Praise the LORD!......

Psalm 150  “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!”

Heavenly Father,

This is the final day of praise in this study that was based on verses in the Psalms.  I hope it will never be the final day of praise for me personally.  Jumping around in the Psalms for the last year has been a good exercise to focus my mind and heart on praising you.  We are created for praise.  That seems odd and confusing to us, but scripture assures us that it is true.  We should praise you with our voices, singing songs of thanksgiving and adoration.  We should praise you with our thoughts even if our voices are silent.  Our thoughts should be centered on you and your will in all situations.  Our thoughts should be of kindness, love, peace, compassion, joy, forgiveness.  Just as we have seen you love, we should also love others.  Our thoughts should lead to words that praise you and words that please you.  Our words should speak of our heart tuned to yours.  You spoke “the Word”, and Jesus Christ was incarnate.  Jesus came to earth to save us, to deliver us from sin.  Jesus came to show perfect love and to lead us to you, our Father.  Our words should reflect his presence in all we say.  We should praise you most with our actions.  Thoughts and words lead to action.  What we do, how we live, shows how much we really love you.  That can be a frightening thought!  So much that I do and much that I don’t do show my failure to praise you with my actions.  My life should praise you every day.  I love the final statement of this Psalm and have heard it sung in a beautiful song of praise:  “Let everything that has breath, praise the LORD!”  All creation praises you!  All creation bows before Jesus Christ!  All creation sings, “Glory to God in the highest!” and “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” and “Be exulted, O God, above the heavens let thy glory be over all the earth!  All praise to you forever and ever! Amen.

God's word revealed to us.....

Psalm 147:19-20  “He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.  He has done this for no other nation, they do not know his law.” (NIV)

John 15:20  “If you obey my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

Heavenly Father,

Verse 20 seems incomplete without verse 19, so I added it.  The most important part seems to be “He has revealed his word”.  To me references to “his word” always point to Jesus.  He was “The Word” revealed to the world.  You revealed Jesus, the promised Messiah, to the nation of Israel, as you had promised.  We tend to think of Israel, as a nation, as rejecting him-----even to the point of crucifying him.  But the early Christians, the men and women who spread Jesus’ message to the world were mostly Jews to begin with.  Not all of Israel rejected him.  Today things are the same----some embrace him and others reject him.  We all make a choice.  You revealed Jesus as the culmination of your plan to save the world.  The Jews had been a faithful people, carrying their faith from generation to generation, following their God.  You gave the law to them, but no man can keep the law perfectly.  You replaced the endless sacrifices with one final sacrifice to atone for all sin.  Jesus---God’s love revealed, The Word, the Way, the Truth, the Life.  This Word can be obeyed.  This Word can save us where as humans we fail.  This Word stands between our sins and our holy Father.  Jesus says: “If you obey my commands you will remain in my love”.  The command that follows is, “love each other as I have loved you.”  We can all love others.  Love isn’t perfect, but it keeps trying.  Love is showing Jesus’ unselfish devotion to everyone.  Love is giving our greatest gift---knowledge of Jesus ----to everyone we know.  Christ “remains” in us.  Through him we can obey his commands.  Jesus came to make us one with him and the Father.  We abide in his love, his peace, his salvation.  Thank you, Lord!  Amen.

Praise the Lord of the Harvest....

Psalm 147:7-8  “Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.  He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.”

John 4:35  “Open your eyes, look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest!  Others have done the hard work and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Heavenly Father,

These 2 passages work together to show a picture of your great bounty and provision.  One extols your earthly splendors and the harvest of grain, and the other points to the spiritual harvest of souls waiting to be gathered in .  We give thanks for all you provide!  The orderliness of your creation is always evident---first the clouds, than the rain, and finally the grasses and harvest.  Nature works in harmony when man doesn’t interfere.  We know that we can depend on the clouds, and rain, and harvest because you have provided them and set them in motion.  God is good!  Your creation is good!  We sing your praises!

