OK if someone overhears you. They may be convicted also. Let His truth through your own lips challenge you and lift your eyes above to the One you trust. You will be amazed what happens within your heart.
Don’t wait too long….the children are quiet and behaving. Smile!