The Overwhelming Importance of Believers Assembling to Exalt and Magnify the Lord!

22 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 34:1.        I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

So once again it’s Sunday, the Lord’s day, when we’re supposed to gather in His sanctuary, or anywhere possible, and give Him thanks and praise for all that He’s done for His human creation. Yes, the scriptures proscribe it, as this verse from Hebrews reminds us. ‘Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.’ (Heb. 10:25) And yuh better believe that the day of the Lord’s glorious return is quickly approaching.

And the scholars explain that verse thus. ‘Not forsaking the assembling: This admonition involves far more than erratic attendance. It involves the entire worship of Christ and is an outward indication of an inner condition. The assembling of God’s people provides opportunity for reciprocal encouragement, strengthening, and the stirring up that can be gained from one another (cf. Col. 3:12-16) It consists of participation in worship and fellowship. The church is a body interacting (1 Cor. 12:14-27); it is not merely a dispensary for spiritual food and medicine.’

Now, all of that is the gospel truth my faithful brethren. Getting together to worship our great God is the epitome, the essence of our faith. And today we’ll open with a song that will lift us up, stir us up and define the interaction of Christ’s body. (smile) It’s that famous song based on some words of Bruh David from Psalm 34, titled ‘O Taste and See that the Lord is good.’  

And what does that mean? One commentary explains it thus: ‘It is an invitation to experience God’s goodness and faithfulness firsthand. The verse suggests that simply believing in God’s goodness isn’t enough; one must actively “taste” it by experiencing His presence and blessings in their life.’ Now that’s one way to never go wrong! But while the song is attributed to one Shane Bernard, it is sensationally performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and is my all-time favourite video worship song. I had not heard it for a while, then I listened to it this past week, and immediately knew we had to sing it today. (smile)

And if you think that I am biased about the song, then listen to these two commentaries on it. The first says: ‘This is how it would be like in heaven. Every voice, musicians, race, soul praising the name of God. Amen!!’ And the second is like unto it: ‘Every frame, every beat, every note, perfectly executed. THIS is musical perfection in gospel music.’ And believe me that’s the infallible truth! For the musicians get into the song and fire it right up, as they can do when they’re inspired. And if you’ve never seen the video, you ought to, because it will certainly stir you up. (smile)

But enough talk, let’s get to the song, and raise our voices in sweet sacrifices of praise in an up-tempo, soulful, scintillating, heart-rending rendition of the song. Singing: ‘I sought the Lord And He answered me And delivered me From every fear. Those who look on Him Are radiant They’ll never be ashamed They’ll never be ashamed. This poor man cried And the Lord heard me And saved me from My enemies. The Son of God Surrounds His saints He will deliver them He will deliver them.

Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. Oh taste and see That the Lord is good Oh blessed is he Who hides in Him. Oh fear the Lord Oh all you saints He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. (Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. Repeat) (Let us bless the Lord Every day and night Never ending praise May our incense rise. Repeat 4 times)

Magnify the Lord with me Come exalt His name together Glorify the Lord with me Come exalt His name forever. {Repeat} Oh taste and see That the Lord is good. He’ll give you everything He’ll give you everything. Oh taste and see That the Lord is good. He’ll give you everything…He’ll give you everything. …He’ll give you everything…’

Now there’s an indisputable fact friends! If we continually worship the Lord like Bruh David says in the Psalm, He will give us everything! And by the way, that was a marvellous version; all heaven was singing along with us.  As this commentary says: ‘I just imagine being in heaven worshipping with this magnificent choir, just magnifying our great God! Hallelujah!!’ 

Then this other commentary tells it thus: ‘Every time I listen to this song, I imagine myself along with all the other saints in heaven worshipping. This song carries a strong anointing. You can feel the presence of the heavenly hosts. The worship that the people utter after the song is like Heaven, every, race, every tongue raising up their voices in one accord unto the King of Kings.’ And that’s exactly how it ought to be!

It’s also interesting how the writer of the song only took verses 3-10 from the psalm and created such a wonderful song. But that happens when you are spiritually inspired by the Lord of the universe. Now here’s how Bruh David began the psalm: ‘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.’ (Ps. 34:1-2) Then he goes into the verses used in the song, about magnifying and exalting the Lord with him etc.

And the basis of the psalm comes from 1 Samuel 21, where Bruh David was running away from King Saul and lied to the priest Ahimelech about a secret mission for the king, and because the mission was so urgent, he never had time to procure food nor weapons. Ahimelech believed him, and gave him the ceremonial hallowed shew bread, which was all he had, as well as the sword that Bruh David had taken from Goliath after he killed him. And I like Bruh David’s response to Ahimelech’s comment about Goliath’s sword being the only weapon available. ‘And David said, There is none like that; give it me.’ (1 Sam .21:9b) He should know. (smile)

Then Bruh David ran to Gath, to the land of the Philistines, to Achish the king of Gath, for succour, feigning madness. Consequently, as the scholars explain, the psalm bears all the marks of the testimony of one who narrowly escaped death, just as the passage in Samuel describes. As such it contains the praise and testimony of the one who was redeemed (vs. 1-10) and the seasoned instruction that can stem from such deliverance (vs. 11-22).’

Ah mih people, trials and tribulations are a natural aspect of this evil and ungodly world, and there’s much we can learn from the way the faithful heroes who preceded us handled them, so please, let’s not just read and gloss them over, but study them and try to put them into practice in our lives. It will be ever so beneficial to us! Much LOVE!

