Day 1: Week 2 Pure Praise Study

[russhutto]

Here's to the start of a new week!

Lord, teach us to be more like you! Help us to lean on YOU and not on our own understanding.

The Priority of Praise

1) Central Passage(s):

Psalm 33
Psalm 22:3
2 Chronicles 20:18,19
Jude 24-25
Revelation 4
Psalm 19:1
Luke 19:40
Revelation 5:11-14


2) My Daily Praise:
Revelation 5

3) My Daily Surrender:
What's been your attitude to praise in the past? What has God shown you about praise today?

[WorshipVanguard]

Central Passages:
I really like Moore’s analogy of an airplane trip to describe the vastness of praise. WOW! It’s much more humbling knowing that when we praise, we’re joining a vast heavenly congregation of worshipers. I remember in one evening in a prior church, the pastor led the congregation into shouting Revelation 5:12. Our group was only around 50 people, but the shouts of our small group filled the place with a rumble. The praises of God are very powerful. Never underestimate the power of praise.

Daily Praise:
Lord, thank you for allowing me to see the big picture of praise. When we praise your holy name, we are simply joining a much larger congregation adoring your name. Praising you is simply “coming in for a landing” into the spiritual realm of worship (using the airplane analogy in today’s devotion). May the praise from my lips never cease; I never want to hear the rocks cry out. I’ll shout it on the pages, “WORTHY IS THE LAMB, WHO WAS SLAIN, TO RECEIVE POWER AND WEALTH AND WISDOM AND STRENGTH AND HONOR AND GLORY AND PRAISE!”

Daily Surrender:
Lord, I need to experience more of you. In the past, my praise has been conditional. It’s so easy to praise you when things go well for me or my family, but my praise decreases when circumstances are rough. How selfish of me!!! The praise from my lips should be continuous as a waterfall cascading from a mountain. As I seek your face, my praise becomes more frequent. Thank you for revealing more of yourself to me so I may mature in my praises of you.

[Wannabe a Worshiper]

1. Central passages

The 5 "landmarks" of praise in today's lesson are things I mostly knew already, but to see them all put together makes a powerful list. Even as far back as Moses , he knew about praise (see Psalm 90). The Bible is full of praise. Jude tells us that praise will last for all of eternity. All of creation praises God in its own way. And God is being praised right now in heaven.

The Revelation passages are such a joy to study. To grasp the truth that the sinless beings around the throne are totally committed to unending worship; those beings that are more like God than we are-- if they see the necessity of worship, how much more do we, sinful creatures that we are, need to praise him continually!

And a side note; in our contemporary worship world, a good song gets sung for a few months, and a great song may stick around for a year or two. But around the throne, the song being sung when John heard it was essentially the same song Isaiah heard 600 years earlier, and is the same song we will sing for all eternity!

2. My Daily praise
Revelation Song, anyone? Some of the songs in our repertoire are very good, as is Revelation Song, but it doesn't begin to compare with the music around the throne.

How awesome the thought that, in all of heaven, no one could open the scroll until Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, showed up. He alone was worthy of the task of opening the scroll. And he alone is worthy of our praise.

3. My Daily Surrender
Jesus told the Pharisees that if the crowd stopped praising him, the rocks would cry out. How often do the rocks or some other inanimate object have to praise God because I am not? I don't want the rocks doing for me what I was created for!
Lord God, I will use the words of the psalmist as my prayer today: "I will praise you, O Lord, my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever." Psalm 84:12
Tom

[ryanrotman]

Central Passage
I love reading Revelation. I think as a worship leader it's important for us to get a glimpse of what worship is going to be like in heaven. Obviously we will never be able to acheive that here on earth. Worship in heaven will be perfect, done with the saints in heaven through perfected, holy bodies. However, God's Word still tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people. He dwells in the praises that His children offer and He delights in it. Praise is huge and our God is big. Lets offer it to Him with all we've got. I love that we get the same picture as what Isaiah saw and we are shown in Isaiah chapter 6. We use a lot of songs, but they're singing one song for all time; "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, the earth is full of His glory."

My Daily Praise
I just praise God that through His Word and this study by Dwayne Moore that we can get a deeper understanding of praise and of the God who is so worthy of it.

My Daily Surrender
I feel like a lot of times I'm trying to praise or I know that praise is happening, but my heart just isn't into it. Like I've not truly connected with God. I can give the answers, I can praise with my words and actions, but I'm missing the most important part; praising with my heart. Father, help me to lead with my heart in praise. You are worthy of it and I should be openly giving it to You. Amen.

[InHisName]

Found my book on the doorstep today!

Central Passage

I never before noticed John's (I feel like I should say Mr. John or something more respectful) use of tense in Revelation 4. That is so cool! And it's a great reminder of how praise is going on in heaven at this very instant. While we toil about on Earth, concerned with our little issues of a dirty bathtub and traffic jams, the angels are in heaven continually praising Him. He was, and is, and is to come.
Okay, so with #4...it says "All heavenly creatures, including angels, living creatures, and elders will praise Him." So is that in heaven? Does that mean animals (I'm thinking dogs) go to heaven? I'm being serious...anyone have any thoughts? :confused:

Daily Praise

I agree with Tom, Revelation Song was playing in my head when I was reading through this lesson. I got to lead worship last Wed., and we did Revelation Song. It was the song that stuck out to me during worship as the most powerful, most touching, of the set. Perhaps it's because it's a glimpse into the future...what we will be doing when we die or when Jesus comes back. "You are my everything, and I will adore you..."

Daily Surrender

I have to admit I had a general sense of what praise was, and had read Revelation and knew of the scenes of praise. But as I said before, the concept of ongoing, continual praise, all creation, stuck out to me in a new way. An entire realm of praise that we can't see or hear, but is as real as anything we know here on Earth.

[Wannabe a Worshiper]

Okay, so with #4...it says "All heavenly creatures, including angels, living creatures, and elders will praise Him." So is that in heaven? Does that mean animals (I'm thinking dogs) go to heaven? I'm being serious...anyone have any thoughts? :confused:

Kim, it says "All heavenly creatures .... will praise Him." So we will probably have to wait until we get there to know what the heavenly creatures look like, and if any of them are dogs. There is a verse somewhere that says, "the lion will be with the lamb," which is referring to the total peace that will one day exist, but it does give us reason to hope that there will be recognizable animals in heaven.

My 2 cents worth.
Tom

[bkwestman]

1. Central Passage
- Praise is prevalent. It was amazing to take that survey through the Bible and see how praise is everywhere and has been, is and will be taking place forever. I love the encouraging sentence about how even if we feel like we're the only one praising God in our congregation, at that same exact moment, there's a throng of worshipers praising Him in heaven. So cool!
- Praise is inevitable. Praise will happen, and is happening right now, whether by people or His creation. Love it!

2. My Daily Praise
- I can't wait to be a part of that song and witness for myself the glorious scene described here! How awesome it is to think that is happening right now, and one day we'll get to be a part of it.

3. My Daily Surrender
- I guess I had never really thought of the fact that praise is always going on, every second of each day somewhere. That's a neat thought. Our praise should be ongoing, whether we're singing, or praying or thinking about the Lord. We are just a small part of the big picture, I guess, is the view of praise I'm taking away from this lesson today.