Daniel 4:2
It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
Psalm 126:2
Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
Psalm 9:1
I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvelous works.
Psalm 22:3
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Luke 19:40
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Every living thing was created for the praise of God’s glorious grace. In fact, I’ll go one further and state that everything was created for the praise of God’s glorious grace. Everything. The Bible says “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” This was God’s intent from the beginning. Worship of God of our own free will is a privilege and a gift given to every person, but worked out in the life of every believer. Every believer has a song of Salvation, a song of worship to the Lord. Oh that all of mankind would praise the Lord. As I write this, I must acknowledge that this blog is three weeks behind. I have a desire to catch up, just not the time. Subsequently for the last several weeks, my challenge has been, “do I write based on my leanings from the time the lesson was dated or do I write in ‘the present moment?” Though this lesson is three weeks old, just last week America and the world lost a great singer with a great voice: Whitney Houston. She’s not the first entertainer to die so tragically, nor will she be the last if Jesus tarries. But I have a short testimony about Whitney I’d like to share.
The year was 1996. I got home late on a Saturday night from our church’s Christmas concert. It was right before midnight and I’m flipping through the channels. I catch the last few minutes of ‘Saturday Night Live’. Penny Marshall of ‘Laverne and Shirley’ fame is closing the show. She thanks everybody for watching, and then she introduces Whitney Houston. I’m caught a little off guard, but I notice right away that as the band is warming up, there is a Mass Choir warming up as well. I would later find out that this was Georgia Mass and that Whitney was promoting her new movie: “The Preacher’s Wife’ and its accompanying sound track. Immediately I sensed ‘the anointing’, the very essence, the very Presence of God as these sisters in the choir warmed up. I was transfixed. Whitney started singing ‘I go to the Rock’ with Georgia Mass filling in the chorus. It was a moment. A moment I’m sure that secular TV had not planned for. Whitney didn’t make through the entire song with her composure intact. By the end of the song, both she and the choir were ‘caught up’ in the Spirit. The broadcast cut away to commercial, and when they returned, Penney bid the audience good night, then she bid Whitney good night. The cameras panned over to the stage. The band is still playing, the choir is jumping and Whitney is just standing there with her face inclined toward heaven, with both hands up in the air and tears streaming down her face. Completely silent, she didn’t acknowledge Penney or the audience. She just stood there, eyes closed, tears streaming down. She was all in, completely overwhelmed by the Spirit of God, the anointing.
True worship exposes our vulnerabilities, our weaknesses before God. In true worship, we are unguarded and unashamed. In true worship, we come ‘just as we are’ into the presence of a Holy, Holy God. One of the marks of true worship is that in a very public place, we can have a very private, very intimate encounter with a very loving God in the person of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whitney was having that moment. I was privileged to be a witness to it. I’m honored to be able to share it with you. I don’t have a heaven or hell to put Whitney in. Her personal, very public struggles have given all of us much to ponder over the last several years and especially over the last week. I thank God that He gave me this single moment of her life to remember. I will always cherish it. As tortured as the end of her life had become, I hope that she has re-discovered her voice…before our Father in heaven. May she rest in Peace.
Shalom,
.wb
p.s. Thank you for all of your prayers and kind thoughts. My wife, Patsy completed her last chemotherapy treatment about a week and a half ago and she is slowly regaining her strength. Keep her in your prayers.
Isaiah 26:1
In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
Job 5:9
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
Isaiah 12:2
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
1 Corinthians 14:15
What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
Psalm 150:6
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
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