A Heart Of Thanks: Joyfully Praises God

Shout for joy when you remember God's love and faithfulness.

 

Psalms 100:1-5 A psalm of thanksgiving. Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth!  2 Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before Him, singing with joy.  3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are His.

We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.  4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name.  5 For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.

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This world is a noisy place, it is so bad that there are people that have issues with sensory overload, everything begins to sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. It can be very easy to lose your joy in the middle of all of this irritating noise.

The noise that the world makes is not joyful, there are so many people that are angry yelling about whatever, there are cell phones ringing and Facebook notifications and text messages dinging. Construction equipment, political ads, airplanes and gunfire, this world fills up our heads with unpleasant sounds all day long.

The noise that God's people make should be joyful, it is a celebration of who he is and what he has done for us, when you realize how incredibly good he has been it should make you a noisy person. We should be the noisiest people around, clapping our hands, shouting and singing praises, playing instruments and even dancing to express our gratitude with joyful abandon. (Psalm 95:1; 98:6; 149:3; 1 Chronicles 15:28).

Yes, I know, there is a time for quiet reverence in the presence of God and he often speaks in a still small voice but he also delights in us giving it our all to thank him for who he is and what he has done. (Psalm 5:7; 95:6)

Heaven is a noisy place, our voices will not be silent in heaven, we will be joining in with what is already going on there. (Revelation 5:6-14, 14:1-3, 19:1-2) When we break out into song and worship God we are getting a head start on heaven, bringing a piece of heaven to earth, why should we wait until we get there?

Colossians 3:15-17 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

The only way to maintain our joy is through thankfulness, if we feel like we didn't get something good that we deserved, then our joy will quickly disappear. Counting our blessings and giving God credit for them all brings joy that will last.

The Christmas season is coming when we will be tempted to celebrate our gifts from each other. This can bring joy for a season, or maybe just 5 minutes, but if we focus on thankfulness for the greatest gift ever then we will always have a joyful heart.

Lord help me to make a joyful noise all of the time. You are great and you should be praised greatly for your glory and for your great gifts that you give to us everyday.  I want to sing your praises now and get a head start on what I will be doing in heaven.

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Who Is Like Our God

Come let us remember what our King has done.

Come let us remember what our King has done
Let us remember His everlasting love
Let us remember He alone has overcome

Come let us remember He rules His enemies
Let us remember we share His victory
Let us remember we were slaves but now we’re free

We will sing through the night
Til the darkness breaks
We will rise up and shout
Til the heavens shake

Majestic holiness
Glory and righteousness
Who is like our God
Who is like our God

Unending strength displayed
Forever He will reign
Who is like our God
Who is like our God
No one

Come let us remember our God will never change
Let us remember His Kingdom will remain
Let us remember the power of His name

No one above Him, beside Him
There’s no one like our God

Praise The Lord

Psalms 113:1-9  Praise the LORD! Yes, give praise, O servants of the LORD. Praise the name of the LORD! Blessed be the name of the LORD now and forever.  3  Everywhere--from east to west--praise the name of the LORD. For the LORD is high above the nations; His glory is higher than the heavens.  Who can be compared with the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high? He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, even the princes of His own people! He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother. Praise the LORD!

It's All About Him

God is great and he treats me way better than I deserve.

Nehemiah 9:2  Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners as they confessed their own sins and the sins of their ancestors.

Nehemiah 9:6-10  "You alone are the LORD. You made the skies and the heavens and all the stars. You made the earth and the seas and everything in them. You preserve them all, and the angels of heaven worship You.

7  "You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him from Ur of the Chaldeans and renamed him Abraham.  8  When he had proved himself faithful, You made a covenant with him to give him and his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites. And You have done what You promised, for You are always true to Your word.

9  "You saw the misery of our ancestors in Egypt, and You heard their cries from beside the Red Sea.  10  You displayed miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh, his officials, and all his people, for You knew how arrogantly they were treating our ancestors. You have a glorious reputation that has never been forgotten."

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This may seem like a very obvious point and hardly worth repeating but as prideful as we humans are it is a point worth saying again. God is great and I don't deserve the benefits of his greatness. He is Jehovah, the one and only true and living God, he is the one that the angels worship. He is the creator of everything and yet he loves us above all of his creation.

