TITLE: O Magnify the Lord By Durelle Rutledge 10/06/06 |
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Read: Psalms 34:1-3
I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
Focus: Psalms 34:3
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
Reference:
Psalms 69: 30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Luke 1:46 And Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord.
Acts 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter.
Key Word: Magnify
(Hebrew): to make large, glorify, honor, to enlarge, increase, laud.
(Greek): to render or esteem glorious, full of or have glory, honor, to make or declare great, increase, enlarge, extol.
(English): extol, laud, to cause to be held in greater esteem or respect; to increase in significance, intensify, exaggerate; to enlarge in fact or in appearance; to have the power of causing objects to appear larger than they are.
If we think of a magnifying glass, it has two sides. One side makes things larger and the other makes them smaller. Our relationship and spiritual life with God is like using a magnifying glass.
On one hand (or one side of the glass) we magnify God by making Him larger in our mind, in our heart and in our spirit through prayer and praise we give Him the honor, esteem and glory He deserves. Then we allow Him access to every area of our lives. We give Him complete control over everything and trust Him by faith in Christ Jesus. This makes Him large, very large in our hearts, minds and spirits. We want to give Him more and more of ourselves and receive more and more of Him. It becomes a glorious cycle. The more we yearn for Him the larger we see Him with our spiritual “eyes”. This creates another process. The more we “receive” Him into us, the more we become what He wills for us to be, and the more we become what we “want” to be.
On the other side of the magnifying glass things get smaller. We can make sunlight or other direct light create a beam transmitted through the glass. The beam will pinpoint whatever target we choose; and can burn or start a fire.
When we allow God to “pinpoint” our heart with the heat of His love and His Word, it will be like “fire shut up in our bones” (Jer. 20:9). Our praise and thanksgiving will be automatic. As well as our obedience to His Word and His will.
In Psalms 69:30, we can see that praising God and thanking Him magnifies Him in both senses of the word. It makes Him “larger” in our life and it esteems, honors and glorifies Him.
Having our hearts “pinpointed” by God creates and develops a whole new level of relationship between Him and us. It creates a new level of praise in our spirit, a new level of worship in our heart and a new level of thanksgiving in or minds. “Thanksgiving in our minds?” Yes, in our minds. We think to thank Him more often and about more “things” in our lives. We even begin to notice and recognize the “little things” that we took for granted before.
In Luke 1:46, we see an example of “magnifying” the Lord for blessings in our lives. In the case of this particular verse, the blessings hadn’t even been received yet. We should not only “magnify” God “after” we have received our blessings, but also before and during. Ever hear of the saying, “What the devil means for our bad, God means for our good.” This is why we are told to praise our way through our storms. Because no matter what the devil intends or how bad it looks, we can rest assured that God will bring something “good” out of it or because of it. When we “magnify” Him for our blessings by “faith” (the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen) we show Him that we trust Him and believe His word.
Have a desire in your heart for a gift, talent or other blessing? “Magnify” God! In Acts 10:46, they spoke in tongues and magnified the Lord. They received their blessings and “magnified” because of it. So, we see that it “works” both ways.
Therefore, “magnifying” God should be an “all the time“ thing! We really don’t need a reason to “magnify” Him, but if we really want one – why not, “Because He is God”!
So, “O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together” and be blessed!
Amen and God bless.
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