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Praise The Lord Your God!

by Steve Countryman  
11/11/2014 / Christian Living

Psalm 95:1-7 "1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Praise the LORD."

Psalm 150:1-6 "1 Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4 praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, 5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD."
Psalm 22:3 "But You are holy, O You who inhabits the praises of (your people)."
There is one area that the majority of us Christians fall short upon doing. First let me say that the examples that I will be sharing I have been guilty of. I guess that makes me experienced at failing. We Christians fail to praise and worship God like we should. First you have the Christians who never attend church or they may attend twice a year at Easter and Christmas. They have all the excuses why they don't go but the bottom line is that they don't go! They say that they believe in the Bible as the Word of God but don't follow the teachings or commands of the Bible.

Hebrews 10:24-25 "24 And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities, 25 Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching." Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Corporate worship, worshiping together! Believe me when I say that if you don't have the time to go to church then you are not making the time to praise and worship your God.

The next group of Christians are the ones who do go to church but see praise and worship time of the service as only the prelude to the upcoming sermon. They put in their time singing as required but only honoring God with their lips while their minds are on what they forgot to do before leaving home, the game that they'll be missing, what they are going to have for lunch or what "so and so" is wearing.

Then there is the last group. These are the Christians who feel that they are Holier then most Christians because they really "get into" worship. They clap and sing and raise their hands in worship but they do so with ulterior motives. They believe that if they praise and worship God that He will give them what they want their way. They make their worship a conditional praise. Doing so only to get something from God in return.

John 4:23-24 "23 Yet the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeks such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth." God desires those who will worship Him whole heartedly, honestly, without conditions and terms, openly and truthfully, Spirit to spirit worship. Not caring about those around you who are watching. Not caring what others think of your style of worship. Not being bashful or ashamed to be seen worshipping your God. David praised and worshipped the Lord with dancing and singing with all of his might and strength for miles in the road as the Ark of the Covenant was being brought into Jerusalem. The Ark represented God's presence in the Old Testament. We have Jesus in us always so God reveals His presence directly to us when we praise Him.

Acts 16:22-26 "22 The crowd rose up together against them. And the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them. 23 After they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely. 24 Having received such an order, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's shackles were loosened."
The Lord your God is totally worthy of all of your BEST worship, praise and honor. He is worthy of this everyday because He is God! In the Old Testament during the religious feasts, praising and worshipping God was a week long event and they held seven of them a year. God is worthy of your praise and worship when you feel like it and when you don't. He is worthy of it anytime of day. He is worthy of it on good days and on bad ones. He is worthy of it when you get a raise or get fired. He is worthy of it while it is storming and on clear days. He is worthy of it when you are beaten and mistreated for the sake of the Gospel. Jehovah God is worthy of your praise and worship all the time not just twenty minutes on Sunday mornings.

When you praise and worship your God you open the door of your heart and invite the presence of God to come in, "entering into worship", "God inhabits the praises of His people." If you ever watch any of the many Benny Hinn crusades you will notice the line of people who come up on stage to give their testimony about how Jesus healed them during the service. This was done during the praise and worship part of the service. Praising and worshipping God is an intimate time spent between just you and God. You get to worship Jehovah God while enjoying His presence. Loving on your God as His love is revealed to you. Surrendering your life, cares, worries, troubles and problems over to your God as part of your praise and worship to Him. Acknowledging that Jesus is Lord of your life as you worship Him in Spirit and in truth. You will find peace, joy, comfort, strength, calmness, protection, deliverance, healing, restoration, enlightenment, wisdom and revelation while praising and worshipping your God.

Praise and worship Him in song and in prayer with an "attitude of gratitude"! Amazing how excited we can get when our favorite team is winning or our favorite performer is on stage but how we struggle with getting excited about how great our God is? "Praise him with timbrel and dancing." Corporate worship in church is important but doesn't Jehovah God the creator of all things deserve your praise daily? If you love your God why not show it to Him in your praise and worship?

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