Psalm 100:1,2 I Lift My Voice
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (RSV)
In 1976 Laurie Klein wrote a short worship song that fulfills the words of this verse: “I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You. Oh, my soul, rejoice. Take joy, my king, in what you hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.” Every time I sing this song I can feel the joyful nose I am making to my Lord, and I am excited to realize that He does take joy in my singing, no matter the quality of my voice.
I believe that my Lord takes joy in the singing of praise of any and all of His people. And I also believe that each of us should get great joy whenever we sing words of worship and praise to our Lord. There are many, many great worship and praise songs that we can sing when we are alone or when we are in the company of a group of believers in church. What a privilege we have to bring joy to our King with our voices.
While I get great satisfaction in singing these songs to Him, sometimes I don’t follow the melody—I just speak the words. I do that because I occasionally find myself focusing on the music without thinking of the words I am singing. It’s good for me to slow down and consider each of the words of the song, speaking them as a prayer to my Lord and God. Sometmes it takes me a long time to speak through a song that contains deep meaning and touches my heart, but I find it is time well spent. Sometimes I just hum the tune because I also get blessings from the melody. Hearing a full congregation sing a worship song and singing along touches my soul and raises my spirits.
I guess I am saying that I am blessed by worship songs, whether I sing them alone, just speak the words, just hum the tune, or join fellow believers in raising a joyful noise to the Lord. Thank you to those who write these special songs, and thank you to those who lead worship and praise in church services.
Hebrews 6:18-20 "Throw Out the Life-Line"
“We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek”. (MSG)
The unbreakable lifeline is the salvation offered by Jesus mentioned in the Scripture above. Jesus has provided eternal salvation for all, but each one must reach for the lifeline himself or herself.
There is an old hymn, “Throw Out the Life-Line,” written by Edward Ufford, that focuses on this lifeline and its importance. It speaks of our responsibility as Christians to make sure that the lifeline offered by Jesus is known across the world. Verse four says, “Soon will the season of rescue be o’er, Soon will they drift to eternity’s shore, Haste then, my brother, no time for delay, But throw out the Life-Line and save them today.” (Chorus)”Throw out the life-Line! Throw Out the Life-Line! Someone is drifting away; Throw Out the Life-Line! Throw Out the Life-line! Someone is sinking today.” Very true words. People are drifting toward eternity without the lifeline, Jesus, and their drifting is taking them closer and closer to hell. If they don’t grab the lifeline before death, hell is a certainty forever. Romans 10:14,15 is a clarion call for us to do all we can to get the Word out. “How, then, can they call on one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (NIV) It is imperative that we GET THE WORD OUT anyway we can—speak it ourselves and/or support those who preach it. It has been said, “Preach a sermon every day. When necessary, use words.” That’s a good saying, but unless the WORDS are spoken, the message may not be clear.
John 7:37-39 Refreshing Water
“On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me in this way, just as the Scripture says.’ (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)” (Message)
Doesn’t that glass of ice water look refreshing among the rocks and sand of the Arizona desert? If I touch the glass, I will feel the film of condensed water on it, and I can feel the coolness of the water through the glass. I could even stick my finger in the glass and feel the coolness of the water and the ice cubes. I can just imagine how good it will taste, but until I actually taste it, it will do nothing for my thirst no matter how thirsty I might be. It won’t satisfy my thirst until it is ingested—taken into my body. Then I can taste it, and I can feel it cooling me down. Then, and only then has my experience with the glass of ice water become completely satisfying.
The same can be said for the Holy Spirit—the rivers of living water promised by Jesus for those who come to Him and drink of His presence. Only when we accept Jesus as Savior and Lord will we receive the Holy Spirit. We can read about Jesus, we call talk to people about Jesus, we can think of Him as a great man who did much good, but that’s not enough. We must drink of the living water He offers—to accept His sacrifice for us and claim Him as ours and ask Him to claim us as His. Then He will see that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and that we will spend all of eternity with Him. We will be filled and satisfied for eternity.
Hebrews 13:15 Sacrifice of Praise
“Through Jesus, then, let us keep offering to God our own sacrifice, the praise of lips that confess His name without ceasing” (VOICE).
There’s a song that has been continually going through my mind for the past several weeks, and it comes from the verse quoted above.
“We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord.
We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord.
And we offer up to you the sacrifices of thanksgiving;
And we offer up to you the sacrifices of joy.”
This song was written by Kirk Dearman in about 1980 after hearing a sermon about the sacrifice of praise. As he and his wife were driving home from church, he thought that a worship song could be written from the message. Within five minutes the tune and words came to him. When they got home, he played and sang the song for his wife and introduced it to his church the following Sunday. I’m glad he did.
Should we ever come into the house of the Lord without praise? Isn’t that one of the main reasons we gather—to praise the Lord? Thanksgiving should certainly be part of our worship every time we gather, and is joy really a sacrifice? In any case, singing praise, thanksgiving, and joy has been a part of my life for the past several weeks. Praise, thanksgiving, and joy are often written within the praise and worship songs we sing frequently. Here we have all three of them in one short chorus. The Scripture verse above says that we should bring these sacrifices to God without ceasing. I don’t have to go to church to bring the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and the sacrifice of joy to my Lord. I can bring them every day. We all can, so let’s join in the sacrifice of praise every day.
An oldie from a year ago. I hope you don't mind me repeating it.
Matthew 11:28-30 Unequally Yoked
“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (NLT).
The double looped contraption hanging on the wall is a yoke for oxen. We saw it at a farm in Iowa where they demonstrate farming methods from the past several hundred years. In fact, we saw a yoke of oxen walking around the grounds. They did everything together. If one walked, they both walked, and if one wanted to eat, they both ate. It is interesting to know that in every yoke of oxen, one is dominant and the other generally follows his lead. Farmers who use oxen usually yoke together an experienced ox with a younger ox that is subservient. In a short period of time, they work together as a strong team. They have learned to work together for the better of both of them.
In the Scripture above Jesus invites us to become yoked with Him. Being omnipotent and omniscient, He is obviously the leading member of the team. We know that because He asks us to “take my yoke upon you.” He says He will teach us and give us rest. He states that He is “humble and gentle at heart.” Finally, He says, “For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” As the omnipotent member of the team, he will take the larger of the burden, and as the omniscient member of the team, he will direct us in the best way to go. Because He is humble and gentle at heart, He will not demand that we follow Him exactly, but He will show us the way that is best, and then allow us to actually choose whether to stay yoked with Him or not. As time goes on, and we learn from Him, we will follow His lead. One important difference between this yoke and the yoke used by oxen is that there is no outsider who decides when our yoke with Him is broken. Jesus gives us the opportunity to leave His yoke at any point. He is saddened if we do leave the yoke, and He always gives us the opportunity to rejoin His yoke at any time in the future. Why would I not want to partner with the creator of the universe, who is both omnipotent and omniscient? Being yoked with Him means that I will always have the best direction from the strongest. Sign me up!
