Tag: praise the lord

Praise the Lord

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
We are made to praise the Lord.  It is in our spiritual DNA to give adoration, praise, and honor to God.  Praise is not just meant for the times when our circumstances are going well; it is also for the despondent times, the times of difficulty, and the situations which are downright hard.  It is always open season on praising the Lord, no matter what is going on in and around us.  Praise can help to re-orient our lives around God instead of remaining stuck in being dis-oriented.  Whether in good times or bad, we are to praise the Lord. 
 
            Everything and everyone is to praise the Lord (Psalm 148).  Because God has created and continues to impact every nook and cranny of his creation, the entire universe, every creature, and all humanity have the common task to praise the Lord.  The outer reaches of the universe, everything out there which we cannot even see, are to praise the Lord.  The earth and everything in it is to praise the Lord.  The forces of nature are to praise the Lord.  The landscape, the flora and fauna, animals and humans are, together with all creation, to praise the Lord.  Young people, old people, men and women no matter who they are or where they come from are to praise the Lord.  The proper purpose of everything and everyone that exists is to give adoration and praise to God.
 
            Praise to the Lord is the recognition that God deserves praise from everyone, and the way to do that is to bow, yield, and submit to him.  “Praise the Lord” is the Hebrew “hallelujah.”  Hallelujah literally means “to raise the hands.”  Raising the hands is not just for Pentecostals! It is a symbol of submission and joy.  To have open hands lifted toward heaven is to convey to God that we will obey him and live for him in everything.  Praising the Lord, lifting the hands, is not only to occur in church; praising the Lord is to happen everywhere.  We are to lift our arms in reverent submission at our workplaces when we land a client or have a good day, as well as when we are overwhelmed and cranky people demean us.  It is always open season on praising the Lord, and it is not limited to a certain set of good circumstances.
 
            We are to raise our hands and praise the Lord when our neighbors care about us and look out for us, as well as when they make noise and irritate us with their less than kept up yards and houses.  Yielding to God’s purposes for our lives is not dependent upon whether we have good neighbors or not.  We are to praise the Lord and raise our hands when our marriages are life-giving and thriving, as well as when our relationship with our spouse is dry, dull, and going nowhere.  It is always open season on praising the Lord and reflecting his image through love.  We are to praise the Lord over our kids, not only when they do what is right but we are to raise our hands with hallelujah when they are complete stinkers and drive us nuts.  We are to use our hands to praise and enact obedience, not refuse to praise and use them for violence through finger pointing, fist shaking, and even hitting.
 
            In adversity we praise the Lord because it gives us a chance to put our faith into action.  In times when someone is being insensitive and callous, it provides the opportunity to praise the Lord and love them because God loves us.  It is very difficult to see God with your head down and your shoulders slumped; raise your hands, lift up your head and praise the Lord!
 
At all times, and in all places, in every circumstance and with each situation we are to raise our hands in hallelujah to Jesus for saving us from our misguided ways and bringing us back into fellowship with God.  Sometimes we go through experiences that leave us feeling alone, as if no one else has ever known such pain.  At other times we encounter such sentiments of joy that we wonder if there are people who have ever known such elation.  And then there are the typical, ordinary, mundane times of the daily grind, the living of each day almost on auto-pilot – going through the motions without much thought to what we are doing or where we are going.
 
            No matter our current situation, every day and every situation is a summons to praise the Lord.  God’s claim upon our lives ought to lead us toward raising the hands to him.  The person who truly praises God is marked by three things:  a deep humility, understanding that they are not God; expressive gratitude, recognizing God’s actions and living in patience; and, unity, a sense of common purpose with all humanity and all creation to praise the Lord. 
 

 

            There is to be a seamless transition from praising God in church settings to praising him in all other environments.  Our adoration of God is to be consistent across the entire spectrum of our lives.  By God’s grace our Sunday worship will train us to carry our adoration of Christ into daily praise.  May it be so, to the glory of God.

Psalm 148

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment


             The Church Calendar tells us that we are in the fourth day of the twelve days of Christmas.  The time between Christmas Day and Epiphany each year is twelve days.  Whereas during Advent the church anticipates the coming of Christ, the season of Christmas is a grand celebration of the Christ Child.  While those who keep secular time are experiencing a worldly hangover of fickle disappointment with presents and a gnawing in the gut that a single day of celebration is over, the church lingers in her joy over God’s grace in Christ.
             Praise is the currency of the divine economy.  Believers in Jesus deal in it just as a broker immerses himself in the stock market.  But it isn’t only Christians who celebrate; all of creation praises the God of heaven who has wonderfully given us Jesus.  All of creation is summoned to praise the Lord.  Yet, not everything has breath in it to do so.  Therefore God has raised his people to speak on behalf of the creation to do the job of praise.
             Here is an exercise to try the next time you take the dog for a walk or are spending time outdoors:  look at the trees, the rocks, and the elements of creation around you and imagine what they would say to God in praise if they had the breath to do it.  Speak for the creation.  Give it a voice.  Then, later imagine what you can say to God on behalf of people who do not or cannot praise him; be their voice.  Picturing all creation and every creature praising God can give a new and fresh form to how we relate to God, others in need of Jesus, and creation which needs proper care.
             Mighty God, I give you thanks for the gift of your Son, the Lord Jesus.  I, along with all creation, praise your glorious name for extending the grace of salvation to us in Christ.  May I open the gift given me every day throughout the year so that praise continually arises from my soul to the glory of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Praise the Lord!