Jesus came to provide a different harvest---a harvest of souls.  His work was to assure that all may be saved and harvested.  The fields are ripe and waiting!  Souls have been saved and made clean and good like all things God has made!---but---even though Christ has done the saving work, we still must do the harvesting, by telling of Christ’s work and inviting souls to come and be harvested.  We need to open our eyes and become aware of the work to be done around us.  Jesus Christ came so that no one might be lost.  This saving provision of your love is the greatest news ever given and yet we keep it to ourselves.  We need to go out into the fields and gather in the harvest of God’s love.  Help me to be a more effective harvester and to not fear the work.  If my eyes are on you and I truly know and believe the good news in my heart, than your work will be done and the harvest will be gathered in!  In the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the harvest.  Amen.

It is good to sing our praises to God....

Psalm 147:1  “Praise the LORD!  How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! (NIV)

Acts 3:8  “……went with them into the temple courts walking, jumping, and praising God.”

Heavenly Father,

More and more I’m drawn to praise music in a worship service as well as at home.  Praise music is simple, scripture based, and God-directed.  Even through there are many old hymns I love, they don’t always seem to praise you or to be very God-directed.  Often they seem to be more a reflection of my choice or intent or reaction to you. That isn’t bad, but it isn’t praise.  Here we are told that it is good, pleasant and fitting to praise you, our God.  I do feel good when I praise you and it is a pleasant experience and it certainly is fitting to do it.  Praise is a response to your goodness and love.  Praise acknowledges your supremacy, your authority, and your faithfulness.  Praise says things like: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty” and “Our God reigns” and “Our God is an awesome God” and “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” and “Hallelujah” and “Let there be glory and honor and praises” and “O LORD how majestic is your name” and “Bless the LORD” and “What a mighty God we serve” and on and on.

The verse in Acts is from the healing by Peter and John of a crippled man.  The man is so full of praise and thanks that he follows them into the temple courtyard and walks, jumps, and praises God.  Walking and jumping were things he couldn’t do before and now he uses this tremendous gift of freedom and strength to praise the One who gave him the gift of healing.  Our gift from you is even greater---you have healed our crippled spirits and removed our sinful death sentence. How fitting it is to praise you!  What joy!  What lightness of heart!  What freedom, we too have received!  “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound”!  Praise him, praise him, heaven and earth resound!  Glory to God in the highest!  Worthy is the Lamb! Amen.

Our God deserves our praise....

Psalm 146:10  “The LORD shall reign forever; your God, O Zion, through all generations.  Alleluia.”

Daniel 3:26  “Blessed are you and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and glorious forever is your name.”.

Heavenly Father,

Your reign, O LORD, is forever.  It will never come to an end.  You are the One God, the Almighty, Yahweh, Jehovah, I AM!  You are our God and we are your people.  I can say “my God!” with confidence, and my children and my children’s children, and all generations after me will also say, “my God!”  You are the God for all generations, for all time, forever.  The other verse for today says, “Blessed are you and praiseworthy…and glorious forever is your name.”  Three words---blessed, praiseworthy, glorious---to describe your name.  I’m not sure if I can define them differently or not.  Blessed is “true happiness”----a state of deep inner happiness and righteousness.  You are blessed because you alone are righteous.  Your righteousness and holiness beget your blessedness.  We are blessed if we remain in harmony with your will for us and find a relationship based in your love for us.  Praiseworthy states the obvious---you deserve praise.  You deserve honor, glory, thanks, praise, and so much more.  Praise is our affirmation, commitment, honor, love, thanks, appreciation, joy recognition and more all rolled into one thought directed to our God.  You are worthy of more than we can imagine or provide in the way of praise.  Glorious is always hard for me to define.  Glory describes your righteousness, your worthiness, your very being.  I think of glory and holy as being similar.  You are One of a kind, extraordinary, perfect, pure, indescribable in human language.  Our blessed, praiseworthy, glorious God reigns forever and ever!  Amen.

Sing a new song to the LORD!.......

Psalm 144:9  “O God, I will sing a new song to you with a 10-string lyre I will chant your praise.”

