About Your Kingdom

ABOUT YOUR KINGDOM
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Do you remember the passage where Paul and Silas sang praises to God and how this got them out of a jail to which they didn’t belong. Their judgment to be put in prison came from man, but God’s judgment of freedom for them over-rode the earthly one, especially since they were doing what God had asked them.
So, you have an earthly kingdom – because you live here in the earth. What is your kingdom made of? What set of morals or principles do you go by for making your decisions? Is your kingdom a mess or is it blessed? Can it get any better?

Praise makes your kingdom stronger and better. We can find the meaning of praise in Gen 29:35 Judah (Yehudah) is the Hebrew word for praise.
Gen 49:8-12 we can see that praise triumphs over all enemies, has royal authority (scepter), has legal authority (lawgiver), from Judah (praise) comes Jesus and everything he does brings praise to God Luke 3:23-33 and victory to you.  Praise led Israel through the wilderness Num 2:3 & 9, praise (Judah) led the conquest of Canaan Judg 1:1-19.

Colossians 3:16 talks about psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Psalm is biblical lyrics (words of praise and honor). Hymns are songs we write – How Great Thou Art, Amazing Grace, etc. Spiritual Songs is the joyful noise like the waters mentioned in John 7:38 that flow from our deepest most inner part – a song from our heart to God. The Greek word for these 3 words is “Odais Pneumatikais” and from this we understand that Psalms are inspired by the Holy Spirit. With a word like odais pneumatikais one might think that the writers of the Roadrunner and Wyle E Coyote cartoon were well versed in Greek literature.
Jesus came to earth and brought with him his kingdom, Matt 3:2, in hopes that we would trade in our thoughts and our ways for his. Our thoughts and ways will form our kingdoms and we want strong kingdoms, Matt 7:10
Here are some things about praising God to help you build your kingdom into something strong, benevolent, and worthy of the Lord.
1. We’re to sing songs of praise and thankfulness. The Hebrew word for “thank” is yadah (or todah) and this implies worship as in reverence. The origin of the verb “yad” (hand) suggests to worship with outstretched hands.
2. We can see in Paul and Silas’ world they were not afraid to praise God. Maybe they could really sing, maybe they couldn’t, but either way, they didn’t care. They sang. Praise needs to be an important part of your kingdom. Praise needs to happen for a lot of reasons not just because something bad is going on in your world (your kingdom) but at all times; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
3. Praise cures the dry times – just start singing praises to God when you feel anything less than your best. God promises he would give us “water” which symbolizes life during our “heat waves”.  Num 21:126-17.
4. Praise brings in the presence and power of God 2 Chron 5:13-14
5. Praise brings victory 2 Chron 20:15-22.

You can praise your way out of darkness. You can praise your way out of troubles, even if it’s your fault – especially when it’s your fault.  Singing praises to God will help you navigate the murky waters of certain situations. Praise your way out from under your circumstances and get on top of them quickly.
Most importantly, don’t forget to just praise God for who He is. You don’t have to be in trouble to praise God. You don’t and shouldn’t wait for bad things to happen to start praising God. Just start. Make it your number one priority first thing every morning to spend some time praising God just because He’s God. Amen? Amen!
Get in the habit of visiting with Him every morning and journal your experiences. As an added note, don’t skip too many days on doing this because you will find yourself in a mental fog, dazed, unable to remember where you left off, etc. Then you’ll find yourself asking God to help you get back on track which is easy to do any time of the year but with the holidays fast approaching, don’t let things get in your way. In fact, you’ll most likely have a smoother holiday season by putting God first.
Additionally, praise and worship helps you to have God encounters, or God winks as some call it, receive a word of encouragement or direction from God when you need it- 1 Sam 16:14-23 / 1 Cor 14:25, create an atmosphere for God to move in and for your benefit - 2 Chron 20, and it helps to gets your spirit ready to work with God to empower your kingdom - John 4:23-24.
Build it up and stay strong in Jesus.
 
Blessings,
La Donna