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
The time between December 25 and January 5 are the 12 days of Christmas, and they are to be a great celebration because King Jesus has come and he is the rightful Sovereign over all creation.  We are to intentionally enter into the meaning of Christ’s incarnation.  We affirm the identity of Jesus as both full human and fully divine.  Beginning with Christ’s birth, we reflect on the meaning of Christ’s life and prepare for the Lenten journey toward the cross and the empty tomb.
 
            Christmas means that we praise the Lord.  Not just us, but we praise God with all creation.  Everything outside our earth is to give God glory.  Everything in the universe points to a God who is worthy to be praised.  New York Pastor Tim Keller once said that when he was a child a Sunday school teacher changed his life with a simple illustration.  The teacher said, “Let’s assume the distance between the earth and the sun (92 million miles) was reduced to the thickness of this sheet of paper. If that is the case, then the distance between the earth and the nearest star would be a stack of papers 70 feet high. And the diameter of the galaxy would be a stack of papers 310 miles high.”  Then Keller’s teacher added, “The galaxy is just a speck of dust in the universe, yet Jesus holds the universe together by the word of his power.”  Finally, the teacher asked her students, “Now, is this the kind of person you ask into your life to be your assistant?”
 
            We serve a big God who is worthy to be praised, not only out there in the universe but here on earth.  The entire earth is to echo the adoration of God.  That means everything and everyone on earth – fish, animals, birds, and people.  Research in the field of bioacoustics has revealed that every day we are surrounded by millions of ultrasonic songs. For example, the electron shell of the carbon atom produces the same harmonic scale as the Gregorian chant.  Whale songs can travel thousands of miles underwater.  Meadowlarks have a range of three hundred notes. Supersensitive sound instruments have discovered that even earthworms make faint staccato sounds! Arnold Summerfield, a German physicist and pianist, observed that a single hydrogen atom (which emits one hundred frequencies) is more musical than a grand piano, which only emits eighty-eight frequencies.  Science writer Lewis Thomas summed it up it this way: “If we had better hearing, and could discern the [singing] of sea birds, the rhythmic [drumming] of schools of mollusks, or even the distant harmonics of [flies] hanging over meadows in the sun, the combined sound might lift us off our feet.”
 
            Praise the Lord!  All creation is called to praise God as one great huge choir.  Praise is to occur with both words and actions.  With words, praise is an expression of gratitude to God for who he is and what he has done.  With actions, praise is a posture of submission and an acknowledgement of dependence.
 
            Therefore, testimony is important to the gathered church because through testimony we declare what God has done in our lives and how he is worthy to be praised and obeyed. Yet, praise is not just for the joyful; it is to happen no matter the circumstances because our happiness is not dependent upon positive situations but rather upon the person and work of Jesus.  It may not be easy to find our voice of praise along with everyone else, but we are not alone.  We can choose to join with all creation to praise the name of the Lord. 
 
My wife, who recently had two spine surgeries, said this:  “I am thankful for a chance to get out of the house. Of course my walker was with me.  I am amazed how quickly folks move over, slow down, and give me space when I am out with that thing….  At church it feels like I’m parting the Red Sea! The reason I hate the walker is because it says to the whole world, ‘Hey, I’m broken!’  I realize we all have areas that we are broken, most of them we can hide or cover up. Why are we so ashamed to confess the truth? Who really has it all together? I know we love our privacy and shun pity. However, I have been shown so much grace, kindness, and compassion as I push this piece of aluminum around that I hope this experience continues to change me for the better. I hope in the future I will be sensitive to those who are broken on the inside as well as the outside. May the love of Christ give me eyes to see people as he does, precious and accepted, just as they are.”
 
That word of testimony is the reasonable and logical end for the church of praising the Lord – to connect what God has done and is doing with what he can do through us as we glorify his name.  By simply being who we are created to be, we praise the Lord along with all creation.  When we as people created in God’s image, reflect that image in how we talk and how we live, we participate with the universe in declaring that God is good.  Praise is to be the comprehensive glue that binds every person, family, and ministry of the church together.
 

 

Whether you feel like it, or struggle to say it and live it, we are all to praise the Lord along with everything in the universe because we serve a God who keeps us close to his heart.  Praise the Lord!

Psalm 100

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
            Serve the LORD with gladness!
            Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the LORD, he is God!
            It is he who made us, and we are his,
            we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
            and his courts with praise!
            Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the LORD is good;
            his steadfast love endures forever,
            and his faithfulness to all generations.
 
            The manner in which we approach God is significant.  No matter the circumstances, entering the presence of God by means of thanksgiving and praise helps us to rightly acknowledge that God is good.  And God will continue to be good because love is intrinsic to his character. 
 
            Perhaps there are days or extended periods of time in which we do not feel like God is good.  Chronic people problems; continued bouts of physical or emotional pain; out of control situations with no resolution in sight; these and many more realities may cause us to question God’s goodness, much less give us reason to praise his Name.
 
            But here is where this psalm needs to be as familiar and common to us as putting on our shoes in the morning.  Saying the psalm aloud on a daily basis, despite how we feel, is the kind of spiritual medicine we need to alter our sour dispositions and change the face of our bitter attitudes.  We could even declare the psalm multiple times in the day – not in a legalistic or magical sense as if it were some rabbit’s foot to ward off evil – but in the manner of allowing biblical truth and right theology to slowly and deliberately sink down deep in our souls.
            Lord God Almighty, I praise your glorious Name!  You are always good and your love endures forever!  May my character and my life reflect your grace operating within me.  Help me to have an attitude of thanksgiving in all circumstances.  To the glory of Jesus I pray.  Amen.