Praise The Lord

DEVOTION

PSALMS

PRAISE THE LORD

Ps 135

135:1

Praise the LORD.

Praise the name of the LORD; praise him, you servants of the LORD, 2 you who minister in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. 3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. 4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession. 5 I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. 6 The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. 7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, the firstborn of men and animals. 9 He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. 10 He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings — 11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan and all the kings of Canaan — 12 and he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel. 13 Your name, O LORD, endures forever, your renown, O LORD, through all generations. 14 For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. 16 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; 17 they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. 19 O house of Israel, praise the LORD;O house of Aaron, praise the LORD; 20 O house of Levi, praise the LORD; you who fear him, praise the LORD. 21 Praise be to the LORD from Zion, to him who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD.

NIV

Much of this psalm has to do with recounting all the Lord did for Israel, almost like a history lesson of sorts. There is no doubt Israel is the chosen nation which God declared would be his special nation through whom he would reveal himself to the world. It is not that Israel is any more special than any other nation in the world as far a nations go. But God chose them to reveal himself through them, to show the whole world his mighty power and his mighty love for his creation. His power is over all the physical aspects of the world. He causes it to rain and to include lighting and thunder. He causes the wind to blow, the clouds in the sky, all the earth is under his control. This should be evidence enough to refute all the claims that man has any effect on his environment. But then those how make those claims refute the control of God, maybe even refute God himself. He even has control over the rulers of the land. Although we may have had some rather evil rulers throughout history, God caused them to ruin for the benefit of his world, his people. Has Israel suffered at time, even though they are his chosen people? Sure, they turned their backs on him, and he did what he had to do in order to bring them back. Even today Israel is not in conformance with his will. But to apply this to us is still appropriate as we are his people, we have become true Israel because of the circumcision of our heart. We have become his chosen people and we are now the temple of the Lord. We are the house of the Holy Spirit. We are those servants of the Lord who are to praise him. We are those who minister in our bodies, the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of God. We present our bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to the Lord which is our act of worship.

Rom 12:1-2

12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

NIV

So we sing praise to the Lord within our heart and with our mouth and our bodies, which include our hands. We serve a God, we praise a God who also has ears and can hear our praise. He has eyes to see our praise, our lives, as we live to please him. He has a mouth and speaks his perfection and loving will into our hearts and minds. Some of us have actually heard the audible voice of God speaking to us, some have heard his still small voice within themselves. But he speaks to his people. Why would we make any inanimate object, like anything fashioned of or resembles or represents gold and silver? No, we will praise the Lord in all his house, in his temple, within our whole being, we will praise the Lord. He has wonderfully made us for that purpose. So let us praise the Lord.

Lift Up Holy Hands

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LIFT UP HOLY HANDS

Ps 134

134:1 A song of ascents.

Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. 3 May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

NIV

The fifteenth and last song of ascent for the last step up to the temple. We find ourselves in the temple now and are admonished to lift up our hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. It does seem odd that many believers do not lift up their hands in the sanctuary during the time of praise through music. That appears to be the only acceptable time to lift our hands up. It would seem inappropriate to lift up our hands during the pastor’s sermon. Otherwise prayer time would work, the offering time would work, along with most any other time other than during the sermon. Yet maybe we should lift up our hands anyway, perhaps the pastor would be blessed. It does seem a little strange that we would like the Lord to bless us, but we are a little reserved in our praising and blessing him. Maybe it is time to shake off those reservations and get on with real praise, lifting up our hands and our heart, lifting up our voice and giving him all the praise, glory and honor he is due, for he is the Maker of heaven and earth. Yet there is one more sanctuary where we can praise him and lift up our hands whenever and wherever we are in body, for we are the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Therefore it is appropriate to lift up our hands in praise to God anytime and anyplace for we are constantly in the sanctuary of this temple. So we lift up holy hands when we pray, sing, or just live life.

1 Tim 2:8

8 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

NIV

Let us praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let’s just lift up holy hands and praise the Lord.

Unity

DEVOTION

PSALMS

UNITY

Ps 133

133:1 A song of ascents. Of David.

