Praise

Lift Up Those Hands!

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Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! Psalm 134:2 ESV

Those are the opening lines from a chorus I love to sing. God’s word tells us to lift up our hands but do you ever stop to wonder why? Here are the four reasons that I came up with. Maybe you have some other ideas of your own and I would love hearing them.

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A) Praise -We lift up our hands when we worship with other believers. And in this psalm it tells us to do this at night but any time is the right time to praise God.

B) Surrender – When the police officer draws out his gun and yells, “Show me your hands!” we lift up our hands to show we are surrendering. This might not be in church in fact when the disciples left their nets to follow Jesus; they surrendered their careers right in the middle of a work day.

two police men standing near another person beside white and blue police vehicle on road

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C) Availability – When my teacher called my name it was usually wrong (who can pronounce Caligiuri?) but I knew she was calling on me so I lifted up my hand. “Here!” I shouted. Isaiah answers God in much the same way; “Here I am Lord: Send me.

 

photo of four girls wearing school uniform doing hand signs

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D) Love – At the end of long work days I would trudge home from the job, completely exhausted, in need of a shower and a meal. But when I opened our apartment door our two little boys who seemed to have no sense of smell raced up to me with their arms up shouting; “Daddy’s home! Daddy’s home! Pick me up Daddy!”  P1030050

Jesus calls to each of us to come to Him and we will find rest. We are not only welcomed into His presence; He loves to hear us run to the door when He knocks crying; ” Abba’s home! Abba’s home! Pick me up Father I need you again today!”

Worship is a Choice

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If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”   Luke 4:7-8

In the wilderness the devil came to Jesus and gave him a limited time offer, Bow down and worship and for a while I will give you all their authority and splendor.  This immediate ascension to a seat of power required no cross no obedience and no difficulties. It reminds me of some of those furniture commercials telling us that there is no money down and no payments for a year. Putting off the sacrifice of paying for stuff is pretty tempting. We have a  a choice to make: pay up now or pay lots more but way later. Jesus decided to wait for the right time and the right way and in choosing that path He chose real worship.

Temptations and the dark places of our lives are places where in practical ways we get to choose who we will worship. Worship is not when we are surrounded by friends in an air conditioned church lifting our hands to softy music. The best worship happens in the hard places and the deserts of our soul. We can give our highest praise when there is the highest price on our decision.

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Worship has nothing to do with our emotions or  rewards. Worship is based on what God has promised. Our choice to worship is about who we will trust and whose word we treasure. Will our worship be based on how it will profit us or, will it demonstrate our complete dependence on Jesus? When we choose Jesus and choose what He chose then our reward is sure though its value may not be seen till it is revealed by eternity’s light.

 

 

Sunrise to Sunset

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It has been hot this week so last night we went for a walk and the breeze from the Gulf felt wonderful. I got some nice sunset photos that remind me of the verse about giving praise to God no matter the time. He is worthy to be exalted not only at sunset but even all through the night!

From the rising of the sun to its going down The Lord ’s name is to be praised.
Psalms 113:3 NKJV