Matthew 21:9  “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!”

Heavenly Father,

Singing a new song and chanting your praise are indications of a new heart and a changed attitude.  We have “put on the new” and been “born again”.  We have looked at ourselves and seen our sinfulness and our self-reliance and pride.  We seek to find escape from this life.  Our prayer is: “Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me”.  A clean heart has to be recreated.  The old one is still there and you must rip it out and give us a new one.  Our filthiness, sinfulness is more than skin deep.  We cant just wash our hands and it is gone.  It is a deep seated nature within us----it is in our heart, the seat of life.  To wash it clean requires more than water----it requires blood from a sinless lamb.  The blood of Christ, the Lamb that was slain for all the world, is what washes us clean.  Our natural reaction is “yuck”----I don’t see how blood can wash anything clean!  It is one of your greatest mysteries.  We don’t truly understand how or why it was necessary for Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb to die for us.   We don’t understand why you would let someone die, even expect and will for someone to die, as the means to save the rest of us.  It was a terrible price to pay!  Maybe that is the reason we remember it, why we can’t get the idea out of our heads, why we keep coming back to it seeking answers.  It is a picture of perfect love---grace---God’s love for us.  You became the solution to the world’s problem through your incarnate son, Jesus Christ.   When we come to you in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, with his blood cleansing us, we are blessed.  As Christ was blessed so are we now blessed!  What better reason for singing a “new song” -----from a new heart----and for chanting our praise every day!  Hallelujah, Hosanna, Praise the Lord!  Amen.

Amen....amen....amen.....

Psalm 106:48  “Praise to the LORD…..from everlasting to everlasting, let all the people say “amen”!

1 Peter 4:11  “……so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory and the power forever and ever, amen.”

Heavenly Father,

“Let all the people say “amen”.  Amen means “so be it” and usually we find it at the end of our prayers.  Amen is more than just a final syllable to show the end of something-----it is an affirmation, an agreement, a nodding of the head.  Amen indicates that what was said or done is right “on target”.  For all people to say amen to anything would be pretty amazing.  For all people to say amen to praising God would be amazing and phenomenal.  This would signify a harmony and rightness never seen since the Garden of Eden.  This is what heaven will be----one big “amen” of praise to You, the Father and Creator and to Jesus Christ our Savior and Bridegroom, and to the Holy Spirit, Giver of Truth. 

Eternal praise.  Eternal “amen”. Eternal peace and harmony in God’s love.  This eternal praise will come about “through Jesus Christ”.  Jesus Christ will draw all people and act for God in all things.  He is the link, the foundation, the Cornerstone, the Door, the Way, the Truth, the Life!  To say “amen” to an eternity of praise to our God, we must first say “amen” to the person of Jesus Christ and the salvation brought about through him.  Grace leads the way to “amen”.  I keep thinking of the song that repeats “amen” over an over as the chorus.  This is our eternal praise!  God doesn’t need us to agree with him----he is always right----but he desires for us to be with him in eternal peace and this means eternal praise and eternal righteousness, and eternal live and our eternal “amen” through Jesus Christ.  Thanks and praise to our God, Amen!

Praising you forever!....

Psalm 104:34  “I will sing praise to the LORD all my life, I will sing praise to my God as long as I live!” (NIV)

Hebrews 13:21  “May he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever.” (NIV)

Heavenly Father,

“I will sing praise to the LORD all my life!”  This can be divided into three phrases of importance.  First phrase: “I will sing praise”.  We sing praise in response to all you’ve done for us.  We sing to release the joy we have found in you.  We sing joyously in obedience to your will.  We sing as a form of praise worship, lifting our voices to the holy mountain where you dwell.  Our whole life sings to you!

Second phrase:  “…..to the LORD”.  Our praise is directed to you alone, our God and Father, our Creator.  It is directed to your Son, Jesus Christ who saves us.  It is directed to the Holy Spirit who resides within us and enables our words of worship and praise and gives us understanding and power to know and to serve you.  We praise the One we know….our God, the Almighty “three in 1”, King of kings, LORD or lords, Prince of Peace!

