Lent: Day Thirty-four ~ Praise and Worship

Isaiah 29:13-14 (NIV) The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

What is this talk of praise and worship? Through this Lent series, you’re learning about the great Almighty God and Jesus but what does the bible say about worship and praise? Is praise in reading the word? Is worship in believing?

The word praise is used over 400 times in the bible; the word worship over 200 times, so the words in scripture must carry some meaning; more than just reading and believing.

Praise is defined as: the offering of grateful homage in words or song, as an act of worship: a hymn of praise to God. Worship is defined: reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred; formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage: They attended worship this morning.

1 Chron. 29: 13 Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.

God calls us to praise and worship Him. He not only calls, He commands us to do so. If you have a mother, you understand command. When your mother said be home at eleven, she wasn’t asking you politely to obey her order, she was commanding you to listen to her.

This is the same with God. He doesn’t ask us to read and believe the bible; the choice is yours but He DOES command you, once a believer and follower to praise and worship Him outside your comfort zone.

Your comfort zone is the nice quiet place you reside, read and believe. With all your intelligence that you’ve garnered after reading the bible and dissecting it scripture by scripture; your wisdom that you think you own and have gained will be swallowed up.

Isaiah 29:13-14 (NIV) The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

These people that the above scripture verse is speaking of are the ones sitting comfortably in their homes. They call on God with their mouths, they pray with their lips, but their hearts, sitting comfortably at home are far away from Him.

Have you ever heard the one that if a tree falls in the woods and no one was around to hear it, would it still make a sound? I hear over and over again a logically wise response, a resounding NO!

That’s what praise alone is; it is making a sound (if the utterance leaves your mouth) but it is not heard. You are paying lip-service to God and to me (TO ME) that is short changing an all Mighty and Powerful God who says their wisdom will perish and their intelligence will vanish.

Worship is the same way. God does not command us to worship alone.

Ex. 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God

I feel as if your (my) television screen or computer screen is a false God. If your worship of Him is with a television, radio, or computer screen, remember the Jealous God. The screens are no different than that of the golden calf that the people built while Moses was away receiving the Lord’s Commandments. The TV becomes a false god.

We get into a comfort zone and remain there thinking we can pick and choose how we praise and worship. The choice isn’t ours to make. God COMMANDS us to worship Him and Him alone, He COMMANDS us to praise His name and His alone. He calls us to come out of our cocoon of a comfort zone and Praise His Holy name.

Will God hear your praise alone in your cocoon? Of course He will. But like our mother commanded us to be home at a certain time and we chose to come in a little later, we are chastised by her. Do we expect God to be any different? Does He pick and choose the commandments you’re to obey? Does He say come to me in the comfort of your home and sit idle and praise me? No! He commands us to EXALT him, praise Him, glorify His name, worship Him and Him alone.

A Christian understands the commandments. He or she understands praise and worship and the benefits that flow through your veins.  He doesn’t pick and choose how he sees it fit to praise and worship, he is guided by the very hand of God.

Chron. 16:29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

Matt. 4: 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Praise is the basis of the Christian spirit. Reading and believing is not praise. Praise is when you feel in the pit of your stomach a glorifying of God lift inside of you and song is poured through your mouth. You are not a tree, alone in the woods falling with no one around to hear. Your voice is lifted up and those surrounding you hear your praise and are there with you glorifying the heavenly high God. The power of Lord rains a spiritual shower on your spirit and the psalms of praise are heard.

Pss. 150:1-6 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

In closing, allow me to say, we are not to pick and choose how and when to praise and worship; God makes it very clear the methods in which we are to follow scripture and His Word. Picking and choosing is the way of a vain and selfish man thinking of himself above the Savior and King.

“When God’s people begin to praise and worship Him using the Biblical methods He gives, the Power of His presence comes among His people in an even greater measure.” ~ Graham Truscott

Just as there is POWER in prayer, there is also a Mighty POWER in praise and worship. If you are new to the Christian faith, let me tell you, once you feel the power of praise, you will no longer pick and choose the scripture you adhere to. Your praise will be felt and heard.

The Miracle Dog

John 6: 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.
***

Do you believe in miracles? You’ll probably say, “Yeah sure.” But maybe with some apprehension you’ll try hard to remember seeing the last one or you might wonder what really was a miracle or just pure luck.

Let me tell you, there is no such thing as luck, they are all miracles and blessings, whether you like to believe it or not, the Holiest of Holies, rains a blessing on you, he doesn’t shower you with luck and money; blessings and miracles are so much more explosive than sheer luck.

Remember I told you my dog Sassy was hit by a truck last Tuesday? She walked around pacing and yelping in pain. Not a constant yelp, it was only when she went to open her mouth. Money hindered all possibilities of getting her to a vet, so prayer was our only source. A lot of you might say, “That’s foolish.” Well, not in my shoes. When you’ve been in my shoes, then you can judge for yourself.

