Praise The Lord and Be Blessed!

"Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, He who is the Maker of heaven and earth." (Psalm 134)

Who are the servants of The Lord?

All those who proclaim to accept the Work on the Cross as a means of reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ are the servants of The Lord--those who are obedient to His Word--proclaiming what He says to all. If then, we are servants of The Lord--giving Him rulership over our lives, why do we find it so difficult to obey--Our Lord--one who governs?

The simple answer is most people don't understand how Lordship functions as it once did in England and in other nations. It certainly doesn't have a place in the United States because we won't allow anyone to be "Lord over our lives" and we certainly won't allow Holy Spirit to govern us. When a person was "the Lord" over property (a region, however designated by a king), he was the authority in the lives of those who lived on his land. Here, in America, we seem to forget that when we accept The Word on the Cross, and Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we give Him authority over our lives. A relationship with Jesus is a matter of the heart, not the head (or mind) and we allow Him to govern when we accept His Lordship; if we don't allow Him to be Lord, all we've done is to be religious and ritualistic.

I'll be the first to admit than granting someone else authority over my life is challenging and almost impossible when it comes to mere mortals. Yes, I obey the laws of the land when they don't conflict with my relationship with God. But I will not obey the laws of the land when they are in opposition to God's Word. That's settled in heaven for me. But when we cannot obey God's Word because we are more concerned about what people think or being politically correct, then we are not servants of The Lord because Jesus is not our Lord and we therefore lie--if we say He is.

When we're in a worship service--who are we praising--God or man? Do we lift our hands in praise because we really want to honor God or we simply obeying the dictates of others who have tell us what to do?

Even if we're not willing to admit where we are in our relationship with God--He knows--He knows our heart. And He knows if we only lift our hands because someone else directed us to to do so, our hearts don't belong to Him.

I can lift my hands wherever I am--and often do so when I think about just how good He is. I don't need anyone to prompt me to lift my hands or raise my voice in praise of the God who loved me enough, to come down from heaven, hang on a cross and die for me--in spite of me--and still loves me.

O that men and women and children would really understand how wonderful it is to be loved when we are not worthy! O that those who proclaim to love Jesus would be more obedient to His Love! O that all would begin to worship Him in spirit and in truth! What a wonderful, blessed world this would be if all would honor Him as Lord, obey, and love! Give Him praise and be blessed!