Shalom,
Psalm 134:1-3:
1 BEHOLD, BLESS (affectionately and gratefully praise) the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, [singers] who by night stand in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in holiness and to the sanctuary and bless the LORD [affectionately and gratefully praise Him] 3 The LORD bless you out of Zion, even He Who made heaven and earth.
We've probably all heard the songs that say something like "from the rising of the sun, till the time that it goes down, the Name of the Lord shall be praised". The sun is rising somewhere in the world every moment! When people on one part of the earth are going to sleep, others are just rising! So, the Name of the Lord is being praised ALL THE TIME! David thought that it SHOULD be that way. After all, we serve the God Who never slumbers or sleeps (Psalm 121:3-4)! David set up the praise choirs to be praising day and night (1 Chronicles 9:33)! I found this interesting from the Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament:
The greatest responsibility and highest privilege of individual believers and of churches is to worship God, for everything that we are and do flows out of worship. Yet today, worship is often trivialized into cheap, clever entertainment, and the sanctuary has become a theater. As the choir in the temple lifted their hands to heaven (see on Ps 28:2), they were pointing to the Source of all good things and praising Him for His mercy and grace. True worshipers lift "clean hands and a pure heart" to the Lord (24:4; James 4:8), for the Lord looks on the heart. We will worship God for all eternity (Rev 4-5), so we had better start learning now.
We have had to make adjustments in our worship over the years, at The Spoken Word Church, so that we could continue to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, from the inside out! I LOVE being in the company of TRUE worshipers and so does HE! AMEN! Here is the Hillsong song "From The Inside Out:
In 2 Corinthians 7 Paul is speaking of his previous letter to them and how well they responded to his exhortation and correction. Verses 10-11:
10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
When the church at Corinth received the correction from Paul, it resulted in "repentance" on their part. This is the Greek word "metanoia", which means: a change of mind; a turning from sin and turning to God. That repentance produced "salvation" for them. This is the Greek word "soteria", which means: deliverance, preservation, safety, health, rescue. Don't ever shy away from the correction of the Lord! He ALWAYS corrects with His Word and NEVER by harmful things! Remember ALWAYS the difference between the Lord and the enemy found in John 10:10:
10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
Keep making those adjustments so you can continue to walk in and thoroughly enjoy LIFE!
Judges 18:1-2:
1 IN THOSE days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no [sufficient] inheritance had been acquired by them among the tribes of Israel. 2 So the Danites sent from the whole number of their tribe five brave men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and to explore it, and they said to them, Go, explore the land. They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.
The tribe of Dan was given a specific territory, by God, to possess (Joshua 19:40-48). They had no business scouting out new land, they needed to do what was required to possess what God had already given them! If they would have obeyed God, He would have worked with them to enable them to possess it! Instead, they coveted other land and proceeded to MURDER innocent people! We need to understand that God's people are His because He chose them, NOT because they were perfect or did no wrong! They continually disobeyed God, which is why they were taken into captivity in Babylon, and later were dispersed throughout the world. They paid the price for their disobedience, but WOE to those who harmed them! Remember to continue to pray for the peace and prosperity of the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem and be blessed!
Shalom in Him!
