Good
Afternoon!
I pray your
new year is off to a great start! Here where I live in Virginia Beach, VA, we
are starting the year with our first snow storm of the year. Yes, Virginia
Beach only received 4-6 inches of snow yesterday. However, those amounts are debilitating
for a city ill-equipped to handle any type of accumulation.
Today, temperatures
are not expected to rise above freezing, further complicating matters with
issues of icy roads. We are officially under a snow-induced house arrest. Roads …
horrendous. Temperature … freezing. Winds ... blowing. Even church was cancelled this morning!
However, my
home church – Bridge Church – had an awesome time of praise and worship and
prayer via Facebook Live! I am so thankful for my senior pastors Archie and
Tangie Callahan. I am even more thankful for the Holy Spirit – whose presence
filled my living room as I tuned in online. It was actually quite overwhelming.
That is the
beautiful thing about praise – it can happen any time, any place, right where
you are, no matter what you are experiencing. That same atmosphere that is
present in physical environment of corporate worship is available – and was
present – in our online gathering this morning. In fact, I think this snow was
a blessing in disguise!
You see – there are times when praise
and worship must be undignified!
There are
those moments when the tears begin flowing almost immediately and
uncontrollably – eyes red, voice shaking, hands trembling and nose running. It’s
not pretty … but it is real and powerful! That is the praise and worship and
prayer which took place this morning.
In II
Samuel, chapter 6, verses 14-22 the tale is told of King David and his undignified,
yet unashamed, praise before the LORD. It accounts how David’s wife, Michal,
criticized him for exposing himself to the scrutiny of others as he danced and
praised the LORD for His goodness.
The Message
Version of the Bible records David’s response to Michal:
“In God’s presence I’ll
dance all I want! … Oh yes, I’ll dance to God’s glory – more recklessly even
than this. And as far as I’m concerned … I’ll gladly look like a fool!”
Haven’t we
all had those moments? There are times when our praise cannot be contained and
we do not care who sees, who hears, or how terrible we look. His is the only
favor we seek. Sometimes, it is represented with a dance, at others times with
a shout, and still other times with a cry …
Yet, whether
you are in the position of having to expose your praise to the criticizing eye
of others – or whether the LORD provides an opportunity for private undignified
praise – as He did for me this morning while being snowed-in … the
point is … to praise Him!
With
everything we’ve got, with every feeling we possess, with every breath in our
lungs … let’s set our minds – this year, every month, every day,
moment-to-moment to praise the One who alone is worthy.
Here is a
song we sang today … I hope you enjoy it
.
All Sons and Daughters … Great Are
You LORD
Have a Tremendously Blessed Week!
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