Coffee With The Lord

I’ll tell you what I like when I go to a house of worship on “the Lord’s Day” (Sunday, or any other time for that matter) … I like to walk in on a glad song of worship and praise!

If I were pastoring a church today, that would be my directive to the worship team and musicians… Start early, and let people walk into upbeat worship, vertical in orientation (directed upward to God) – a glad song of praise to “the Living God!” Then a member of the pastoral team or chosen layperson would step forward and urge the congregation to engage in a season of heartfelt, verbal expressions of praise to their Savior and Lord! It sets a tone for the entire gathering!

And I just might use Psalm 95:1-7 as “a call to worship” in the service! (It’s the passage I read during “coffee with the Lord” this morning that provoked this pastoral reflection!)

“Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods! In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are His also! The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land! Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand!”

Did you notice all the exclamation marks I added to the Biblical text? (And I meant every one of them! I exerted a bit of “literary license” – please forgive me; I got carried away!)

You know what? I think if we did what I’m suggesting for our houses of worship, “church” would not be boring – it would be uplifting – and we’d leave the Lord’s house challenged and ready to face another week of serving “the Living God” with faith, victory, and enthusiasm! We might even see a miracle or two and more lives transformed by God’s power!

When things get bad… When oppression and evil seem to be winning out over good… Don’t despair!  Instead soak your thinking and heart in the truth that this great Psalm declares!!!  Psalm 94

“O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!  Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!  O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?  They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.  They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage…

“He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?…

“For the Lord will not forsake his people; He will not abandon his heritage; for justice will return to the righteous!

“If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.  When I thought, ‘My foot slips!, Your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.  When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul… But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge!” (From Psalm 94 ESV)

A periodic leadership lesson from Scripture: When the demands of ministry increase, and public acclaim and popularity grow, the need for times of personal prayer to gain perspective, guidance and Spiritual strength become greater!

“Now even more the report about Him (Jesus) went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear Him and to be healed of their infirmities. But He would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” (Luke 5:15-16)