Psalm 100 - "Great Are You Lord"

The Lord woke me with a desire to read Psalm 100. What an awesome way to start another week. Praising God is the best way to live. The enemy does not like when we praise Him. He does not like when God is given glory over things he tries to destroy. Praising God does  not come natural for some people. Some have a hard time with showing such an emotion but it is what God deserves. In The Message it reads that we are to 'applaud' Him. This makes me think about how people will applaud a game of sports. I remember when Paul was a senior in high school and the football team won the state championship for our division. There was so much applauding and yelling at those games. I ended up not having any voice at all. Yesterday with leading worship and preaching I struggled with my voice. God was good and saw me through. He was there for me to the very end, encouraging me, and giving me His strength. Just as Paul and his teammates trained for the games, I trained for yesterday as I went over my sermon multiple times and practiced the songs. Him and his teammates were dedicated to the game. I am dedicated to being whoever God wants me to be. Today He is calling me to praise Him and that is what I will do. Whatever comes my way, He will be praised. Wherever He sends me, I will go with praises on my lips. Whoever He puts before me, they will hear praises. However He gives me to serve, I will do praising His Holy Name. He deserves our praises. He does not deserve being put on the back burner so we can do whatever we want. Instead He deserves to be in the front of our lives. Verse four reminds us to have good manners and tell Him thank you. One could sit all day long thanking Him for all He does and never get done. He protects us from things we don't even know happen. He loves us through situations and sometimes we don't even realize it. Yesterday as we sang "Great Are You Lord" I was overcome with these words...

All the earth will shout Your praise
Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing
Great are You, Lord

Wow! It does not say 'some' but 'all' will shout praises to Him! I cannot even begin to imagine what life would look like if everyone praised Him. It would be so awesome! One of the things I mentioned in my sermon yesterday was if everyone lived Christ-like we would see love instead of hate in our world. That would be so awesome. Sometimes I get tired of hearing the hate over politics. Believers who know better say some hateful things about politicians and parties. I get to the point where I do not want to talk to them at all because they always turn the conversation back to politics. God is who I focus on, not a politician. God is the One to be praised, not a person in office. If people put as much energy into God as they do politics this world would be a better place! God deserves our praise!

Dear Jesus,
Thank You for Your love, mercy, and grace! Thank You for the blessings of yesterday and the ones ahead in this day. Thank You for cleansing me so You can fill me. I desire people to see/hear You and not me throughout this day. May You be my words, actions, and attitude. May praises be on my lips throughout this day in a new, different way. Father, I pray for my dear friends who are mourning the death of Mike and Jane. I pray they will find reason to praise You during their time of sorrow. I praise You neither of them are suffering in their physical body today. Thank You for being The One I Praise! Amen.