November 21, 2024

Every Praise Is To Our God (Redux)

January 1, 2015 by

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

Redux means to revisit, bring back, re-release. This last week of 2014, we—the bloggers here at Girlfriends Coffee Hour—are each ‘revisiting’ a blog we wrote earlier this year.  We would love to share with you just a bit about how very good God has been to us!  He has given us all so much grace and mercy, blessings and provision, protection and guidance!  He has led us and taught us through His Holy Spirit so many incredible things!  He has molded, and chastised, and encouraged us to be daughters with humble hearts who are dependent upon Him.  And He has helped us to be strong, committed, and faithful women who love Him and desire to bring Him much honor and glory and majesty.  We pray that our words would encourage you also…and draw You deeper into relationship with the One Who loves you so!

❦

<sigh!>  I have sat at my keyboard pondering and wondering just what to write as I reflect back on this past year.  Choosing which song to ‘redux’…that part was easy!  Singing praises to our wonderful God is one of the major joys of my heart!  As Pastor Hezekiah Walker says, ‘I don’t care how you’re feeling right now…sing HalleluJAH!’  and he is absolutely right.  Truly, it doesn’t matter what is going on in my life today…I can and should and WILL praise God in the midst of it.

2014 has been the most difficult time of my life…ever.  No doubt.  Situations and circumstances have seemed unbearable at times.  Temptations and trials have been abundant and stressful.  There has been much heartache and sadness; more than I thought I could handle.

But God…

But God never left me, He never forsook me, He never ever stopped loving me and holding me up with His mighty Hand.  But God was my Deliverer, my Savior, my Healer!  But God comforted, encouraged, provided, helped me.  I had much opportunity to <continually> confess these precious verses:

[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed
that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living!
Wait and hope for and expect the Lord;
be brave and of good courage
and let your heart be stout and enduring.
Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.
Psalms 27:13 and 14

But God was always there!  I did ‘wait for’ and  ‘expect the Lord.’  And I praised Him…and continue to praise Him now.   Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, deserves  the praise and worship of His people.  In every situation, in any circumstance…no matter what…God is to be praised!  I look forward, with joyful anticipation, to 2015 because I know there will be much to praise God for!  I pray that you, also, will recognize God’s blessings, and His Presence in your life, and His provision…and sing out your praises, too.    ♥

❦

Hey now!  Chair dancing is just NOT going to be good enough with this moving and inspiring song!  Are your toes tapping…head bobbing…shoulders jiving…hands clapping?  Up on your feet!  Use your whole self—hands, arms, feet…and mind, heart, voice! Allow your WHOLE self to fully engage in giving ‘every praise!’ to your God!  Sing HalleluJAH!

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

Every praise is to our God
Every word of worship with one accord
Every praise every praise is to our God
Sing Hallelujah to our God
Glory Hallelujah is due our God
Every praise every praise is to our God

God my Savior
God my Healer
God my Deliverer
Yes He is, yes He is

Praise sung by Hezekiah Walker and friends
Songwriters: Hezekiah Walker and J. David Bratton

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

Our God—our Savior, our Healer, our Deliverer—deserves all the praise there is to give!

Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!
Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord?
Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?
Psalms 106:1 and 2

Truly, no one can…that is why all of the praise of all of the peoples throughout all time is required to ‘show forth all the praise…’!

Throughout the Scriptures there are many records of God’s people praising and worshipping Him—the object of their every praise. For example,

  • Moses praising with the children of Israel praising God Almighty for the miraculous way He saved them from the Egyptians (Exodus 15)
  • David worshipping with the people of Jerusalem when the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16)

Each of these show us wonderful examples of these Old Testament believers and their hearts to praise the Great I AM!  However, I just love the praises that are given to God by Daniel…and the king, Nebuchadnezzar…recorded in the Book of Daniel.  Here is one prayer of praise and worship Daniel prayed after God gifted him with wisdom and explanations of King Nebudchednezzar’s dream.

Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever! For wisdom and might are His! He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding! He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him! I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers, Who has given me wisdom and might and has made known to me now what we desired of You, for You have made known to us the solution to the king’s problem.

Daniel 2:19-23

Just like in this song we are inspired by today, Daniel sang out his ‘HalleluJAH!’ and gave all the praise to his God!  What can we see in Daniel’s prayer of praise?  First, he praised God. Then he acknowledged Who God is and that He is in-charge and in control—‘He changes the times and the seasons…He removes…and sets up kings.’ And that all wisdom and knowledge are His. And then Daniel thanked and praised God for giving him wisdom and might.

Later on, given the mighty and miraculous acts seen (as well as the humbling that Nebuchadnezzar received), he had much praise to give to God, too.  He lifted his praise of the Most High God before all the peoples of his kingdom.

It seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed toward me.
How great are His signs! And how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.

And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding and the right use of my mind returned to me; and I blessed the Most High [God] and I praised and honored and glorified Him Who lives forever, Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion; and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or say to Him, What are You doing? Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, Whose works are all faithful and right and Whose ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to abase and humble.

