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Praise Him! - Psalm 150:5

Crash, Bang, Boom!

Clash of cymbals

Talk about heavy metal! Okay, maybe it’s not that heavy. This musical crash of metallic plates of brass adds punctuation to a song. Wham! Can you hear the music they make? I guess it’s more like a “crash” or a “clang” than a “wham.” Anyway, how does this speak to us on a spiritual level?

We’re supposed to be loud when we praise, so we had better be in tune. This doesn’t mean you should shout “Repent!” from the street corners in your home town. I mentioned in an earlier chapter about living out loud. This means that, everything you do, you should do for Jesus because, as a Christian, you need to bring Jesus to the world. That’s the Great Commission. Check it out in Matthew 28:16-20.

Did you stop to read the scriptures? If not, I urge you to do so. Go ahead. I’ll wait right here.

Not only are we given the assignment to make disciples and baptize, verse 20 says that the disciples should also be “teaching them to obey everything I commanded you”. How can we as disciples teach others to obey Christ’s teachings when we don’t at least try to obey those teachings, ourselves? If someone sees you stealing or lying or cheating or behaving in an ungodly way, that reflects directly on God.

No, we’re not perfect. Yes, we are forgiven. We must share our testimony with others so they know just how imperfect and forgiven we are! BUT… If we really love God and serve Him, we will at least try to obey what He has commanded. We will, at times, fail. We are human. But when we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us, we will be amazed at what “we” can do.

Maybe it is that heavy, after all.

Resounding cymbals

Well, what else can we say about cymbals? Not a whole lot. So let’s concentrate on the word resounding. Take a minute to look the word up in the dictionary. I’m sure that it’s sitting right next to you if you’ve spent any time at all studying with me. Either that or you have a “favorites” bookmark to dictionary.com.

What did you learn? Maybe you didn’t really need the dictionary for this one. Resound – re-sound – to sound again? – echo. Is that pretty close to what you found when you looked up the word?

I suppose that means that, after our initial “clash”, we need to keep making noise. How does the song go? “I will not be silent. I will not be quiet anymore…” How do you rate in this area? Have you allowed the troubles of this world to silence you? Or are you continuing to echo your loud praises? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to echo throughout your life?

If you’re taking the Challenge, review Psalm 150:1-4 and memorize Psalm 150:5

Recommendations for Praise

Music: DC Talk, Kutless
Devotions: Extreme Devotion: Voice of the Martyrs

That’s praise?

Keeping God in mind, do one or more of the following as an act of praising Him. Or come up with ideas of your own. What has the Lord taught you from the experience? (Hold open a door for someone, Give up your seat to someone, Help a friend paint, Introduce yourself to a neighbor, Volunteer to read at a library or hospital, Babysit for someone who needs it)

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