email : Webview : Duane Brooks - Every Day with Jesus

August 23, 2018

Ezra 3:11-13

With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:“He is good;
his love toward Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

New International Version (NIV)

                 What if somebody stopped you from worshiping with others? It is a frightening thought. Have you ever been unable to worship in a corporate setting for an extended period of time? God created us to worship him with others.

                When Israel went into captivity, their captors told them to sing the songs of Zion. These ancient Israelites missed the place of worship, the temple. So they hung their harps in the willow trees and refused to sing (Psalm 137). For seventy years they were in exile away from Jerusalem. Then the day came when they returned home to Israel. They began to rebuild the temple and they sang about the love of the Lord as they worked.

                Worship is such a powerful and restorative gift. A young friend in another country confided that she had been unable to worship in her heart language with other believers for almost a year. When she had a new opportunity with other believers her heart overflowed with joy. One day she told me, “I have worshiped three times today.” Seeing the joy it brought her, I don’t ever want to take worship for granted.

                What if every time we worshiped together we focused on the goodness and love of our God more than anything else? When we worship God with abandon, we may be caught up and caught in adoration of our God. As Dennis Jernigan wrote, “When the world wonders why we worship, we’ll just tell them we’re loving our King.”

Pray with me:

Father, we thank you for the gift of worship. Help us to love you out loud with our songs and our prayers. Teach us from your word. Let us encourage others in worship as well. Teach us how to pray together. Let our hearts overflow with your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This year we focus our Every Day with Jesus readings on Jesus’ story. With references to Tallowood's Read Through the Bible in 2018 daily reading plan, let's focus our undivided attention on Jesus and follow where he lead. He will not fail. Neither will we!
Joyfully,
Duane

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