Shout praises to the LORD!
Our God is kind, and it is right and good to sing praises to him. Psalm 147:1 (CEV)
It is rare to get into a conversation about God with people and not get to questions.
How do I know God really exists?
Does God talk to you? How do you know it is His voice you are hearing?
Who has it right – the Baptists, the Methodists, the Catholics, one of those non-denominational churches? Does any church you know have it right, the way Jesus taught?
The answers to these questions can be as varied as the number of people who try to answer them. My husband, a Biblical scholar who has studied Scriptures for many hours, grew up in a home where God was the Head of their home, went to seminary and came out knowing much about God but turned away from God for a time, he came back to God with a new relationship. His head knowledge about God has found a healthy growing balance with heart knowledge about God.
My relationship with God is much more experiential. God has shown me, through Henry and other teachers, that studying God in His Word can deepen and strengthen an experience and also give me an important tool – testing my experience as one of God – or not.
If my knowledge of God is only based on what others tell me, even pastors and other ‘professionals’, then my relationship with God will also be only as close as a ‘third person’. There is no shortcut to an intimate relationship. If my husband and I spoke only one hour each week, our relationship will also be that shallow. My knowledge of my husband would be that limited. I can tell in our relationship when we haven’t spent time just – talking. No business. No TV. No other family. Just a focus on the two of us, reaps a deepening of our relationship that has an extraordinary ripple effect in our day-to-day life.
If my relationship with God is based only on my individual study and experience, then I am limiting my learning more about the many facets or perspectives that are God. I need others to share what they have learned about God to give me a more complete picture of Him.
It is in worship of God that I express myself. The love, the faith commitment, the dependence, and healing joy that I have found in Jesus just spills out. Worship is also a place that the enemy, satan, does not want to be. It could be the time and place of real truth with my LORD. It is right and good to give Him praise!
Take some time today and read the all of Psalm 147. Take time to worship our LORD. There may be some answers to be found where He lives…in my praises.
