Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Mid-Week Message - Worthy of Praise

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."   Psalm 100  (NIV)

My father worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company during his entire career.  During most of the years that I was growing up, he was an installer.  Back then, the telephone company owned the phones that were in homes.  They would come out and run all the wires and cables, install the phones, repair them if they ever needed it, and then remove them when service was cancelled.  It was hard work that entailed crawling around in insulation filled attics and climbing poles for connections and repairs.  When he came home in the evenings he was tired so we learned not to greet him with a lot of requests but he did enjoy it when we were excited to see him and expressed our love.  

When we phone our friends or family members we generally ask how they are doing and show that we care about them before we begin to talk about the more serious issues.  Most of us have had those in our lives who only approach us when they need something.  Those relationships become strained because we feel that the only reason they want us in their lives is to fulfill their wishes.  Rather than feeling loved and appreciated, we feel that we are being used.  

I mention these things to draw a comparison between our relationships with each other and our relationship with our Father in Heaven.  How do we begin our conversations with Him?  Do we go before Him with praise and adoration or do we immediately begin requesting, or even demanding, that He fulfill our needs or desires?  Of course He wants us to come to Him with whatever is on our hearts.  He loves us beyond our wildest imaginations.  If we search our hearts, how much genuine love is there for Him versus how much we expect from Him?

I memorized Psalm 100 while I was in the fifth grade.  It is a Psalm I return to when I need to be reminded that, more than anything else, God is worthy of our praise.  To enter into His presence is cause for celebration and thanksgiving.  That we are even allowed into His courts is a reason to sing and worship.  He is to be revered and honored.  He is our Creator who loved mankind enough to redeem us, to forgive us of our sins through the blood of His only begotten Son.  Jesus' death made it possible for us to go directly to the Father.  He secured our place in His holy kingdom.  No greater sacrifice shall ever be made and that alone is enough to drop us to our knees when we go to Him in prayer.  

I know that we all have many needs and concerns and I want to assure you that He cares deeply about each and every one of them.  He is not blind to what we are experiencing in our lives.  He understands our pain and our fears.  He has always known what we would each encounter on our journey through our earthly life.  When we pray, we can begin by adoring Him and thanking Him for Who He is, by acknowledging that we are nothing without Him.  Before we lay our burdens at His feet, we can take a few moments to recognize His eternal glory.  As we do that, the Holy Spirit will minister to our own hearts and we will be reminded how temporary our problems are. Simply being in His presence will bring warmth and joy and our troubles will pale in comparison to His might.  We will be reminded that He is in control and it will change us from the inside out.  

May your heart be strengthened and your thoughts and words full of praise.  God bless. 

 




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