Psalm 34:1

It is such an honor that we get to worship Him. God the supreme Creator, Redeemer and Savior of our lives is extremely worthy of all our praise, thanksgiving and devotion. Indeed, not to worship Him is to deny the very reason of our existence. We are inspired, encouraged, privileged and mandated to worship Him. No wonder the psalmist David unapologetically declared “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad” (Psalm 34:1,2). He is so fired up about praising God continuously that he also commands anybody who would listen to magnify the Lord with him and to exalt his name together! Both individually and corporately, we must praise God. By ourselves and in the company of many we are called upon to praise God together.

Today, I am so convinced that we do not praise and worship Him enough. May God forgive us, as individuals and as a church for the lack of praise that characterizes today’s church. May this post-pandemic, post-modern church truly repent of our rampant praiselessness, especially coming through all the things we have just been through. The fact that we are still around today, in the land of the living should really cause us to pause and rethink many things. What a blessing it is to come together again – is cause for celebration and worship. Please may we make up our minds again to do like David – “I will bless the Lord at all times.” I pray O God, fill my mouth with more praise of you, more than with anything else. May we chat less and praise more. May we criticize less and praise more!

The fact is sometimes we forget that praise is not optional. As this creation and offspring, we are commanded to praise Him. It is rather interesting to note that the early church is described as a “praising” church. This was found in the book of Acts 2. This is how Luke describes them in the last verse of the second chapter – “Praising God and having favor with all the people . . . (Acts 2:47).

It truly makes me wonder today if we can truly be described as a Pentecostal church without the true praises of God continually being heard from our meeting places. We unceasingly, vociferously praise Him. With indescribable joy and sometimes with a loud voice, we do like His disciples in Luke 19:37, and praise God for all the mighty works that we have seen. We must praise Him knowing that if we don’t the stones would immediately cry out.

Let it be again reinforced that the only proper response of our total being to His overwhelming revelations of goodness and grace is genuine praise and sincere worship. Worship, as one individual rightly declared is our celebrative “yes” to God. We joyfully say “yes” to Him and we worship and praise Him with our whole hearts and entire beings. I will bless the Lord at all times! Today, we His adoring saints perpetually worship Him. We praise with profound conviction, enthusiastically saying yes to His will, and to His way. With every breath we take, we praise Him! This is our proper response!

Presiding Bishop – Northeast Region

November 4th, 2023