I am reminding myself of these facts because I am very much like the Israelites that Nehemiah was working with and I bet that you are very much like them too. All of us have seen the goodness of God and we have seen how magnificent his creation is and yet we ignore what we already know about him.

In his sovereignty he choose a man and his ancestors to be his people, to be the people that would be a witness for God, to be the lineage of our Savior. A man and his descendants that were nothing special that God should choose them over any other people. They would prove that fact over and over again.

God led his people through difficulty (Nehemiah 9:7-9)

First he invited Abraham to leave home, we don't fully get that today, our travels are so comfortable that we don't comprehend what that was like. Then there was Joseph and Moses, they were forced out of their homes, Moses went to live in the desert and Joseph wound up in Egypt.

God showed his glory to his people (Nehemiah 9:10-12)

Why were they in Egypt for so long? If you think about it this is the first great display of God's power and glory since the flood. I think they needed to see God's power to help them in future battles.

Exodus 18:10-12  "Praise the LORD," Jethro said, "for He has rescued you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh. Yes, He has rescued Israel from the powerful hand of Egypt!  I know now that the LORD is greater than all other gods, because He rescued His people from the oppression of the proud Egyptians."  Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came out and joined him in a sacrificial meal in God's presence.

Moses' father-in-law was impressed with the display of God's power against the Egyptians. The word about what God had done to the Egyptians was spread all over the ancient world and the inhabitants of the Promised Land were scared of God's people when they got there.

God taught his people (Nehemiah 9:13-14)

The people were given instructions directly from this powerful God on how to please him. Over and over again they broke their covenant that they swore to him. God was so patient with them and sent more people to give them warnings but they refused to change. God was always patient with his people and slow to anger. (Nehemiah 9:31)

God sustained his people (Nehemiah 9:15)

The wandered around the desert for a long time, much longer than the trip requires, they always had food and water and their clothes never worn out. He was without question their sole provider, there wasn't any way to exist in the desert for that long without some divine assistance.

God's People Walk Away

Nehemiah 9:16-17  "But our ancestors were proud and stubborn, and they paid no attention to Your commands. They refused to obey and did not remember the miracles You had done for them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt! But You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. You did not abandon them.

As much as they had experienced of God's mercy and grace and the great display they had witnessed they still walk away. God's children have been doing the same thing ever since. We never have stopped seeking out our own way. (Isaiah 53:6, 1 Peter 2:25)

God patiently waits on me and no matter how difficult the rebuke from him seems it is nowhere close to what I deserve. When I am in distress and live is hard I need to ask myself if God is trying to change me. Many times he uses the difficult times that we hate to draw us closer to him.

Nehemiah 9:33 Every time You punished us You were being just. We have sinned greatly, and You gave us only what we deserved.

Lord I have seen your power and goodness and I know that you treat me way better than I deserve. Your power and glory have been displayed in my life and I am without excuse for walking away from your instructions. Forgive me for being so ungrateful!

Got A Light? Don't Hide It.

The children of light should never cover it up.

Matthew 5:14-16  "You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  15  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  16  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Luke 11:36  If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.

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In this familiar passage of scripture in Matthew, Jesus has just finished talking about the lifestyle of his followers in the verses that we call The Beatitudes.

We usually separate The Beatitudes from the following verses about being salt and light and don't put the two concepts together but I think that shining our light has some prerequisites.

Beatitudes - A list of the godly attitudes that mark a true believer and insure true happiness.

-John MacArthur

Living for him with the attitudes and character that please him will make you a bright light in this dark world, if you are not doing that then there won't be any light, you will look like everybody else that is living in the dark. But if you are living the beatitudes lifestyle you will stand out.

You are going to be strange in a world that seeks happiness in favorable circumstances and pleasant emotions, the world tells us to look out for ourselves but God's expectations are different, he taught that happiness is found in living for him and when we live for him we will be a shining light in this dark world.

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

You have the potential to be the light, as a child of God you already have the light in you but you have a choice whether you will let it shine out for everyone else to see. Are you going to put a lamp shade or even worse a blanket over it so that it doesn't help anybody else?

1 Peter 2:9  But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.

The light of good deeds are for God's glory, don't put the light on yourself so that you will get the credit, the world needs the real source of light and what it can do in their lives. If we live like his chosen people and have the beatitude attitude then we will want our light to shine on Jesus instead of ourselves so that they can see his love and kindness. That's what this dark world needs.

