GATES OF PRAISE

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is Good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations"
Psalm 100: 4-5

How important it is for each of us to know the way into God's presence! How do we enter His gates? How do we come into His courts? The psalmist points out the way that God has ordained: We enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise. It is only as we come to God with thanksgiving and with praise that we have access into His presence.

The prophet Isaiah likens the presence of God among His people to a city, concerning which he says: " You will call your walls SALVATION and your gates PRAISE" (Isaiah 60:18). The only way through those walls of SALVATION is by the gates of PRAISE. Unless we learn to approach God with praise, we have no access into His presence.

Confronted with this requirement, we are sometimes tempted to look around us at our situation and ask: " But what do I have to thank God for? What do I have to praise Him for?"
There may be nothing in our immediate circumstances that appears to give us cause to thank and or praise God. It is just here that the psalmist comes to our help. He gives us three reasons to thank and praise that are not affected by our circumstances: first, the Lord is good; second, His love endures forever; third, His faithfulness continues through all generations. All three reasons are eternal, unchanging facts. If we truly believe them, then we have no alternative but to praise God for them CONTINUALLY!

Like to share with you a song I wrote (hope to upload the music soon) :-

Verse 1

I will enter His gates,

With thanksgiving in my heart

Enter His courts with praise

I will sing of His grace,

For all that He has done

I will rejoice and bless His Name

Chorus

Blessed be Your Name,

My strong and mighty Tower

Blessed be Your Name,

The Rock of my Salvation

Blessed be Your Name,

There is no other name

Jesus the Name above all names

Verse 2

I was glad when they said,

Let us go into His house

There I find peace and joy

The Lord He is good

And His mercies endure

I will rejoice and bless His Name

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The Joy Of The Lord

There is a great difference between JOY and HAPPINESS. Joy is the realm of the spirit whereas happiness is related to our emotions, feelings and circumstances. When things are going well, we have happiness. It is good to have happiness, but we cannot have it all the time.

To illustrate: If I lost my wallet, I would be very happy when the founder returned it to me. After a few days, I would no longer have the feeling of happiness although my wallet is still with me. What I have actually lost is the feeling of happiness at the time of finding it.

Joy on the other hand, is not dependent on feelings or circumstances. There is only one source of Joy and that is God - God Himself! That is why it is possible to "rejoice in the Lord always!" In Philippians 4:4-7, Paul actually commands the Philippians to "rejoice in the Lord always!" (verse 4) and they are able to do so because "the Lord is near" (verse 5). You will note that while submitting their petitions and prayers, they are also encouraged to include the spirit of thanksgiving. (verse 6) And the resultance is having "the peace of God" (verse 7) in midst of whatever circumstances.

Therefore, when our circumstances cause us nothing but grief, fear, doubt, anger ... we can still rejoice because our joy is not based on fluctuating circumstances, but has it's source in the One Who loves us and is the object of our love. Beloved, if we but exercise our faith and choose to "rejoice in the Lord", in the midst of our adverse circumstances, these negative feelings of grief, fear, doubt and anger will just melt away because we now have the Peace of God.

Therefore, we can "count it all joy even when we fall into divers trials or testings" (James 1:2) because it is "The Joy of the Lord" which is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10) that will carry us through.

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WORSHIP BELONGS TO GOD

What are God's demands in His Word regarding Worship?

Exodus 20:3-6
v3 - You shall have no other gods before me
v4 - You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the water below.
v5 - You shall not bow down to them; for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God

Exodus 34:14
- Do not worship any other god. for the Lord, Whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.

It is from these verses in the scriptures that we learn that WORSHIP BELONGS TO GOD AND GOD DEMANDS IT!

What is worship? In Hebrew, the word SHACHAH means to kneel and worship. In Greek, the word PROSKUNEO means to go forward to kiss His Hand. In other words, to give EVERYTHING to Him. It is confessing Him as God.

What is the work of the devil? From the account in Genesis of the garden of Eden, we really cannot discern the devil's purpose. But in Isaiah 14:12-14 we see tthat the devil wants to be like God. Isn't that's what the devil said to Adam and Eve, that they too could be "as gods" when they partook of the forbidden fruit?

As we look into the New Testament, we read in the Gospel of Matthew:-
Matthew 4:8-10
v8 - Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
v9 - "All this I will give you," he said, "If you will bow down and worship me."
v10 - Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' "
It is in the third temptation of Jesus that the ultimate goal of the devil was exposed when the enemy finally came out with the confrontation, "WORSHIP ME!"

When we come to the book of Revelation, we see that God's purpose is worship and Satan's purpose is also worship. From chapter 4 to 19, we learn that the twenty-four elders and four living creatures worship in heaven. But in chapter 13, we see worship of the image of the beast on earth - worship of the beast is the worship of Satan. In chapter 14:7, we see that the eternal Gospel is preached. "Fear God, and give glory to Him, because the hour of his judgement has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."

WORSHIP GOD - this is the eternal Gospel! In chapter 21 and 22 we have the new heaven and the new earth. Again we are commanded to worship God (Revelation 22:9)

(An excerpt from the book "Worship God" by Watchman Nee)

Believers, do you know that there is a spiritual war going on? It is a war between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of hell. It is a war as to which kingdom gets worship ... God or Satan? We have seen it from Genesis to Revelation ... every event throughout The Ages of the Patriachs, The Bondage in Egypt, The Conquest of Canaan, The Period of the Judges, The History of Israel, The Gospel, The Acts of the Church and The Revelation ... leads to one question: "Who gets worship?"

Today as we stand in anticipation of His soon return, that same question is being asked: "Who will you worship?" What is our duty as Christians? It is not enough just knowing salvation or serving Him. What is it that will satisfy God? Who will satisfy Him?

We must put worship into everything we do. Do you have difficulites? First worship God, Are you weak and weary? Worship God. we learn in Psalm 8:2 that the praise of a weak child has the power to silence the enemy. Satan fears the worship of God. Worship by the few today is giving God what He will one day have from all. What the world will one day give God, we first give Him. We do not need to wait till the new heaven and new earth to worship. NOW IS THE TIME TO WORSHIP! As the song goes ...

Come now is the time to worship
Come now is the time to give your heart
Come just as you are to worship
Come just as you are before your God
Come

One day every tongue will confess
You are God
One day every knee will bow
Still the greatest treasure remains for those
Who gladly choose You now

Brian Doerksen @ 1998 Vineyard Songs

Today the Father is still seeking (searching, yearning) for true worshippers.(John 4:23-24) What is our duty as Christians? Worship God!

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