in the meetings the Firstborn Son sings praises to the Father in our praises!

May 11, 2012 by · 2 Comments

in the meetings the Firstborn Son sings praises to the Father in our praises!Even though the book of Psalms concludes with Hallelujah! to the Lord and we saw yesterday that everything that has breath is praising the Lord, what about us – do we live a life of praise? Do we praise the Lord from the very moment we wake up in the morning? Do we praise the Lord in the meetings of the church?

We need to admit that we are not there yet and praising the Lord might still be rare for us since we’re so much in our feelings, in ourselves, in our situations, etc. The Lord understands us and cares for us, and it is in His heart that we would have a genuine praise to Him in the way of life – something gradual but real!

praising God in the assembly

In Psalm 22:22 the assembly in which the Son sings praises to the Father is the church – the Lord’s many brothers produced out of Christ’s resurrection are now the church, the Body of Christ. Christ’s resurrection is a church-producing resurrection, and we were all begotten of God to be sons of God and members of the Body of Christ in Christ’s resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3).

In our gatherings Christ declares the Father’s name to us and He praises the Father in the church (see Heb. 2:12, note 3). Christ takes the lead in the church to praise the Father, and the saints follow Him to praise God! Praise the Lord!

As we read the Psalms with a prayerful spirit, as we muse over the words in the Psalms, we realize that God is turning us from the law to Christ, He is bringing us from Christ to the house of God, He is enlarging us as the house to be the city of God, and from the city He is recovering the whole earth! As we see this happening, God’s purpose is being fulfilled and we just praise the Lord!

We praise the Lord for what He is doing, and we praise the Lord not apart from Him – we are being led by the Firstborn Son of God to sing praises to the Father! Christ praises the Father in our praises – when we praise the Lord, He sings songs of praise in us!

the Firstborn Son sings praises in our praises

In Psalm 22:22-23 we see that the firstborn Son of God takes the lead to praise the Father in the midst of His brothers, the church. In the assembly – which signifies the church, the Lord’s brothers (Heb. 2:11-12) – the Son praises the Father! How can we praise the Lord? It is by exercising our spirit when we meet with the saints so that we would cooperate with Christ who sings praises to the Father!

In our praises Christ the Firstborn Son of God praises the Father! In our singing Christ the Firstborn Son of God sings songs of praise to the Father! If we sing, He sings in our singing! When we praise, He praises in our praises!

This is a matter of development and growth – we are learning to turn from our pitiful self, from our situations, and from our condition, and worship the Father by praising Him with Christ! In the church life in the meetings of the church we need to praise the Lord more and sing to Him more!

Not a “flash of praise”, something sudden that finishes as quick as it started, but a life of praising, a habit of praising the Lord, and a practice of praising the Lord in all the meetings of the church! It is our privilege and it is a great opportunity whenever we meet to deny ourselves and just praise the Lord, sing praises to Him, and worship Him!

being perfected and led in our praising

We can all testify that this is our experience in the church life, in the meetings of the church. Heb. 2:12 is our reality – when we exercise our spirit and open our mouth to praise the Lord, on the one hand we enjoy Him and on the other hand it is Christ as the Firstborn Son of God who praises the Father in our praises!

We are being led in our praises by Christ, and as we practice singing and praising the Lord, we are being perfected in our praise! We have the clear sensation that Christ is singing to the Father and praising the Father in our singing! This is the way to grow in Him and be brought on to offering a consummate praise to God!

We praise You, Lord! Make our life be a life of praising You. No matter what happens, no matter where we are, and no matter our condition, may we learn to praise You! Perfect our praise that we may offer You a consummate praise for what You are and what You are doing. Lord, uplift our praises in the meetings. May we cooperate with the inward praising Christ to offer praises to God the Father! Praise the Lord!

