Sunday, January 06,
2013, 7:02 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “For Our Nation” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant
is listening. I read Psalm 96 (NIV
1984):
Sing to the Lord a new
song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord,
praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory
among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For great is the Lord
and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of
the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty
are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, O
families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord
the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in
the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
Say among the nations,
“The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot
be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
Let the heavens
rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything
in them.
Then all the trees of
the forest will sing for joy;
they will sing before the Lord, for he
comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the
world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth.
A New Song
At the time this psalm was written Jesus had not yet come to
the earth to die for our sins, and the gospel of salvation had not yet gone out
to the ends of the earth. So, the call for all nations and all the earth to
praise the Lord, and to sing to the Lord, suggests a future period of time when
the gospel of salvation would be proclaimed among the nations of the entire earth,
and when people of the whole world would bow and would worship Almighty God as
their one and only true God, and they would worship Jesus Christ, God the Son,
as their Messiah, Savior and Lord. So, this song of salvation would indeed be a
new song.
This psalm, thus, looks forward to the time when Jesus died
on the cross for our sins, thus providing us with salvation, when he rose from
the dead, ascended into heaven, sent his Holy Spirit to indwell the lives of
his followers, and the gospel of salvation began to be spread to the entire
world, fulfilling Jesus’ commission to his disciples to make disciples of
Christ of all nations, baptizing them in his name (Father, Son & Holy
Spirit), and teaching them to obey all things that Christ Jesus had commanded
them (see Matt. 28:19-20).
All the earth and all the nations of the earth are, thus,
called upon by Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth, to sing to the Lord, to
praise him and/or to praise his name, to proclaim his salvation day after day,
to worship him in truth and in holiness, and to proclaim throughout the earth
the coming of our Lord in power to judge the earth and to reign as King of
kings and Lord of lords.
Sing Praises (http://originalworks.info/sing-praises-2/)
We, the nations of the earth, are to sing praises to the
Lord – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – for all that he has done, and for who he
is, and in thanksgiving for his great salvation. We should do this daily.
Praise and singing to God is a great antidote to fear, frustration, worry,
doubt, illness, heartache, sorrow and pain, plus it gets us focused away from
the things and concerns of this life and it gets us focused on God/Jesus Christ
as our only hope and our only salvation. As well, praise and singing to the One
and Only God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit - brings joy to our hearts, and
helps remove the burdens of despair, because we are choosing to give glory to
God despite our circumstances.
Worship the Lord
As well, the nations of the earth are called upon here to
worship the Lord God, maker of heaven and earth, as their One and Only True
God. We, the nations of the earth, are to do so with honor, respect, awe and
reverence for God and for who he is. Yet, the fear of the Lord is something
that has been nearly lost in our generation of people on the earth. Worship, as
well, is often defined in terms of the singing or music portion of a church
service on a Sunday morning or on a Saturday night in which we sing songs and
lift our hands to show praise. Yet, is that true worship? It certainly can be a
part of true worship, but it is more of an outgrowth of true worship rather
than the worship itself.
What I mean here is that God defines worship of him in terms
of love for him, reverence, respect, adoration, devotion, commitment, obedience,
loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity, and the like (in OT and NT). He said in Psalms
51:17 that the sacrifices of God are a broken (humble) spirit and a contrite
(repentant) heart. In Isaiah 66:2 he said that the one he esteems is the one
who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at his word. And, this
fits, as well, with what he said through Paul in Rom. 12:1-2 (NIV 1984):
Therefore, I urge you,
brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,
holy and pleasing to God—this is your
spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able
to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We have to worship God with our lives and our hearts for it
to be true worship when we sing songs of praise to him and we lift our hands
toward heaven to demonstrate our praise and adoration for God. True worship of
God, thus, begins in our hearts, moves into our lives through obedient surrender
of our lives to God in all things, and is expressed outwardly through our
praise, singing, testimonies and public declarations of his grace and mercy,
both through word and through deed. True worship of God is expressed in true
repentance, humility and obedience to Christ and to his commands. And, true
worship demonstrates reverent awe and respect for God so that we take seriously
his words to us and we obey them.
Proclaim His
Salvation
We, the nations of the earth, are to, as well, proclaim the
Lord’s salvation day after day among the peoples of all nations. Jesus Christ
died on the cross taking upon himself all our sins, he crucified and buried our
sins with him and he rose triumphantly over sin, hell, death and Satan when he
was resurrected from the dead. He did this so that you and I could go free from
the ultimate penalty of sin (eternal damnation), so we could be free from
slavery to sin and to self-gratification, and so we would be free to worship,
love and obey him.
The way in which we come to know this salvation and to take
it as our own is not only by God’s grace in providing the blood sacrifice for
our sins, but by faith in what our Lord did for us on the cross. This kind of
faith is described throughout the New Testament as obedient, repentant, humble,
submissive, loving and leaves all to follow Jesus Christ wherever he leads us
(see Luke 9:23-25; Eph. 4:17-24; et al). We must respond to what Jesus Christ
did for us by allowing the Holy Spirit of God to transform us in heart and mind
away from a life given over to self and sin to a new life, “created to be like God
in true righteousness and holiness.”
This is what we are to proclaim to the nations of the earth.
We are to proclaim, as well, that he is the only hope for mankind and that we
must put our absolute faith in God and in Jesus Christ, God the Son, for our
salvation, healing, help, and deliverance. We should not put our hope and trust
in man to save us from what ails our nations, because man is human and is
sinful and is thus prone toward deception and betrayal. Men and human resources
are a false security for us, especially during times when the nations are being
shaken by God. We are to look to God as our only hope, and we are to proclaim
him among the nations as the only hope.
His Judgments and
Reign
We, the nations of the earth, are also to proclaim God’s
coming judgments on the earth and his coming reign as King of kings and as Lord
of lords. Jesus Christ is coming back one day to judge and to rule and to reign
in righteousness on the earth. I so look forward to that day when he reigns in
holiness, truth and righteousness! The earth will go through a period of time
known as the Tribulation period in which God will judge the earth and the
people on the face of the earth. The saints of God will suffer great
persecution during this time, not unlike the persecutions followers of Christ
have had to suffer ever since people began to follow our Lord as their Lord and
Savior. We in America, though, have known little of this kind of severe
persecution for our faith in Christ, but that time is coming and may have
already come.
The Call
The call here to the nations of the earth, thus, is to turn
from our lives of sin and selfish pleasure, to be transformed in heart and mind
via the power and working of the Holy Spirit of God, and to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ in obedience and surrender to his will for our lives.
Obey him fully! Revere and honor him as the holy God that he
is. Take seriously his words. Worship him in truth and in giving your lives
completely to him. Follow him wherever he leads you. Proclaim his salvation
daily to the ends of the earth and tell of his judgments and his coming reign
in righteousness on the earth. And, in all things, give God all the glory,
honor and praise that he so deserves! Amen!
For Our Nation /
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting.
Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in
all ways.
Trust Him with your
life today.
Make Him your Lord and
your Savior.
Turn from your sin.
Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of
your sin;
Cleanse your heart,
made new within.
Men betraying: Our
trust fraying.
On our knees to God
we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us
answers
That are only found in
Him.
God is sovereign over
all things.
Nothing from His mind
escaping.
He has all things
under His command,
And will work all for
good.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in
all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re
believing
In our Lord, and
interceding
For our nation and its
people
To obey their God
today.
He is our hope for our
future.
For our wounds He
offers suture.
He is all we need for
this life.
Trust Him with your
life today.
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