Kingdom Pace | Attribute 1: Praise

“Living Upward in a Downward World”

Jun 24, 2025

Let’s be real for a second.

Most mornings, our first thoughts aren’t soaring in worship—they’re sinking in worry.
We wake up to emails, regrets, strained relationships, stiff joints, and spiritual fog.
If you’re like me, sometimes it’s your body that preaches the first sermon of the day:

“You’re not 18 anymore.”

But what if the first thing on your mind wasn’t your problems—
What if it was His presence?

Redefining Pace

When we hear the word pace, we think speed. Urgency. Hustle.
But in the Kingdom of God, pace isn’t about going fast or slow.

It’s about where your movement begins—and who you’re moving with.

The Kingdom Pace is movement out of rest.
It’s the quiet confidence that God’s got this.
It’s following Jesus as He said, “Follow Me”—step by step, not sprint by sprint.

It’s not a performance. It’s a posture.
Not a race to the finish, but a rhythm that flows from heaven.

In Matthew 12:43, Jesus said, “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.”

That’s the enemy’s pace—restless, chaotic, always wandering.

Could it be that some of us are living more like that than we’d like to admit?

If your soul constantly feels like it’s running around with no peace, no stillness, no sense of arrival—maybe it’s time to get off the world’s track… and live by the Kingdom Pace.

Before Jesus Did Anything, He Worshiped

Look at His rhythm. Look at His rest.
Before miracles. Before ministry. Before teaching. He praised.

Matthew 11:25 / Luke 10:21 – “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…”
He breaks into spontaneous worship—not because of what’s happening, but because of who the Father is.
John 11:41 – At Lazarus’s tomb: “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.”
Before the resurrection happened, Jesus thanked God. Worship first. Wonder second.
Luke 22:19 – “He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it…”
On the edge of the cross, Jesus gave thanks. In the shadow of suffering, He worshiped.

Even in Gethsemane—when the weight of sin pressed Him down—He surrendered.
That surrender was praise.

Yāḏāh: Praise with Open Hands

The Hebrew word yāḏāh (יָדָה) means “to give thanks or praise.”
Literally, it means to lift or extend the hands.

It’s a posture of reverent surrender—open hands, open heart, no agenda.
Old Testament saints modeled this:

1 Chronicles 29:13 – “Now, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name.”
Daniel 2:23 – “I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers…”

And Jesus embodied it with every breath.

Illustration: The Moving Walkway

Picture this: you’re at the airport, walking through the terminal. You step onto one of those moving walkways. You're still walking, but you're being carried. There’s effort, but it’s not exhausting. There’s movement, but it’s peaceful.

Meanwhile, others are sprinting to their gates, stressed and scrambling—dragging bags, dodging people, checking the time, panicking that they might miss their flight.

That’s the difference between the world’s pace and the Kingdom Pace.

Jesus lived in rhythm with the Father like that moving walkway—never rushed, never reactive, always on time. He wasn’t carried by chaos. He was carried by communion.

And so are we, when we trust Him.

When we live in praise, we step onto the walkway.
We move through life carried by grace, not anxiety.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding.”

When we fully trust our Good Shepherd—who is sovereign, loving, and in control—we don’t have to live like orphans frantically trying to manage the world.

We don’t live as if we’re the gate agents for our own lives—we follow the One who already holds the ticket, the timing, and the destination.

So slow your soul.
Step on the walkway.
Let praise be your pace.