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Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

May 10, 2012 by · 2 Comments

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!The last six psalms are called, The Hallelujah Psalms, because they all start and finish with the word, Hallelujah! They offer a consummate praise to God for all He has done and for all that He is to His people. When the earth is fully recovered by God and is being brought under the reign of Christ in His kingdom (see Rev. 19:1-6; 11:15), the whole earth will resound with HALLELUJAH!!! to God!

Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! The whole creating is travailing and expecting, on tip-toe straining their neck to see it happen, that Zion would be built up, that God’s sons would be matured and perfected (see Rom. 8:19-21)!

a bird’s eye view of the Hallelujah Psalms

God is so majestic, He is so transcendent! When we see Him in what He does and in what He is, we will have at least once in our lifetime a private moment with the Lord in which we’re full of ecstatic praise! Nothing may change in your environment, but you’re ecstatic because He IS!

In Psalms 146 through 150 we see the consummate praise to God – they were written by Haggai and Zechariah after the return from captivity. They were ecstatic and full of great joy, praising God for the release and restoration of the people of Israel and for the rebuilding of the temple!

  • Praise Jehovah for His reigning from Zion (Psa. 146:10) – Jehovah is the help of His saints, therefore praise Him! Praise Jehovah who will reign forever and ever! God reigns from Zion – praise the Lord! Once God gets Zion, once God gets the overcomers in the churches, there is much praise to His name!
  • Praise Jehovah for the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Psa. 147:2) – Jehovah builds up Jerusalem, praise the Lord! It is not the people of Israel who build up Jerusalem and it is not the believers who through their efforts and hard labor build up the church. It is God who builds up the church, and we praise Him!
  • Praise Jehovah for His exalted name and for His transcending majesty (Psa. 148:13) – The heavenly things and persons are charged to praise Jehovah from heavens, since they all were created by Him! His name alone is exalted (v. 14), and His glory is above the earth and the heavens! All His people, His faithful ones, the children of Israel, a people near to Him – praise the Lord!
  • Praise Jehovah for taking pleasure in His people and His adorning the lowly with salvation (Psa. 149:4) – Sing a new song to Jehovah and sing His praise in the congregation of His faithful ones (v. 1). Let us rejoice in our Maker, and let the saints as the children of Zion exult in their King (v. 2). Praise the Lord! Praise His name with dancing and with singing psalms with the tambourine and the lyre! Praise the Lord!
  • Let everything that has breath praise the Lord (Psa. 150:6) – every verse in Psalm 150 is on praising the Lord. I would encourage you to read it and pray over it and praise-read it! Praise God in His sanctuary and in the expanse of His power (v. 1). Praise God for His mighty acts and according to His vast greatness (v. 2). Praise God with the blast of the trumpet, the harp and the lyre, the tambourine and dancing, the stringed instrument and the pile, the loud cymbals, and the loud clanging cymbal (v. 3-5). Let everything that has breath praise the Lord (v. 6)!

the conclusion: Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150 concludes with, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! This is the consummation and the conclusion of the entire Bible, not only of the Psalms – see Rev. 19:1. The Psalms are like a miniature or an abbreviated version of the entire Bible.

Once God recovers His people from the law to Christ and Christ is enlarged to be the house, once the house is strengthened and uplifted to become the city and bring God’s kingdom to the earth, and once the whole earth is under the reign of God, there’s only Praise the Lord! and Hallelujah! When God gains Christ as everything to us, the church as the house of God, the city as the kingdom of God, and the whole earth, everything that has breath will praise the Lord!

The best instrument we can use today – in case we don’t have cymbals, tambourines, stringed instruments, etc – is our mingled spirit! The best praise we can offer God for what He gives us, what He does for us, what He is to us, and even THAT HE IS, is by exercising our spirit to praise the Lord! When we exercise our spirit, we make good music to Him!