Daniel 4:2 and 3, 34-37

And, of course, there are many, many, many additional accounts throughout the Scriptures of praise and worship being offered to the One Who deserves every praise—our Great God!

Every praise is to our God
Sing Hallelujah to our God
Glory! Hallelujah! is due our God
Every praise, every praise is to our God!

 ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥

I will confess and praise You [O God] with my whole heart;
before the gods will I sing praises to You.
I will worship toward Your holy temple and praise Your name
for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth and faithfulness;
for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your Word
and You have magnified Your Word above all Your name!
Psalms 138:1 and 2

Filed Under: Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

I Exalt Thee

August 29, 2014 by

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

For Thou, O Lord, art high above all the earth
Thou art exalted far above all gods
For Thou, O Lord, art high above all the earth
Thou art exalted high above all gods

I exalt Thee
I exalt Thee
I exalt Thee, O Lord
I exalt Thee
I exalt Thee
I exalt Thee, O Lord

please take the time to enter into a time of worship with your God!

 *  ~  ♥  ~  ✞  ~  ♥  ~  *

Does it not thrill your heart to sing this simple song…glorifying and exalting the Lord God?!!?  I just love that the LORD, our God IS exalted…and that is one reason why we exalt Him.  He IS exalted—high above the cherubim, high above the peoples, high above the earth—we simply voice our confession and belief of this Truth!

The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble [with reverential fear]! He sits [enthroned] above the cherubim, let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the peoples.
Let them confess and praise Your great name, awesome and reverence inspiring! It is holy, and holy is He!
The strength of the king who loves righteousness and equity You establish in uprightness; You execute justice and righteousness in Jacob (Israel).
Extol (exalt) the Lord our God and worship at His footstool! Holy is He!
Moses and Aaron were among His priests, and Samuel was among those who called upon His name; they called upon the Lord, and He answered them.
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept His testimonies and the statutes that He gave them.
You answered them, O Lord our God; You were a forgiving God to them, although avenging their evildoing and wicked practices.
Extol (exalt) the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy!

Psalm 99

ex·alt

: to raise (someone or something) to a higher level

: to praise (someone or something) highly

: to present (something) in a way that is very favorable

 

And here are some synonyms for the word exalt; perhaps these are part of your vocabulary?

praise, acclaim, applaud, pay tribute to, bless, worship, magnify (archaic), glorify, reverence, laud, extol, pay homage to, idolize, apotheosize, set on a pedestal

This—praising, extolling, blessing, worshipping, magnifying—is exactly what Moses led the Israelites to do when they stood on the far shore of the Red Sea.  I can only imagine that their feet were still sandy and mucky from that trek across the ocean floor!  Their hearts must have been utterly amazed and their mouths filled with praises for God’s miraculous saving of their lives from what should have been utter demise at the hands of their captors.  Listen to Moses’ words…

The Lord is my Strength and my Song, and He has become my Salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
Exodus 15:1

Even more than using our words and praises to exalt Almighty God, our actions prove what our hearts and minds hold. What does it look like to ‘exalt’ God in our daily lives? Here are a few I thought of:

  • to exalt God is to put Him above all else in your life
  • to exalt God is to surrender yourself to Him
  • to exalt God is to recognize that He is over all, above all
  • to exalt God is to praise His mighty works

What are some other ways you can add to this list? (I would love it if you would  leave your answers in the comments section below!)

O Lord, You are my God;
I will exalt You, I will praise Your name,
for You have done wonderful things,
even purposes planned of old [and fulfilled] in faithfulness and truth.
Isaiah 25:1 (and the rest of the chapter, too!)

And we know that for all eternity we will have the privilege and the blessing to exalt and praise our great God along with the saints and the angels, all the living creatures and the elders…all those gathered around His throne…forever and ever!

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
Revelation 5:11-13

For now, we can rehearse our eternal ambition and bow our hearts, our bodies, our whole selves before the throne of God singing loudly or quietly within ourselves but always acknowledging Him and exalting Him Who is worthy to be praised!

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
Psalm 34:3

Filed Under: Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Every Praise Is To Our God

August 14, 2014 by

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

Hey now!  Chair dancing is just NOT going to be good enough with this moving and inspiring song!  Are your toes tapping…head bobbing…shoulders jiving…hands clapping?  Up on your feet!  Use your whole self—hands, arms, feet…and mind, heart, voice! Allow your WHOLE self to fully engage in giving ‘every praise!’ to your God!  Sing HalleluJAH!

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

Every praise is to our God
Every word of worship with one accord
Every praise every praise is to our God
Sing Hallelujah to our God
Glory Hallelujah is due our God
Every praise every praise is to our God

God my Savior
God my Healer
God my Deliverer
Yes He is, yes He is

Praise sung by Hezekiah Walker and friends
Songwriters: Hezekiah Walker and J. David Bratton

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

Our God—our Savior, our Healer, our Deliverer—deserves all the praise there is to give!

Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!
Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord?
Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?
Psalms 106:1 and 2

Truly, no one can…that is why all of the praise of all of the peoples throughout all time is required to ‘show forth all the praise…’!

