A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
to
PRAISE & WORSHIP GOD
PRAISE is a song, a hymn or words paid to God as an act of adoration and thanksgiving demanded by the qualities or deeds or attributes of God and His renown, fame, glory.
WORSHIP is to pay homage to God, to make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or God. Worship is demonstrated by bowing down in reverence or even falling down and becoming prostrate.
It has been said that we WORSHIP God for WHO He is and we PRAISE God for WHAT He has done.
I. PRAISE GOD for WHAT HE DOES
Psalm 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
3 Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
4 Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5 Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
6 The LORD performs righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
II. PRAISE & WORSHIP GOD for WHAT HE IS
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9 He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
III. WORSHIP GOD for WHO HE IS
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
17 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.
19 The LORD has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.
Two things from Hebrews 13:15–16.
It says, “Through Him, then,” — through Christ — “let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
These two verses begin and end with the term “sacrifice.” Of course, the sacrifice is an echo from the Old Testament sacrifices which were at the center of the worship and were to display the value of God as we gave up a bull or a goat and showed that God is precious to us.
Two things become worshipful sacrifices in our life:
(1) the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name; that is, worship services in singing and praying and repenting and confessing, and
(2) secondly, the fruit of deeds. Don’t neglect to do good. Share what you have. Such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Both of those are acts of worship.
You see it again in Romans 12:1: “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
So all of our bodily life done in love for other and in reliance upon God display the worth of God above all things and make us worshipers in our daily life.
The inner essence of WORSHIP is to know God truly and then respond from the heart to that knowledge by valuing God, treasuring God, prizing God, enjoying God, being satisfied with God above all earthly things.
And then that deep, restful, joyful satisfaction in God overflows in demonstrable acts of PRAISE from the lips and demonstrable acts of love in serving others for the sake of Christ.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let’s start the New Year off right – with PRAISE and WORSHIP for God.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer
Happy New Year!
Your Brother and Sister in Christ,
Mike and Betty Young
Whitestone Fellowship 