Praise And Worship

When and How to Praise God?

We should praise God and Worship Him in all aspects of our life. We should praise Him in the good times, and in the not so good times. We should praise and thank our Lord God the Heavenly King, for everything, by singing hymns and worshipping Him daily.

Ephesians 5:19,20 (NIV): Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why we Praise God?

Jesus was sent to earth to die for our sins, so that we may be forgiven of all our sins. He suffered a lot of pain in order to make us righteous before God the Father. He rose again on the third day so that we rejoice in His resurrection, and we too will one day be resurrected and live for all eternity with our Father in Heaven.

Never think that there are things impossible with Him. All things are possible with Him. He can solve all our problems very easily. According to John chapter 14, verses 13,14,15 anything we ask the Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus, we will receive. We should praise Him because He is always in control of our lives, and we can do all things through Him.

Bible portion for Praise: Psalms 34 & 66.

Surety Of God's Word

"If God says something, it will surely come to pass"

If God says something, whether it is a 'blessing' or it is a 'curse', if it is from the Lord, it will surely come to pass. Two situations in the Bible prove this:

1. Blessing from the Lord:

II Kings 6:24-29

Samaria, where Israelites lived, was surrounded by the King of Aram. So, food materials and other resources didn't come in or go out of Samaria. A great famine prevailed in Samaria. The famine was so intense that "Men were eating men". So, the King of Israel approached Elisha for getting God's word. God's word came to Elisha:

"Elisha said, Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." - II Kings 7:1

The word of God came to pass.

"Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the LORD had said." - I Kings 7:16

2. Curse from the Lord:

I Kings 22

Ahab, the King of Israel, planned to fight against Ramoth, the enemies of Israel. So, before going to battle, he wanted to know the word of God. So, he called all the prophets of Israel and asked whether he should go to war against Ramoth. God spoke clearly through Micaiah, the prophet of Israel. The words were:

".......The LORD has decreed disaster for you." - I Kings 22:23

Hearing this from the prophet, to protect himself from the attack, Ahab entered the battle in disguise. (I Kings 22: 30). But nothing can prevent the fulfilling of God's words:

"But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor"- I Kings 22:34
"So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there" - I Kings 22:37

From the above two instances, we understand how God's words were fulfilled just the way he spoke it : "Blessings" to those who deserve and "Curse" to those who deserve.

Call for us:

Now, God has declared "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done." - Revelation 22:12.

As He has declared
- He is going to come soon.
- Our rewards are with Him. If we deserve His "Blessing" we'll go with Him to Heaven, if we deserve "Curse" we'll go to hell.

So, be prepared to get the reward of God because "If God says something, it will surely come to pass"

Christian Life

Bible Portion : Romans: 12: 9-21

Christian life is all about showing Christ's love to others. In what ways can we show His love practically?

First, we need to have brotherly love towards one another (verse 10). We need to bear each other's burdens, and be concerned about others' wellbeing. If a brother/sister is unwell, or having problems, we need to encourage them and pray for them, until things become normal again.

Second, rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn (verse 15). Mourning with those who're mourning is comparatively easy, than rejoicing with those who are rejoicing! For example, when a neighbour buys a new thing (like a television, a bike, a car, ...), do we rejoice with them, or envy them because we don't have what they bought? When someone in the workplace gets a promotion, do we rejoice with them, or feel bad about not getting a promotion ourselves? As followers of Christ, we should not be envious, but rejoice with others in their times of happiness.

Obedience to God

Throughout the scriptures Bible displays one of God's particular character. God can never stand disobedience. There are several examples both in Old and New testaments.

Cost of disobedience

Moses :
A man who was filled with anger when he saw God's people being afflicted in Egypt. The one who did great things for God before Pharaoh bringing a mighty nation to its knees and nothingness. One who suffered greatly because of the disobedience of Israelites (he once asked God "am I the father of these people?"). But when he disobeyed striking the rock instead of speaking to it, God made his mistake cost a great happiness of entering the promised land. God had to take away his life on the way.

Achan :
God commanded Joshua, 'No Israelite should take anything from the debris of Jericho, all should be burnt'. Achan took some gold ornaments. Though he openly admitted his mistake, he was destroyed along with his whole family. We read this in Joshua chapter 7. Because of the sin of Achan, the Israelites were defeated by the men of Ai and were chased out of their city. Disobedience of one man caused a defeat of whole nation.

Saul :
What a call! Being the first king of a God blessed nation cannot be taken that simply. The one who went searching for a donkey town to town was anointed 'king'. Many wars he won, for God's nation. Still when he disobeyed sacrificing the cattle he took from the land which was an abomination for the Lord, it costed just everything in his life. The Bible says the Lord commanded an evil-spirit to enter him. You know the rest of the story. Could anyone have imagined the kind of the death he went through?

Reward for Obedience

As soon as the word 'obedience' is spelt, the first name that flashes in my mind is Abraham. Not an easy obedience. God promised him a child at 75. Sarah being 65 was laughing. 25 years after the promise, they got the promised child. Came the test for his faith and obedience. God commanded the child to be sacrificed. Abraham did not delay. God himself had to stop him from sacrificing his only son. You know the remaining story. After this whenever God introduced himself, he called himself 'I am the God of Abraham'. Even today Abraham's being called 'father of faith'.

From all this we can conclude, God will not let his word to be taken in vain. He really counts how we obey his word. We clearly see the cost of disobedience and the rewards for obedience. May God talk to us. Praise the Lord! Amen.