Praise the Lord! Lord, we praise You for recovering Christ as everything to us in our daily experience! Praise You for gaining the church as the house of God, the habitation of God. Lord, we praise You for the city, the elevated, strengthened, and uplifted church to bring in Your kingdom! We praise You, Lord, for gradually and continually recovering the earth to be Your eternal kingdom! As we see what You are doing and what Your plan is, we just Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

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having a life of praising the Lord to defeat His enemy and bring in God’s kingdom

May 9, 2012 by · 3 Comments

having a life of praising the Lord to defeat His enemy and bring in His kingdomThe book of Psalms is a book of praise, and our Christian life should be a life full of praise and even a life of praising the Lord. If we were to check with ourselves, did we praise the Lord every day this past week? Did we praise the Lord every day this past month?

Many times we praise the Lord because of what He does for us, some major event, or some uplifted gatherings of the church – but praising the Lord may not yet characterize our life with the Lord. We need to grow in life and be perfected to be a Man of Praise! Something needs to be wrought into our being that as we turn our heart to the Lord every morning we would spontaneously say,

Lord, I praise You simply because YOU ARE! You don’t have to give things to me or do things for me – I just praise You because You are You! You are God, You are self-existing and ever-existing, and Your very existence makes me praise You again! Praise the Lord!

crucial aspects of praising God in Psalms

In the book of Psalms we see not only the loving seekers of God praising Him but we can also see the highest praise and the greatest praise to God. All throughout the Bible the praises in Psalms are quoted by different other people. We need to praise God unceasingly! Here are some of the greatest and highest praises to God in Psalms – some of the crucial aspects of Praising God in Psalms:

  • “O Jehovah my God, I will praise You forever” (Psa. 30:12b). We praise the Lord today, tomorrow, and forever! Our destiny is to praise the Lord! Why not praise Him today? Why not praise-read His Word and declare it in faith? Praise the Lord!
  • “Every day I will bless You, / And I will praise Your name forever and ever” (Psa. 145:2). David extols and praises God for His unsearchable greatness in His goodness. Every day we need to praise the Lord for His goodness, for His greatness, and for all that He is!
  • “I will bless Jehovah at all times; / His praise will continually be in my mouth” (Psa. 34:1). In Psa. 34 David praised and blessed God because of God’s answer and deliverance. At all times – whether good or not so good times – we need to praise the Lord! He may not change our situation, but praising the Lord makes a difference!
  • “I will praise Jehovah while I live; / I will sing psalms to my God while I yet have being” (Psa. 146:2). In Psa. 146 God is being praised for reigning in Christ through Zion. Regardless of being weak or strong, we will praise the Lord! Praise the Lord for Zion, and praise the Lord for Jerusalem, His holy habitation! While we have being, while we have breath, praise the Lord!
  • “Then they believed His words; / They sang His praise” (Psa. 106:12). When we read God’s word in the Bible and we exercise our spirit of faith, we believe His Words and we sing His praise! This is why we need to exercise our spirit when we read the Bible – praise will come forth! Praise the Lord!
  • “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, / My lips praise You” (Psa. 63:3). There is something better to us even than our own soul-life – it is God’s lovingkindness, God’s sweetness… it is sweeter than life itself! When you taste and see that God is good, you will just praise Him! Praise Him for His lovingkindness and His sweetness!
  • “I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations; / Therefore the peoples will praise You forever and ever” (Psa. 45:17). How can God’s name be remembered in all generations? There’s a group of overcoming saints that declare His name and live Him, and Christ is praised by the nations through these overcoming saints who are also reigning together with Christ.
  • “Great is Jehovah, / And much to be praised / In the city of our God, / In His holy mountain” (Psa. 48:1). When the church as the house of God is strengthened and enlarged to be the city of God, the kingdom of God, God is great and He is greatly to be praised! In the city of God we praise the Lord!
  • “Praise befits You, O God, in Zion” (Psa. 65:1). It is befitting for us as we meet in the church life to praise the Lord! We don’t need to come with our ears itching for teachings but with our lips ready for praise! It is befitting and it is normal for the overcoming believers to praise the Lord whenever they meet! Come to the meeting prepared to praise! Compose something for the King, and come full of praises!
  • “That the name of Jehovah may be declared in Zion, / And His praise, in Jerusalem” (Psa. 102:21). When Zion is in Jerusalem, when the overcoming saints are in the church, there’s much praise in the church life! We need to be produced as Zion, the people who declare God’s name through our very being, and there will be much praises in the church!
  • “Let the high praises of God be in their throats, / And a two-edged sword in their hand, / To execute vengeance on the nations / And punishment among the peoples; / To bind their kings with fetters / And their nobles with chains of iron; / To execute upon them the judgment written. / This honor is for all His faithful ones. / Hallelujah!” (Psa. 149:6-9). As we praise the Lord with our mouth, we use the two-edged sword to defeat the enemy! We praise the Lord, and the enemy is bound, judged, and defeated! Praise the Lord!
  • “You are holy, You who sit enthroned / Upon the praises of Israel“ (Psa. 22:3). Our praises to the Lord enthrone Him in the church and in the whole world. He is holy, and we have the honor of praising Him to defeat the enemy and bring in God’s kingdom!