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

NIV

The fourteenth song of ascent for the fourteenth of fifteen steps up to the temple. To live in harmony, in unity is a very pleasant way to live. Who would want strife? Who would desire to have conflict in their life? Who would want to be at odds with others? Who would enjoy always bickering or arguing about everything, always being angry and upset about what someone else did or said? Then there is the division about scriptural matters, with people separating themselves over translations, or interpretations, doctrines, and almost forming into adversaries over them.  If we are right then they are wrong is the general thinking within the denominational ranks. Even in the early church there seemed to be division, some follow Paul, others Apollos and still others follow Peter. But the fact remains we are to live in unity with our brothers. Who are our brothers? Anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Yet even within a single church we find some form of differences of opinion about the lists of do’s and don’ts. So how do we overcome all this squabbling? It would seem the root of all disharmony, all disunity is selfishness. The scripture tells us to build each other up.

Eph 4:11-13

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

NIV

1 Thess 5:11

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

NIV

There is the key to living in harmony, in peace with each other. Building each other up which then would mean preferring one another over self. It is more a life of selflessness, then we would be being like Jesus. Not an easy task because we have a tendency to want what we want. Yet even the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit are for the benefit of others. So if we can live for the benefit of others we will live in harmony and unity with each other. Then we will find that blessing from the Lord.

Non-Fading Crown

DEVOTION

PSALMS

NON-FADING CROWN

Ps 132

132:1 A song of ascents.

O LORD, remember David and all the hardships he endured.

2 He swore an oath to the LORD and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: 3 "I will not enter my house or go to my bed — 4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, 5 till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

6 We heard it in Ephrathah, we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:   7 "Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool —  8 arise, O LORD, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. 9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy."

10 For the sake of David your servant, do not reject your anointed one.

11 The LORD swore an oath to David, a sure oath that he will not revoke:" One of your own descendants I will place on your throne — 12 if your sons keep my covenant and the statutes I teach them, then their sons will sit on your throne for ever and ever."

13 For the LORD has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling: 14 "This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it —  15 I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food. 16 I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will ever sing for joy.

17 "Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one. 18 I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown on his head will be resplendent."

NIV

The thirteenth song of ascent for the thirteenth of fifteen steps up to the temple.

This is all about Jesus, the son sitting on the throne of David forever and ever. Of course there is a lot of language that is specific to David and his quest for a place for the Ark of the Covenant, to build the temple in Jerusalem for God. But we know because of his failure, his sin with Bathsheba he would not get to build it, but only assemble much of the material and Solomon, his son, would build the temple. Yet it seems the main point is speaking about Jesus who is the seed of Abraham, the son of the promise. Abraham was a man of faith and his faith was credited to him as righteousness and he was promised by God he would be the father of many nations. Although through his son Isaac whose son Jacob had the twelve sons, who became the twelve tribes of Israel, they are not many nations, but only one nation of Israel. However, through the seed of Abraham, Jesus many nations are blessed. It is because of Jesus who sits upon the throne forever and ever the light of the world shines forever. His is the lamp. He clothes his priest with salvation. We are a people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

1 Peter 2:9

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

NIV

Jesus has clothed us with salvation. We have been clothed with righteousness. We are the promised people. God will provide for us, he will feed us, for we are poor, perhaps not in the material sense, however many may have far more then we, we are the poor in spirit, humble before the Lord and he feeds us both from his word, and from his hand. There is no one else who sits on a throne who cares and loves his people as much as Jesus does. We sit at his feet, we bow our knee and worship him as our Lord and our Savior. Although the song speaks about the temple in Jerusalem being the resting place for God, it no longer stands, and it was destroyed in AD 70 and has not been rebuilt. So then, where is the temple of the Lord which is his resting place forever? We are the temple of the Lord and he rests in us forever and ever. He will never leave nor forsake us, he will be within our heart forever. He sits upon the throne in our heart. Once we sat on that throne, we thought we were the master of our life. But alas, that is not true, we were indeed slaves to sin. However, as we placed Jesus on the throne of our life he set us free from sin and brought eternal life to our heart. The moment Jesus sat upon the throne in our heart, we began our eternal life. We will be with Jesus forever and ever. The crown upon his head shall flourish in our hearts. He brings us the crown of life, the crown glory, the crown of righteousness. And his crown will never fade away.