For now all I live on is prayer. Seems to be working. Saturday evening the snow started to fall. Not just an inch or two, by Sunday morning there was easily six inches of the white stuff, enough to hinder us from going to church. Then throughout the day, six or seven more fell stopping all activity on the roads, causing hazardous conditions throughout the state, school closings and the like. Cancellations of all kinds were being posted on TV.

Early Monday I HAD to get out and shovel some kind of path for Sassy, so she could get out there and do her business. She was yelping minimally but she also had confined herself into the back room of the house where it is very cold. I read somewhere that the cold eased pain for dogs, and she instinctively knew this because this is where she lay, curled in a ball for days on end, never coming into the warmer portions of the house.

We all kicked into mothering Sassy. Beau, Adam and I all took to hand feeding her, making soft foods that we knew she liked and took with apprehension but still she ate and drank water on occasion. A tough week to say the least, then the snow to top it all off, what an amazing fete that lay before us.

On Tuesday, yesterday, something strange took place. As I sit here tapping on the keys, movement out of the corner of my eye. Sassy peeking around the corner at me. She was looking for food. I rose to make her two hot dogs which she devoured. Then I found her laying in the bathroom all snug as a bug on a rug. I moved her to the hallway on a towel, and later she came into the living room, with coaxing and hasn’t returned to the cold cave since.

She’s feeling better! A  living miracle! Still healing but definitely on the road to recovery. A neighbor came with a plow truck last night, unburied our truck and made a path for us and our neighbors behind us. Sassy almost barked full throttle, but a little *woof* was let out and I sighed in relief. My dog was now in the throes of a miracle. Something money can never buy. A miracle is prayers answered!

Praise be to God, and no other!

Out with the Old...

Pss. 33: 3 Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.
***

Wow, can you believe another year has gone by? I just looked at the calendar and it is the 15 th of December already. The new year will be beginning in a little more than two weeks and have I gotten anything done this year that I had set out to do? No.

I have never been one to make plans. It always seems that you make them, something comes up and the plans that you had planned on for weeks or days falls apart and then you need to shift gears and make new plans.

I have been writing my blog almost religiously. I like to keep my posts current and active. I like to teach new things or share with you, so THAT plan worked out well. And as we wind down the year, I must wonder if everyone is ready for this holiday? Are you eager to begin the new year and shuffle this one behind you and scoot it nicely under the bed? I sure am!

I know one of the major things that worked out this year was growth in my faith. I had always assumed I was nicely content with my faith, but one should never get  too content with ones faith. Whether you’re Christian, Buddhist, Catholic, or Muslim, there is always room to grow and journey with your God.

You can say, “No, I’ve learned all that I can.” But I have to disagree, with every single day of your learning/living, there is always something new where you scratch your head and say, “Well, I didn’t know that.” Ever have one of those days? Well geez, in my case every day is like that.

The new year started off on a high note but by July, it all started having a domino effect and tumbled downward day after day. What-with doctor visits and preparing my son for his first day of school, taking beau to Omaha on a few occasions, hopes rising and falling, then God putting a halt to all the toppling of the outcomes by saying, “Wait, did you run all this by ME first?”

Since it is Him who has complete control, we all stopped and said, “What will you have us do Father?” And that is when beau decided to wait on the Lord, Adam decided to pray for his enemy, and I, I continued writing like a news reporter gleaning all the days/weeks news.

So as you head into the new year, look behind at the old one and ask yourself, “Have I learned anything this year that I never knew before?” I bet nine out of ten of you will all shake your head in agreement and give a resounding, “Yes!”

Move forward into the new year with joyful anticipation knowing there is something new waiting for you next year! You don’t have to make plans, just know in your heart that it is waiting for you around the corner!

Poetry Sunday ~ Oh Heavenly Father

Pss.33:21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have
trusted in his holy name.
***

Oh Heavenly Father
(c) Joni Zipp

My burdens heavy
I walk alone,
I can only do
what I am shown.

Oh heavenly Father carry me
help me Lord to understand thee.

Though my life
has me blind
I always seek
but never find.

Oh heavenly Father set me free
from the pain of reality.

I do not question
this wonderful task
I can not hide
behind a mask.

Oh heavenly Father now I see
You have a special plan for me.

All rights reserved: copyright © Joni  Zipp

Poetry Sunday~ Dear Lord ...

Pss. 63:7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

Dear Lord....

Dear lord I pray to thee
with all my heart and soul set free
shower me with all your love
rain on me from high above.

Heavenly Father I know not
what your will is in my life
you cater to my every whim
by lifting pain and strife.

You hold my hand when I fear
I walk with bated breath
you stand near caressing my soul
at the hour of my death.

I can not pretend to know your plan
when doubt and fear collide
My will is not yours, this I know
From in the shadows I hide.

I walk without a tremble
at first I seem to fall
but there you are by my side
to help me through it all.

I hold out hope, that my wants
are equal to your own.
The message getting blurry
through all that I am shown.

Clarify your wants through me
shine in me your light;
So we can find great solace
in the passing of the night.