There is an old Christian song with the first line: ‘If you’re happy and you know it, say ‘Amen’’. It’s a favorite, sung by many over the years. As Jesus descended from the mountain where He had performed many miracles, the throng of disciples following Him showed their happiness through shouts of praise, adoration and joy. In fact, the Scripture sounds like they were disturbing the peace – the peace of the Pharisees, who could handle no more of the commotion being triggered among the followers of Jesus! Does that sound like the neighbors around your church? Are your loud songs of praise getting on their last nerve?

DATE POSTED Thursday, 2021-09-30
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

BY: Ed Algreen

SCRIPTURE FROM: Luke 19:37-40
TRANSLATION: Contemporary English Version (CEV)

BIBLE TEXT: 37 When Jesus was starting down the Mount of Olives, his large crowd of disciples were happy and praised God because of all the miracles they had seen. 38 They shouted, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God.”
39 Some Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus,  “Teacher, make your disciples stop shouting!”  40 But Jesus answered, “If they keep quiet, these stones will start shouting.”

APPLICATION: I believe that the excuse modern day Christians give for their reserved praise and worship services is because they are accustomed to celebrating inwardly. Really? How much incentive do you acknowledge from the ‘inward’ praises of your parents/spouse/friends? As a youngster growing up in a very reserved community, I remember going by car to the nearby town where we sat and watched a charismatic congregation rejoice in songs of praise and through the preaching of the word, in ways that we hardly did on the baseball field sidelines! We never doubted that they were worshiping, but it seems like their habits never impacted our lives to worship in that manner. However, as an older adult, where my times with the Lord are super charged with the joy of knowing my Savior intimately; Where my life has been impacted by my Savior in miraculous ways over the years; Where the Word of God has become very personal to me and where I apply it’s truth to my life on an ongoing basis, it excites me to hear from God and to see Him at work miraculously in my life. But I believe that the question remains: does everyone who come into contact with me know that I am a Christ follower? Do I worship Him so boldly that my opposers are shaking in their boots and asking me to quiet down? When most of us received Christ, it was evident to everyone, for we didn’t care who was around when we lifted up the name of Jesus and sang praises to our new-found King. What happened? He’s still King, and as I already said, I draw closer to Him every day as I learn of His commands, and practice His teachings, so why am I not as outwardly excited? I believe that something happens inside of us every time that we recognize we are in the presence of Jesus, and I believe that we are especially thankful and extremely happy when we are aware of His mighty works in our lives. Perhaps we need to go by the words of another great old hymn: Count you blessings, name them one by one… Let’s stop attributing our blessings to another lucky day, or a ‘win for all’ where a certain good thing happened. Instead, let us draw close to God and be keenly aware of all that He does in our lives – things that bear no other earthly explanation. I believe we will all find reasons to ‘tick off our neighbors’ because of our continual celebrative lifestyle! Jesus deserves our praise, dear ones! We have a reason to shout!!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: So many, so often, and so loud will be our praises when we truly acknowledge the source of our daily blessings! Not just those that we expect every day, but particularly those personal ones with our name written all over them! Only Jesus, dear friends! Let’s learn to shout our praises to our well-deserving King!

PRAYER: As a recipient of all good things from on high, I feel like my expressions of joy, happiness and praise to my Maker is very underwhelming. I am reminded of a song ‘How Can I Say Thanks’, for I feel like that should be my heart’s cry every time I’m reminded of the goodness of my King. Thank You Lord for the miracles You have performed in my life and all around me. You are truly worthy of my every praise and endless expressions of thanksgiving. Lord, I pray that You will speak gently, but boldly to Your children who will be reminded of Your goodness today. May we all celebrate from a heart of thanksgiving to our Maker and our Eternal Father. Thank You Jesus for saving my soul, thank You Lord for making me whole. As a child of the King, I stand boldly in saying that You are so deserving of all my praise and also that of my readers and listeners. Be glorified today because of the opened hearts of Your children. AMEN!