He's the God of All Creation...Let Your Praises for Him Thunder!

This is my journal entry from my quiet time with God today. I read Psalm 47.

“God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne...the kings of the earth belong to God…” (Psalm 47:8, 9b)

I love this psalm! It calls for the unrestrained, selfless worship of God. Believers are called to clap, shout with joy, sing praises, sound trumpets, and exalt in God’s greatness and goodness as they worship God.

Of course, God cares more that we worship Him “in the Spirit and truth” (John 4:24) than He does about the ways we worship Him.

Our worship, however we worship, should call attention to God and not to us. That’s true of worship in liturgical settings as well as of modern “praise and worship” services.

But the psalm makes clear that our worship should be entirely free in giving God glory, praise, and honor. We should be free of self-consciousness when we worship God. That’s the how of worship, according to the psalmist.

In the verses cited above, the psalmist also tells us why we are to worship God. The God Who has definitively revealed Himself in Christ, Who first revealed to the people of Israel, isn’t some humanly-created deity worshiped by Jews and Christians. This is the “God [Who] reigns over the nations...the kings of the earth belong to [this] God.”

The God of Israel revealed to the world in Jesus isn’t some small, two-bit idol: He is the living, infinitely creative, passionately loving Maker and King of everything!

This one true God, available and accessible to all through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ (Mark 1:15; John 3:16-18; Acts 2:38; Acts 4:12), is the God of all people, whether they know it or recognize it or not.

When I was a Sunday Schooler coloring in the lines of Joseph’s coat of many colors, He was God of everything.

When, for a decade-plus, I turned away from God and called myself an atheist, He was still of God everything.

When, in response to His grace in Christ and the claim the Holy Spirit made on me as an infant in my Baptism, I turned back to Him to live, He was still of God everything.

When the world is going crazy, steeped in evil, sin, and fear, God is still the God of everything and everyone.

He will have the last word over this universe. His words of grace will save those who trust in Him from sin and death, futility and darkness, injustice and wrath.

It is this God Who sets us free from self-consciousness, freed knowing that whatever judgments the world may make about us as we surrender our lives and wills to God, we always belong to God. So, we can praise and honor Him with our whole beings!

It’s this same God Who then calls us to join His mission of reaching out with His good news, the gospel that all who repent and believe, have life with God. The Lord of all nations has given His baptized, believing people a great commission. We are to let the people of all nations, including the people in our own families and our circles of acquaintance and friends, that the God of all nations sent His Son to die and to rise for the people of all nations, so that people from every nation who trust in Him will live.

My prayer: You are the big God of all creation, Lord. Forgive me for treating You like an afterthought, an also-ran, a secret I keep to myself lest people think that I’m weird. I AM weird: holy, set apart. Holy and set apart not because I’m “all that,” but because You’re “all that.” You set me and all baptized believers apart to lift You up for all the world to see, know, and worship.

You’re the omnipotent, omniscient Creator and King of the universe; yet You care enough about all You have created to have taken on human flesh (John 1:14), suffered and died for our sins (Romans 5:8), and now offer new and everlasting life, a life that starts right now, to all who trust in Christ.

You’re big, God. But You’re not so big as to ever leave or forsake Your people. You are with us always, even to the close of this old universe’s age. Because of that, set me free of my inhibitions. Today, help me to be unable to restrain myself from praising You or from commending the hope that I have in Christ to others (1 Peter 3:15).

Lord, I praise You, glorify You, honor You, love You because You loved me and the rest of the human race first!

Make my life today a living offering of praise to You!

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!

[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Breathe by Michael W. Smith

A love song to God that I love, love, love to sing!

"And I'm desperate for You,
"And I'm lost without You!"

Yahweh by U2

"I believe that we will..."

"I believe that we will win." By now, many will have heard that simple, infectious chant at sporting events.

Evidently, it was taken up by fans of the United States soccer team during its recent World Cup matches.

Youtube shows a lot of college basketball and football fans using it, especially out in Utah, as early as 2010.

But wherever the chant came from, it's cool, especially when it's not part of the official program, simply arising spontaneously from the stands.

The whole phenomenon set me to thinking, though. Every Sunday at our church and, I know, at most churches, there's a time set aside for people to confess their belief in the triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some do it with altar calls. My tradition does it with the historic creeds of the Church--the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and sometimes the Athanasian Creed.

But what if, at the point in our services usually designated for us to confess our faith, someone took up a simple chant, believers bobbing up and down in celebration and belief? It might be kind of cool. Can you hear it?

I believe in Father God
I believe in God the Son
I believe in God the Spirit
I believe the Three-in-One!

I believe in Father God
I believe in God the Son
I believe in God the Spirit
I believe the Three-in-One!

I believe in Father God
I believe in God the Son
I believe in God the Spirit
I believe the Three-in-One!

