Recurring Hallelujahs

Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) (AMP)

Praise the Lord! Psalm 150 commands everything, "Just DO it!" — not just humans, but ladybugs, coyotes, stars in their heavens. A woman stops by to admire the sunflowers in my garden, turning their heads as they follow the sun. Their very presence and the intricacies of their construction praise the Lord. Trees praise Him, their leaves swaying in the breeze, with a sort of breathing as they convert carbon dioxide into oxygen for us to breathe — to the praise of our Creator's craftsmanship. Sparrows wake up singing in the morning, reminding us to focus completely on the Lord.

There are no directions in the psalm on how to praise — the psalmist didn't think that we needed any. We breathe in and out as we walk through our day with our God. Our lives committed to Him are the praise that we offer, doing, each day, what He has given us to do, with rejoicing.

The quality of our praise isn't an issue or even whether or not we are doing it the right way. Someone said, "It's none of my business what other people think of me. I'm in the efforts business, not the results business." What is the result of my praising the Lord? A hallelujah comes out, maybe the greatest thing that any creature can be part of, on this earth. "Gratitude is the gate upon which the spiritual life swings," someone else has said. That spiritual swinging is the sound of the sweet chariot of our lives, praising the God who made us, by the everyday example that we set.

Practicing daily praise is a hallelujah, a regular habit, downloading into our hearts the hymns that are in our heads, going down the street with our Saviour, continuing in prayer, stopping to see if we can help someone in need, being a member of this present world and the heavenly world at the same time, being conscious of meaning and purpose in our lives no matter where it takes us, and being grateful with every breath for being allowed a part in another hallelujah.

Revelation 19:1 – [The Fourfold Hallelujah] After these things I heard something like the great and mighty shout of a vast multitude in heaven, exclaiming, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory (splendor, majesty) and power (dominion, might) belong to our God. (AMP)

Revelation 19:6 – Then I heard something like the shout of a vast multitude, and like the boom of many pounding waves, and like the roar of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all] reigns. (AMP)

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, may we hear Your canticle divine in our lives today, the eternal song which we shall someday share with all believers. Thank You for these foretastes of joy in Your presence. May each of our lives become a hallelujah. Grow our understanding in patience, kindness, and love so that our sinful selves are changed to become what You always intended them to be. Help us to accept Your forgiveness. Thank You for the example of Your Son, Who showed us the way out, and in Whose name we pray. Amen.

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