Say It Out Loud

What’s a topic you enjoy and could talk about…a lot!? Do you have enough opportunities to talk about your favorite topic, or are you constantly looking for new opportunities to share?
Most church services are opportunities for people to talk about God. It’s a time to express thankfulness to and love for God. In the Bible, the book of Psalms gives many examples of this. Consider the first few verses of Psalm 95:

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
 For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
    and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
 O come, let us worship and bow down,
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
 
We often think of daily Bible devotions as a private "Quiet Time". This is a good approach, but it doesn’t always have to be like that. Have you ever been so joyful (or so sad) that you just wanted to shout it out loud and tell God how you feel? You might really benefit from doing that!

Read these verses again and notice identify those actions assigned to us. Look for words like: sing, joyful noise, come into His presence, etc. Sounds pretty active and not so quiet!
Now look through the passage again and identify the attributes of God. Look for things like: great, King, controller of the universe, etc. How does that make you feel? Reflect on personal experiences that provides you with surety that the Lord is great. Has He been there for you during tough times? Have you, at other times, felt thankful and blessed by how God is at work in your life?

In verse 6, we read, “O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! These are literal physical actions: bowing and kneeling. Have those actions been a part of your worship in your private time or in a worship service with others? If not, you might try it!
In addition to literal bowing, there may be ways that are less physical. It may be humbly acknowledging the goodness of God, gratefully thanking Him for His many blessings, etc.

Read through this Bible passage from Psalm 95 once again but do it out loud! If you can, very loud! Try using motions or body movements to support the enthusiasm you feel. Then close with this prayer.

Closing Prayer:
Dear Father in heaven, we praise You in Your sanctuary. Your sanctuary includes the mighty heavens, our reverent houses of worship, and our homes You provide for us.
We praise You for Your acts of power! Your greatness surpasses all!
We thank You for and praise You with the gift of music: the sounding of the trumpet, the strings of the harp, violin, and other stringed instruments, rhythm instruments, drums, cymbals and tambourines that make us want to dance, and the pipes of the flute, clarinet and organ.
And we lift our voices because we are Your people, made to praise You. With every breath we have, we praise You Lord!      adapted from Psalm 150