Praise the Lord to Defeat the Enemy!

The Lord has judged Satan already, He has pronounced his sentence on the cross more than 2000 years ago. Today we as the saints, the people of God, the believers of Christ, the many God-men being perfected in our praise and matured in life, are executing the judgement on Satan! This is a great honor for us to stand in the victory of Christ and praise the Lord while we are skewing the enemy!

Satan is a loser, the biggest loser in the universe! In city after city and even country after country the saints of God are standing in Christ’s victory and evicting Satan from that place, while at the same time hastening the coming kingdom of the Lord! Satan is defeated and the Lord is enthroned in our praises! Praise the Lord!

Lord, we open to You again that we may be perfected in our praise! You are on the throne in the heavens, and we want to enthrone You in the throne in Jerusalem, in the church! Lord, sit on the throne with Your authority in the heavens and on the earth! As Your lovers and Your seekers, Lord, we would like to enthrone You on our praise! All authority in heavens and on the earth was given to You as the Head of the Body, and we now exercise this authority to defeat the enemy and cause him to suffer loss! Praise the Lord!

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the principle of praise and the four levels of praise in our experience

May 8, 2012 by · 4 Comments

the principle of praise and the four levels of praise in our experienceThe first mention of a certain matter in the Bible sets the principle of that matter for the whole Bible. The first major mentioning of praising the Lord in the Bible is in Exo. 15:1-18 where the people of Israel, after crossing the Red Sea and seeing Pharaoh and his armies being swallowed by the sea, sang a song of praise to the Lord.

This very same song – the song of Moses – is sung in Rev. 15:2-4 by the overcomers standing on the sea of glass. The overcomers sing! The overcomers praise the Lord! They praise the Lord for what He gives, for what He does, for what He is, and even that He is! Praise the Lord!

praising resulting in the house and the city

In Exodus 15 the people of Israel praised God with a song of praise for His salvation and His victory, and this song concludes by mentioning God’s habitation and His kingdom. God saved His people from Egypt – they praised Him for His salvation. God gave them victory over their enemies – they praised Him for His victory.

On the one hand, God saves us from anything negative, He saves us from the world, from sin, etc, but on the other hand as He is saving us He is also defeating His enemy and our enemy! And this results in God’s habitation, His house, and consummates in the city, God’s kingdom! Praise the Lord!

Even though at the time when the people of Israel crossed the sea to enter into the wilderness there was no temple or Zion, Exodus 15:17-18 says, “You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, the place, O Jehovah, which You have made for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. Jehovah shall reign forever and ever.”

The principle of praise is that praising God results in God’s house, His dwelling place, and God’s city, His kingdom! God saves us and delivers us from the enemy for the house and for the city, so that His kingdom would come in and He would be expressed!

the four levels of praise

Our praise to the Lord is being continually perfected. We may praise Him when “we feel like it”, when we’re in the mood, but as we grow in life and as we get to experience and enjoy the Lord more we praise Him spontaneously and continually. There are at least four dimensions of praise, four levels of praise, all of which are very necessary in our experience. Our praising the Lord is higher and higher as the Lord does things for us, as He is being unveiled to us as what He is, and as we realize that HE IS means everything to us.

