Serve the Lord with Gladness

[Sue J Love]

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalms 100:1-5 ESV)

This “joyful noise” to the Lord is not quiet nor timid. It is in the form of a shout or a cry. This can be a joyful shout of triumph over one’s enemies, or of victory over darkness, or of the conquering of any tool that the enemy might use against us to try to weigh us down and to get us disheartened or discouraged to where we feel like all is hopeless, or to where we feel as though we should just give up the fight. But when Jesus gives us the victory, we should shout it out loud and give him all the praise and glory!

But I often also think of this in the context of singing. I used to have a pretty good sounding voice, but as I have aged, so has my voice, and now it is mostly gone, and so it has seen much better days. But God doesn’t measure our singing of praise to him by what our voices sound like. And not everyone can carry a tune or sing on pitch or sight-read music. It isn’t the beauty of the voice that matters to God but what is in our hearts. It can sound horrible to most people but still honor God because it comes from the heart.

For, as this continues, we see that this isn’t just about what comes out of our mouths. This is about our service to the Lord which we are to do with gladness. And this service to God is not of our own choosing, but of God’s choosing. We serve him when we surrender our lives to him, when we submit to him as Lord (Owner-Master), and when we do what he says that we ought to do as his followers (disciples), and when we cease doing what he says we are not to do. And he has an assignment for each one of us.

And if we know (intimately, via a relationship with him) that the Lord, he is God, that he is the one who made us, and that we are his people, the sheep of his pasture, then we will be those who bow the knee to him in humble surrender and in obedience to his will and to his commands. We will yield control of our own lives over to the control of God, and we will now follow him wherever he leads us instead of us going our own way, doing our own thing, according to our own will and purpose for our lives.

And to enter his gates, we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord Jesus in walks of surrender and obedience to his will and to his commands. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience to his will, then we have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God, provided that we remain steadfast in our faith and we keep walking in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord.

For thanksgiving and praise to our Lord are not lip service only. For it is not really thanksgiving nor praise if it is surface only and if our hearts are not surrendered to him to do his will. For genuine thanksgiving and praise to our Lord has to do with what is in our hearts which is what comes out in our behaviors and attitudes and thinking and action. We thank him and praise him by what we do, and by what we say, and by our attitudes and by our actions, if all of these are in line with his will and purpose for our lives.

And when this says that the Lord is good, it means that he is without fault. He is perfect in every way. But that doesn’t mean that he is going to pour out his blessings on every individual who gives lip service to him. He is going to bless those who serve him with their lives, who do as he commands, who live for him, who are called according to his purpose, and who are surrendered to do God’s will and purpose for their lives. And those who refuse him by their actions he will deny (denounce) when he returns.

For his steadfast love and his faithfulness endures forever to all generations of those who have surrendered their lives to him, who have forsaken their sinful practices, and who are now walking in obedience to his commands, in practice. All who deny him by their actions, and who refuse to repent (turn away from) their sins, and who will not obey him and his commands, as a matter of life practice, will not have salvation from sin. And they will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what their lips professed.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Come Into His Presence

By Don Moen

Come into His presence with thanksgiving in your heart
And give Him praise, and give Him praise
Come into His presence with thanksgiving in your heart
Your voices raise, your voices raise

Give glory and honor and power unto Him
Jesus, the name above all names

Jesus!

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