Tag: worship

Let Everything!

Psalm 150 is one of my all-time favorite Psalms!

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
     praise Him in His mighty heavens!
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
     praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Praise Him with the trumpet sound;
     praise Him with lute and harp!
Praise Him with tambourine and dance;
     praise Him with strings and pipe!
Praise Him with sounding cymbals;
     praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let EVERYTHING that has BREATH praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

According to Strong’s Concordance, praise hālal H1984 means to be clamorously foolish, to rave, to boast, to celebrate, to give glory to. When I read this, I cannot help but think about King David returning the Ark of the Covenant, the representation of the very presence of God, back to Jerusalem.

In 2 Samuel 6:1-2, David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. Vs. 5 And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. Take a moment and imagine the sound that thirty thousand-plus people were making as they marched. Now, imagine them shouting, singing, playing lyres, harps, castanets, cymbals, and tambourines…I mean have you ever heard of a quiet tambourine or cymbal?! This was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a quiet procession! My guess is, you could hear them coming from miles away!

Imagine you are living in the city of David, you hear a celebration and wonder what is going on and you look out your window to see King David dancing with all his might before the Ark, dancing with all his might before the presence of God! Would you stop washing dishes, grab the kids, and head outside to join the celebration of Jehovah? I like to think I would be right in the middle of it!

The people were having a party! It was loud and boastful, and it was a celebration giving glory and honor to Jehovah, God! The representation of the very presence of God was back among the people! They were celebrating their Healer, their Rock, their Strong Tower, and their Deliverer! How could anyone help but worship?

Everyone was having a great time, except for Michal. She looked out her window and had nothing but contempt for David. Michal felt David had made himself look like a vulgar, shameless fellow instead of the mighty king that he was. She was so concerned with how things looked that she missed the entire point, the Ark of the Covenant, the representation of the presence of God, was back and there was great reason to rejoice. Because of her contempt, Michal missed the whole celebration and she missed the whole point. But don’t we do the same thing?

Psalm 150 speaks of trumpets, lutes, harps, tambourines, strings, pipes, and even LOUD clashing cymbals being played in the sanctuary, and yet we go into our places of worship, the place that represents the presence of God and we slip in quietly almost like we’re afraid we’re going to disturb God.

Here’s something to think about, the Israelites were celebrating and they had to stay in the outer courts and could not even go into the Holy of Holies. They couldn’t come close to the Presence of God because of sin. But when Christ died on the cross, the veil that kept the “ordinary” people out of the Holy of Holies, was torn in two and we gained access to the very Presence of God! Is that not something to rejoice about?!

I know what He brought me out of and how He redeemed me. I know how He protected me and how He went to the enemy’s camp and said, “This one’s debt has been paid and she belongs to Me!” So! As for me, I will worship God, my Redeemer, Healer, Rock, and Strong Tower with my entire being. I will clap my hands like cymbals, my shout will be like a trumpet blast, and oh yes, I will dance before the King the Kings because I know what the blood Jesus did for me.

What Song Are You Listening To?

Original post 10/16/2015

When I was growing up, if I was in the car with my dad, the radio was on and we were singing with every song that came on (so y’all can blame it on him!). If we were in the grocery store and he wanted to sing a song about buying toilet paper, he sang it! He would make up songs about whatever came to mind. If someone said something like, “I feel good,” yep, we would break out with our best James Brown…don’t deny it, you just did the same thing!

I can hear a song and it will immediately take me back, Great Balls of Fire takes me to the first time Brett and I were riding with my dad at the beach and while Dad and I played the dashboard, Brett was lying on the floorboard trying not to be seen! When I hear Backfield in Motion or I Love Beach Music, I can close my eyes and see my mom and dad dancing the Carolina Shag or taking walks on the beach with my dad, riding in the back of a truck with my brothers going to the beach, going to softball games, little league games and Granite Lake and it makes me smile. I hear classical music and my mind drifts to going to sleep beside my mom when dad worked third shift. She would set the timer on the clock radio to 60 minutes and I’d drift off to sleep to Bach. And do you know what I drift off to when I fly? You got it, classical. 

I’m guessing you’re wondering where this is going and I’m going to tell you right now. Just as these songs elicit memories that make me smile, there are also the songs that, if I’m not careful, I’ll play over and over in my mind that do not elicit smiles but questions about who I am. We all do it. We’ll tune into R.E.G.R.E.T radio and we’ll listen to the top 6 countdown…I Wish I Had, I Shoulda, I Could Have Done it Better, I’ll Never Make It, I’m Not Good Enough, and, my personal favorite, What If. The main problem with R.E.G.R.E.T radio, is that is owned and operated by the enemy of our soul, Satan, and his desire is to get you to play these same songs over and over and over, until they become your only sound track and you can’t hear what W.O.G.R…Word of God Radio…has to say.

W.O.G.R is playing tunes that uplift your soul and bring healing to the places that R.E.G.R.E.T radio doesn’t want you to get healing for. Let’s check out the top 10 songs on W.O.G.R!

10. Colossians 2:10 I am COMPLETE in Him Who is the head of all principality and power

9. Ephesians 2:5 I am ALIVE with Christ

8. Romans 8:2 I am FREE from the law of sin and death

7. Ephesians 1:4 / 1 Peter 1:16 I am holy and WITHOUT blame before Him in LOVE

6. Philippians 4:7 I have the PEACE of God that passes ALL understanding

5. 1 John 4:4 I HAVE the greater One living IN me; GREATER is He that is IN me than he that is in the world

4. Romans 5:17 I have received the gift of RIGHTEOUSNESS and reign as a king in life by Christ Jesus

3. Ephesians 2:10 I AM God’s workmanshsip, CREATED in Christ for good works

2. 2 Corinthians 5: I AM a NEW creature in Christ

1. Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we ARE more than conquerors through Him who LOVED us. For I am SURE that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor ANYTHING else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the LOVE of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

This is only the top 10! There are many more scriptures in the Word of God that tell us who we are in Him! I encourage you today to take the time to press STOP on R.E.G.R.E.T radio and press PLAY on W.O.G.R! Let that station play on repeat and, trust me, He will continue to heal your heart and lift you up!

March 23, 2024 This blog may have been written in 2015, but it remains true today. We can continue to listen to R.E.G.R.E.T radio or we can lean into a much better station, W.O.G.R! And just as the songs above can take me back to memories that are precious and full of joy, the following songs take me back and remind me of the places God met me!

I had someone tell me once that I worship too loud. This is my response…

Our God is worthy of our praise!