…there’s nothing better believers can do…than magnify and exalt the Lord’s name together…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

Today’s Scrip-Bit 19 September 2020 Matthew 7:24.

19 Sep 2020 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Matthew 7:24.     ​Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a (the) rock:

And then came that lazy day we call Saturday! No work! Glory be! At least no work out the street, but possibly plenty at home where we haven’t accomplished much for the last five days. What a bam-bam eh! Work for we living under the slave master’s stringent rules for five days straight, then have to come home now and do our own work. Somehow that doesn’t seem right. (smile) But that’s the way it is in our modern, busy society, and yuh better fall in line, otherwise life just going to leave yuh behind! (smile) 

That’s why it’s so necessary to have Jesus Christ as the guide and director of our lives, because with Him running the show we can handle anything that comes against us with authority and power downloaded from Him. That’s why we keep saying: ‘I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me!’ (Phil. 4:13) And that’s an indisputable fact! But the only way you are ever going to find out that it’s true is by actually accepting Him as your Lord and Saviour, through faith and not sight. For in Jesus’ economy, faith is the currency, not sight. End of sermon! 

Now let’s see what our friend Anselm had to say this week, as he aspired to inspire us for a better tomorrow. And this first quote is indeed a dandy: ‘Worry is the most wasteful thing in the world.’ That’s also another indisputable fact! Worry creates nothing but more worry! And as Sister Joyce likes to say: ‘Worry is like a rocking chair; you can sit in it and rock all day, but get nowhere, not moved from the same spot.’ Yes friends, all worry does is ramp up our fear, anxiety and doubt, thus stealing the li’l productive energy we have left to handle our problems. 

And another major thing we need to do in this mish-mash world is to ‘Focus on being productive, instead of busy.’ Yeh too many of us run around like chickens with our heads cut off, proclaiming we so busy that we don’t have time to do anything, and in the supposed busyness, we not really doing a blooming thing in true! Ever ask anybody why they not doing this or that? And the stock answer is ‘too busy.’ And when you ask what they so busy doing, they can’t tell you. It’s such a laughable situation, but one fraught with disappointment and defeat, unless we cut it out NOW. 

And to help us do that, we need to learn to ‘Manage the cause, not the result.’ That means looking to the root of the problem, what caused it in the first place, and not focusing on the result, because if we don’t fix the problem, we’ll keep on getting the same wrong result every time. But that’s also another bad habit we have in our modern-day society; we look the wrong places for solutions to our problems. Like we spend a whole lot of time and money in mental therapy, when most of the time all we need is the Good Book and the Word of the Lord to get us through our tough situations. 

The medications from the shrinks and charlatans ofttimes eases up one problem but causes several others, some worse than the original one. But that’s how our world operates, and if we don’t smarten up and recognize the enemy, the imperial prince of darkness hiding in some of those corners, we’re liable to end up in serious trouble. But then again, ‘If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing.’ Ah mih people; the right question eh… 

Now that is ever so important in our deceitful, fraudulent society. There’s a scam in almost every situation these days, and if you don’t know the right questions to ask, you’ll most likely get the wrong answer and eventually do the wrong thing. And that’s ever so important for the older folks nowadays, because the scam artists like to prey on those they think are very gullible and easily fooled. Steups! They are worse than the predatory animals in the wild! 

That’s why the saying, ‘man’s inhumanity to man makes thousands mourn,’ is so true and heartbreaking. We think nothing these days of bilking an older person out of their entire life savings; in fact bilking anybody out of their possessions is fair game this meeting! But yuh know what my brethren? I’m here to tell you with this last quote that ‘Everything can be improved.’ And that’s the gospel truth! But you definitely need to connect with Jesus; to make him the Number One Priority in your life if you desire to see improvements in any or all areas of it. 

And if you don’t believe me, then listen to these awesome words of Jesus as He speaks about the two foundations on which life can be built. ‘Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a (the) rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a (the) rock.’ (Matt.7:24-25) 

Ah precious people, Jesus is that rock upon which we need to build our lives, so that when the storms come, like they are coming right now, our houses, our souls and spirits will stand strong and be able to fight them off! Yes, we desperately need the sure foundation that’s Jesus if we desire to thwart the enemy and overcome the storms of life! 

Now listen to the other side of the equation as expounded by Jesus. ‘And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.’ (Matt. 7:26-27) 

Oh my people, my people, those are words of everlasting truth from the Son of God Himself! And if we can’t accept them as such, then there’s little or no hope for us. Note the simplicity and clarity of Jesus’ teaching. He talks about things we can easily understand. It’s obvious that if we build a house on sand it won’t stand up as well as one built on a strong foundation of rock when the elements come against it. And right now we have the perfect storm of a pandemic and worldwide strife that’s showing what kind of foundation our lives have been built on. 

Unfortunately, we’re seeing that too many of them have been built on the insecure and unsafe one of sand, that’s why there’s so much fear, doubt and panic at this time of crisis. But it’s not too late friends…with Jesus it’s never too late to accept His wonderful invitation: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of (from) me; for I am meek and lowly in heart (gentle and humble): and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ (Matt. 11:28-30) 

That friends, says it all! Accept Jesus…and your lives will improve… Don’t accept Him…and they will only get worse…The decision is up to you. But you have to make it soon…preferably RIGHT NOW! Much LOVE!

…you can lead a horse to water…but you can’t make him drink…likewise…you can be led to Jesus…but no one can make you accept Him…it’s a personal decision…