Month: April 2017

All God’s people and all the people on earth are called to come to Him with praise and thanks, with service and worship, with joy and gladness. Come with nothing and receive everything in His presence.

For the Lord (Jesus) is God and He is good; he is all good; he is only good; he is always good; he is forever good. To say, “God is good,” is to say that the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of all that makes life possible and worthwhile. Yes, I experience both good and evil, but my blessed life is dominated by “good” because it is dominated (lorded over) by God.

He created me out of nothing (I didn’t evolve, I’m not here by chance); he saved me and made me his own (I didn’t decide by myself, I didn’t earn favor); he takes care of me and provides every need (I can’t take care of myself, I don’t even know what I need); he delivers me from evil and drives away my enemies (I am too weak to fight and too dumb to know how). The only response I have to my Lord’s goodness is praise arising from a grateful and believing heart.

 

 

 

The Almighty God, the Lord, can only be praised by His created people for He is King, He is great and high above the people, He is awesome, but above all He is Holy. We, as created mortals, cannot think of God as being anything other than “Holy Other” or also “wholly other.” He is so unique in His holiness that he is so different and special  and so far above and beyond us as to be unapproachable. God can only be feared and worshiped but not known. We can’t relate.

But He loved people, so He took the initiative to come to us and reveal Himself in ways that made Him available. Moses and Aaron and Samuel, for example, were intercessors for us and the Lord heard their prsyers. He does this for us finally and continually through our great High Priest, Jesus Christ.

And through Him, in His Name, Holy God hears us. God forgives Moses, Aaron and Samuel, and us. Thus He can answer prayers. But note that this God also takes vengeance on, justly judges, their wrongdoings.

A Loving God forgives Sin; a Holy God judges it. In the Cross He did both. The Supreme Holy God deals with us through the Cross.

 

 

 

The Lord God has been faithful to His covenant love and kept His promises: he has won the victory over all his enemies and ours; his salvation has been clearly seen by all people everywhere; all unbelievers have seen his righteousness; his mercy and truth to his people has been remembered and fulfilled.

Therefore, this Victorious God and Warrior King will be praised with joyful noise as loudly and raucously as earth and its inhabitants can make it. Now this Very God who won the victory is coming to judge and rule over the earth and the people He conquered; and He will do it right: He will set right everything that went wrong.

This victorious king has come into our lives and taken over: everything wrong is now right; everything crooked is now straight; everything dead is now alive; everything rebellious is now subdued to worship. Jesus is Lord. The kingdom has come: repent and believe the Gospel.

True worship, heartfelt thanks and genuine praise comes from, and can only come from, a heart that believes the Gospel. Faith that receives grace and forgiveness responds with praise, and it can’t be imitated. Sing a new song for it’s a new day with new mercies and fresh joy.

 

 

 

 

 

God the Lord is the Supreme and only ruler of the universe and He reigns with righteousness and justice over all the earth. For this all the inhabitants of the earth will worship Him and praise His Name.

The Lord has defeated all His enemies and established Himself as sole authority over all gods, demons, and all other would-be rulers of any kind over anything. This means nothing and no one has a right to my life except the One God alone. When I praise Him I give Him the right to rule my life. Sin, Death and the Devil will lie and attempt to get me to surrender my soul and my life to them, which I have done, but my Lord has rescued me from their right to rule and placed under His authority, the safe place to be.

God’s presence may be either to bless or to judge. He blesses me and judges my sin. I learn to love the Lord and hate evil. He preserves my soul and delivers me from the evil. He sends light and gladness from His sweet presence causing me to rejoice and give thanks. I relax and rejoice when Jesus takes over.

 

 

 

Praise, honor, glory and songs cannot be given to the Lord long enough or loud enough to be sufficient for the King and Judge of earth and heaven. He is truly king of all Creation and God over all other gods.

The difference among gods is this: God makes humans and humans make idols; God made people in His image and people make idols in their image of God.

The whole world should be told and know that the Lord reigns as King, and this King will come to Judge with righteousness and truth. One message to take away from this fact is that the Lord is to be submitted to, worshiped and obeyed. The Good News is that this King to whom we submit is the very One who loves us so much He died for us.

The second take away message is that this Judge is coming into our lives and into our very souls to judge the Enemy there and render his power null and void. When we praise Him we invite Him to judge our sin and set us free to enjoy His God-created, God-blessed and God-beautified life. We sing a new song for He keeps doing new things.

