Joy Challenge Video Devotional - Day 5: Pastor Kerry Shook
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“Worship the Lord with gladness!”
Psalm 100:2a (NLT)
King David wrote, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Psalm 122:1 (NLT)
Is that your attitude toward worship? Do you worship with gladness? I’ve been in some churches where it looked like the members were all baptized in vinegar! Instead of joy and gladness, there were so many sour dispositions and frowning faces. You would think they would have thought David said, “I was mad or I was sad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Who wants to attend a church like that? People aren’t coming to a funeral service or a business meeting when they come to worship. Jesus rose from the dead! He conquered death, hell, and the grave! He is risen! The tomb is empty so our lives may be full, full of joy! Full of hope! Full of meaning and purpose that makes life worth living both now and for eternity! I can’t imagine Pentecost and every other church service that followed in the New Testament was like a funeral dirge. God desires our hearts to be filled with His joy when we worship! In fact, Psalms 100 begins with joy. It says, “Shout with JOY to the LORD, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before Him, singing with JOY!” (Vs. 1-2, NLT)
Genuine worship is the expression of unbridled joy as we encounter the God who made us, died to redeem us, and lives to transform us into the very image of His Son! It’s so easy to take worship for granted and begin to just go through the motions or rituals of our tradition and lose our focus on God. We can even get so distracted by serving that we lose the joy of the one we serve! That’s the occupational hazard of vocational ministry. So, the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 100 that, when we come to worship, we should enter His gates with thanksgiving and go into His courts with praise.
Thanksgiving and praise! Imagine how charged with life and vitality our worship would be if we did that this weekend when we went to church! Thanksgiving and praise are the evidence of real joy! When we worship, we thank God for all He has done and is doing, and we praise God for all that He is! Thanksgiving gets us through the gates and then, praise takes us into His very presence where there is fullness of joy! This Psalm provides a model of thanksgiving and praise in the final verses: “Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.” (Vs. 4b-5, NLT)
Thank God for His goodness. Praise Him for His unfailing love and faithfulness. God not only loves, but God is love! We praise Him for who He is and thank Him for what He does. When we do, we experience the joy of worship! I can’t wait to experience that this weekend at church. Can you?
If you want to make your Joy Challenge even more meaningful, invite a friend to join you at church this weekend and share the joy you have in Jesus!
Printed copies of The Joy Challenge devotional are available at The Joy Challenge - Kerry Shook Ministries.