  1. Praise the Lord for what He gives – He may give us something spiritual, He is caring for us, He is shepherding us, etc., therefore we praise Him! Also, we praise the Lord for our spouse, for the way we came together, for the gift He gave us. We need to be saved from this thankless generation by praising the Lord and thanking Him!
  2. Praise the Lord for what He does – Even though we may not see it, He is working behind the scenes to arrange things and prepare people, and He does it in a hidden way. When things become manifest, when we see what He is doing, we just praise the Lord – He deserves our praise! Even at the cost of others, He is doing many things for us. O, Praise the Lord!
  3. Praise the Lord for what He is – everything that God does is based on what He is. The Lord wants us to realize what HE IS and treasure what He is in His being above of what He does. If you are ill and He heals you – you praise Him and thank Him; but what if He doesn’t heal you but He is health to you? Will this draw out your praise? We need to overcome that part of our self which wants things done for us, and learn to appreciate and praise what Christ is to us!
  4. Praise the Lord THAT HE IS – the highest level of praise is not only praising the Lord for what He is, but simply THAT HE IS. We all know some people whose very being with us is a blessing – they don’t need to say or do too much; they just need to be there. The “Hallelujah Psalms” speak of Jehovah, the I AM, praising Him as the self-existing, ever-existing God!

being perfected in our praise

We need to grow in life and be perfected in our praising the Lord. The more we go on with the Lord, the more we will value and develop our praising the Lord for what He is and even that He is. All these four dimensions / levels or praise are necessary. The Lord gives things to us: praise Him! The Lord does so many things for us – Praise the Lord!

He is so much to us – He’s our life, our spiritual drink and food, our Shepherd, our Healer, etc – Praise the Lord! Even more, God simply IS – we praise Him! He’s ever-existing, never changing, self-existing, and He just is! Praise the Lord for what He gives, what He does, for His being, and that He is!

Lord, perfect us in our praise. Uplift our appreciation of what You give us, what You do for us, and even for Your being! May we praise You not only for the things You give us and do for us, but also for what You are to us! What You are meets our every need! O, Lord, obtain the highest praise from us, the praise that You Are! We praise You for Your unchanging and self-existing nature! We just praise You that You Are!

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the highest work carried out by God’s children is to praise the Lord!

May 7, 2012 by · 4 Comments

the highest work carried out by God's children is to praise the Lord!What is the highest work a Christian can do? It is not merely praying or doing a lot of things for the Lord, but it is praising. When we praise the Lord, we enthrone Him and we exalt Him. The highest work carried out by God’s children is praise – the highest expression of a saint’s spiritual life is his / her praise to God.

God is enthroned upon the praises of Israel (Psa. 22:3), and His name is being exalted and uplifted on the earth through our praise! Praise the Lord! David praised God three times a day (Psa. 55:17) and even seven times a day (Psa. 119:164). We should follow his pattern and praise the Lord even more than 7 times a day! Praise the Lord!

the Christian life soars through praises

We all know that in our experience it is not easy to praise the Lord. To praise many times means to transcend everything to touch the Lord and praise Him. We need to learn from the Lord Jesus and not murmur or complain when something unpleasant happens to us, but we would rather praise the Lord even in our trials.

The more others try to put us down, the more we need to praise the Lord and soar above the situation. We need to learn to know that God is God, He is sovereign, He cares for us, and we are the works of His hands, under His tender care. God is in control, and we are not – therefore, we should just praise the Lord!

“Nothing can ripen and mature a man like sacrifices of praise.” (Watchman Nee) Our Christian life is not an easy life – we go through a lot of things, sufferings may come, dealings from the Lord are there, and there’s the discipline of the Holy Spirit. God chastises all those whom He loves, and He perfects us, deals with us, and wants us to grow in life.