 

 

 

The familiar Call to Worship, “Come into His Presence with jubilation, excitement and anticipation,” is meant to stir up a faith response to worship and believe the God who is Creator, Owner and Manager of all that is; in addition, this Almighty Creator is also the loving Shepherd who takes care of His people. So come and enjoy God. What’s not to love?

Ah, but wait! When you come to Me beware of that old Sin Enemy, Unbelief. Come with the faith attitude of sincere intent to obey. “Don’t test Me; trust Me!” I will make your heart willing to believe Me enough to simply do what I say, whether it seems good to you or not. Rebellion and self-centered decision making will be set aside for you to enjoy My presence and live in My Rest. Today, come to Me and enter my rest. Worship in My presence and do not err in your heart by not trusting my ways, my timing, my plans, my love.

When Jesus invites, “Come unto me,” He also gives the faith required to receive the forgiveness of sins, appropriate the promises, and enter His rest. When He says, “Trust Me,” He gives the faith to obey.

 

 

 

A sinful, selfish humanity must have just judges and rulers in order to live peaceably and securely in a civil society. However, justice will never be fully realized among human governments as long as the Enemy, the Devil, is the prince of the power of the air and as long as Sin reigns in human hearts. The cries of unfairness and calls for justice will never cease among all the various groups of human interaction.

Sinners and enemies you will always have with you, but you will also always have with you the Just Judge of the world. To Him His people may appeal for vengeance, justice, and putting things to rights. There is a system of built-in consequences that unerringly works, and it is up to the faithful King who judges justly to make sure it all works out.

He knows how to work out things out for good, how to  get justice for all, how to deliver and save the helpless, how to lovingly chastise, how to answer our prayers for mercy and justice, and how to be our defense and refuge. The Lord Jesus knows, cares, judges, delivers, overcomes enemies, and in general loves you to pieces.

 

 

 

 

Great comfort and strength, stability and security, is provided for our souls when we recognize that our God is King of the universe, and we praise Him for that. Chaos and destruction has been absolutely defeated and continues to be controlled by the Almighty God who loves us. The formlessness and emptiness of Genesis 1:2 has been formed and filled and ordered by our Creator; and as Absolute King, He still maintains and firmly establishes order, predictability, and meaning in our lives and the world we inhabit.

Our spiritual enemies (sin death, devil) are daily seeking to return the world (and our personal lives) to chaos and destruction. But our King says, “Thus far and no farther.” God be praised: for we know with absolute certainty that raging seas will never over flood us that we could lose life with God forever; nor will we ever lose anything important.

In addition, our Supreme Commander and Majestic King has given us testimonies (decrees, commandments) that are very sure indeed. This universal Moral Law holds life together, keeps chaos at bay, and brings innumerable blessings. The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit to give the power to live a blessed and abundant life according to it.

 

 

 

 

Rejoice in the Lord! And again I say,”Rejoice!” How does one rejoice in the Lord? By giving thanks and praise to Him, by focusing attention on the gracious goodness and awesome power of God. When we praise Him for who He is and thank Him for what He does our spirits are lifted, our souls are refreshed, and we feel better; joy floods our inward being and we feel lighter: thus, re-joice, joy again.

The inscription suggests Psalm 92 be sung on the Sabbath, but the beauty of Joy is that it can be grown any time and any place. God is always good, any time; we tell Him so and we begin to feel it. God’s Creation and Redemption is always around, any place, since sin and forgiveness surround us everywhere; we tell Him about it and we feel the joy.

We may, with a sanctified will, choose to enter the presence of God and flee the presence of Enemies any time we need to. When we are planted in the house of the Lord our spiritual enemies perish and scatter, while we grow stronger and are anointed with fresh oil. We grow and flourish and bring forth fruit. Repent Rejoice Renew Recharge Rejoice.

 

 

 

 

The Bible, particularly the Psalms, uses highly poetic and figurative language to lift ordinary life to a lofty level of existence. Life with God is not boring and mundane but exhilarating and always interesting, and it touches on the eternal and spiritual.

The Word reveals (lifts the veil) the invisible spiritual world that surrounds and penetrates the  visible physical world we see, so that we can walk by faith. That invisible world is filled with dangers and perils from death and disease, devils and demons, but it is also filled with angels and agents of God who are charged with protecting us from unseen ambush.

We do not need to know the details of what goes on in that world concerning our lives; we only need to know our Shepherd and our Fortress is in control. We only need to see enough to know that we can confidently place our selves and our lives under His shadow, His wings, and His shield, a more picturesque way of saying love, trust and pray to God. Then He personally promises to deliver, set on high, answer prayer, honor, satisfy with long life and show salvation. The truster lives securely.