Daily Devotional For Friday, March 22, 2024

Psalm 92:4 says, “For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your work; at the works of Your hands I sing for joy” (ESV). Isn’t it amazing how music is such a part of all cultures? Everyone has their own genre or style of music. It is not unusual to hear someone singing along with a song or whistling a tune. Music has a way of calming us down and lifting us up. We live in such a changing and uncertain world at times. It can even be fearful and anxiety causing. This is why singing praises to God is such a great alternative.

Why is it in our culture we get more excited about our sports teams than we do praising God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength? People do not care if they look crazy for their sports teams. But look around your church — our church — what do you see and hear? Is there enthusiasm or does it look forced, coerced or fake? Please do not misunderstand me. I am not talking about looking crazy or bizarre or weird. I simply talking about giving God His due praise and recognition from our hearts. 

So here are some suggestions for you today. First, make a list of all the blessings God gives to you during the day. You can do this. Take out your cell phone for example and use the notepad app and put them in it as they occur. Second, look to see where God is working around you and join Him in it. Third, play some Christian music you love and cut loose with it — especially as you are driving.  Who cares what people think. You’re praising God. Fourth, look for ways to help someone who is struggling and let them experience God working through you to help them. Fifth, At the end of the day, go back and read your list in your notepad app and thank God for it all. 

Read the story below about Contemporary Christian singer Rich Mullins:

“Most people choose a church based on the quality of its service, but for Rich Mullins, the most important ingredient was not the dynamism of the leaders, but the devotion of the people.

Eric Hauck (a close friend of Mullins) recalls being with Rich in a worship service only a few days before Rich died in a car accident. Some friends wanted to have a gathering for praising God. They encouraged everyone who had an instrument to bring it and play. Eric recalls that the music sounded awful. Even those who led the singing sang out of tune.

Someone asked Eric and Rich to lead the group for the rest of the evening. Rich went up to the microphone and said, "I love to be in the church. I love to listen to people sing and play with their hearts. In my profession (contemporary Christian music) we worry about being in tune and sounding good. But this music is the music that is the most pleasing to God, because it is so real, and it comes from the hearts of the children of God."

Eric concludes, "As he said this, he got choked up. It was the last time I saw Rich cry." Church was an emotional experience for Rich, not because of how exciting the worship was, but because he felt he was communing with the saints. Jimmy Abegg, a member of Rich's Ragamuffin band, said, "For Rich, even an hour in a bad church was better than not going at all” (Source: James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven (Broadman and Holman, 2000).

Read this story about Kamil Kiroglu:

Following Sunday worship services on January 8, 2006, five young men attacked and threatened to kill a Protestant church leader in Turkey's fourth largest city. Kamil Kiroglu, 29, had just left his church in Adana when he was ambushed and beaten so severely that he fell unconscious twice.

"They were trying to force me to deny Jesus," Kiroglu said. "But each time they asked me to deny Jesus and become a Muslim, I was saying, 'Jesus is Lord.' The more I said, 'Jesus is Lord,' the more they beat me." One of the attackers pulled out a long butcher knife and threatened to kill Kiroglu if he did not deny his Christian faith and return to Islam. Kiroglu refused. After the incident, he said, "I am praising God—not because he saved me from death, but because he helped me not to deny him in the shadow of death” (Source: Compass Direct (January 2006).

What do you think of Kamil Kiroglu’s praise to God for how he handled being attacked for Christ? David writes this in Psalm 100:1-5:

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! (2) Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing! (3)  Know that the Lord, He is God! It is he who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. (4 )Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! (5) For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations” (ESV).

In the Psalms, David repeatedly says to sing, praise God with voices, instruments and our bodies. One final story about a drunk lady on a plane:

“Federal law enforcement officers were dispatched to the Gold Coast Airport in Queensland, Australia after a drunk, disorderly woman refused to follow the crew’s instructions. Jetstar Airlines explained the situation in a brief statement afterward. “The safety of our customers and crew is our number one priority and we have zero tolerance for disruptive behavior.”

The woman, who one TikTok user referred to as a “drunk Karen,” clearly wore out her welcome among the nearby passengers who had to endure her belligerent behavior. On the posted TikTok video, police can be seen entering the plane and forcibly removing her from the aircraft, while onlookers began chanting the chorus to a 1969 hit from the band Steam. “Na na nahhh na, na na nahh na, hey hey hey … goodbye” (Source: Brooke Rolfe, “Entire plane bursts into song as ‘drunk Karen’ booted off flight,” New York Post (1-11-23).

Questions To Consider

1. When you come to church, do you hold back your voice and praise to God or do you cut loose without regard to what others think or feel? Why or why not?
2. Why do you think many Christians do not freely praise God in a worship service but will go nuts over their sports teams?
3. What do you think of the Rich Mullins story above and why?
4. Isn’t it amazing that an airplane of people would break out together to sing a song about an unruly passenger being forcibly removed by authorities? What does that tell you?  Had you been on that plane, would you have joined them? Why or why not? 
5. Read Psalm 68:4, Psalm 98:1-9, Psalm 150:4, 6 as well as Psalm 71:8 in your Bible. What does this tell you about what God wants from us in praise?

Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 98:1, “Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done marvelous things!” (ESV).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, please forgive me when I hold back my praise to You in worship. I should be overflowing with gratitude and praise for all the blessings You have given me. I will no longer hold back. I should be at worship for an audience of One, not anyone else. I love You and I will praise You with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! — Pastor Kelly