The best way to ripen and be matured in life is the way to soar above everything – by praising the Lord in everything. Praising the Lord does not have anything to do with ourselves, our condition, our situation, etc – we praise the Lord for what He does, what He is, and even simply that He is!

spiritual victory depends on praising

In 2 Chronicles 20:20-22 there’s the story of Jehosaphat who, once he received the confirmation from the Lord that his enemies (which outnumbered his armies) will be defeated, he set all the children of Israel to praise the Lord and sing songs of praise! The way we defeat the enemy is not by engaging in warfare with him or by battling him – it is by our praises!

What can Satan do to us when we offer to God a sacrifice of praise? When in spite of the enemy’s pressure and attacks, we praise the Lord, the enemy is defeated! Don’t try to overcome Satan by yourself, and don’t struggle or fight him – just praise the Lord! Oh, Praise the Lord!

Even though this way may sound crazy to our human ears and in our human experience, the way for us to have the spiritual victory is to praise the Lord! Actually, the Lord has already won the victory, and we are seated together with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6), far above the enemy’s bothering and his attack.

We shouldn’t pay too much attention to finding a way to overcome the enemy – the more we engage in battle with Satan, the more we waste time and energy, and the more we are defeated. Just praise the Lord! Soar above the situation by turning to Him in spite of the situation and, from the position of the ascension, praise the Lord! He has defeated Satan!

believe, praise, and you will have the victory!

Don’t wait to “see signs of victory” before you praise the Lord. In a battle the people usually shout for joy once the victory is obtained. In the spiritual realm it is different: we first praise the Lord and sing songs of praise to Him, and then the enemy is defeated!

“Once God’s glory fills your eyes, you can believe. Once His glory fills your spirit, you can praise. You have to see that God is above everything and is worthy or your praise.” (Watchman Nee)

When we praise the Lord, Satan has to flee. As we pray and open to the Lord, we will at one point have the assurance that the Lord has already answered our prayer – we should then just praise the Lord!

I am so encouraged to learn to praise the Lord! Brother Nee’s word in the booklet called, “Praising” is so real, so high, and so practical! We have to sing to chase the enemy away! Do you have dark thoughts, thoughts of criticism, murmuring, complaints, or even attacks from the enemy? Praise the Lord! Chase the enemy away by praising the Lord!

We first BELIEVE, then we PRAISE, and then we will experience the VICTORY! God is above everything and He is worthy of our praise (see Psa. 18:3; 1 Chron. 29:10-13; Rev. 4:1-3; 5:6). Praise the Lord! The highest work carried out by God’s children is to praise the Lord!

Lord, open our eyes to see what is the highest work we as Your children can do for You! O, Lord, unveil us from any natural concepts and from any desire of the self to do something for You outside of You. Save us from struggling, trying, striving, or even fighting against the enemy. Perfect our praise. Cause our praise to rise and bring us into victory! Lord, we just praise You! Seven times a day, we praise the Lord! O, Praise the Lord!

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God will recover His full title and right over the earth through Christ’s reign

May 5, 2012 by · 1 Comment

God will recover His full title and right over the earth through Christ's reignIn psalm after psalm we see how God’s intention is clearly to recover the earth and bring it under His rule – read how Psalms 2-22 and Psalms 24-89 show us that Christ will possess the earth and will rule through the church over the whole earth. The subject of the Psalms can be incapsulated in four words: Christ, the house, the city, and the earth.

God desires to recover Christ as our everything, and when Christ is enlarged, He becomes the house of God together with all His believers. When the house is strengthened and enlarged, it becomes the city as the kingdom of God. Through the city, God will gain the whole earth to be under His rule through the city!

God will recover His title and right

In Psalms 93 through 101 we see that God will recover His full title and His full right over the whole earth through the reign of Christ. God has created everything on the earth – not only the nature and the mountains, seas, etc, but God also created all the different peoples (every nation, tribe, race, etc).

