Blessed Sunday! And Happy March! I have not abandoned you! I have been with about 20 teenagers and adults for the weekend preparing for the Happening Weekend in two weeks. The days go long into night as we prepare for the Happening weekend. Planning and team building activities are all a part of the lock-in. It was a tremendous weekend. These young people are so amazing and I am looking so forward to serving with all of these young men and women as well as the adults on the weekend. Some of the roads these young believers have walked are going to make a phenomenal impact on the participants on the weekend. I ask you to be in prayer for the Happening Weekend #39, the staff and participants and Travis as the rector of the event.

Psalm 29:2 says, “Praise the Lord for the glory of His name; worship the Lord because He is holy.”

Is that a Sunday morning scripture or what!! I love Sunday morning. I love going to worship. Today Pastor Joel’s message was on being a House of Prayer. All of the music surrounded the theme of a life lived in prayer.

The purpose of coming before our Heavenly Father is to establish His authority over us and our life situations. When we come before Him we bring not only our cares and sorrows, but also our praise. We don’t just praise Him for what He has accomplished in our lives, but we praise Him because He is God. We praise God with our voices in song, with our silence in prayer, with our hands uplifted in open surrender and a longing and expectation to be filled with His presence. We praise God on our knees when we offer all of our sin and sadness to Him because it is then we claim His Lordship over us and affirm the chain of command that He is Lord and we are His people.

Praise is our highest calling. In verse one of this Psalm the angels are commanded to praise the Lord’s glory and power. Perhaps the chief occupation of the citizens of heaven is to praise God. So for us who have not as yet reached that height in the Kingdom we need to practice praise. As a lifetime musician I believe you do what you practice. So let us make an effort in this Lenten journey as we are increasing our prayer life to add praise in our conversation. Not just praising God for what He has done but because of Who He is. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and we belong to Him.

Lord, we praise You because of who you are…Lord we worship you because of who you are…You are God.

Take joy in the journey. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.