“Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O you servants of the Lord! You who stand in the house of the Lord, In the courts of the house of our God, Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant.” (Psalm 135:1-3, NKJV)
Can I share something with you? This past month Father has really shown me something that has changed my whole perspective. He has really rocked my world a little. I believe there are some of you here, tonight, that need to hear what I am going to say.
A month or so ago, I was trying to have an extended, dedicated worship time with the Lord and I kept getting distracted by different things around me, things that annoyed me, at one point I got a migraine headache. I was getting angry and frustrated because I so wanted to enter into uninterrupted worship with God. As I sat in my frustration, Father God began to download this thought into my mind.
“I am God. I am Holy. I am worthy of your praise all the time. I am worth of your praise regardless of your surroundings. I am worthy of your praise just because of who I AM.”
Wow! That blew my mind. I have been chewing on this for the last 4 or 5 weeks and it t has certainly gone beyond that time and moment. It has created a monumental shift in my attitude of praise of my Father. You see, here is the truth He has revealed to me…
My circumstances change, my surroundings change, and my “feelings” change – sometimes moment by moment. But my God, my Heavenly Father, the only God of the entire Universe, The Creator of Everything – MY GOD NEVER CHANGES. If He is worthy of my praise when all is well, then He is ALWAYS worthy of my praise!
- I may have a lot on my mind from the day or from work, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- I may not feel like singing this song, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- I may not know or like the song the leader chose, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- I may have a migraine or the flu, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- The person next to me may not be able to carry a tune in a bucket, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- The person next to me may be talking on the cell phone, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- I may be carrying the biggest burden of my life, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- I may not be able to pay my house payment or my bills, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- There may be a baby crying in the sanctuary, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- I may have just lost my job, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- I may be dying to a terminal disease, but God is still worthy of my praise.
- I may be ________(fill in the blank)_______, but God is still worthy of my praise.
You see, when I let other things distract me or prevent me from praising Him – just because of who He is – then I have let something else come before God. The Bible is pretty clear about this. It made one of the top 10 – “You shall have no other gods before Me.” I don’t know about you, but my Bible calls that idolatry. So can I invite you to give praise to the God of the Universe, the creator of all, the one who died for you and me, just because he is worthy? Can I invite you to totally abandon yourself to praise and personal worship of Him today? Can I ask you to examine your heart and make sure there is nothing else before Him in your life as you enter into His presence?
Running After Papa…