Because God created us, He is the Possessor of the earth and He holds the title deed. No matter how much Satan wants to “fool around” and usurp the earth, the real possessor of the earth is God and He is reclaiming His right and title deed!

judgement will return unto righteousness

Psalm 94:15 says, “… judgement will return unto righteousness“. As we all know, today there is no righteousness being done in the world, especially in the justice system and in the political system, because man has lost Christ, the One who is righteousness. But when Christ comes back to reign, He will rule with justice and He will cause judgement to return to righteousness.

In the church life today we have a foretaste of living in righteousness and being under the rule of God, and when Christ will return, He will bring in justice and righteousness. Without Christ, the world is a dark, sinful, and an evil place. Come, Lord Jesus!

Also, Psalm 96:3-13 shows us that Christ will come to judge the earth and the peoples with righteousness and truth, and He will reign over the nations. Every race, color, tribe, tongue, nation, and people will be judged by God – and He will judge with righteousness. Through the reign of Christ, God will recover His title and His right over the whole earth.

Today in the church we have the priviledge to be judged by God first and to be dealt with by Him so that we may become partakers of His holy nature. Today we want to be open to His dealing, His judgement, and His supply, so that when He returns He will judge us no more!

the earth will be glad and will rejoice!

You may not be very happy to hear that God wants to judge the earth and the people – no one wants to be judged. But we have a sinful nature in us and, whether we like it or not, we live according to this sinful nature. We are born as sinners and we live in sin – even unconsciously. Therefore, for us to match God and to be one with Him, He needs to judge sin and anything of Satan’s nature in us.

This may be something that is unpleasant for the moment, but it will have a positive result! Psalm 97 tells us that Christ will reign and the earth will be glad and full of rejoicing! When Christ reigns, we are happy, we are glad, and we rejoice!

Psalm 100:1 says, “Make a joyful noise to Jehovah, all the earth”. We may experience God’s judgement and His dealing with us today in the church life and in our personal Christian life, but the result is that we give a joyful shout and we make a joyful noise! Hallelujah! We praise the Lord for all that He is!

He is defeating His enemy today in us first so that when He returns we would rule together with Him and judge the nations with Him! If we remain silent and “suffer in silence”, we are deadened, but when we praise the Lord and open to Him, we are strengthened! It is better to praise and sing than be sighing!

praising God for His reign is forever

The issue and the result of Psalms 140-144 is that we praise God and we extol God! We praise God for His kingdom – the glorious splendor of God’s kingdom – and for His dominion which is throughout all the generations (Psa. 145:10-13). Jehovah will reign forever (Psa. 146:10). It is good to sing psalms to our God; for it is pleasant; praise is fitting (Psa. 147:1).

The last five psalms are also praising God for the house, the city, and the earth – especially for the city. When God obtains the church to be not only His house but also the city as His kingdom, He can recover the earth and rule over the whole earth through Christ and the church / the city!

Christ is the One who has the rights to the seas, the heights of the mountains, He has the coastal territorial rights, the land rights, the mineral rights – He has the full rights over every part of the earth (see Psa. 93)! Also, Christ holds the legislative power (He is the law and the law-giver), the judicial power (He judges Satan and the peoples and He is righteous), and the executive power (He is the King over all the earth and the Ruler of all)!

Hallelujah! God’s kingdom is an eternal kingdom, which will never be destroyed – it will stand forever! THAT’S WHY WE PREACH THE GOSPEL – to bring in God’s kingdom! Everything we do is for this – for His kingdom and His reign to come!

Lord, we are here for this! We are here to ex-patriate Satan and evict him from the earth! We want to preach the high gospel, the gospel of the kingdom, to hasten the coming of the end of this age! Lord, bring in Your kingdom! We as Your people desire to be fully under Your reign and Your rule. The whole earth wants and desires to be under God’s rule! You are the rightful owner and You have the title deed, the rights, over all the earth!

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Christ the King will regain the earth through the church; the earth is the Lord’s!

