by Brandalynn Graham ”I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalms 34:1). "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2 What is Praise? Praise means “to commend, to applaud or magnify.” For the Christian, praise to God is an expression of worship and glorifying the Lord. It is an expression of humbling ourselves and centering our attention upon the Lord with heart-felt expressions of love, adoration and thanksgiving. Praise creates fellowship and intimacy between ourselves and God — it magnifies our awareness of our spiritual union with the most high God. Praise transports us into the realm of the supernatural and into the power of God. There are many actions involved with praise to God — verbal expressions of adoration and thanksgiving, singing, playing instruments, shouting, dancing, lifting or clapping our hands. But true praise is not “merely” going through these motions. Jesus spoke about the hypocrisy of the pharisees, whose worship was only an outward show and not from the heart. “This people draws nigh unto me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). Genuine praise to God is a matter of humility and sincere devotion to the Lord from within. Sincere praise and worship pleases the Lord. He delights in the love and devotion of His children. According to the scriptures, the various expressions of praise bring blessing to the Lord. He eagerly awaits the fragrance of our affections, desiring to manifest His sweet presence and power in our midst. “...the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him” (John 4:23). Praise to God is a Lifestyle All too often, praise to God is something that many people leave at church, an event that happens only when they come together with other Christians. However, praise should be a part of a believer’s lifestyle, inter-mingled as a part of their daily prayer-life. At work, in the car, at home in bed, or anywhere; praise to the Lord brings the refreshing of the Lord’s presence, along with His power and anointing. “ Praise is an expression of faith, and a declaration of victory! It declares that we believe God is with us and is in control of the outcome of all our circumstances (Romans 8:28). Praise is a “sacrifice,” something that we offer to God sacrificially, not just because we feel like it, but because we believe in Him and wish to please Him. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Hebrews 13:15). Praise Sends the Enemy Running Since praise manifests God’s presence, we also realize that praise repels the presence of the enemy, Satan. An atmosphere which is filled with sincere worship and praise to God by humble and contrite hearts is disgusting to the devil. He fears the power in the name of Jesus, and flees from the Lord’s habitation in praise. Praise brings us to a place of humility. We remember our dependency on God, as we acknowledge our need for Him. As we praise Him as Creator and King of this world, we admit and recognize that we’re not in control, but He is. He is above all. Praise leaves no room for complaining and negativity. Sometimes even within our prayers, we can tend to complain about our problems. God knows our hearts. And He cares about all that concerns us. But through praise, we’re focused on Him, no longer allowing too much attention to be centered around the struggles. We’re reminded of what He has already done in our lives. We’re reminded that He knows what concerns us, and is capable of taking care of all that burdens us. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.” Psalm 103:2-4 “He inhabits the praises of His people.” Psalm 22:3 Our spirits are refreshed and renewed in His presence. We're strengthened by His peace and refueled by His joy. Through a heart of praise, we realize that God doesn’t just change our situations and work through our problems, He changes our hearts. “In His presence, there is fullness of joy.” Psalm 16:11 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing. Psalm 150:1-6 To worship in truth we must: Have purity of heart and a spirit of humility Deal with any sin in our hearts and repent Have a spirit of submission to the will of God Have a spirit of obedience Have a sense of wonder of who He is and have a sense of awe in His presence. Have an awareness of God's presence and be overwhelmed by His majesty Reference: http://www.victorious.org/pub/praise-worship-123
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by Larry Hernandez And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.… Clay and Jill’s Story Clay and Jill met with me because their fifteen-year-old son Joel had turned away from Jesus. His grades had slipped below C-level and his fistfight with another boy at school had landed him in the vice-principal’s office, along with a three-day suspension. Clay and Jill were committed Christians—with broken hearts. They needed help. We talked at length about their son’s struggles and behavior, and about God’s presence and promises. In our second counseling session, I commended them for their faith and I asked them, “What has God been using to help you handle all of this?” Without blinking, Clay replied, “Romans 8:28.” We turned to that passage. He drew comfort from the fact that God was sovereign and would work all things together for good. “Excellent,” I responded. “And what do you think is the good that God is working in all of this?” “For Joel to follow the Lord,” Clay answered. I knew what I needed to say to bring God’s compassion to these hurting friends. “Clay and Jill, I am so sorry to hear about Joel. This must be incredibly hard for you to watch him not own the Savior you love. And I am glad you are finding comfort in God’s Word. In one sense, there is nothing that I want more for both of you, and for Joel of course, than for Joel to turn to Christ—to repent, believe, and follow Him. In fact, I want to join you in bearing that burden. I want to pray with you for the Lord to turn Joel’s heart to Him. And I want to help you learn some practical ways to talk to Joel and minister to him.” They seemed appreciative. What Romans 8:28 Promises: But I also knew I needed to bring these dear friends to a more solid hope from God than an uncertain wish for their son’s conversion. So I turned the corner: “But, Clay and Jill, that’s not what this passage promises.”We read it aloud, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). I