Scroll down to see and play Audio.
Good morning dear “Walking with Jesus” friends!
This is an important weekend, isn’t it?
It’s the transition from Thanksgiving week to the Advent of Christmas. I love this weekend…how about you? We look back to the wonder of Thanksgiving… and we look ahead to the even greater wonder of Christmas. And beyond that, the New Year, and this time, the long anticipated year of 2020.
I’m hoping this weekend launches each of us into a wonderful month of discovery, as we walk with Jesus, together experiencing these advent days. To help us launch into this month, let’s today, look at the final Psalm in the Bible, Psalm 150, the last of the “Hallelu Yah” Psalms.
I wonder how many times you count the word “PRAISE” in this one Psalm in your translation of the Bible? Do you see this Psalm invites us to Praise God in certain places and for certain things and with certain instruments and with all of our breath?
I have a friend who may be one of the most unusually gifted worship leaders I’ve ever met. Josh is an “MK”, (missionary kid) who like me, grew up on the mission field. He grew up in the Dominican Republic, I grew up in Haiti. Josh is gifted in music and languages, and combines the two of them to lead worship in MANY different languages and with many different instruments. He is traveling with me in February to Bankok, Thailand, where more than 200 missionaries will be gathered for a Spiritual Life retreat and they’ve asked the two of us to come. Josh will lead them in worship, I will lead them in Word & Prayer. I’ll give you more details in the early part of the year.
Josh has a ministry called Proskuneo (https://proskuneo.org/ ) and he brings the hope and joy of the Gospel of Jesus to immigrants from many different nations, who live in a place called Clarkston, Georgia. Nearly 100 languages are spoken in a 3 square mile area!! Josh & his family live among them, and lead an arts school among other things. I just received a video from Josh that I think helps Psalm 150 come alive… I invite you to take 3 minutes and worship with Josh and some of his friends from several nations as they… “Praise the LORD”. https://www.youtube.
So where, my friends, have been some of the places, in your life journey, where worship & praise has been most spectacular, most memorable for you? The Psalmist says “Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens.”
Oh for Dawn and me, yes it’s been great churches in Montvale, NJ and Bethel Fargo, ND and Calvary in Williams Bay, and Sevier Heights in Knoxville… but it’s also been the historic chapel at West Point; and the Garden Tomb area in Jerusalem; and the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs; and the homes of many precious people like you dear folks, and including our home here in Florida where many of you have worshiped. It’s been several places in Haiti and many other nations… So where are some of your favorite PRAISE the LORD places, my friends?
The Psalmist writes… “Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness…”So my good friends, as we move into December, WHAT are the things you are praising God for? As you move from God’s great attributes and power that we all thank Him for, what are the very specific things that God has been doing in your life, that awaken praise deep from within you?
Have you learned the importance of Praise Prayer? Speaking directly to God with nothing but gratitude, adoration, praise… and with specifics. As a parent or grandparent, I’m sure you appreciate it deeply when your children or grandchildren express specific thanks for something you’ve done to help them, or guidance you’ve given them, or love you have extended to them. Oh the power of Specific Praise!
When you look at the list of instruments in Psalm 150, I wonder if it causes you to realize something NO instrument can make music by itself! Every instrument needs a musician before any sound can come forth. You’ve noticed instruments can sound terrible or beautiful. They can be used in a bar or a church. They can calm an anxious heart or blast eardrums to the point of pain. They can help an army march or celebrate a touchdown or honor the fallen or calm the elderly.
Would you agree we each make music with our very lives! Our eyes speak volumes, as does our smile or frown. Our body language either affirms or contradicts what we say with our mouths. And of course our mouths… oh the power of the tongue. Remember James dedicates an entire chapter to ‘taming the tongue’ (James 3). So it’s important to ask…what music has your life and mine been making?What will still be ringing in the ears of those who know us, long after we are gone?
And finally, the closing phrase of the book of the Psalms, in the Bible… “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!”(Psalm 150:6) Would you agree, that is the purpose for which every person… and everything that has breath… is created by God?
May I invite us each to develop a ‘lifestyle of Praise to God’ every day, in all our attitudes, for the rest of our lives? And if we do, we’ll leave a “legacy of Praise”, and I wonder if anything could be more helpful to everyone that our that our lives touch?
How do we end this 5 days in the “Hallelu Yah” Psalms? Well, how about this… the Brooklyn Tabernacle Praise singers at a Prison? As you watch this video, they are in the blazing hot sun, singing “TOTAL PRAISE” surrounded by red-clad prisoners. What a contrast… oh the difference Jesus can make in any life, when we choose to Praise Him with our lives… amen? https://www.
“Praise the LORD”… oh my “walking with Jesus” friends, that we would each and all, become known as a People of Praise!
Oh Lord Jesus, thank you for the Hallelu Yah Psalms…and this weekend which moves us from Thanksgiving to Christmas Advent! We want to praise you with every aspect of our lives!
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.