A Still Heart

DEVOTION

PSLAMS

A STILL HEART

Ps 131

131:1 A song of ascents. Of David.

My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. 2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

NIV

The twelfth song of ascent for the twelfth of fifteen steps up to the temple. What does it mean to have a proud heart, or haughty eyes? In the Hebrew both mean to exalt oneself. This is thinking we are special, we as humans have the ability to do whatever we want. There are all sorts of voices telling us that very thing, “Be all that you can be” “You can achieve whatever you set your mind to”.  Commercials, slogans and the educational system of this world all telling us that it is our making as to how great we will become. We have no limit to our achievements, our success, and our life. All those voices are based on making the heart proud, and the eyes haughty. A proud heart is also a harden heart, shutting out everything except self. This proud heart lifts itself up, exalts itself, thinking more of itself than it should. No, we are not to be concerned with those great matters of things which are too wonderful for us. We are to live with a still and quieted soul. Does that mean we do nothing? Not at all, but the whole of our life should be about the Lord and not about how great we can become, or how successful we can be, our how much we can achieve or how much wealth we have amassed for our benefit in the now and our later years. God has set a path before us, he is the master of our life, the rudder to our ship, it sets the course for us and we only need to follow him. Instead of living in the turmoil of storm of life, we live in the stilled and quieted soul owned and operated by the Lord. We are told over and over again throughout the scriptures to not be worried or anxious or afraid or to be concerned what we will eat, or about the clothes we will wear. Jesus tells us to put the Lord first and all those things the pagans chase after will be given to us. We would need to include most of Matthew chapter six to get the whole of Jesus’s teaching, but we know it, and we should live by it, for it is the truth of a really successful life, a life of true wealth and of being exalted. We do not exalt ourselves, but humble ourselves before the Lord and he lifts us up. He makes us into what he desires for our life. Some may have more intelligence than others, some may have more wealth or material goods than others, and some may have better positions in society, at least in accordance with the standards of this world. But there is no envy, jealously, or coveting in the kingdom living we are to be in. We are precisely where God intends us to be and doing exactly what his plan is for our life. We are the clay, he is the potter. He has made us the exact vessel he desires us to be for his glory, for his purpose. This is why we can have a quiet heart, a still soul, content in who we are and where we are and what we have. We have put our trust in him, not in ourselves, for if we trust self we will fail short of everything the Lord has for us. But because we trust in him we will be all that he intends us to be. Our hope is in him. All our hope is in him. We just keep walking the path he has set before us wherever he leads, we will follow that path. So we have a still heart.

Who Else

DEVOTION

PSALMS

WHO ELSE

Ps 130

130:1 A song of ascents.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; 2 O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

NIV

The eleventh song of ascent on the eleventh of fifteen steps up to the temple. Who else would our soul cry out for, other than the Lord? Who else could redeem us from the depths, other than the Lord? Who else would show us the mercy the Lord does? Although we are told that love keeps no record of wrong in 1 Corinthians 13, which of us can say we have been able to accomplish that? There always seems to be that lingering hint of memory about something someone did or said which we deemed as offensive to us. We say we forgive you, but can we say we have totally forgotten? The idea of not keeping a record of wrongs may not be about actually not remembering, but more like never bringing it up ever again for the rest of our lives. It means never reminding a person of something they did that was deemed wrong or we could say as deemed as sin. That is how God is. He would not be God if he could actually forget something, but once he has forgiving us of our sin, he has forgiven us and we are no longer held accountable for that sin. If he did hold us accountable for every sin in our life, we could not ever stand before him. In fact, we could not bear to stand period. The weight of our guilt and shame would crush us. This is why people who refuse to accept Jesus Christ stand with arrogance. They have denied who God is, suppressed the truth of God deep within themselves so their evil deeds do not crush them, they feel no shame or guilt, so they can live. They prefer the darkness so the light of the truth of God will not shine into their hearts. They do no fear God. But we know God and we have cried out to him and he has forgiven our sin and so we fear, we reverence him. Our soul waits for him, we yearn for the Lord. We put our trust in his word. Just as the watchmen waits for the morning, we watch for the morning of the Lord, the Day of the Lord when everything will change forever. Sometimes we can get too distracted just in our daily living, doing the daily chores of life that we do not pay much attention to the coming Day of the Lord. Sometimes we make too many of our own plans of what we want out of life, our wants, our goals, our desires, and our ambitions, what we want for our future days to look like, and how much we want to accomplish. What about waiting for the Lord? What about seeking him more? He is the only one who loves us enough to have done everything so that we can be redeemed. He reconciled himself to us so that we can have eternal life. All too often we hear of people saying they simply do not love someone anymore. Isn’t that what divorce is about, falling out of love? Maybe it is more about selfishness, rather than selflessness. That is how the love of God is, selflessness. He came in to earth in the form of man to humble himself unto a death on a cross for us. That is love divine. That is unfailing love. The love of people may fail, but Gods love never fails, it continues forever. He has redeemed us and holds us up, sustains us in his love. Who else could we turn to? Who else would love us as much as God does? Who else?

