Praising

I am thinking about Pastor Piedmonte this morning and many that may read this will never have had the privilege of knowing this great man.  Like Paul he was small in stature but big in the area of faith.  He never attended a Bible college but he was a man of the Word and a man after God’s own heart.  He didn’t put up with any nonsense and kept order in the church.  He was a man you could count on in any situation to help bring peace and order to the church he resided over, you might say he ran a tight ship.  If you were sick or in the hospital or had some kind of tragedy happen to you or someone in your family, he was faithful and would come along side of you and your family to encourage you and bless you with his spiritual wisdom and his kind words.  

He didn’t take his calling lightly, preaching the Word faithfully, exhorting, rebuking, correcting and training people up in their most holy faith.  When he first came to the church, as far as I know, it was a small congregation but it began to grow and when my family and I attended there, there were times when they would have to put chairs down the aisles next to the pews and along the front and back of the pews because of the many people that came.  He was, in my opinion and I am sure many others felt the same way, a great man of God with God’s anointing on his life.  He was well-known in the area and dearly loved by many that knew him.  There were times you would hear him from the pulpit say, “let’s do the Piedmonte shuffle,” or something close to that, which meant to get closer in the pews so as to make more room for other people.  

One of the songs he loved to sing, maybe it was his favorite, I think was entitled, “It’s Amazing What Praising Can Do,” which the congregation would sing over and over again.  Praising the Lord was very important to him and if my memory doesn’t fail me he would have us sing praises for over an hour at times and I think we had services that consisted of mainly praise songs and testimonies.  There was something else I recall him doing at times, before he even preached he would give something like an altar call and people would respond by indicating they would like to give their hearts to the Lord during the worship time.  

If you are a born-again believer and you still recall what the Lord has delivered you from, I believe you will be happy and willing to praise and thank the Lord regardless of your circumstances or situations.  I feel this way, no matter where we find ourselves in our Christian walk, the Lord is still worthy of our thanksgiving and our praise.  The Bible says that God inhabits our praise.  In Psalms 22:3 it says this, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”  This is the closest it comes to saying that God inhabits the praises of His people.

The true story of the ten lepers just came to mind while I was typing this, Luke 17:11-19 says this, “Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’

So when He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

So Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.’”

These ten lepers were dying, with no possible cure, when they cried out to Jesus who was their only hope.  All of these men showed faith by asking Jesus to heal them, but only one was healed and set free from his pagan religion into the right way, the way of salvation.  This one seems to have been given eternal life also because he glorified God.  I think thanking, praising and glorifying God is good medicine and that every believer should do it often.  

I have given you something to think about and if you are not thanking, praising and glorifying God each day that you will start today.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super and blessed day.