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There’s
something about praising the Lord,
that sets the stage for worship. Not only does praise set the stage for
worship; it also elevates the worship experience. It can take the worship
experience to a higher level. A level so high, that once you get up there its
so good being there that you don’t want to come down off of the mountain top.
Initiating
praise, my brothers and sisters is always the responsibility of the believer. God will never initiate praise. The
reason is, He doesn’t have to. To do
so would mean He’d have to praise Himself or praise us. That won’t happen
because God does not have to praise Himself, and we are not worthy of any
praise from God. He does not have to be glad that He has done something great for us.
The
ones who should be glad, are the ones who have received something from Him. If He has never done anything for you, you don’t owe Him any praise. But watch this, if you
have eyes to see, ears to hear, legs to walk, a tongue to talk, that’s enough
reason for you to give the Lord some
praise. Even if you couldn’t see, or if you couldn’t hear, or if you couldn’t
walk even if you couldn’t talk, you still don’t have an excuse not to praise
the Lord.
He went away to prepare a
place for those who believe in Him.
In this place, there are no seeing eye dogs. In this place there are no
wheelchairs, no hearing aids, and no
sign language is used. There you can
walk around on street paved with gold. The main street there is called Hallelujah Blvd. From there make a right
turn to Redemption Road. Keep on till
you come to Eternal Avenue, and move
up a little higher and you will come to the Father’s house. In the Father’s
house there are many mansions. In the Father’s
house, every child of God has a
home.
There
is no excuse when it comes to praising God.
If you can breathe, the Psalmist says, “Let everything that has breath Praise
the Lord”. When the praises go up,
the blessings will come down. But! God
will not initiate the praise. That responsibility falls on the believers.
Praise is always our responsibility. Now! when we initiate praise , God in response to our praise, accepts
it and blesses our worship.
How
will you know that the worship is blessed? Because you can feel the
presence of the Lord all through the
Sanctuary. That’s what Matthew meant in
the 20th chapter and the 18th verse of his gospel. There
he says, “where two or three are gathered together in My Name there Am I in
the midst of them”. My brothers and sisters when we are in the presence of the Lord, blessings will also be in
our midst. Not only will blessings be in our midst, but healing
will also be in our midst. Not only will blessings and healing be in our midst,
so will miracles, and deliverance.
When
we are in the presence of the Lord;
everything we need will be in our midst, because everything we need the Lord’s got it. Praise the Lord. When we believe that it is God who made us and not we ourselves;
when we believe that the Lord is
good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endureth to all generations;
when we believe that we are Blessed because we don’t walk in the counsel
of the ungodly nor do we stand in the way of sinners, nor do we sit in the seat
of the scornful; when we believe we are Blessed because our transgressions
are forgiven, and our sins are covered; when we believe that the Lord is our light and our salvation,
and we have no one to fear; when we believe that the Lord is the lifter up of
our heads; then we should lift up our hands and give God some praise. We are to praise Him who has done so much for us. As
believers, to initiate praise is our responsibility.
Don’t
you dare come to Church sit down cross your arms and wait on God to shower you with blessings. No!
No! when you come to church invite Him
in with your praise and when you do He
will comes in and He will do something for you. PRAISE THE LORD. In this book called Psalms, the
word Psalms invokes the praise of God’s
people. Praise means to celebrate, it means to boast, to glorify, to give
thanks. Although the Psalmist invites
us to praise the Lord, the question
that is raised, how do we
praise Him? Some people aren’t sure how to go about it. So he offers us
some of his own suggestions. First of all he says, that we should use our
voices. Now there are some who are convinced that they just can’t sing, and for
some it’s true. But if you have a voice God
wants you to use that voice to give Him
some praise. Just because you don’t know a whole note from a half note, or a
half note from a quarter note, You might be tone deaf, and can’t carry a tune
in bucket, the psalmist still says you don’t have any excuse, all God wants is for us to make a joyful
noise unto the Lord. If you have a
voice, God wants you to use your voice in praise. Then we should praise Him with the instruments. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet,
praise Him with the psaltery and
harp; praise Him with the timbrel
which resemble today’ tambourines. Praise Him
with the stringed instruments and organs; praise Him upon the loud and the high sounding cymbals. The Psalmist is
not suggesting go out and purchase all of these instruments he mentioned, but
to use whatever instruments you have supplied for worship.
Have
you ever witnessed the Spirit use
the musician in the service? As soon as the musician starts tickling the keys
on the organ or the piano, the notes that come forth somehow seem to initiate
praise all by themselves. Not only does the instrument seems to initiate
praise, the praise spreads all over
the Sanctuary and even those who are quiet most of the time, especially in
Church, seem to catch on and get with the praise. When the Church is on one
accord in praise the Holy Spirit is
welcomed to come in and wreck the whole house. When that happens, the saints
don’t get angry, we leave that wrecked house, with these words, what a time; what a time; Lord! what a time we had.
PRAISE THE LORD. Praise Him with our voices, and also praise Him with the instruments, but finally
we ought to praise the Lord in our
actions.
In
other word we are to live so that God
can use us. Not just on Sunday, and not
just in Church. We ought to live so that God can use us, anytime and anywhere.
To paraphrase what Jesus said in the 5th chapter of Matthew, you are
the light of the world, a city on a hill, don’t hide your light, let it shine
for all to see your good deeds, so that they will praise your heavenly Father.
You never know whose watching you, and you never know when you’re being
watched, but if you live your life for Jesus, somebody will see you, somebody who sits in darkness will see a light.
That light will represent hope, that
light will represent help, that
light will represent compassion,
that light is grace, that
light is mercy, that light is deliverance, that light is life, and that life was the light of men. The
light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. As I hurry on
to a close, We as Christians are to live so that God can use us anytime and
anywhere. So we are to praise the LORD with our voices, we are to praise HIM
with the instruments, and we are to praise HIM in the way that we live, our
lives. This the psalmist concludes will sum up the whole matter, “ Let
everything that has breath PRAISE THE LORD”. For HE alone is worthy to be
praised.
The OT Hebrew word for
praise is halal. Halal is the source
from which we get the word “hallelujah” which is the highest praise. Hallelujah
is accepted in every language in the world. Wherever a different language is
spoken, the word “hallelujah is in the vocabulary. It is a word that does not
loose its identity in translation. Whatever language is spoken, be it English,
Spanish, French, German, Russian, or whatever, hallelujah is still Hallelujah.
There is another Word that
has never lost its identity because of a language barrier. This Word was in the
beginning, and this Word was with God, and this Word was God. This word made
everything, and without this Word wasn’t anything made that was made. This
Word, was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This Word pulled
off His divinity, and clothed Himself in humanity. This Word leaped into the
womb of a virgin named Mary. Was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, and
was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. He healed the sick,
raised the dead, fed the hungry, and preached the gospel to the poor. He died
on a cross on Calvary’s Hill for the sins of the world. He rose on the third
day with all power in heaven and earth in His hands. This Word ascended back to
His Father, and Sent us the Holy Spirit,
to dwell in us. This Word is named
Jesus. If we would give Him some praise He’ll give us a blessing.
God Bless You