Devotional Song: Go to this link – Please take your time to see a video of a powerful chorus performing with full chorus and orchestra, singing… The Hallelujah Chorus, taken from Handel’s Oratorio, The Messiah. Hearing it says it all!!! … And the attached photo was copied from Handel’s original manuscript with his own title for this great musical masterpiece.
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Highlight Passage: Psalm 147: 4… [NKJV] …
14 He counts the number of the stars; … He calls them all by name.
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Highlight Context - NKJV: Psalm 147 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK …
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Highlight Context #2 - NKJV: Psalms 146-150 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK … ============
Reference Passage #1 - NKJV: Psalm 117 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK …
Reference Passage #2: John 3: 16… [NKJV] … [Oh, surely you know this one! If you do so; … HALLELUJAH!!] …
Reference Passage #3 - NKJV: Romans 15: 7-13 - See verse 11 [NKJV] GO TO THIS LINK …
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional directed me to a Hebrew phrase that I use often in my Christian prayer life, which is “Praise the LORD!” in English or the Hebrew equivalent, “HALLELUJAH!” You probably use the praise phrase as well, … maybe even the modern TEXTing version, … “PTL!”
But what the ODB piece, authored by David McCasland, did for me today was to help me more deeply appreciate the depth of meaning in this praise. I’m afraid that I had become somewhat guilty of trivializing it’s meaning when I so often casually, in my prayers, will flippantly praise our Lord with almost reflexive or automatic references to “praise the lord” or “hallelujah” (emotionally with a small “l” in LORD or a small “h” in “HALLELUJAH”).
BUT George Frederich Handel certainly didn’t trivialize the Hebrew expression in his 18th century Oratorio, “The Messiah.” And if you’ve ever been to a production of The Messiah, when the orchestra/chorus finally come to the rendition of The Hallelujah Chorus, it is always stirring to me to see the audience rise to its feet in collective recognition that Jesus Christ, Our Messiah, is being celebrated in chorus and song.
Do you realize, however, that the phrase “Praise the Lord,” which is the collective Hebrew word “Hallelujah,” is found over 60 times in the NKJV of Old Testament Scripture, is only found in one place in the New Testament? That is in Romans 15: 11, which is a quote from Psalm 117: 1. However, if you go to today’s highlight passages from Psalms 146-150, you’ll see that the Old Covenant believers, as with the author of these five psalms, looking forward to the coming of Messiah, were much more prone to utter the phrase “Hallelujah!” or “Praise the LORD!”
Please go back and see how often - and with emphasis - the author of the last five Psalms declares a pointed - and repeated - proclamation of “Hallelujah” … “Praise the LORD!!” And then go back and take the time to meditate on how much we need to PRAISE OUR LORD ... perhaps by listening to the rousing God Tube rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus (linked above). Maybe you might even be roused to stand to your feet - at least emotionally rise - when you hear the “Hallelujah Chorus” being sung by full orchestra/chorus.
And then join me in our prayers today with a loud declaration - from our hearts - saying … HALLELUJAH! … HALLELUJAH! … HALLELUJAH!
My Prayer for Today … YES, LORD … HALLELUJAH!!! … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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