STAND!

A devotional of Psalm 135

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord, give praise, O servants of the Lord,

2 who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God!

Remember that praise – halal – means to shine, to show off, to boast, to celebrate, to glory in. It is to make a fuss, nay, a loud and colorful raucous about something or someone. Now amplify that three times in that verse alone! Halal Jah!!

We are called to be servants, nay, slaves, in the house of the Lord. There we labor in special service to a very special Master. For that we need special training. For that we need favor – supernatural equipping and approval for divine assignments. Psalm 104:4b teaches, “he makes his servants flames of fire.”  Can you see it with your spirit eyes? You, servant of the Most High are about as fiery as your master, the Consuming Fire of Deuteronomy 4:24 and 9:3. You are a formidable special forces servant of Jah. Amen! Whoever you’re working with today, whatever post he assigns you, do it with this identity about you.

Oh, it only gets better. To stand – amad­ – takes its literal meaning and adds amazing connotations. It is to be in a standing attitude. It is to attend to. It is to stop moving or doing. It is to endure, to persist, and to be steadfast. In our study of Ps. 134:1, we saw “Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord!” When others are done, you remain. When others tire and turn in you tarry. When the comforts and convenience and safety that daylight bring have set, you stand your ground. You are watchful, mindful, alert. You are not the slouching one. You are standing upright, erect. Nothing surprises you or catches you unaware. Your very arrival onto the scene, makes a scene, quiet as it may be. You rise up or rise against the foe and his ploys, which you are strategically aware of. Always, the theif comes to steal, kill, and destroy, John 10:10.

What is your post today, servant? Where will Jah take you? Who will you see and touch. It is not routine or on accident. See it with spirit eyes. Show up. Stand up! With the power and authority of Jah, take a fiery, flaming stand. Things will not be the same once you show up on the scene. It’s not business as usual once you show up. The Spirit has anointed you as he had Jesus. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners,” Lk 4:18. We discussed the anointing with oil as choosing you, appointing you, separating or sanctifying you, empowering you; and that oil represents Holy Spirit. And. We. Know. What. Happens. When. Oil. And. Fire. Mix. Look out, world! Look out, Satan!

Back in February Spurgeon taught us, “… the whole world shall be his house to me; and when I ascend into the upper chamber I shall not change my company, nor even change the house; I shall only go to dwell in the upper story of the house of the lord forever.” Friends, already we are raised with Christ and seated in the heavenlies with Christ. You already occupy heaven, God’s ultimate house, Eph. 2.:6.

3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant!

Show off again, servant. This time in song. What are you going through? Sing. Is there joy? Sing. Is there anxiety? Sing. Is there sorrow? Sing! “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” Eph. 5:18-21. Singing is your divine language. Singing is your battle cry. Sing. Sing. Sing. Raise a halleluya.

Turn off the radio.  Learn a hymn. Learn a chorus. Make up a song. Turn scripture into music. It will transform your life, especially in the watches of the night.

4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you,” John 15:16. And don’t forget 1 Peter 2:9 that teaches, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. When you proclaim the good news to the afflicted; when you bind up the broken-hearted; when you proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners, you are showing Jah off. You are causing a raucous in the heavenlies. You are standing your ground, flaming fire.

5 For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.

The word for great is rendered as a repetition – gadol, gadol – with flair to express grandeur, excellence, nobility, importance, and distinction. Say it with me, “Jah, you are gadol, gadol!” There is nothing and no one greater.

6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

8 He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast;

9 who in your midst, O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants;

10 who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings,

11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan,

12 and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel.

13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.

14 For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.

15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

16 They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see;

17 they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.

18 Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.

In Napping in Delilah’s Lap, I describe one of the horrors of idolatry as the fact that our idols make us like them. We go from being flaming arrow ministers to being snuffed out blocks of wood or cold metal. Sexual immorality, the epitome and the symbol of idolatry does this to us. “For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, and an adulteress hunts for the precious life,” Pr. 6:26. Idolatry devalues you, it cheapens you. And then it kills you.

19 O house of Israel, bless the Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!

20 O house of Levi, bless the Lord! You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!

21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem!

Praise the Lord!

Do not forget that bless – barak – means to kneel. When we kneel in the physical, we stand in the spirit. When we bow or submit to and trust God in the physical, we rise and soar in the spiritual. Teach your soul to barak  and your spirit to halal.  Burn forth, flaming warriors!