Praising In His Presence

Today’s Word of Encouragement From Wayne:

“Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service and the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests”

2 Chronicles 8:14

After Solomon had dedicated the temple he had built to the Lord, he followed in his father’s footsteps concerning the appointment of priests in the temple.

Specifically mentioned were “the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests.”

Praise was to come before everything and was to be over everything inside the temple.

Nothing was to done in the temple apart from praise.

Nothing was to be done from the mere standpoint of going through the motions.

The heart of all matters was the very presence of God; this was His dwelling place, and the recognition of this was demonstrated in continuous praise.

Yes there was service at the altar, and service with the sacrifices, but these were intended to be performed in an atmosphere of praise, so that each priest would always be aware that one was in God’s house, ministering before Him.

There are many things that you and I do in our Christian lives as we serve and obey our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not lose our sense of blessing, our sense of sacredness, by merely going through the motions, focused upon our performance rather then our Lord’s presence.

Let us not lapse, or deteriorate, in our thinking, by being only aware of ourselves or what we do and then, because of that, miss out on the abundant life and joy of Savior, Who is dwelling within us as we do what we do.

Let us always be blessedly aware that we have become a temple for our Lord God and He is residing in us perpetually. Let us joyfully accept, as the Levites did, our first duty of praise in His temple.

We are blessed to bless the Lord. We are blessed to have this God given desire to bless our Lord. We are blessed to be His temple, and His kingdom of priests, so we might always be with Him where He is, praising in His presence. Hallelujah!