A Psalm Of Thanksgiving

Shout Joyfully To the Lord!

Shouting is an action that is precipitated by strong emotion. We may shout when we are very angry or we may shout when we are overjoyed. For example; we may have experienced both of these yesterday. If you watch college football and are passionate about it you probably experienced shouting in anger and in joy. When your teams quarterback gets sacked by the opposing team you may find yourself shouting in anger at the television. However; if your team scores the winning touchdown in the final second of the game, you may shout with a strong emotion of joy. We shout at football games because we are passionate about the team that we pull for.

I would like to suggest that we have more passion about the Lord than we do a football team. The Bible commands us to shout joyfully to the Lord. Why is this? Because we should be passionate about worship. So how do we do this practically? When we sing the songs of praise to the Lord on Sunday morning, we can sing at the top of our voice. Singing is a form of praise that should drive such emotion that we cannot do it with little emotion. We should sing with great passion the songs of praise. Another way we can shout to the Lord is during the preaching of the Word. If the Lord moves you and something identifies with your soul it is perfectly acceptable to shout “amen” or “alleluia” or “praise the Lord”. The Lord calls us to shout joyfully to the Lord.

All the earth

It is not just believers who are called to shout to the Lord. It is all the earth. The grace of the Lord is to everyone. It is called common grace. This is the grace that God gives to every person.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matt.5:43-45

God is good to all people. He gives them an environment to live in. He also gives them health, food, and opportunity for salvation. All people should shout to the Lord because He is good!

Serve the Lord With Gladness!

To serve someone with gladness is an expression of love. When we serve our kids we do it because we love them. They do not compensate us for our service. We simply do it because we love and care for them. I also am finding that we serve our aging parents because we love them. They may try to compensate us, but we refuse to take anything from them. We serve because we love.

Our service for the Lord should be out of deep rooted love for Him. It should not be out of obligation or trying to gain favor. Any service to the Lord that is not rooted in love will be short-lived and not in gladness.

10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the [a]multifaceted grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10

We are to serve the Lord with the gifts that He has given us. It is the employment of the gifts that God gives you that lead to gladness. As I watch Ron, Angela, and Brad lead music each week I see them employing the gifts God gave them and the joy that they have in leading in this capacity. As I watch all the hard work that David and Kelli put in to minister to the children and youth, I see the joy that they get from doing it. They serve the Lord with gladness. I know many others in our church that serve with gladness. They all do what they do because of their love for the Lord.

Come Before Him With Joyful Singing!

This passage of scripture reveals to us that we serve an approachable God. He desires for us to come into His presence. It is in His presence that we learn of His goodness. We must come in order to know Him. I am reminded of the time John and Andrew were trying to figure out if Jesus was the Messiah. The began to follow Him and listen at what Jesus said to them.

7 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turned and saw them following, and *said to them, “What are you seeking?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” 39 He *said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day; it was about the [ai]tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first *found his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means [aj]Christ). John 1:37-41

God wants us to come and see! It is in the coming and seeing that we develop a habit of coming with a song in our hearts. If you have daily time with the Lord you know what I mean. It is a time that you look forward to and find it a necessity in your life. You find yourself coming into his presence with joyful praise and singing!

Know That the Lord Is God!

To know that the Lord is God is to know His rightful place in your life! He is your Lord. This means that you live for Him and that He does not exist for you! We must recognize that it is He that gives us life. Since He gave us life, He decides what we do with our lives. Understanding that the Lord is God will keep us from thinking that God is exists to get us out of our troubles, keep difficult things out of our lives, and give us what we want. This is the mentality and teaching of some faiths. This is contrary to scripture! God desires us to worship and serve Him not for Him to serve us!

We are the sheep of His pasture. Sheep never lead the shepherd. The shepherd always lead the sheep. This is because the shepherd knows what is best for his sheep.

The Lord is my shepherd, I will not be in need. 2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For the sake of His name. Psalms 23:1-3

Just as the sheep follow the shepherd, we must follow the Lord! We must trust Him and depend on Him. To know the Lord is to know our own inadequacies. It is in our inadequacies that we find one who more than makes up for our inadequacies. He is the One who gives salvation! Will you make Jesus Lord of your life?

Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving

Is there any other way to enter the Lords presence than with praise and thanksgiving? The Lord’s goodness is abundant towards us. His lovingkindness is everlasting. His Faithfulness is to all generations.

The Lord Is Good

5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.1 John 1:5

This passage of scripture shows that God is perfect. Light represents goodness and dark represents evil. John shows that there is no evil in God. Why is this important to us? Often times we fear to come to God because He may do something bad to us. It is not in His character to do evil. Everything He does in relation to us is always good. It may not be pleasant, but it is always good. Since it is always good we can trust Him in all things. It is in this that we can be thankful and bring Him praise.

His lovingkindness is everlasting

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

God loved us when we were unlovable. His love for us was not based on any of our merit, but solely by His character. Meaning that there is nothing that we do to earn God’s love. God loves the world. He gives everlasting life to those who love Him back! We love him back by believing in Jesus Christ, His Son. We must believe that Jesus is God’s Son, that He died on the cross to pay the penalty of God’s wrath for our sins, that he rose from the dead on the third day, and that He is going to return again! When we do this we experience His everlasting kindness. We experience it in a place called heaven! We can thank Him for this and bring Him praise.

His faithfulness is to all generations

5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,” Hebrews 13:5

What does this mean? This means we put our trust in Him alone! When our government fails us. When our money runs fails us. When our family fails us. Even when we fail ourselves, the Lord will never fail us. He is faithful to us and all generations. His character is unchanging! He is the same today as He was yesterday, and will be tomorrow!

You can count on the Lord to be there. All His promises are fulfilled in Christ. He is faithful to His promises. He will never leave you or desert you. God is always by your side! We can thank Him for this and bring Him praise