Today’s Readings:
Psalm 100
Jer. 23:1-8;
Matthew 20:17-28
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before his presence with joyful songs. Know ye that the Lord is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves: we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, and his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5)
Psalm 100 is an invitation to joyfully enter the presence of God with praise and thanksgiving. Why? To acknowledge Him as a Universal Ruler; and because His faithfulness extends from generation to generation. While verses 1, 2, 4 calls us to praise and give thanks; verses 3, 5 tell us that He is God over all His creation. “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” We are his people and the sheep of his pastures (v. 2). As our Shepherd, He guides us, and protect us from all evil, from all danger, He delivers us from the snares of the fowler, and from the perilous pestilence (v. 3; Ps. 23:1, 4; Ps 91:3).
Many of us live our lives as though we created ourselves and are the center of our own world. We belong to God and He rules in the affairs of men here on earth. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning. (3) Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made” (Jn 1:1-3)). We are to trust and worship God wholeheartedly, with our body, soul, and spirit. We are to worship Him in spirit and in truth. This mindset that we belong and live for ourselves will lead us to a self-centered, greedy and possessive life style; and if we are dispossessed of all, we lost all hope in Christ. But when we are conscious that God has created us for His own, He supplies all our needs according to His richness in glory; we will want to deliberately take care of the poor and the needy, the widows, the fatherless around us and all that God has put in our care. And we would always desire to give generously from the generous and limitless resources God has given to us. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good works:” (2 Corin. 9:8). After this, when all is lost, we have God and He still continuously supply our needs.
We are expected to fondly experience the Lord and be completely aware of the truth that He is God over all. The folly and stupidity of ancient Israel is that they rebelled against God their Father. Jehovah is the only true God, who brought them out of Egypt and gave them the Promised Land as their nation Israel. As a Father, He was the progenitor and originator of their nation, He nurtured them and sustained them to maturity. (Deut. 32:6,15). God as the Father of the nation Israel is emphasized in the Old Testament (1Chron. 29:10; Isa. 63:16; 64:8; Mal. 2:10). But in the New Testament, God is a Father to individual believers (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:5). God is the source and perfect image of goodness, His love and His faithfulness. He is always faithful to His promises. He alone is worthy of our worship.
What is your disposition towards worshipping God? Do you willingly and joyfully approach the presence of God? or you let your emotions take the place of His worship. We are to always be conscious of God’s goodness and dependability, then approach His presence with thanksgiving and praise.
OLUFUNMILAYO TITILOLA ADEKUSIBE
Prayers:
Lord God we worship You with gladness and come before you with joyful songs, in Jesus name.
Lord our God, how majestic is Your name in all the earth.
You have set Your glory in the heavens.
We acknowledge that the earth is the lord’s and the fulness thereof.
We give thanks and praises to you with all our hearts and we tell of Your wonderful acts through generations, in Jesus name.
The Lord reigns; let the nations tremble, He sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake.
Father empower me to continually praise your holy name, because great is your faithfulness towards me and my family, they are new every morning, in Jesus name.
As individuals, as a Church, and as a nation, we confess your greatness and your mighty and wonderous deeds through our nation, in Jesus name.
Lord, visit Christian homes and families with your mighty power, in Jesus name.
Lord, let there be witnesses and testimonies of your acts through our land, and nation, in Jesus name.
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