Faced with His nation’s certain demise, King Jehoshaphat responded with worship. Read his prayer in today’s passage, and you may find it difficult to separate the petition from the praise. Going deeper than familiar expressions like “hallelujah” and “praise the Lord,” he celebrates God’s personhood and extols His virtues.
Furthermore, the king led the people in glorifying God for their past redemption. As they focused on the Lord (instead of the incoming armies), the Israelites recalled anew how their heavenly Father had intervened, sometimes dramatically. This was exactly what God had told them to do—to instruct their children about His ways so they could daily honor Him. (See Deut. 6:7.) Doing so builds courage and strengthens faith.
The people’s praise paved the way for their complete and total dependence upon the Lord. The odds of the small Israelite army beating the united force of three enemies were slim. However, in their worshipful state of mind, the people could admit their weakness and await divine intervention. God gave them an outrageous solution to the problem: to do nothing. Even so, Israel was spiritually prepared to go against human reason and obey His commands. God loves it when we throw ourselves upon His mercy, because then His power can be released in its fullness.
God is also willing to lead you to victory in troubled times. The Israelites’ story is recorded in His Word so that all believers may apply its principles to their life. Bend your heart and mind toward the Lord, and He will enlarge your vision of who He is and what He can do on your behalf.
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?
