Praise and Worship: Sundry Spirit Lessons for Everyday Life

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Seventeen

Praise and Worship: Sundry Spirit Lessons for Everyday Life

Have you ever thought about what praise and worship will be like in heaven? An evangelist asked all who wanted to go to heaven to raise their hands. Everyone in the audience did so, except for one older man sitting near the front of the auditorium. The preacher pointed his finger at him and said, ‘Sir, do you mean to tell us that you don’t want to go to heaven?’ ‘Sure I want to go, but the way you put the question, I figured you were getting up a busload for tonight!’1 Heaven is the most wonderful place ever, and as a believer in Jesus, it is your eternal destination. And trust me, you want to go there. The praise and worship there is out of this world.

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Amazing Pointers on the Road to Lifting God Higher

[Tweet “We praise God for what He is doing or has done — we worship Him for who He is.”]

How Praise Powers You to Remarkable God-Style Growth

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Sixteen

How Praise Powers You to Remarkable God-Style Growth

So many of us struggle to understand the vital link between praise and prayer. Prayer is more than asking things from God. It is an exercise in the worship of God to extol His Name, and to offer thanks for all His benefits. The child of God is assured that he is approaching a throne of grace in prayer, not a throne of judgment (Heb. 4:16). The Christian enters the divine presence in the name of Christ (John 14:14, 16:23). If he prays under the control of the Holy Spirit, he will offer petitions within the will of his Heavenly Father (Romans 8:26, 27). Prayer should be made in faith and with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2). The prayer that Christ taught His disciples, known as the Lord’s Prayer, is a model to guide His followers concerning proper principles and goals of prayer (Matt. 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4).1 In this week’s Light On Life, we discuss a potent aid to your spiritual development. It’s a power protein shake packed with nutrients to help you grow. How Praise Powers You to Remarkable God-Style Growth, that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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#028: How to Develop Spiritually [Podcast]

[Tweet “God is always present but not always manifest. Worship causes an escalation of manifestation.”]

Is Praise and Worship the Pillars of Your House [Encore Podcast]

Podcast: Light on Life Season 6 Episode 48

Is Praise and Worship Pillars of Your House?

Recently, I ran across this illustration that shows how praise and worship should be pillars of our house.  In the Chilean village of Chungungo water is nearly as valuable as precious metal. The region is arid and parched, forcing the village to truck in freshwater over dirt roads from miles away. Until recently the average person could afford a mere four gallons a day (compare that to the average American who uses ninety gallons a day), and buying even that meager amount soaked up 10 percent of household incomes. In Chungungo bathing was a luxury. But then scientists experimented with an ingenious new system for obtaining water. The 330 residents of Chungungo now drink water—the freshest they have ever tasted—from high above, atop nearby El Tofo mountain.

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Schemenauer, a Canadian cloud physicist, workers hung on eucalyptus poles a “wall” of finely woven propylene nets, each the size of eight queen-size bed sheets sewn together. Seventy-five such nets sift the clouds that sweep in incessantly from the Pacific Ocean. A close look at the plastic nets reveals propylene fibers meshed in tiny triangles. Like dew collects on grass, infinitesimally small water particles from fog collect on these fibers. Ten thousand such water particles must coalesce to produce one drop of water the size of a tear. Still, each water net collects forty gallons of water a day. The seventy-five nets on El Tofo sift a total of three thousand gallons daily from the drifting clouds and fog.

Sometimes our lives feel as dry and parched as the rocky soil around Chungungo, where only shrubs and cactus grow. What we need are spiritual water nets. Few things will flood the reservoirs of your soul like giving thanks to God.1 It’s that Thanksgiving time of the year. Worship, praise and thanksgiving, that’s what we’re talking about in this week’s Light on Life.

Listen to the Audio

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Why It’s Important to Flow in Faith’s Domain

[Tweet “The higher you go in God, the stronger, the more stout your pillars need to be.”]

How The Blessing of Judah Adds Value to Your Life

Podcast: Light on Life Season 6 Episode 25

How The Blessing of Judah Adds Value to Your Life

In today’s podcast, our focus will be the Blessing of Judah, and it’s link to praising God. It’s a good thing to be always praising God, that’s a Bible fact. While five soloists from the Duke Ellington band danced in the aisles of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., a largely black-tie audience of 1,000 clapped hands to the tune of $12,000 at a musical fund-raiser. “Praise God and dance!” exhorted mellow jazz musician Ellington, and the last section of his Sacred Concert No. 2 began. Band members clapped, thrusting their hands heavenward toward the ceiling high above the arrow-like ribs of the sanctuary. Soon clumps of clappers in the audience joined in, timidly at first, then raising their hands straight up in a fervor of rhythm.1 How The Blessing of Judah Adds Value to Your Life, all this and more on this week’s Light on Life.

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How to Conquer Prejudice the Jesus Way

[Tweet “There is right sex, and then there is wrong sex. God sanctioned sex, and there is sinful sex.”]

The Big Scoop on Magnifying God

Podcast: Light on Life Season 6 Episode 21

The Bog Scoop on Magnifying God

There is an old Jewish legend on the idea of magnifying God which says that, after God had created the world, He called the angels to Him and asked them what they thought of it; and one of them said, “One thing is lacking: the sound of praise to the Creator.” So God created music, and it was heard in the whisper of the wind, and in the song of the birds. To man also was given the gift of song. And all down the ages this gift of song has indeed proved a blessing to multitudes of souls.1 In this week’s Light on Life we are focusing some on the subject of music, and with that we will carry over and begin to look at some signs the Spirit of God put in the Bible that act as pointers in this area of magnifying God.

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Conscience and the Inward Witness: A Look at the Spirit Led Life

[Tweet “Magnifying God has two elements. It’s not all Spirit; it’s Spirit and truth.”]