Third phrase:  “….all my life”.  This is not a one-time thing but a continual praising and glorifying and living for you.  All my life as in “forever and ever” and all my life as in “every part of my life.”  This is complete, this is on-going, this is now and in the next life.  The psalmist states it again----“I will sing praise to my God as long as I live!”  Hallelujah!  The verse in Hebrews is our commitment:  “may he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ.”  His work is what pleases him and obeys his well, and it is done in us through the power of Christ Jesus.  We can’t do it ourselves, but Christ in us can.  We can’t obey your will perfectly, but Christ did.  Now, he works in us.  All for your glory forever and ever.  We pray this petition that he might be able to do his work through us.  He is the potter we are the clay.  Thank you, LORD!  Praise to your holy name!  Forever and ever! Amen.

What will heaven be like?.....

Psalm 84:4  “Happy they who dwell in your house!  Continually they praise you.” (NAB)

“Blessed are those who dwell in your house.  They are ever praising you.” (NIV)

1 Cor. 2:9  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Heavenly Father,

Heaven is such a question mark for us.  We have very little idea of what to expect and we can’t begin to understand most of the glimpses we do find in the scriptures.  One that is mentioned over and over is that we will be “ever praising you”.  There are descriptions of the angels who hover around the throne singing continually “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come.”  We have trouble conceiving of what it must be like to continually do anything, let alone continually sing!  We aren’t even sure we would like that!  Our human minds can’t compute the eternal, the holy, the heavenly.  We need to concentrate on the fact that we are assured that we will be “blessed” because we are there.  We can concentrate on knowing that you have “prepare” this for those who love you.  Numerous other passages assure us that it will be wonderful beyond anything we can imagine.  The most important aspect is that it will be “home” forever more. Our Father will be there waiting.  Jesus will be there waiting.  The Holy Spirit will be there waiting.  We will be welcomed. We will have a room in God’s mansion.  All we wonder will be known at the proper time.  We will be in your presence!  All will be right and perfect and holy.  We will “dwell in your house” forever.  Evil will be gone.  Sin and death removed.  Righteousness and holiness eternally there.  What was seen only in part will be made known fully.  The Lamb will be on the throne and the party of celebration will be at hand.  What a homecoming to look forward to!  What a home to seek and long for!  May I forever praise you and dwell in your presence!  Amen.

God remembers his promises......

Psalm 105:42-43  “For he remembered his holy word to his servant Abraham.  And he led forth his people with joy; with shouts of joy, his chosen ones.”

Jude 21  “Persevere in God’s love, and welcome the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which leads to life eternal.”

Heavenly Father,

“For he remembered his holy word (his promise)”.  You make many promises in your words of scripture and you always keep them----“remember” them.  Most of us make rash promises daily and forget half of them.  Not because we are uncaring or thoughtless---usually our intentions are good----but because we are human and weak and forgetful.  Your memory is infinite, just as everything else about you!  If you say it, you mean it, and you follow through.  When we study scripture and read your promises we have great hope because we know that these promises are backed by an Almighty God with an awesome memory who has proven in the past to be faithful.  Your faithfulness has been sung by countless people in the great hymns of the church----“Great is thy Faithfulness”…..”Standing on the Promises!”   We have been “led forth with joy” based on your promise to Abraham.  We are a chosen people who have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ.  All are chosen, but we too must choose.  The gift is there----grace, forgiveness----and we just have to open it up.  Your faithfulness has provided the “lamb to be slain” for the entire world’s sin.  It is finished!  Jesus Christ has saved us.  We are his!  If we “persevere in God’s love and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ” he will “bring us to eternal life”.  We don’t come on our own----we are brought by Christ.

“Send forth your Light and your Truth

Let them guide me

Let them bring me to your holy mountain

To the place where you dwell!”  Ps 43:3

Thank you, Heavenly Father for keeping  your promises to us and for your faithfulness in all things.  Amen.