Have you ever attended a professional sports event? Thousands upon thousands of people scream and cheer loudly, as if their shouts were actually willing their side to victory. People certainly get excited about their favorite sports teams.
How many believers do you know who put that same passion and intensity into their faith? How often do you proclaim the saving truth of Jesus Christ as loudly as a football fan proclaims his or her allegiance?
In his letter to the church at Thessalonica, the apostle Paul rejoices in the young congregation’s passion for telling the world about Christ. Because the city was a busy seaport, he knew that the church there had the ear of the entire world. Travelers would hear the gospel and then take it back and share it with their own communities.
Paul praised the Thessalonians because “the word of the Lord … sounded forth” from them (1 Thess. 1:8). Our heavenly Father wants the same to be true of His children today. Before there were any microphones or loudspeakers, a long, curved device known as a sounding board was used to amplify a public speaker’s voice. We can think of the Thessalonians as living amplifiers who proclaimed Jesus Christ to the world. And we should emulate them.
If you’re a “fan” of Jesus, then you have the responsibility of sharing with the world who He is and what He has done for you. Shout it from the rooftops! Fill entire stadiums with the thunder of your praise! Don’t just show the people around you who your favorite sports team is. Make sure they know who your Savior is as well.
The Lord has made us a special people in order that we may fulfill a special purpose. Isaiah 43:21 says, “The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.” An integral part of worshipping the Lord is proclaiming His greatness.
To praise our Father is to applaud Him for who He is and what He has done in our life. This involves the release of our emotions, which frees us to express our unrestrained adoration for the Lord. When someone loves another person, the most natural response is to speak highly about the cherished one. In the same way, those who love Christ find that praise for Him comes easily to their lips.
Praising the Lord is good for us. In our self-centered society, people are primarily interested in getting their own needs met. Sadly, this same attitude has infiltrated some churches. But the Lord doesn’t want us to come to church concerned only about ourselves. Praise lifts our eyes to Jesus Christ and fills our hearts with the contentment that eludes us when we focus exclusively on our own needs and problems.
Praise and worship are usually associated with church services, but they should characterize us wherever we are. Some of the most intimate and precious experiences of worship can happen when we’re alone with the Father.
If you find that your praise lacks vitality, tell the Lord you want to learn to extol Him with your whole heart. The focus of worship is the key. Remember how God has cared for you, and look for daily evidence of His hand on your life. Then tell Him how great He is.
Whenever feelings of low self-worth threaten us with discouragement, we need to rely on the truth of God’s Word rather than on our emotions. Today we are going to examine four phrases that describe how the Lord sees every believer.
1. A Chosen Race. God chose you and me to be part of His kingdom and family because He wanted us. No one who has been specially selected by almighty God is insignificant.
2. A Royal Priesthood. As believers, we are children of God and, therefore, part of a royal family. In other words, we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). Just as Jesus fulfilled the roles of both king and priest, so God has also entrusted us with priestly responsibilities of worship and intercession for others.
3. A Holy Nation. The church—or body of Christ—is a group of people who are holy, which means “set apart” for the purposes of God. Our lives are never meaningless, because living for the Lord is the greatest purpose one can have.
4. A People for God’s Own Possession. You and I are the heavenly Father’s personal possessions. (See Deut. 14:2; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:9.) Because He sees us as precious, He sent His Son to die on the cross in our place so we could belong to Him.
Each of these descriptions shows the high value God places on you. Satan may whisper lies of condemnation and criticism, but he can’t change who you really are. Begin today to demonstrate the truth of Scripture by remembering your real identity and living out your high calling from the Lord.
Doubt is destructive. It fills us with uncertainty, makes us indecisive, and affects our ability to connect with God and receive His wisdom. We know doubt is at work when we struggle to believe the following truths:
God loves us all the time. Most of us accept the Lord’s deep affection for us when we are “good,” but how about when we’re disobedient? His love for us does not fluctuate with our behavior. We can be certain of this because “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). That’s amazing grace—God loving us while we rebelled against Him.
God has a plan to forgive us for our disobedience. We know the Father promises to forgive us when we confess our sins, but we often have trouble believing we are forgiven. We must not use feelings to determine truth. God’s Word is true, and it says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). That is a description of complete forgiveness.
God has called us to serve Him. Our Father often invites us to join Him in His work—teaching a Sunday school class, helping a family in need, taking a leadership role, or speaking words about Jesus to another person. The presence of doubt might cause us, like Moses, to make excuses for why we cannot obey (Ex. 4:10). But God promises He has equipped us with everything we need to do the work He has chosen for us (Eph. 2:10).
The opposite of doubt is faith. Which best describes your state of mind?
The apostle Paul frequently wrote about the need to rely upon Jesus Christ’s strength. He passed on to his readers a promise that the Lord had given him: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Paul was a great Christian leader, but in God’s eyes, he was no more deserving of grace than any other person. You and I can have the same confidence in the Lord’s power that this courageous first-century missionary did.
When Paul received Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he was adopted as God’s son. Therefore, he had all the privileges that go with being reborn: His sins were forgiven (Acts 2:38), he was set apart for the Lord’s service (Gal. 1:15), and he received the Holy Spirit (John 14:17). Paul was an effective servant because the Spirit would release power into his life whenever God had a purpose for him to fulfill.
Consider Paul’s jail time. To help him withstand the rigors of imprisonment, the Holy Spirit provided physical and mental stamina. And at the same time, He burdened the hearts of other believers to provide for Paul’s material needs (Phil. 4:18). Most importantly, God’s Spirit expanded the apostle’s ministry by giving him the courage to speak of Jesus Christ with his Roman guards (Phil. 1:13).
The apostle Paul relied upon the Lord for strength and consequently never gave up on his faith. We serve the same all-powerful God, which means we have no excuse for running away from His plan, either. His Spirit dwells in us and is ready to release power when we obey our Father’s call.
