Dear friends,

“The Lord is pleased with his people. 
He saves those who are not proud.
Let those who worship him rejoice in his glory.
 Let them sing for joy even in bed!
Let them shout his praise
    With their two-edged swords in their hands.”
- Psalm 149:4-6

Do you wonder what to do? Do you feel overwhelmed? For yourself? For your family? For your church? For your community?  This Psalm teaches us the most important thing and the most powerful thing we can do is to worship. 

Worship begins from the sense of pleasure that God takes in His people and arises from an attitude of humility. We choose to praise God with expressions of joy and we experience joy at the beginning and end of the day. 

The wisdom of shouting praise rests on several important thoughts. We shout about and for the things that matter most to us. We not only put words and voice to our thoughts but we also put effort into voicing them. Something happens in us when we say and sing words of praise because it is a conscious choice to assert truths about God and ourselves. 

Finally, the Psalmist sees our worship as battle against all the things that would seek to distract, discourage, and depress us. High praises of God are like battle-chants. The two-edged sword is a reference to the Word of God. In Ephesians 6, Paul lays out the “armor of God” that protects us from evil. The only offensive weapon is the “sword of the Spirit” which is the Word of God. Our worship includes both our words to God and receiving God’s Word to us. 

Our worship is always very important, but perhaps more important now than ever. It changes the atmosphere of our own souls, our own homes, our church, our community, our city, our county, our nation and our world. I hope you will join us live at 9:30 or 11:15 or via livestream at 9:30 tomorrow. 

For our 9:30am service, you can sign up here.  11:15 does not require a sign-up. 

Your friend,

Steve Wise