“Consider the work of God; for who can straighten out what He has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: without question, God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.” Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
We have a tendency to lump worship and praise together. However, they are really very different. Worship is expressing our thanks to God for who He is. This is part of what we did last year. In rediscovering God, we learned more about His nature and character, and it moved us in our music, our service, our giving, and even our decisions.
Praise is thanking God for what He has done. It is recognizing the acts and hand of God and expressing our thanks to Him for it. We do that in many ways which are similar to how we respond to Him in worship, but there is one aspect of our praise we may not have thought about. We need to stop sometimes and see the hand of God writing our story as we follow Him.
But we cannot just stop at acknowledging what we see, we must also tell. God writes His story on us in order that others can see and hear about it and know Him and they begin to see how God has been writing His story on them. This cycle continues to spin and spin until all have seen and heard.
The neat thing is, as God has brought us together, we are a part of each other’s story which God is writing. God has taken the time, effort, and resources in order to move heaven and earth in order for us to join in His story and in the work He has laid in front of us.
So, as we begin in preparation for a great season of ministry, make sure you don’t miss out. Make sure you find your place and stand beside us as we make HIM known to this world.
Following Him,
Pastor Jeff