Go ahead, you know you're chanting it silently at your computer right now. Stand up! Do a little aerobic praise. Bob up and down and chant away what you believe! Feel free to post videos of you, your family, your youth group, your basketball team, or whatever on Facebook or Youtube. A lot of people might be encouraged by the sight of Christians showing as much enthusiasm in cheering for God as all of us often do at ball games.

Oh, if you're not sure how the chant should go, here's one example from Utah State four years ago:

Reasons for Thanks

This morning was humbling.

The congregation I serve, Living Water Lutheran Church in Springboro, Ohio, decided to mark the thirtieth anniversary of my ordination.

I was talking with someone the other day and mentioned that the chief significance of this anniversary is that it shows how God has put up with me for thirty years. "No," this church member said, "He's put up with you a lot longer than that."

 True. Thanks, praise, honor, and glory belong alone to the God made known in Jesus Christ for His grace, love, and patience with a sinner like me. In light of this, it seemed appropriate to keep the entire day low-key.

During worship, Dan Mershon, with whom I work here, gave a thought-provoking sermon on the Gospel lesson, Matthew 22:15-22.

Folks from previous parishes were in attendance and it was so nice visiting with them during the luncheon.

Thanks to the people of Bethlehem Lutheran Church (Okolona, Ohio), Friendship Lutheran Church (Amelia, Ohio), and Saint Matthew Lutheran Church (Logan, Ohio) for sharing this journey with my family and me, for the inspiration you have given to me, for forgiving my faults, and for living your faith in Jesus.

And thanks to the people of Living Water, who made this a special day of honoring God and thanking Him for His goodness.

Antidote for Lots That Ails Us

"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." (Psalm 150:6)

I've been doing quite a bit of navel gazing lately. So this is a good reminder.

While praising God and worshiping God is about God and not about us, about remembering God's goodness and His acts, a byproduct is that when we focus on Him, we focus less on ourselves. The less self-centered we can become--the more focused on God and on others, the more joy we experience. Joy isn't happiness. Happiness is fleeting. Joy is that sense of being in sync with God and His will for me.

Joy is the default mode in which God created all human beings to live. We were made to live for God and His glory, not because God is an egomaniac Who needs us, but because God is our lifeline and we need Him.

Sin though, the state of self-absorption and self-will into which we're all born, robs us of joy. But the more we consciously surrender to the God we know in Christ, the more we turn to Him for forgiveness, new life, and direction, the more joy we can experience, irrespective of the circumstances of our lives.

Praise lifted to God in our hearts when we're by ourselves and when we're in the company of other believers is the antidote for much of what ails us.

I only wish I remembered that more. Praying that God will keep reminding me.

When Prayers Go Unanswered...and You Don't See What God Seems to See

Ever been here?:

...when days, weeks, or even months pass and our prayers seem to go unanswered, it’s easy to feel God has forgotten us. Perhaps we can struggle through the day with its distractions, but at night it’s doubly difficult to deal with our anxious thoughts. Worries loom large, and the dark hours seem endless. Utter weariness makes it look impossible to face the new day.

Yeah, me too. But we're not forgotten. Seeing that is often about asking God to help us see things as He does. And that's not easy either. Then, I'm left to consider God's gracious track record, His "unfailing love" as Psalm 13 puts it--including Christ's death on the cross for a sinner like me and of His resurrection from the dead to give me life with God.

Sometimes, living through the mystery of seemingly unanswered prayer is about praising God anyway. When I do, I often end up asking the same question with which Bono ends, When I Look at the World:

Tell me, tell me, what do you see?
Tell me, tell me, what's wrong with me?

Read the whole thing.

Psalm 13

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³ Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
⁴ and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.

Priorities?

This is today's emailed inspiration from my colleague and friend, Pastor Glen VanderKloot:

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  
A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY   
“What a shame that many Christians get more excited  and vocal about football games or an ocean cruise  than about Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth.”    
Jim Cymbala   "The Church God Blesses" p. 46-47 

Scripture:   
Psalm 63:5 TNIV:  I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.  

Prayer:
Lord, help me to be as excited about my faith in you as I am about so many lesser important things in life. Amen    
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If you've never read any of Jim Cymbala's books, by the way, I recommend them highly.











I don't agree with every jot and tittle of Cymbala's theology. But he is a person of strong faith in the gracious God we know in Jesus Christ.

Faith Tidbit #41

Yesterday, we said that an acronym we might keep in our minds when we pray is ACTS. The A stands for adoration. In adoration, we praise God for Who God is, for the characteristics or personality traits of God.

Psalm 19, in which the psalmist praises God for His grace, creativity, power, and goodness and for the beauty of God's law, expresses adoration.

God continues to deserve our praise. Because Jesus Christ, God-in-the-flesh, has shared the worst of this life in order to give all who believe in Him the best of the life to come, we have even more reason than the writer of Psalm 8 to ask God, incredulously: "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?"

Adoration is a great way to begin our prayers. It's a reality check for us as we strive to have an honest conversation with the God Who wants to be our best friend. In expressing adoration for God, we acknowledge the truth of God's greatness and goodness. And we thank God for Who God is.