365 Blessings- September 7

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. (Psalm 150:6)

Lot's of exhortations in this psalm. The final one being, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."

Many things to be noticed here in this psalm and all about praise.
1. Praise God in....verse 1...Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. (Psalm 150:1)

2. Praise God for....verse 2...Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. (Psalm 150:2)

3. Praise God with....verses 3-5...Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. (Psalm 150:3-5)

The "Praise God with.." part is the largest in this series. The psalmist is considering maximizing his praise and worship with the use of all kinds of musical instruments and with dancing. He intends to be loud with his praise and worship and also is exhorting others to do the same.

"Praise him with resounding cymbals" he says.
Worship is something personal to each of us. Some like to quietly worship the Lord while others like to make much noise. The psalmist here seems to be in the second category. He likes to enjoy his worship by making it lively with the use of many instruments and also by dancing to the tune. He seems to be delighting in the Lord.

Do you delight in the Lord while you praise and worship him? Try it; it can bring you a joy that you may have never experienced.

365 Blessings- September 6

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:7)

Can we accept each other as our brothers and sisters in Christ? There may be differences in our doctrines even when they may seem sound to each of us (not talking about false doctrines--which we all must abhor) and differences in the way of worship and lots of other differences, but we should be able to accept one another because we all have the same factor that will give us eternal life- Jesus.

The New Testament is- believing in what Jesus did by offering himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins and the resulting eternal life with him if we live for him after accepting him as Savior.

Perhaps you may never have spoken in tongues or do not believe that that gift exists or any other gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 exists; still you should accept others who do believe in and exercise these gifts.

You may be a pre-tribulationist and you are sure that that is the right doctrine; still you should accept others who are post-tribulationists or mid-tribulationists for that matter because Jesus does not despise them because they believe so.

You may believe that your church or denomination has the perfect worship; still you should accept others from other denominations or churches despite their imperfections because Jesus still loves them.

You may have faith to move mountains; still you should not look down upon some other believer who cannot exercise as much faith as you.

Christ has accepted us with all our imperfections and he has given us the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to cleanse ourselves. We all are imperfect in one way or the other and so we should be able to accept one another as Christ accepted us. That will bring praise to God.

365 Blessings- September 5

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

The Apostle Peter sums up why God transformed 'some' according to his liking to become a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation & a people belonging to God- To declare the praises of the one who called them out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Is praising God justified? Yes it is. John the Apostle tells us why.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. (Revelation 1:5, 6)

Because of his great love for us, he freed us from our sins by shedding his blood on the cross. And why did he do it? To make us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.

The love that Jesus showed has no comparisons except what the Father also did. About the love of Jesus the Bible says,
"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

And about the love of the Father the Bible says,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

We who were once "not a people" have now become "the people of God". And having become "the people of God", our aim in life should be to sing the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Praise be to the Lord now and forever.

365 Blessings- September 4

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:14-16)

The word "unique" has somewhat lost it's meaning with cloning coming to the fore. Man has embarked on a strange path to defy the uniqueness of God's creation. How long it's glory will last remains to be seen. Perhaps it would end in the way "the tower of Babel" did. But God does allow man to continue in his discoveries and inventions for reasons known only to him. If he wants, he can stop anything anywhere anytime. Yet he chooses to be silent for a while.

King David, the great psalmist of Israel praised God for having created him so wonderfully. The human body is a marvel, unmatched by all the technological accomplishments of mankind. Each organ is a wonderful creation in itself, unique in it's design, texture, function and fraility. Some organs are more important than the others. Some can be lived without. Some are indispensible. Almost all need the others to function. Some produce the toxins that only others are able to wash away.

David realizes the wonder working creation power of God and thus declares "your works are wonderful, I know that full well.My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body."

9 months (some less & some more) for a woman to be pregnant full term and all the while a new life is taking shape inside of her, frame by frame, organ by organ, coming to full maturity.

David acknowledges that everything about him was known by God even before he had lived 1 day. "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. "

God in his creating power is unmatched and we must spend time in praising him for having created us for himself.

Yes, God knows everything about you and me. Neither the beginning nor the end of our lives is hidden from him. He is truly awesome. He deserves all the praise. May all glory be to him.

365 Blessings- September 3

With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: "He is good; his love to Israel endures forever." And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. (Ezra 3:11)

After 70 years of Babylonian exile, the Israelites were back in their land, but without a temple, for the earlier temple had been destroyed and Jerusalem burnt with fire by King Nebuchadnezzar during his 3 invasions of the land.

The elders who had witnessed the glory of the former temple built by Solomon wept and the younger generation rejoiced that the new temple foundation was being laid.

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. (Ezra 3:10)

They were starting the new project by praising God, trusting that he would help them complete.

Who would have ever thought that the wonderful temple built by Solomon would be laid waste? It had taken 7 years to build and it was a magnificient monument. Nothing could match it's grandeur in that era.  But King Solomon  married foriegn women who worshipped idols and he was no longer faithful to God who had given him everything from knowledge and wisdom to riches and fame. Of the kings that followed Solomon's reign, only a few were faithful to the Lord.

Sin had led to punishment- an exile and now they were being restored by God himself. Joy and sorrow were both witnessed at this solemn occasion.

Many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:12, 13)

They praised God vociferously hoping and trusting that what they were starting would be brought into completion by God. And God was faithful. He did not leave them nor forsake them. The temple was built.