I’m watching a Christian worship gathering on television. What a blessing to see the huge variety of people on stage and in the audience. Young white women, thin black men in expensive suits, long-haired middle-aged white men in clothing ranging from suits to biker wear, a portly white man in a bad sports jacket and jeans, older white women with blue or pink-tinted hair wearing fancy pants suits or jeans and a T-shirt, middle-aged black women in smart dresses. All singing rockin’ praises to our God.
I am so blessed to be a part of the same family as this diverse group of people. And I’m blessed to see them participating in their own Summer of Praise.
Are you continuing to observe Summer of Praise? I hope so. If you’re praise muscle is lagging during these final days of summer, here are some ideas for kicking it back into high gear:
- Attend worship practice of your church’s worship team. If they practice or warm-up before church starts, get there half an hour or an hour early and worship while they get ready to lead. I am often more blessed during worship practice than during the actual worship time during church! I’m not sure why – perhaps it’s because there’s not a crowd around me to be caught up with – it’s just me in the pews and God.
- Watch Christian artists or worship programs on television as I was doing.
- YouTube is a wonderful place to be blessed in worship. Enter “worship music” or your favorite Christian artist in the search box. Then click on what catches your interest. Close your eyes and listen or sing with the artist at the top of your lungs! Here’s a great example:
- Put on a worship CD that hasn’t been in your player for awhile. Stop whatever else you’re doing and worship.
- Select a psalm or one of those great passages from Paul’s letters that extol the wonders of what God has done for us or Revelation 7. Read it out loud and expand upon it with praises to God.
- Make a date with God. Take a walk in nature or light some candles at home. Sit at His feet and worship Him.
- Visit your favorite place in nature and wonder at what the Lord has done. If you can’t get away, watch a nature video that shows the wonder of this world and the things God has made. Again, YouTube can be a great help. Search for videos of Brian Doerksen’s song Creation Calls. Many have put earth videos and/or amazing pictures to the song. Here’s the best one:
- Don’t go it alone. My husband works two out of every three Friday evenings. We’ve scheduled a Praise Night every third Friday. We get together with a small group of believers from different backgrounds and each Friday have a different kind of worship experience. It’s been wonderful!
- Pick up an old hymnal and sing through the hymns. There is such a rich heritage in those hold hymns and the doctrine found in them is worth studying.
I have a challenge for you, friend. Don’t just read this blog and wish you could find the time to do one of these things. Make a plan right now to do it. I watched a business webinar this week. To move us to action they quoted Jim Rohn:
“Indecision is the thief of opportunity.”
Jim Rohn
Make a decision. Don’t lose this opportunity to praise God. When and how will you praise Him? Leave me a comment below, on Facebook or on Twitter – reply to me @sandyhov and be sure to include hashtags #lifeofpraise and #appgrace.
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