When I came to Christ during the latter years of the Jesus Movement, my first lesson was learning to live in a state of praise. My entire life is to be a sacrifice of praise to the One who saved me and Who guides me and Who loves me.
There is no better place in the Bible that can help us learn to live a life of praise than the Book of Psalms. As I was meditating on Psalm 5 this morning, two verses stood out to me:
Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.
(v. 3)Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house;
I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.
(v. 7)
I can — and should — come to Jesus every morning with my requests, my hopes, my dreams, my fears, my tears. I can come and wait expectantly for Him to answer me, for Him to make His way plain for me to follow (v. 8). And because of His unfailing love, I can go before His throne and worship at His feet. As I had the privilege of doing this morning.
I am slowly building a new playlist of soft worship songs, songs of praise to the One I love, to the One before Whom I fall to my knees in awe. The first song in this new playlist is Jeremy Riddle’s What Joy is Found. I was hoping I could find it on YouTube but no such luck. However, you can read the lyrics here. Such beautiful melody and lyrics with which to enter into a time of worship. The second song in my playlist is Zann Starbuck’s Just As The Angels, sung by Sheri Carr, and I was so glad to discover a live performance on YouTube. (The recording off of her album, Fearless Now, lets you hear the crystal clearness of Ms. Carr’s voice better than this video.)
I invite you to pause for a moment, close your eyes, and let the words and melody stir your heart and soul and bring praise to your lips.
May your day be filled with joy.
~rlh~
