Does Your Soul Desire to Magnify the Lord?

Hey GCT:  As we move into another year as the GCT body of Christ we continue with the life-changing story of the nativity in Luke this Sunday.  As you look at the nativity in Luke you see that Luke includes the four nativity songs sung by Mary, Zechariah, the angels, and Simeon.  Only Luke writes about these four songs of worship.   These are the first Christian hymns ever written.  They are hymns of praise filled with joy and wonder of what God has done, is doing and will do.  

So, why does Luke include these songs?  My first thought is that God loves songs of praise being sung to Him.  As we see throughout Scripture the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.   Our Lord loves it when we sing praises to Him.  This week we will be looking at thirteen year old Mary and how she gives us the perfect example of how to come before the Lord in worship.  Like Mary, singing praises to the Lord must be our natural response to the gospel.  What God has done in Christ demands praise!  It is not simply enough to say what God has done for us.  What He has done for us needs to be sung out of the fullness of our heart and soul as Mary did.  The Gospel should produce a melody in our heart to sing to the Lord in gratitude.  God commands us over fifty times in Scripture to sing praises to Him.  Do you have a song of praise on your heart right now?  Do you see your need for a Savior?  Do you see His endless blessings in your life?

Here is a crazy thought.  Jesus sang praises while on Earth.  Think about that.  Jesus sang praises.  The night before His crucifixion he worshipped with His disciples through song.  And Hebrews 2:12, tells us that even now He is singing about us before the heavenly congregation because He is our brother.   What an amazing thought to ponder.  Our Savior and Lord is singing praises over us because He is our brother.  That makes me want to sing praises with great magnifying power as Mary did in Luke 1:46-47, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior...

GCT, do you have the same desire to sing praises as Jesus does right now?  When you sing are you singing with only an open mouth?  Or are you singing like Mary with a soul that magnifies the Lord along with your spirit rejoicing in God your Savior?  Let us be a people who worship with heart wholly excited to express praise to God who has saved us to the uttermost.  Let us come to worship this Sunday and every Sunday with soul and heart desiring to magnify the Lord with our Spirit rejoicing in God as our Savior.  I really look forward to worshipping with on Sunday.

Magnifying the Lord together, Steve