Praises God wants
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August 18, 2013 |
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 "The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise" (Isaiah 43:21).
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
God is so delighted with the praises of His beloved children. He listens to those praises, and He watches those children who are praising Him without taking His eyes off of them. But that does not mean God the Father will indiscriminately accept all the praises. He accepts the aroma of the heart when somebody sings with all his faith, love, and hope stemming from the heart.
If you offer praises having sins and evil such as ill-feelings, jealousy, and an adulterous mind, God has to turn His face away from such praises. Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the LORD will not hear." After having cultivated a heart of goodness that is free of evil, if you then praise God, He will joyfully accept your praise and He will give you answers and blessings.
Now let's check if we have offered up the kind of praises God wants and look into what kind of works will follow the praises given in goodness to God.
1. The Praises that God Wants
Let us check as to how much we have offered up the praises God really wants to Him based on the message of 'Spiritual Love' in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
We have to check whether or not we boast or have become arrogant in praising. Suppose you are a Performing Arts Team member of the church. Then, you have to check whether you wanted to be recognized for your talents or that you wanted to stand out as you were singing on the altar. If we sing praises with a boasting heart, it is the same as the worldly people singing and dancing for popularity. It will have no meaning before God.
The next question is whether you rejoice in the truth? You have to check if you really rejoiced when another team received an encore request while your team did not. Did you feel frustrated with your own team for not being able to get an encore request? Have you shifted the blame to one of your team members? If you have a good heart, you will not be jealous if the other teams are loved more than your own team. Instead, you might think of the reasons why a particular team is loved more by the church members. Then you can change the shortcomings that you have.
Lastly, 'do all your team members endure and believe in one another and become united with one another?' All of you have different characters, tastes, and talents. Sometimes you might have different opinions. At other times, because a couple of team members lack the skills, the whole team may have to practice much more than they need to before.
In occasions like these, check whether you considered, waited for, and understood each other with a loving heart. If other members lack something, you should not reveal it but encourage them and look at them with the eyes of faith. When your genuine heart is delivered to them, they can also be strengthened and improve themselves.
2. The Works that Follow the Praises Offered up to God with a Heart of Goodness and Love for God
First are those praises that can touch the heart of God.
Suppose on a grandfather's birthday, his little grand-daughter did a performance for her grandfather. The melody and rhythm are off, and her movements are not sophisticated, but still he would feel that she is so lovely. It surely pleases him much more than performances of even the most famous singers and dancers.
It is also much the same with God. Rather than the best skills, good voices, or a beautiful tone, what actually pleases God is the aroma of our hearts that love God. He accepts the praises that are offered by those children who are cultivating hearts of goodness by casting off evil.
Since I was a new believer, I always wanted to please God whenever I sang praises. When I sang praises, my church members say, they received the fullness and inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the grace and strength to cut off the worldly things and cast away sins and evil.
When we sing praises with a good heart, God does not just accept them, but He gives grace and blessings not only to those who are singing praises, but to the audience as well. He shows us that He has accepted our praises with joy. I hope such works will be overflowing whenever and wherever we sing in the future.
Second are the praises that bring down God's answers.
We say that praises are prayers with melodies. Just as we can receive the answer to our hearts' desires through earnest prayers, it is the same with our praises. According to how much aroma of praise goes up to God, the answer is given according to justice. Also, such praises can set people free from the power of darkness by destroying the camp of the enemy devil and Satan.
In the second part of 1 Samuel 16:23, it says, "David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him." Also, God's work took place through the praise of Paul and Silas. In Philippi, they were beaten without cause, and imprisoned with their feet in stocks. Paul's bloody wounds were not treated, and he did not know at all what was going to happen. And yet, Paul and Silas praised God. Then, suddenly there was a great earthquake which opened the prison doors, and all the chains were unfastened.
As above, praises that please God can open the gate of heaven and bring down the limitless power of God. In the same way, the praises can deliver peace and warm love to the souls who are oppressed by darkness and sins. Furthermore, we can also quickly receive the answer to our own prayers. If you are experiencing hardships and difficulties, I urge you to commit everything into God's hands and give Him praises with all your heart. Then, you will receive answers and blessing through such praises.
Third are the praises that become your honor and reward.
Psalm 69:30-31 says, "I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving. And it will please the LORD better than an ox or a young bull with horns and hoofs." Among the animals that were offered to God as sacrifices in the Old Testament time, a bull was the most expensive. And God says our praises will please God more than such expensive sacrifices.
Once God is pleased, He gives blessings to those who pleased Him. Not just on this earth, but He gives great rewards in Heaven as well. In particular, He will always have those people next to Him, joyfully receiving their praises and sharing love with them forever. Also, He will have the videos of their performances on this earth and show them one by one to them. Just like we take out and carefully look at the things that have the memories of our beloved ones, He will remember our praises that we offered on this earth and cherish the aroma of our praises.
He gives us rewards for our praises because praising itself is great delight to God. Are you looking forward to the glory and rewards that will be given to you? God is also preparing your rewards, waiting for you to come to join Him in the place of glory. Having this hope, I hope you will perform all your duties with more fervor.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God joyfully accepts His beloved children's praises that are offered up with a heart of goodness and repays us with grace, inspiration, answers, blessing, and even heavenly glory and rewards. We as His children were formed to praise Him as written in Isaiah 43:21. I pray in the name of the Lord you will not have any lingering attachment to the world, but only cultivate a perfect heart of spirit and offer up praises to Him.
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