"Praising God"

PSALMS 111
"Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation." (Verse One)

 It has been determined that this Psalms was penned by David, to be used in and for the service of the church; as Matthew Henry puts it, "This and the divers of the psalms that follow it seem to have been penned by David for the service of the church in their solemn feasts, and not upon any particular occasion." Those last six words of his statement are very important, for they express our need to praise God in everything, the good times, the bad times, and all the times in between. It is an expression of who we are in this relationship with the One who has created us; we are made to worship Him! I find that it is easy to forget that; not that it is not part of my daily routine, because it is; at least I try to make it that. It is just that I get so wrapped up in my own agenda from day to day. Between working, taking care of my wife, trying to exercise, and planning where and when to eat, I seem forget to worship in the middle of all of that. Today is what we celebrate as Father's Day, and today I want to recognize our Heavenly Father, the Father the loves us and 'demands' our worship. It is really hard to express the reason, 'demands' might be a little hard to understand, especially for those that do not worship Him. He demands our respect, of that I am certain; but He desires more than that, He wants us to love and adore Him for who He is and all that He does. This Book that He has given us is a big giant love letter, filled with treasures straight from His heart and intended to reveal His love towards us, each and every one of us. No matter how it came about, man's fall was our Father's opportunity to show us His love. You already know how I think it all happened; but regardless, God created us with free will, and His will was for us to love Him. We all are drowning rats, and He is right there to save us! Whatever you do, don't give up, because His love is greater than anything you could ever know. He is a Good, Good Father...

"Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about hm, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming -indeed it's here now -when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24) NLT