Throughout the Scriptures there are many records of God’s people praising and worshipping Him—the object of their every praise. For example,

  • Moses praising with the children of Israel praising God Almighty for the miraculous way He saved them from the Egyptians (Exodus 15)
  • David worshipping with the people of Jerusalem when the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16)

Each of these show us wonderful examples of these Old Testament believers and their hearts to praise the Great I AM!  However, I just love the praises that are given to God by Daniel…and the king, Nebuchadnezzar…recorded in the Book of Daniel.  Here is one prayer of praise and worship Daniel prayed after God gifted him with wisdom and explanations of King Nebudchednezzar’s dream.

Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever! For wisdom and might are His! He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding! He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him! I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers, Who has given me wisdom and might and has made known to me now what we desired of You, for You have made known to us the solution to the king’s problem.

Daniel 2:19-23

Just like in this song we are inspired by today, Daniel sang out his ‘HalleluJAH!’ and gave all the praise to his God! What can we see in his prayer of praise? First, he praised God. Then he acknowledged Who God is and that He is in-charge and in control—‘He changes the times and the seasons…He removes…and sets up kings.’ And that all wisdom and knowledge are His. And then Daniel thanked and praised God for giving him wisdom and might.

Later on, given the mighty and miraculous acts seen as well as the humbling that Nebuchadnezzar received, he had much praise to give to God, too. He lifted his praise of the Most High God before all the peoples of his kingdom.

It seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed toward me.
How great are His signs! And how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.

And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding and the right use of my mind returned to me; and I blessed the Most High [God] and I praised and honored and glorified Him Who lives forever, Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion; and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or say to Him, What are You doing? Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, Whose works are all faithful and right and Whose ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to abase and humble.

Daniel 4:2 and 3, 34-37

And, of course, there are many, many, many additional accounts throughout the Scriptures of praise and worship being offered to the One Who deserves every praise—our Great God!

Every praise is to our God
Sing Hallelujah to our God
Glory! Hallelujah! is due our God
Every praise, every praise is to our God!

 ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥

I will confess and praise You [O God] with my whole heart;
before the gods will I sing praises to You.
I will worship toward Your holy temple and praise Your name
for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth and faithfulness;
for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your Word
and You have magnified Your Word above all Your name!
Psalms 138:1 and 2

Filed Under: Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Girls with Swords: Chapter 11 – “The Beginning of Song” (pgs. 168-170)

June 4, 2013 by

I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; He has hurled both horse and rider into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; He has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise Him – my father’s God, and I will exalt Him!

(Exodus 15:1-2, NLT)

Music feeds the soul.  I think the Lord designed us that way.  I never really thought about the origin or beginning of song until I read this chapter. In my Life Application Study Bible, the study note for Exodus 15 says the following:

Music played an important part in Israel’s worship and celebration.  Singing was an expression of love and thanks, and it was a creative way to pass down oral traditions. Some say this song of Moses is the oldest recorded song in the world.  It was a festive epic poem celebrating God’s victory, lifting the hearts and voices of the people outward and upward. After having been delivered from great danger, they sang with joy! Psalms and hymns can be great ways to express relief, praise, and thanks when you have been through trouble.

Do you know why the Israelites were so joyous?  The Lord had just parted the Red Sea, allowing them all to cross while the Egyptians chased after them.  Once every Israelite had crossed, the water rushed back into place, sweeping the Egyptians away with it.  The Lord gave them victory over their enemy – I am pretty sure I would be dancing and singing for joy, too!

Music draws us closer to our Creator. When we are praising and worshiping Him through song, our hearts are open in anticipation and excitement. Singing to the Lord invites Him into our space and allows Him to work. The Holy Spirit is alive and active during times of song; when we are truly one with the Lord.  Have you ever felt a time like this?  I would love to hear about it!  I have had several occasions of pure worship through song when I felt the Holy Spirit so acutely that I did not want to move for fear of breaking the spell.  It is as if I was transported to another time and place.

As we sing, God is magnified. His dominion is declared over our situation. As he inhabits the praises of His people, we are before Him even as He is within us. Our hearts begin to swell with Him courage as they overflow with gratitude (pg. 170).

Songs provide a means of coping with a difficult life situation. The Lord always provides the most perfect song at just the right time. He knows our every need. I cannot count how many times that I was struggling with something, only to get in my car, turn on the radio to our local Christian music station, and the most perfect song begins to play. God speaks to me through music all the time. I am sure He does to many of you reading this, too! As we lift our voices with the words of these songs, we are declaring our trust in the One who is trustworthy; the One who loves us beyond comprehension; and the One who seeks to meet our every need, in His perfect timing.

Lift your voice to the King today. He is waiting to hear your voice!

Let’s Pray: Lord, we thank You for the pleasure of music. We so enjoy singing and listening to songs. We love lifting Your Holy Name in worship and praise as we sing, too, Father. Today, Lord, I ask that You provide the most perfect song for each lady reading this blog. You know all the needs present here today. Give them comfort through Your Word and the joy of song. In Your Son’s matchless name, we pray, Amen.

Filed Under: Women's Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,