May 4, 2012 by · 3 Comments

Christ the King will regain the earth through the church; the earth is the Lord's!This article is a continuation of, the earth will be recovered and God will reign in Christ and through the church, in an attempt to go through the Psalms and see how God intends to and WILL RECOVER the earth! We believers do not believe in what we see and we do not trust what is going on. We believe in Christ, in His salvation, and in God’s purpose to recover the whole earth for His dominion.

We believe in the things which are unseen, and we believe even in things that seem impossible to us. We believe the Word of God. And the Word of God tells us clearly that man was created in the image of God to express Him and according to God’s likeness to represent Him and have dominion over the earth for God.

the earth is Jehovah’s and its fullness

Psalm 24:1 clearly tells us, “The earth is Jehovah’s, and its fullness, the habitable land and those who dwell in it.” The earth does not belong to Satan – though it seemingly does today – but to the God. God is the rightful owner, and “it is He who founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the streams” (v. 2).

Right now on the earth there is mainly one mountain – Zion, the church – where God can dwell and reign, and the ones who can ascend to the mountain of Jehovah are Christ and His brothers (see v. 3). The church is a stepping stone for Christ to return and take over the whole earth.

Have we realized that, in spite of all the corruption, problems, rebellion, and usurpation on the earth, God has one spot – His mountain – where He dwells? We need to not pay much attention to the things going on today but rather set our mind on the things which are above, where Christ is – sitting at the right hand of God.

When we set our mind on Christ and on God’s purpose we will realize that we as the church have the priviledge to be the beachhead, the stepping stone, for the Lord to return and take possession of the whole earth! The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness – with the land, the people, everything!

open your heart and be lifted up!

Psalm 24:7 says, “Lift up your heads, o gates, and be lifted up, o long enduring doors; and the King of glory will come in.” We may be Zion today, the holy mountain of God, but we also need to be open to the Lord within. We need to be open, we need to be “lifted up”, and we need to let the King of glory come in all the way with His kingdom in our being.

If the Lord possesses our being and has us as open people on earth, He can use us corporately as a stepping stone to return and possess the entire earth. Praise the Lord! Daily we need to open to Him in this way and ask Him to open any doors and gain our cooperation for the King to come in!

God rules on the earth through the church

Psalm 47:2-3 says, “Jehovah Most High is awesome: a great King over all the earth. He subdues people under us, and nations under our feet.” When the church is being enlarged, strengthened, and uplifted to be the city of God, He can rule over all the earth through Christ and in the church! The psalm doesn’t say that God rules by Himself but that God does a lot of things through His people who have been perfected to become the city of God!

He needs the church to be strengthened to be the city so that the entire earth would be brought under God’s authority and God’s kingship in Christ. Lord, gain the church to be the city of God for Your kingdom!

God intends that Christ would possess the earth

In Psalm 89 we see that God intends that Christ would possess the entire earth. Christ is the unique One in God’s record (Psa. 87:6) who has become God’s holy One, God’s mighty One, God’s anointed One (Psa. 89:19-20; Isa. 9:6; Matt. 1:16). Christ has become the Firstborn and also the highest of the kings of the earth (see Psa. 89:27; Rom. 8:29; Rev. 1:5).

As such a Unique One and Anointed One, God will extend His territory so that He will possess the entire earth – His hand will be on the sea and His right hand on the rivers (Psa. 89:25; Rev. 10:1-2). From river to river and over the sea means that Christ will possess the whole earth! Praise the Lord!

Come, Lord Jesus! Come and bring in Your kingdom over all the earth! Recover the earth to be no longer under Satan’s usurpation but under Your rule! O, may any gates in us be lifted up! We want to give You the first place, Lord, and the preeminence in our being. Come in all the way as the King of Glory and establish Your kingdom and ruling in us. Gain all the saints in all the churches as a beachhead and a stepping stone for Your return to recover the earth!

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Filed Under: Enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, expounding the truth, God's economy, His heart's desire, morning revival, our birthright, the Body of Christ, the Christian Life, the high peak, the Lord's recovery, the Word of God · Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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