Showing posts with label Praise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Praise. Show all posts

Prepared to Praise!!



Today’s Reading: Psalm 63-65, Romans 6

Today’s Reflection:  Psalm 65:1   Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.

Sion, also known as Zion, was at one time a stronghold of the enemies of Israel.  In fact, it was such a stronghold that it was said that it was impossible to conquer at one point by many.  However, King David set his heart upon this stronghold, and with the help of his mighty men, overcame Mount Zion, which afterward was first referred to as the City of David, and later was known as the Temple Mount.  It was in this land or region that King David set up his throne, and where in the Temple they offered up sacrifices in praise to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  

David was a man after God’s own heart.  When he praised God, he held nothing back!  In his prayer to God here in verse one, it is as if he is saying to God, “Upon Your arrival into our city, you shall be greeted and exalted with praises!”  Many times David relied upon God to “show up” in battle to assist him in conquering his enemies.  As was his custom, he would offer up praises to God for what He had done to help David win his battles.  

That said, what I want to focus on today is David’s eager anticipation of God’s arrival.  Today, theologically, we know that we do not wait for God to perform prior to our praising Him.  We offer praise to Him because He is worthy of our praise, regardless of whether or not He may or may not answer prayers specific to our asking.  However, there is something to be said of ANTICIPATING God to “show up” on the scene!  

I do not believe that David was depriving God of His worthy praise at all.  Instead, he was simply illustrating both his faith in the fact that he knew God would soon “arrive” to his city in a time of need, and his willingness to simply let God know in advance that when He arrived, He would be greeted with praise!  That is, He would not be disappointed with His welcome.  

How about you and I?  Are we in a constant state of readiness and in a posture of praise while we eagerly anticipate the timing of His arrival so that we can release our praises unto Him with all of our might?  Or, like the nine lepers who were healed and did not return to give thanks, do we receive His entrance only to forget to offer so much as a thank you for His goodness, faithfulness, and presence in our lives?  May we ALWAYS be PREPARED to PRAISE The Lord!!

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Is Praise and Worship really supposed to be a "Private" matter as some suggest?



Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 12-13, Acts 4:23-37

Today’s Reflection: Nehemiah 12:43 Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.

“…the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.” Is there true JOY in your camp? If not, WHY not? For Jerusalem, this was a time of celebration, as the walls of the city were rebuilt! And why wouldn’t they rejoice? That which was previously destroyed, which both defined and defended Jerusalem’s boundaries and culture, was finally restored. 

Sacrifices were once again being reinstated, and worship was once again set in order. It was indeed a time of celebration. And would you look with me at how GOD made them to rejoice with GREAT joy? 

Dear reader, when the people of God live in obedience to God’s Word, there is victory in the camp, and with that victory comes rejoicing and gladness like none other! It would go then without saying that a people who have no joy and gladness are a people who have no victory because they are not living in true obedience to God’s Word. 

Could it be that the reason many (if not most) churches today do not have God-inspired joy resulting in loud rejoicing and gladness is because we’ve lost the victory due to unconfessed and unrepented sin in the camp? 

Oh, I know that some will dare say that worship should be somber and quiet, but that’s not the kind of worship we see in our text; and again I remind you that this worship was inspired by God Himself! 

No, God’s people should not resort to quiet worship when He has made such an open fuss about us! Did not Christ openly shed His blood for thee? As such, did He not openly let the whole world see His love for you as He hang there on Calvary’s cross? 

Would it be too much for Him to ask us to also openly confess Him before men? Would it be too much for Him to expect us to express outwardly and openly what we have devoted to Him personally and inwardly? Indeed, this is but a REASONABLE service! The Bible even says to let the redeemed of The Lord SAY SO! 

I believe this; when we worship Him in spirit AND in truth, that worship will be so public and outward and unashamed that it will be heard afar off…MAYBE even OUTSIDE the church house…ya think? PRAISE God with me today!


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Volume 2
Entry 170 of 365
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When Church Traditions Just Gotta Go!



Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 17-18, John 3:19-36

Today’s Reflection: 2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

 Contrary to king Azariah, which we wrote about yesterday, king Hezekiah actually followed through and did what was necessary; he began tearing down and removing the high places of Israel. In fact, he was so thorough that he even took a very valuable and historic heirloom to the nation of Israel, namely, Moses’ brazen serpent, and broke it to pieces. 

Imagine how that must have gone over with the people who worshipped it. I point this out only because we need to learn a valuable lesson here. You see, the brazen brass serpent was only symbolic in nature, causing Israel to look to Christ for salvation through its foreshadowing of His work on Calvary which was yet to come. 

Regardless, Israel set it up as an item to which to offer incense, as if there were something divine in the item itself. In other words, they missed the whole point! In fact, they broke God’s commandments by worshipping something that was only meant to point them to the One who was truly to be worshipped. 

This brings me to my point; I wonder just how many Christians today worship their religious systems, methods, denominations, buildings, facilities, styles, preferences, etc. rather than the One it should all be pointing to! 

Too often we get so caught up in a past experience, memory, tradition, method, etc. that we spare no expense to protect and preserve old relics while forsaking our true obligation, which is to worship God in spirit and in truth. 

Here is the lesson: Never make idols of anything that assists in pointing us to Christ. If the teaching aid becomes more important than the great Teacher Himself, then the teaching aid must go, no matter how traditional, valuable, or effective it may have been. 

I’ve literally seen churches more worried about being known for their traditional leaning, than for their commitment to Christ and His kingdom. In essence, Christ wasn’t worshipped, because tradition was more important. 

Let us never make this mistake, and let us always be willing to know when it is necessary to part ways with our past when our past takes our eyes off of Christ Jesus!

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A lesson from Jesus Himself on the significance of praise...

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Day 43 (Category: Praise)

Today’s Reading: Lev. 13, Matt. 26:26-50

Today’s Reflection: Matt.26:30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

Now there’s an image most of us probably don’t think a whole lot about. Get this; Jesus is fixing to go into his greatest hour of agonizing prayer, where he will sweat as it were great drops of blood. He has already warned the disciples that he will soon be betrayed by Judas, and that all of them will be offended because of him the same night. He knows his hour has come. And what do does he do? He sings a hymn with his disciples before going into his hour of betrayal. Wow! Just think of the fortitude, the resilience, the calmness of heart and spirit, and the resolve with which our Lord led them into the valley of the shadow of death. Most of us probably would have been too upset to be singing a song, but Jesus our Lord leads the way with a song of praise! After all, that is what a hymn is. Now, I just can’t help but wonder what they were singing! We might readily imagine it to be something like “Victory in Jesus”, “At Calvary”, or “There’s Room at the Cross for You!”, but it was more likely one of the Psalms, or a song inspired by the Psalms. The specific song and its rhythm and style of music is not as important as is the fact that they were singing in such a dark hour of history. Jesus is fixing to win the greatest spiritual battle that ever has been or ever will be waged for the souls of men while on the cross of Calvary, and his actions give us insight on what it looks like to go into a battle with assurance of certain victory. How does he do that? He sings praises going into the storm! After carefully thinking upon this great truth, I believe we have for years mistakenly and carelessly overlooked its significance. The truth is, God likes to hear us sing praises to His name, and when the praises of God go up, His glory comes down to strengthen us in our battles. If this was a battle strategy for Christ and His disciples, would it not be wise for us to do the same? Here is my challenge for you today; the next time you are facing a difficult time (and every time from here on out for that matter), deliberately sing praises to The Lord going into the storm. Amazing things will happen! God will come to your aid, and certain victory will ensue. Never underestimate the power of praise, because praise will work when nothing else will!
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