Daily Bible Challenge: Day 627 Psalms Chapter 149

Verse 1 starts off with the challenge to Praise the Lord while assembled with other faithful believers.

Verse 5 challenges us to praise the Lord while in our beds – privately isolated from the rest of the world.

There are those who say you don't need to go to church to be saved.

Then there are those who say I just like to spend alone time with God.

Then there are those who will go to church but outside of church they don't meet with God again.

But in the scriptures, God is calling us to do both: assemble together before the Lord, but also isolate ourselves so we can be alone with the Lord.

Jesus was often in the temple speaking but at the same time he often isolated himself from people so he could be alone with God. He did both.

Those who say you don't need to go to church to get saved are right, but that's not why the church was designed. The church was designed for BELIEVERS to have a place to gather and meet with God and meet with each other and use their gifts and be an encouragement to others while being encouraged. We can't look at church as just a place to stop by and then leave. Hebrews 10:24-25 is a great passage for encouraging us to assemble together before God.

Luke 5:16 is a great example from Jesus reminding us how important it is to often be alone with the Lord.

There's something exciting about humbling meeting before God privately. It's a chance to lift up the name of the Lord, but also a chance to hear God's quiet voice in our heart and spirit. I enjoy my quiet time with the Lord. That's my most connecting time with him. I get to hear his voice through praise and through his Word and through his Holy Spirit.  And He gets to hear my voice in my prayer, praise and thanksgiving time.

This chapter is a great reminder to me to stay connected to God and other believers in corporate worship, but also a great reminder staying connected with God in my private time with him.

But the greatest reminder is that when we meet with God, something is going to happen and I, for one, want to be a part of it.