It's no coincidence that yesterday afternoon I was reading about lifting praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. We need to sing and celebrate who God is and all He has done.
"Stand before the majesty of God. Let its splendor silence you. But when the hush passes, so must your silence. Then it is time for anthems and glad hallelujahs."
Christ followers should know the joy of compulsive praise that grows from hearts of gratitude and erupts with thanksgiving.
"Theologians do us the very great favor of doctrine and definition, but they can never create our worship. Adoration is born when people touch Christ and find they must rhapsodize their gratitude in thanksgiving."
When was the last time that your heart was so filled with love for the Lord that you spontaneously burst forth with song? "The Welsh have a word, gorfoleddu, which means 'ecstatic rejoicing.'" This lifting up praise is marked by exuberance. It's not distracted or half-hearted.
How often have you stood to sing a worship song in the congregation of God's family and because of familiarity of lyrics, gone through the motions without letting the words captivate your soul with rapture? The consuming fire has been reduced to a candle flame. We need to awaken our souls again.
On any given Sunday, imagine a seeker entering our church and seeing real worship. "Let them see that rare and hard-to-forget phenomenon of believers honestly, joyously praising God. As they experience this wonderful mystery, they might want to come back for the sheer glory of seeing it again."
In Luke 19:40 Jesus expressed it this way, "If they keep quiet, the stones along the road will burst into cheers!"
"Praise will always be the buoyant evidence that the church is telling the truth - a rapturous truth that cannot be done without."
It's time to "break forth with song before the rocks grow tongues"!
(All quotes taken from "Into the Depths of God" by Calvin Miller)
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