Read
(A psalm of praise.)
The Lord Is God
1Shout praises to the Lord,
everyone on this earth.
2Be joyful and sing
as you come in
to worship the Lord!
3You know the Lord is God!
He created us,
and we belong to him;
we are his people,
the sheep in his pasture.
4Be thankful and praise the Lord
as you enter his temple.
5 The Lord is good!
His love and faithfulness
will last forever.
Reflect
One of the characteristics of a Spirit filled congregation is joyful thanksgiving and praise. Sometimes one hears the idea expressed “I come to church to hear the message – the rest is just preliminary.” Yes, but Psalm 100 instructs us to prepare our hearts and minds by “entering his gates” and his courts with thanksgiving and praise.
Read the psalm again aloud as praise to God. Why not use the well known song “I will enter his gates” too?
God’s word in Ephesians 5 commands us “to speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs”. What godly heart attitudes are described in this psalm? Notice that the basis of joyful thanksgiving to God is a strong personal sense of belonging to him as your own creator and shepherd (v 3). From this deep sense of knowing that the Lord is God and that we belong to him for eternity, flows an abiding joy and thankfulness. It is not from the outward setting of worship (Oh, look who is in the praise team today, oh, how many new songs will we use?) but rather from the inner spiritual reality of who God is and how we can interact with him by his grace that true praise and worship flows.
We need to take care to not judge praise and worship simply by music style or praise team stage performance. Read verse 5 again. Whatever the music style or instrumentation, it is the being and presence of God – his goodness, his love and his faithfulness, that is the source and focus of our praise and worship.
Respond
In the light of this psalm and God’s loving goodness to you, prayerfully examine your heart attitude to your personal and congregational times in the inner courts of praise and worship.
George Anderson
George is a retired Presbyterian minister who resides in Binbrook Ontario, Canada with his wife, Audrey. George & Audrey emigrated from South Africa to Ile Perrot, Quebec, in 1989 with their four daughters all of whom are now married and living in Ontario with their nine grand-children. After teaching high school Math and working in SU in South Africa, George pastored two churches there and four churches in Canada, the last being in the beautiful Muskoka town of Huntsville. The main focus of George’s ministry has been building up congregations through the renewing grace and power of the Spirit of Jesus as expressed in Acts 2 v 42 – teaching, fellowship, eating together and prayer. George enjoys bird-watching and hiking with Audrey and the occasional tennis and golf.