Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."
Psalm 150:6
As you read Psalm 150 the word, 'praise,'(halal) is found 13 times. Praise is declaring God's glory, celebrating Him, it can be out loud and is definately gratitude or boasting towards something or someone. In the case of this Psalm, the word praise is linked to the word, "Him," nine times! The finally two praise instructions are to, "praise the Lord!" Otherwise know as Hallelujah! When is the last time you declared the great things of God, to Him, because he is worthy! We are instucted to praise HIM! Matter of fact at the close of this psalm it says "let everything that has breath praise the Lord," not "everything that has breath CAN praise the Lord," but God divinely put's the word "LET." Why? When we truly see the glory of the Lord, when we see that He is the creator, when we see Him die on the tree for us, when we sense His Spirit leading us and holding us, comforting us... what can we do but Praise the Lord! This Psalm reveals the great desire of our Lord, to spend time with Him, praising Him for His goodness! When we do praise Him, we are in His presence and in His presence is fullness of Joy (Ps.16:11)! Let's praise Him, because He is worthy and He let's us!!! Remember what Jesus said as he rolled in to Jerusalem on a donkey, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out." Luke 19:40 Let us praise Him continually, for He is God and He is good!
Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."
Jer. 33:3
I love this verse! Here we have an open invitation to call upon the Lord and He gives us a few promises! What are His promises? 1. I will answer you! Wow, that is a great promise... He will answer, this is wonderful to know! This means He is listening and desiring to respond! 2. Show you great and mighty things! When I call on Him, He promises to answer and He promises to show me things. Not just anything, but great and mighty things I don't even know! SO why not call upon the Lord today?
"Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims..."
I Peter 1:1a
I would like to draw your attention to this great phrase, 'to the pilgrims.' Peter is intent on allowing the church to understand that we are just pilgrims. We are here for just a time. We are on a pilgrimage. As beleivers we need to understand that this earth and our time on it is absolutely temporary. Peter would also like us to understand that we need to have a pilgrim mentality. This way we will pour all our energies into that which is eternal and that which is furthering the kingdom of God! We can absolutely be a changing agent in our world as pilgrims passing through, trumping the love of Jesus to all those we come in contact with. So how about it? Are you a pilgrim? Ask the Lord how you can represent Him as you continue on your pilgrimage home, HEAVEN!
"For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked." II Corinthians 5:2-3
Paul earnsetly desires to be in heaven! We find this to be true in the words that he speaks, in the passages he pens, in the lessons he presents! All through out the life of Paul this is most definately one thing you can draw from his life, he longed for heaven! Could this be one of those keys to the victorious Christian life? I beleive, yes... The more our sights are on the heavenlies, the more we desire to emulate and represent the CHrist of the heavens, the better use we will be for the glory of God! So where are your thoughts, where are your motives coming from? Paul also said this to the Colossians... "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." Col. 3:2-4 Set your mind on Him, earnestly desire Him!
"It is good to give thanks to the Lord..."
Psalm 92:1a
God's Word says it, so that's it! It is always good to give thanks to the Lord in everything! Are you feeling thankful today, well give thanks where thanks is due... Jesus! Without Him we would be stuck in our sin, dying a slow miserable life. Because of Him we have hope, joy, love, peace etc. How many ways can we thank Him? How many times can we thank Him? We can thank Him for all eternity, so let's begin today, to be thankful and give thanks to the Lord for it is good!!
