Jump Start # 3408

Psalms 66:2 “Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious.”

Psalms 66 is a great chapter to read before one heads off to services. It’s like a pep talk before the game. It sets the mind in the right place. Running heavily throughout this Psalm is praising God. And, the expressions are exciting, powerful and helpful as one turns to worship.

• Say to God, How awesome are Your works (3)
• All the earth will worship You and will sing praises to You (4)
• Come and see the works of God (5)
• Bless our God, O peoples (8)
• I will tell of what He has done for my soul (16b)
• God has given heed to the voice of my prayer (19b)
• Blessed be God (20)

Our verse today says to make His praise glorious. That speaks of attitude. That speaks of heart. That speaks of love. That speaks of faith. That is a choice. That is something that we can do. It is up to us to make that praise glorious.

Now here are some thoughts for us:

First, what happens BEFORE worship can set the tone for our worship. We gather on Sunday to worship God, but what happens on Saturday can make or break our worship. Staying up too late, being in a sour mood, filling your heart with worthless things, being stressed has a major impact in the way one worships. Sometimes it is hard to get those things out of our minds. We may worship, but have we made His praise glorious?

Knowing this, get to bed at a decent hour on Saturday. You are going to worship the Lord with His people in the morning. This is not the time to stay up until the wee hours of the morning watching movies that do not help my heart or my faith. Don’t do that. Give God your best. Make His praise glorious.

Parents, get all the clothes, shoes, socks, Bibles, class books all lined up and ready to go on Saturday. This keeps you from running around looking for those things and starting worship rushed. Preparation—that’s the key. Make His praise glorious.

Second, it is up to each of us to make His praise glorious. It’s not the song leaders job. It’s not the preacher’s job. It is up to each worshipper. So while sitting in the church house, find a place that will keep your mind upon the Lord and not be distracted. For me, it’s sitting close to the front. It’s not wrong to sit in the back, but there are so many distractions that one can notice all of those things and not the Lord.

As we sing hymns, try not to look at the words if you know it by heart. Focus upon the words. You are singing to Heaven. It doesn’t matter how you sound from the lips, but it does matter how you sound from the heart.

Bring a Bible, pen and paper. Come to learn. Come to explore God’s word. As we pray, silently say names that you are thinking of. Make the prayers personal.

Third, throughout the worship, think about what God has done for you. That is one of the expressions we noted from this chapter, “I will tell of what He has done for my soul.” Prayers answered. Blessings received. Sins forgiven. Wonderful people in you life. Hope. Promise. Love. Acceptance. Fellowship.

And, with these three simple steps, your worship becomes more meaningful, helpful and God honoring. I have come to the end of worship before and just didn’t want to go home. I wanted to sing more. I wanted to hear more preaching. What a wonderful experience it is to worship our Lord.

Sunday is the best day of the week. I wish everyday was Sunday.

Roger