More on Praising God: Why the Hour Is Here

Podcast: Light on Life Season 6 Episode 20

More on Praising God: Why the Hour Is Here

Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer, we act like men; in praise, we act like angels.1 Many struggle with pure praise. At a conference in a Presbyterian church in Omaha, people were given helium-filled balloons and told to release them at some point in the service when they felt like expressing the joy in their hearts. Since they were Presbyterians, they weren’t free to say, “Hallelujah, Praise the Lord.” All through the service balloons ascended, but when it was over one-third of the balloons were unreleased.2 Are you free to praise the Lord? Can you lift your hearts and hands to Him? Here is some encouragement along this line.

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#S3-015: How the Mighty Names of God Energize Your Life [Podcast]

[Tweet “All of your work, labor, and toil have only one true resting place, the floor before His Throne.”]

Is Praise and Thanksgiving Pillars of Your House?

Podcast: Light on Life Season Five Episode Eight

Is Praise and Thanksgiving Pillars in Your House?

Recently, I ran across this illustration that ties into what praise and worship are to our spiritual lives. In the Chilean village of Chungungo water is nearly as valuable as precious metal. The region is arid and parched, forcing the village to truck in freshwater over dirt roads from miles away. Until recently the average person could afford a mere four gallons a day (compare that to the average American who uses ninety gallons a day), and buying even that meager amount soaked up 10 percent of household incomes. In Chungungo bathing was a luxury. But then scientists experimented with an ingenious new system for obtaining water. The 330 residents of Chungungo now drink water—the freshest they have ever tasted—from high above, atop nearby El Tofo mountain.

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Schemenauer, a Canadian cloud physicist, workers hung on eucalyptus poles a “wall” of finely woven propylene nets, each the size of eight queen-size bed sheets sewn together. Seventy-five such nets sift the clouds that sweep in incessantly from the Pacific Ocean. A close look at the plastic nets reveals propylene fibers meshed in tiny triangles. Like dew collects on grass, infinitesimally small water particles from fog collect on these fibers. Ten thousand such water particles must coalesce to produce one drop of water the size of a tear. Still, each water net collects forty gallons of water a day. The seventy-five nets on El Tofo sift a total of three thousand gallons daily from the drifting clouds and fog.

Sometimes our lives feel as dry and parched as the rocky soil around Chungungo, where only shrubs and cactus grow. What we need are spiritual water nets. Few things will flood the reservoirs of your soul like giving thanks to God.1 It’s that Thanksgiving time of the year. Worship, praise and thanksgiving, that’s what we’re talking about in this week’s Light on Life.

Listen to the Audio

Click Play to Listen | Right Click to Download | Subscribe in Stitcher Radio

Why It’s Important to Flow in Faith’s Domain

[Tweet “The higher you go in God, the stronger, the more stout your pillars need to be.”]

What Ten Things Are You Thankful For?

Here we are again, another Thanksgiving season – this is my 61st year celebrating this holiday. Every year, at this season, I like to address the topic of being thankful. No need to break the string now! The character trait of being thankful is right to have because it strikes at one of the key elements necessary for success in the human person, attitude.

[Tweet “A thankful attitude can be taught which means you can school yourself into having one.”]

#S4-008: What Ten Things Are You Thankful For? [Podcast]

Be Thankful Unto the Lord

Here we are again, another Thanksgiving season. I turn sixty in a few days. Man, am I thankful unto God. I am thankful unto God for good health. At this age, my father was in the throes of battling cancer and had been so for many years. He went home at age 61.   Every year, at this season, I like to address the topic of thankfulness. No need to break the string now. The character trait of thankfulness is right to have because it strikes at one of the key elements necessary for success in the human person, attitude.

Listen to the Audio

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[Tweet “If thankfulness is anything – its attitude.”]

What Kind of Things Should We Be Thankful For?

Do You Have A Thankful Heart?

Is there any benefit to being thankful? Many only think about thankfulness around this time of the year. We are often admonished to be thankful, to count our blessings, to look back over the year and be grateful for what we have. According, to the Bible, being thankful is not a holiday. In the Old Testament, God commanded the children of Israel to keep certain feasts unto the Lord. By these feasts, they and their children were supposed to be reminded of all that the Lord did (Ex. 13:5-10). These feasts were supposed to be points where children were instructed in the things of God. Most of all, they were supposed to be occasions of rejoicing.

For more on the subject of thankfulness, please see ‘What Ten Things Are You Thankful For [Podcast]

[Tweet “A thankful heart is a heart which is having a party all the time. That’s God’s idea.”]

Why We Must Not Confuse New Testament Worship with the Old

The Bible is a tale of two Covenants, the Old and the New. Understanding the difference between the two and knowing which applies to our everyday lives is crucial. The New Covenant, the New Testament is the contract Jesus ratified with His own blood. It replaces the Old. Lack of understanding has caused some to carry over Old Testament forms of worship bringing them into the church. In this week’s post, we continue talking about these common mistakes in the area of worship.

[Tweet “Old Testament worship was outward and body oriented. They couldn’t worship with their spirits.”]

How To Avoid One Of The Biggest Worship Mistakes Ever

Praise and Worship Truths

After attending church with his father one Sunday morning, before getting into bed that evening a little boy kneeled at his bedside and prayed, “Dear God, we had a good time at church today, but I wish you had been there. 1 Wow, the wonderful wisdom of a child or as Jesus said, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise (Matthew 21:16). In today’s post, we are going to continue talking about some common worship mistakes we all have made. Here’s one of the biggest ones, that is, ‘Substituting work for worship.’

What’s So Important about the Days of Noah?

[Tweet “Worship is the highest and noblest act any person can do. When men worship, God is satisfied.”]