Bless You in My Name

DEVOTION

PSALMS

BLESS YOU IN MY NAME

Ps 129

129:1 A song of ascents.

They have greatly oppressed me from my youth — let Israel say —  2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. 3 Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. 4 But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked. 5 May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame. 6 May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow; 7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands, nor the one who gathers fill his arms. 8 May those who pass by not say, "The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD."

NIV

The tenth psalm of ascent for the tenth of fifteen steps up to the temple. This psalm would appear to be speaking about the history of Israel, such as when they were in captivity in Egypt and were treated harshly, their backs being scourged. The verbiage about the plowmen and their backs being plowed may make a reference to them being yoked as oxen to pull heavy stones for the construction of the pyramids. However, this song also speaks of the deliverance of God, their being cut free from the cords of the wicked. Again we see a comparison between the righteous and the wicked. The righteous are cut free from the wicked and the wicked are likened as grass on a roof. This grass on the roof has no soil to grow in and the roof is hot and dry so it withers. This gives us the picture of a life without the blessings of the Lord, a life of the wicked, those who do not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. This idea mirrors the teaching of Jesus about the seed and the four types of ground it falls upon. Of course in his teaching the seed is the word of God and different types of ground represent people. Yet this roof is like that which falls upon rocks where it sprang up quickly, when the sun came up it was it was scorched and withered because it had no root. This should give us the picture of our having our roots planted by the stream of living water, as the 1^st psalm makes that point and how the tree produces much fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. So these wicked who wither will not be in the harvest of the Lord. He is the reaper and he will not be able to fill his hands nor his arms with any of the wicked for their have withered away, burnt up by the heat. Sounds like hell, doesn’t it? What this shows us is how blessed we are to be in the hands of Jesus, to find rest in his everlasting arms. No one who is not in the arms of Jesus will not be able to say, “Blessing of the Lord be upon you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.” They will have been cast out of heaven and we will not be able to hear them anymore. While we are here in this life, we hear the voices of the wicked, even those who pretend to be believers and use those kind of blessing words. It is not about our words, although as important as words are, it is about the condition of the heart. It is possible to be fooled by pretenders, there façade looks all new and shiny, appearing to be this new creation, this born again being. But Jesus spoke to that issue about those who would say, Lord, Lord.

Matt 7:21-23

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

NIV

There are pretenders, who will not be in the everlasting arms of Jesus. It is about the condition of the heart. Those who have their heart circumcised, exposing it to the Lord, will see the kingdom of God. The heart hears and obeys the Lord, who puts his words into practice, who is the good tree who bears fruit. Actions are good, or good deeds seem to be right, but here all their good deeds were for nothing. Their prophesying, their driving our demons, their doing many miracles meant nothing because the condition of their heart was evil. Good deeds are not the answer to the life of being a believer, a circumcised heart is. Will that produce some good works? Sure, but works is not the way into the everlasting arms of Jesus. We are saved by faith and faith alone and we live because he lives. Our life is in his hands. Let us allow the seed, the word of God to grow in our hearts, and flourish. It is not about men saying the blessing of the Lord be upon you. It is about God saying his blessings be upon us. It is about God saying, “I bless you in my name.”