Greg Laurie Harvest Daily Devotional

Get guidance on Bible study from C.S. Lewis - Free Course!
<< Greg Laurie Daily Devotions

Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - Aug. 21, 2009

Friday, August 21, 2009

Start Singing!

He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the Lord. 
—Psalm 40:3

Two elements we should see in worship today are reverence and joy. Both are important. In the early church, there was an open joy that the believers expressed in their worship of the Lord (see Acts 2:46). But there also was reverence. Acts 2:43 says that "a deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders."

The Spirit-filled church will be a worshipping church, and the Spirit-filled Christian will be a worshipping Christian. And when you come together with God's people in corporate worship, something wonderful happens. God manifests His presence in a unique way when His people come to honor His name. As Jesus said, "For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them" (Matthew 18:20). The Bible also says that God inhabits the praises of His people (see Psalm 22:3).

Now God is omnipresent, which means that God is everywhere. But when you gather together with other believers and lift up His name in praise, God blesses that in a special way and manifests His presence, even His glory. There is nothing in the world like corporate worship—that special bond we sense, that blessing of God, that sense of fulfillment as we do what we were created to do, which is to glorify God.

The Christian faith is a singing faith, and that is not necessarily true of other religions. They may chant, they may moan, and they may have their various forms of music, but there is no faith that is full of vibrant, joyful singing like Christianity. We have the best songs of any religion on earth, and God just keeps giving us more and more. Why? Because we have something to sing about. So start singing!

Copyright © 2009 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. 
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.  

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
to listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com, click here.

SPECIAL OFFER

Hope for Hurting Hearts
In times of tragedies and trials, certain things become evident:

  • This life will have its sorrows
  • God loves us
  • Jesus weeps in our times of pain
  • God can be glorified through human suffering

Hope for Hurting Hearts, Pastor Greg Laurie's new book, examines these truths, revealing God's love and care for us, and shows how we can find hope, even in the midst of the most unbearable pain and sorrow.

You can have your own copy of Hope for Hurting Hearts by Greg Laurie in appreciation for your gift to Harvest Ministries this month

 



More Greg Laurie Daily Devotions Articles