REASONS TO PRAISE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

"I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.”

"Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. In the greatness of Your majesty, You threw down those who opposed You. You unleashed Your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble. By the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.”

"The enemy boasted, 'I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.' But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.”

"Who among the gods is like You, O Lord? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? You stretched out Your right hand and the earth swallowed them.”

"In Your unfailing love, You will lead the people You have redeemed. In Your strength, You will guide them to Your holy dwelling. The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia. The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away; terror and dread will fall upon them. By the power of Your arm, they will be as still as a stone—until Your people pass by, O Lord, until the people You bought pass by. You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance—the place, O Lord, You made for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands established. The Lord will reign forever and ever."

When Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea."

Exodus 15:1-21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After Moses and the people of Israel are delivered out of Egypt through God's miraculous act at the Red Sea, we see in the opening verses of Exodus, chapter 15, where Moses and the Israelites burst into a wonderful song of praise. Within it, we find reasons that we too should bring our gratitude unto this Almighty, all powerful God.

This praise song contains the following highlights:

1. Praise God…for He is highly exalted.

We need to realize that God deserves our highest exaltation. No one is more worthy of it because nothing is of greater importance than our Lord. Therefore, we should worship the God who created everything above all things in life, lifting Him up while bowing down before him out of respect and admiration.

2. Praise God…for He is our strength.

None of us should think that we make it through any one day on our own strength. For the truth of the matter is that our Lord empowers us in spirit from within through the power of the Holy Spirit. This should lead us to echo the words of the psalmist David when he proclaimed:

"I love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:1-2

3. Praise God…for He is our song.

Do you have a favorite song? If so, why is it your favorite?

It’s probably because it moves you emotionally in some special way, holding some significance for you in life - either past, present or future. And when you hear that song, you can't help but to sing it out from the depth of your heart.

As believers, this should be the way we respond when we think of God as well. I know my favorite songs are the ones that life Him up in honor, glory and praise. Nothing helps my soul soar higher than a well written and performed Christian song, one that celebrates Him as being the most significant thing in life, one that makes us want to sing to and for Him at the top of our lungs.

4. Praise God…for He is our God.

Our God is a personal God, One who has a vested interest and love for every one of His children. Like a good father takes care of his children, our Heavenly Father stands ever ready to guide and direct us. There isn’t any time or place where we can’t find Him and He is the only One that we can truly rely and trust in.

He is our God.

5. Praise God…for He is a warrior.

Every day, believers awake to enter a spiritual battlefield where the enemy lies in wait. What a comfort it is to know that our Lord stands ready to fight alongside and defend us. He has even made special armor available for us to wear for protection (Ephesians 6:11-17) but that armor is of little use if we don’t put it on.

The good news in the daily fight with Satan is that he cannot have the victory when we have God on our side in the fight. Truly, as we find the Apostle Paul ask in Romans, the eighth chapter, verse 31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

The answer is no one.

6. Praise God…for His majestic power.

The scriptures make it clear that there isn't anything the Lord can't do.

He created the heavens and the earth.

He placed the stars and planets in the sky.

He made every living thing on the earth.

And as we saw in yesterday’s message, He took a sea and divided it, allowing His people to walk to freedom.

Friends, if you are up against difficult circumstances today, place the matter in the hands of the Lord, knowing and trusting that there isn't anything impossible with Him and His majestic power.

7. Praise God…for His unfailing love.

When someone wrongs us, we usually get hurt.

When that happens, sometimes we find it easy to forgive but in other instances, we may find it difficult to ever pardon the wrongdoer.

Hurting can be hard to shake and at times, people continue to hurt over and over and over again to the point where they can become emotionally numb, losing the ability to feel anything and, in the worst cases, find it hard to love.

With these truths in mind, let’s think about God and our relationship with Him for a minute. For every time we commit a sin, we hurt Him. After all, He gave up His only Son, Jesus, as a living, atoning sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins and yet we continue to violate His Word and will, over and over and over again.

Despite that, He still forgives and loves us when we repent of our sins, essentially letting Him know we’re sorry. My brothers and sisters, our Lord shows us the proper way to deal with those who might hurt us. In some cases, it might seem hard but He will always give us the strength to do as He does. All we need to do is turn to Him.

8. Praise God…for He redeems us.

Not only is God’s love unfailing but so is His forgiveness. Out of His deep love, He didn’t wish for us to perish but rather to have everlasting life (John 3:16) but for this to happen, our pardon needed purchased and this happened when Jesus willingly died on the cross at Calvary. There, His shed blood cleansed any sinner afterwards who would simply place their belief in Him and brought the gift of redemption.

In the end translation, God didn't have to save us. He could have turned His face from us because of our sinfulness and allowed us to be separated from Him forever.

But He didn't.

Instead, He saved us through His Son and gave us the opportunity to live with them both forever instead of the damnation of Hell.

9. Praise God…for He will reign forever and ever.

Friends, there is no question who sits on the Throne of Heaven, no doubt who reigns and rules over all creation.

It is God, the Maker and master of all things, and Him alone with His Son Jesus, who sits at His right hand. God delegated all authority over Heaven and earth to His Son and one day He will return to judge the world, ushering in the new Kingdom of God, the new Heaven and earth.

With this, we know that this holy and divine Kingdom endures forever and ever, both now and when our Savior returns again. The reign of God never ends and this means we always have the most incredible all powerful, all knowing, and all present Ruler ever in charge.

Indeed, what an awesome King we have, One who is the King of Kings!

The point here is clear.

For there is a multitude of reasons why we should praise our God.

The Israelites cried out in their song, "Who among the gods is like You, O Lord? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?"

Today, we can ask the same questions.

For who IS like our God?

Who IS majestic in holiness, awesome in glory and working wonders?

The answer is no one…because no one is greater than the Lord our God. Christian songwriter and singer Chris Tomlin, one of the best Christian artists of all time, penned and sang these words, words of praise I hope you too will lift up to the Lord:

How Great is Our God

Sing with me, How Great is Our God

And all will see how great, how great is our God.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.