Continually Praising

How would you FEEL?  What would YOUR reaction be, if you had had the privilege of actually SEEING Jesus after He’d risen from the grave?  You had SEEN Him crucified.  You had SEEN Him laid in a tomb.  You KNEW He was dead.  But now, you literally SAW Him, alive.  You HEARD Him speak; you SAW His body in physical form.  And then you also had the opportunity to SEE Him as He ascended up into Heaven right out of your midst, just outside the village of Bethany.

How would you FEEL?  What would your REACTION be?

Luke 24:52-53 tells us how Jesus’ disciples felt and how they reacted under these very circumstances.  “And they WORSHIPPED Him, and returned to Jerusalem with GREAT JOY!  And were CONTINUALLY in the temple, PRAISING and BLESSING God!”

I believe these verses describe the normal feelings and reactions of people who have truly been in the presence of Jesus.  They WORSHIP!  They’re filled with GREAT JOY!  And they are CONTINUALLY PRAISING God!

Whatever happened to “Prayer & Praise” services in our local churches?  I recall so well, just 15 -20 years ago how common it was for churches to have an entire service of personal TESTIMONIES and PRAISES to God.  And they’d do it all over again the next week … and the next.  These usually took place in the mid-week service, but sometimes, even a Sunday service would “‘break out” in continual praise as one person after another stood to praise his God and tell of some answer to prayer from God’s hand.

Revelation 12:11 reminds us that the “word of our testimony” is one of the best and surest ways to “overcome” the enemy of our souls.

I’m ready for a good, old-fashioned, testimony meeting, filled with the victorious praises of God’s joyful children!  I think we’ll just HAVE one, this Sunday evening!