"Worthy is the Lamb"

As I sat in church listening to my dad's sermon this past Sunday, one thing stuck out to me in the verses we read. Jesus is to be praised, because He IS great.

I realized I'm constantly writing about my troubles and how God has brought me through them, but I have rarely written blog posts FOR God. So today, I am going outside of my normal writing and going to take an entire post to praise my God and King.

When you read the bible, many verses talk about people who are praising God. Psalms especially. Just about every verse you read says "praise the Lord."

The truth is, if we're really Christians then our heart should belong completely to God. We should be so in love with God that for anyone else to get to our heart they have to draw closer to God.

"Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights!" -Psalm 148:1

"Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has 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 to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting,
and His truth endures to all generations." -Psalm 100:1-5

"Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples." -Psalm 96:1-3

"Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land." -Psalm 95: 1-5

"You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand, and high is Your right hand.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face. Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all day long, and in Your righteousness they are exalted." -Psalm 89:13-15

"How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints
for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." -Psalm 84:1-2

"Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD! Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth," -1 Chronicles 16:8-12

"Since to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For He has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of the evildoers." -Jeremiah 20:13

"I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies." -2 Samuel 22:4

As you look even more, you see people praising God for the things He did for them, for saving them, winning battles for them, for miracles done.

"And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: "For He is good, for His mercy endures forever towards Israel." Then all the peoples shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid." -Ezra 3:11

When you read in Judges 7, it tells the story of Gideon and how God kept telling him the army was too big. You think "What? Wouldn't it be a good thing to have a big army?" But our plans aren't God's plans.
"And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ "
Eventually, God brought the army of men down to 300 and told Gideon that He would deliver the enemy with those 300. By faith Gideon and his army defeated the enemy, because they obeyed everything God commanded. What God asked them to do seemed a little crazy, but they had faith, and through God they seized the enemies camp and won the battle. "And so it was, when Gideon hear the telling of the dream and it's interpretation, then he worshiped."

I wonder how many times in my life God has won a battle for me and I just sat back and prided myself in how well I handled the situation. I wonder how many miracles God has worked in my life and I just smiled and thought how "lucky" I was that _____ didn't get worse/happen.

Jesus is to be praised in all things, no matter the circumstance. Because He is worthy.

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!" -Revelation 5:12

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and was and who is to come, the Almighty." -Revelation 1:8

"And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." -Isaiah 9:6

"The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.
For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek Him,
who seek Your face—even Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! Who is the King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates,
and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory." -Psalm 24:1-10

When you hear the song "Jesus, there's something about that name." The words are just from a heart filled with love for God written by Bill and Gloria Gaither.

"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's just something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus. Like the fragrance after the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Let all heaven and earth proclaim. Kings and kingdoms shall all pass away, but there's something about that name."

I should be brought to tears when I think of God's amazing love. Brought to my knees when I think of how He gave me the very breath I'm breathing and life I'm living. My life should be given for Him because He gave His life for me. My life should be lived to glorify Him, because He IS greatly deserving of all my praise.

I pray that today, right now, that my vow to give God the glory for everything that comes my way will be one that I will renew every single day. That no matter what people say to me, do to me, or say about me, that I will give God the glory for everything. That I will shine Him to all of those around me and they would know of God's love and power without me even having to say anything. Because you know what, my life should reflect Christ. I shouldn't have to tell them about Him, because my life should be a mirror image of Him.