Worship Joyfully.

If you had your life to do over, what would you do differently? Maybe you’d climb Mt. Kilimanjaro; or you’d hike the Appalachian Trail; or maybe you’d save more money. I don’t know what your item would be but most of us would do something different with at least one thing.

A survey was taken of folks across America who were in their 90s and asked the same question. Far and away, the top three answers were reflect more, risk more, and do things that outlive me more.

For those of us that love God and his son Jesus, most of us would respond to God more appropriately with our life. The writer of Psalms 100 gives us four ways we could be different in how we respond to God.

Verses 1-2 remind us to make a joyful noise and come before him with singing. With singing…but so many of us have excuses of why we can’t sing. I’ve heard some say, “I can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” But respectfully, I’d say, “Get over it.” Jesus calls us in Mark 12:30-31 to worship God with everything we have, bad vocals and all. I’m always amazed that some believe enthusiasm for the most worthy thing in the universe must be carefully contained. We are called to sing for all that God has done for us…give him praise and adoration for his mercy and grace.

Verse 2 reminds me to serve God gladly. We should respond to God with emotion but also with motion. Our very lives should reflect a servant heart for God and others as we strive to imitate Jesus in our life. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 9 that God loves a cheerful giver. That word “cheerful” can be translated “hilarious”! That is how I want the world to think of me. I serve in ways that the world thinks is crazy…hilarious by their standards. I should serve God because of the life he’s given me.

Verse 3 reminds me to love God intelligently. The first word of the verse is “know” or “acknowledge”. Paul tells us in Romans 12 to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And we are to know a couple of things about God. First, we should know his Lordship. Basically, He is God and you are not. You are his craftsmanship. You are a divine incident. Secondly, we should know his ownership. We are his people. And if you are a baptized believer, He paid for you with Jesus’ blood. Know who God is in your life.

Verses 4-5 tell me to thank God consistently. We come together on Sundays to worship, love, serve, and thank a wonderful Heavenly Father. But it doesn’t end on Sunday…it’s an every day affair. The Psalmist gives us three reasons why we should thank him: He’s a good, good Father, He’s merciful and He’s faithful to all his promises.

What if we decided to live every day in a worshipful posture to an almighty God? What if every day we worked at our job, loved on our spouse and kids, were good neighbors all as ways we worshiped our Heavenly Father? We are called as believers to worship him daily, serve him faithfully, love him completely, and thank him for everything He’s done for us. Blessings on the journey.

Listen and Pray.

I have found lately that I’m stressed and tired and weak and distracted. It comes from a current scenario in my life that I’ve been walking through for about a year. And we all have those difficult moments in life when we tell ourselves we just need to grab the bootstraps and get on with it.

You and I have had moments when there seems no end to the pressure…no solving the problem…your thorn in the flesh is so imbedded, you’re not sure if you will ever be able to remove yourself from it. You wake up thinking about the issue and it’s the last thing you think about before you finally drift away at night. You and I have had questions about endings and new beginnings.

In those moments, I tend to pray a lot. I tend to have detailed conversations with God. I ask questions about the longevity of the situation and horizons of brighter sunlight. I know you have as well. Those moments create some vulnerability in your life. You depend on family and your inner circle of friends like you never have before.

One place I go repeated to gain strength is God’s Word. He reminds me that I’m his child and he has not forgotten me. I’m reminded he is my strength and my advocate. I’m reminded when I’m weak, he’s strong. He reminds me that he is in control.

I love Psalms 86. It is an open, vulnerable prayer. I read it and feel the connection to my Heavenly Father. It reads like this:

“Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help. Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you.”

“O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord; hear my urgent cry. I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble, and you will answer me. No pagan god is like you, O Lord. None can do what you do! All the nations you made will come and bow before you, Lord; they will praise your holy name. For you are great and perform wonderful deeds. You alone are God.” (New Living Translation)

So, where ever you are in your journey, know you have a Father that will listen. He’s a whisper away. Talk to him today and enjoy the refreshing conversation. He’s waiting for you. Blessings on the journey.

What to Do When Life is Chaotic.

The Psalms are beautiful outreaches to God about where we are in our journey. Sometimes it’s celebratory and rejoicing. Sometimes it’s full of angst and anxiety. Sometimes it’s moments of outright anger and frustration. When you read through the Psalms, you see the spectrum of human emotions.

I know I’ve had moments when life seemed chaotic. There have been moments when you are asking, “Why God?” There have been moments of sudden loss when a family member is here one day, gone the next. There have been moments of financial ruin. There have been moments when a relationship fell apart and seemed irreparable. There have been moments when we’ve all had health scares.

In Psalms 16, David reminds us that when our life is overwhelming, keep a proper perspective with God and take it to God in prayer. See, prayer is not about getting what you want but getting closer to the one you need.

David reminds us in Psalms 16 to take our complaints to God and a small accountability group. Keep silent in front of non-believers because you don’t want to distort their view of an almighty God. See, others can tell how authentic your faith is when troubles come your way. We should not broadcast to the world what needs to be laid before God.

David also reminds us to keep everything in the right perspective. Life is short…too short to be consumed with trivial issues. I mean, we worry about dumb things: price of gas, price of eggs, things not organized in the workplace like we want them to be, the songs we sing on Sunday, etc. But David reminds us that life is short so lean into the important things.

David has an incredible hope in God. David says that he doesn’t trust anything of this world but his hope is only in God. He trusts God for his life and any plans he makes. He knows that whatever the situation, God’s plan is better than anything he could have discovered. We do get distracted at times trying to find out if God is doing this thing to me, or is it Satan trying to distract me or is it the natural consequence of my actions. I don’t know what it might be in your story but I do know as people who follow Jesus, we are called to be faithful.

David closes this Psalm with a prayer. He recognizes he’s just a traveler passing through this earth. His home is in heaven. I think David is saying, “God, remove this issue from me because I know my time is short here on earth and I want to spend the rest of my days living for your glory.”

So, what could you pray for God to do in your life right now that has eternal implications? Know that God loves you and he knows you…you wants the very best for you. Live like life is short and give God the glory in the process. Blessings on your journey.