Seeking God Requires Humility

We need to come to God on his terms.

Psalm 69:32 The humble will see their God at work and be glad. Let all who seek God’s help be encouraged.

Psalm 14:2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God.

Isaiah 65:1-2 “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.

2 All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes.

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If you want to come close to God, you have to realize that you don't get to decide the terms, it is up to him to decide how he will be found. If you are trying to seek God any other way then you are going to fall short of your goal.

God likes people that are broken, he requires us to be that way before we can come into his presence, he doesn't want somebody coming around him that is going to try and tell him how it is. It is clear throughout the Bible that he wants us to approach him in humility, he loves it when we are submissive and give up on doing things our way. (Luke 18:14, Matthew 20:16)

The prideful will see how well they have done and become apathetic towards God. "Who needs him," they will think to themselves. The real God will get replaced by the false god's of money, pleasure, government or self, we think that we can do just fine while we hold onto our idols, lets get the real God out of the way.

God wants us to seek him, he is checking the whole world to see who is, he is an awesome God that desires to be known. He hasn't made it difficult to find him, God has made his presence known, he is standing ready to be found by us, if we are wise enough to seek him. Isaiah 65:1 makes it sound like God is waving his arms to try and get our attention as he says ‘Here I am, here I am!’

God wants people to seek him God promises to be found by those who seek him Your opportunity to seek him is now and for this life Seek for God with all your heart Seeking God is a priority

Hebrews 11:6 Isaiah 45:19 Luke 16:19-31 Jeremiah 29:13 Matthew 6:33

From the Dictionary of Bible Themes on Bible Gateway

We don't want to be held accountable for our actions, but sooner or later we will be, there isn't anything that we can do to change that fact. The decision that we need to make is will we humble ourselves in this life and be accountable for how we live or will we rebel against God in this life and be held accountable for all of eternity.

God is allowed to dictate the terms that I must obey so that I can approach him. By His grace and mercy He makes me holy by the blood of Christ so that I may have a relationship with him if I seek him with humility.

You Are The Treasure That I Seek

The world has a lot of cool treasure to distract you from what is priceless.

Deuteronomy 6:4-6 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.

Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.

Psalm 29:2 Honor the Lord for the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

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Have you ever dreamed of finding a treasure chest full of gold and jewelry? The world is full of stuff that we would like to get our hands on. It is so natural us to value new cars, fancy homes and a fat wallet, we can also see great value in the relationships that we have with our family and friends, but there is another treasure that is far above any of these.

It is good for us to examine our lives, take a look at ourselves and see how we are doing, take a quiz and ask yourself some important questions. While I listened to the Gaither Vocal Band sing the song "You Are My All In All" I thought of theses questions:

"What do I really value the most, is Jesus really the treasure that I am looking for?"

We have been told to love God, we know that he deserves to be loved to the highest level that a person can possibly love, but we let so much get in the way and rob us of our time with him or we take the time but we don't really love him fully.

Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind."

We can get lost in the empty pursuit of happiness, trying to get some more stuff, trying to have the perfect relationship, chasing down the stuff that the world says will make us happy. Finally when our day isn't going so well we decide to cry out to God to make it better. Is that true love?

I have to wonder how good of a job that we can do at loving God, since love comes from God and it is pure and without self seeking motives, how can we possibly love God adequately on this side of heaven? (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 1 John 4:7) While researching this blog post, I found this old hymn that I have never seen before, it speaks of the love that we should have for God that goes beyond any selfish motivation.

My God, I love Thee--not because I hope for heaven thereby; Nor yet because,if I love not I must for ever die. Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me Upon the Cross embrace; For me didst bear the nails and spear, And manifold disgrace, And griefs and torments numberless, And sweat of agony, Yea, death itself; and all for me Who was Thine enemy.

Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ, Should I not love Thee well? Not for the hope of winning heaven, Of of escaping hell; Not with the hope of gaining aught, Not seeking a reward; But as Thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord! So would I love Thee, dearest Lord, And in Thy praise will sing; Solely because Thou art my God, And my eternal King.

I have to continue to work towards loving God as he deserves, making him my most treasured possession, as I live in God's love he will teach me how to do a better job of loving him. (1 John 4:16-17)