The God I Want To Know
“Sing for joy in the Lord, you who are right with Him. It is right for the pure in heart to praise Him.” – Psalm 33:1
In an article entitled “Praising God with Our Testimonies”, Dr. Scott Sunquist writes:
“My wife and I once visited a large new church in Los Angeles. After some time of praise, Mary, a local drama student at a large university, came forward to give a testimony. The professor of her introductory acting class had asked all the students to present “something extreme” to the class.
Mary decided that, as a Christian, she would write a hymn of love to Jesus and sing it.
The student presenting before her, Alice, took a Bible, led the class out by a trash can on campus, and proceeded to slowly read portions of the Old Testament about commands to make war, God punishing the nations, and sending Israel into exile. She read imprecatory psalms. With each violent passage, Alice would say something like, “Who would ever believe in a God like that?” Then she would tear out the page from the Bible, burn it, and drop the page in the trashcan. It was extreme drama.
This was the warm-up for Mary. She pulled out her guitar, said a brief prayer under her breath, and sang a love song to Jesus. The class was silent and then went home. All, that is, except for Alice, who came forward with tears in her eyes. “That was beautiful. That is the God I want to know. Can you help me get to know Jesus?” And so, after a few days of Bible study and prayer, Alice gave her life to Christ.
The congregation was filled with praise and joy. Then, to add greater praise and thanksgiving, Mary said, “And Alice wanted to come to worship with me today to express her thanksgiving to Jesus.” Sudden praise erupted in the worship service. Mary and Alice hugged, and the worship team spontaneously broke into a song of praise. Some of us cried tears of joy.”
Do something extreme and praise the Lord! Someone might be watching and want to know Jesus.
“We must never rest until everything inside us worships God.” – A. W. Tozer
“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” – Psalm 32:11