Tag Archives: praise

Reflections Psalms 92:4-5

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“You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done. O Lord, what great works you do! And how deep are your thoughts.”
Psalms‬ ‭92:4-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

When we consider all that God has done for us personally and His wonderful works- His creation, His omnipotence, His salvation and His great love, we are filled with elation and joy!

David wondered in awe in Ps 8, how the God who made the glorious stars and heavens was mindful of us mere humans, to care for, empower and lavish His love on us.

Job exclaimed after his tribulations in Job 42, of things “to wonderful for me” when he finally saw who God truly was. He was complaining about His circumstances and had a limited view of who God was, but then experienced God is a new way and found joy.

The word joy is mentioned over 100 times in the Bible and “rejoice” is mentioned over 60 times. It is an essential component in our walk with God, and it’s source is derived and fueled by God Himself. This joy that God provides strengthens us to remain steadfast, optimistic and hopeful in challenging times. (Neh. 8:10)

While these verses focus on praising God for what He has done, we can always sing praises to God whether we are on the mountain top or in the valley- because God is always worthy, always good. He inhabits our praises, and in His presence there is always fullness of Joy, there is life, light and peace. Thank you Lord! #Rejoice #Joy #Praise #godshandiwork

Reflections on Psalm 92:1-3 It is Good

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Psalm 92:1-2

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp, and the melody of a lyre.” Psalms‬ ‭92:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I was originally drawn to this Psalm because it was a song of praise immediately following Psalms 91 which proclaims the Lord’s divine protection. Then I noticed the heading was directing it to be sung on the Sabbath day. How appropriate that we give praise and worship to God at this time.

The first two verses start off with “it is good” or “a good thing” which has the same connotation in Geneisis when God saw that His creation was good. It is not only right but good. Already, there is a feeling that something creative if going on!

First, it is good to GIVE THANKS unto the Lord. One of the first things we learned as children is to say thank you when we are given something. It is important to express gratitude acknowledging others benevolence, assistance and or responsiveness to a need or desire. We give thanks to God for the things He has done: His graciousness, His tender mercies and great love.

Secondly, It is also good to SING PRAISES to the Most High! We sing praises to extol and magnify God for who He is, His omniscience, to honor Him for His majesty, greatness, and power.

Verse 2 is illustrative, moving closer in, speaking directly to God. It is good to “proclaim Your lovingkindness (steadfast love) in the morning and faithfulness every night” All day our hearts are toward God, from sunrise to sunset we are to worship God acknowledging His chief virtues of love that never fails and His consistent faithfulness.

And as we give thanks, sing praises and proclaim His goodness we should be “accompanied” by musicians with instrumentation. We can’t do this by ourselves. On this day of rest, the Sabbath, we are to join others in making a beautiful expression of corporate worship to God in a variety of expressions, truly creating an atmosphere for God to inhabit the praises of His people. In His presence there is fulness of joy, light and life.

Absolute Power of a Song: True Story

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ImageLast night, I received the text  (featured in the above photo) from my son,just minutes before going into our church’s First Wednesday service AND I was responsible for leading worship. I would normally ignore this text, since my son plays pranks, but I distinctly remember him being pressed to “go running” after we got home around 5:15 and him ending on the neighborhood playground playing basketball. I  frantically called him and couldn’t get an answer.  I called my husband who was doing something and refused to discuss this pressing concern.

I was deeply troubled but decided to go inside to the service.  Thankfully, they were praying when I came in, and then there was a technical difficulty with the cord to the piano, so I would not have to “be on”.  While we waited, someone shared a testimony and our pastor followed with a brief word of encouragement, so that in just those 3-4 minutes I heard the song come in my heart, ” Bless the Lord, O my soul”(Tye Tribett).  Well we sang that song, followed by a worship song and I tell you that I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT MY SON’S TEXT!!!  The Pastor then exhorted us about the power of a song-   the song of Moses(deliverance)  and the Song of the Lamb (victory)!    I was very encouraged and only remembered that stupid text when saw my son when I got home.   Of course, it was a random trend on Instagram to send a text to alarm your parents and then post the results. I couldn’t even get mad for almost causing me the stress.

This morning I realized that I had in fact “lived” last nights exhortation – that as the Pastor was preaching about the power of a song, it was unfolding in my life when I made the decision to follow God instead of giving in to confusion…

I was reminded that  we get distracted all the time by things that “seem” devastating — diverting our attention, depleting our energy,AND producing unfounded doubts about our circumstances, families, careers etc.  In those moments, lift up a song, a praise before reacting!  The power of praise lies in the fact that all of our attention is directed to an almighty GOD who deeply loves us and empowers us to do the greater works.  It absolutely works, every single time… and even if the circumstance is, in fact, a challenging one, you arise from that praise knowing that you have an Almighty God who is working things out for your good.   And THAT is GREAT NEWS!!