continued, “The good news here is that God is assuring you that he will use this and every hardship—Romans 8 pictures all sorts of suffering we face in this fallen world—to bring about something good for you as believers in Jesus. And what is that good that the text promises?” I paused as they looked down at their Bibles. “Verse 28 doesn’t tell us what that good is,” I proceeded, “but verse 29 does: ‘For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” In other words, Jill and Clay, God promises to use the hardships in verse 28 for your good, and verse 29 then defines the good: to make you like his dear Son. While Joel’s repentance is a good thing, and we will pray for it, the highest good God promises you here in his Word is to make you more and more like Jesus. While we have no guarantee that Joel will turn to the Lord, we do have a powerful guarantee that God will use this hardship to make you more Christlike.” Two Problems with Our Use of Romans 8:28 Despite their relative Christian maturity—Clay was a leader in his evangelical church—this couple illustrates two problems with how we use Romans 8:28-29. First, the promise of “good” in verse 28 is not a blank check. We are not free to identify the good as whatever wished-for thing we want, even a very good thing like someone else’s repentance. While these parents understandably longed for their teenager to follow Jesus, God defines the good differently in this text. Amid many other possible goods, God prioritizes our own Christ-likeness as our highest good. The second problem may be more common: How? How, specifically, does God use hardships to make us like Jesus? We must not let Romans 8:28-29 become abstract. The rich truth that “God uses trials for his glory and our good” must not become a Christian platitude. We must labor to understand what that might actually look like in any given situation. This verse does not say that God causes all things, period. Nowhere in Scripture do we read that God causes sin or evil. He permits these things, but that is much different than causing them. Therefore when tragedy touches a believer, we should not conclude that this is one of the "all things" that God causes. Rather, this verse says that God brings good out of all things, even tragedies, for the Christian. The causes of tragedy are Satan, the sinful choices of people, and the consequences of living in a sinful world (cf. James 1:13-14): Satan, sin, and sinners. Even though God permits or allows bad things to happen, Scripture never lays the blame for these things on God, and neither should we. This blessed hope—that believers will be conformed to the image of His own Son—explains God's dealings with them as His chosen sons in this present age. He is ever at work to reproduce the moral image of Christ in them. All that now comes into their lives He uses for their good to further that glorious goal. His aim for them now is not to make them happy, materially prosperous, or famous, but to make them Christlike. He now uses 'all things,' the sad as well as the glad, the painful as well as the pleasant, the things that perplex and disappoint as well as the things they eagerly strive and pray for, to further His eternal purpose for them. In His infinite wisdom He knows what is needed to bring about that transformation. How has Romans 8:28-29 (with the “good” defined as making you more like Jesus) helped you handle hardships? How might it help you next time? How might it help others you know? Ref.: https://www.biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/?p=3076
Author: Robert Jones http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/romans.pdf pages 131-133 by Evan Hunt Read Philippians 3:1-8 When I think of having confidence in something, I think of having identity in that something. If we are putting our confidence in the flesh, we are putting our identity in the flesh, and our identity needs to be in Christ. The Apostle Paul realized here that there was an identity shift that needed to occur here and he found that the only place he should place value is at the feet of Jesus. He considered everything else garbage compare to knowing Christ. In Tim Keller’s book, “The Reason for God”, sin is described as “the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get identity apart from him.” When we as humans choose this route, we are bound to be disappointed because nothing by our own ability will be sustainable or ultimately satisfying. God created us to find our supreme worth in him so it is only through him that we can be fully satisfied. We may think that everything is good and we have achieved happiness by our own abilities or accomplishments, but when something goes wrong, we will be worse than before. It is very tempting to find our identity in our jobs, relationships, physical abilities, hobbies, and the list goes on… None of these things are actually permanent. Keller also states that “if anything threatens your identity you will not just be anxious but paralyzed with fear. If you lose your identity through the failings of someone else you will not just be resentful, but locked into bitterness. If you lose it through your own failings, you will hate or despise yourself as a failure as long as you live. Only if your identity is built on God and his love, can you have a self that can venture anything, face anything.” There may be some suffering involved here. When we do not identify ourselves with the things of this world, there may be ridicule, insults, and the feeling of missing out from those around us who, on the surface, appear to be finding joy. However, we are promised that when we share in Christ’s sufferings, we also share in his glory, which is far better than anything we can achieve apart from him. Romans 8:17: And that is a beautiful thing. Something to really work towards, even though it will be hard to always have this mindset of finding our identity in Christ and sharing in his sufferings. But we do know this…If we can find our identity in Christ, we will be fully satisfied. Just like King David had only one request of the Lord... Psalm 27:4-5: David, just like Paul, was putting his identity in God. This is an example for us to follow…to put our confidence in our unfailing God, and then we can never go wrong.
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