Serve the Lord with Gladness: Psalm 100-Supplication through the Scriptures
Serve the Lord with Gladness
Psalm 100
Here in the South, we have a chain of fast food restaurants where the customer service is expected to be the best. Its employees are trained to reply to the customers’ requests with, “My pleasure!” Our response in our service to the Lord wherever He has placed us should be in our hearts, “It’s my pleasure, Lord!”
In 2 Corinthians 12:15, Paul tells the Corinthians, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” In essence he tells them that it is his pleasure to be spent, be expended, or exhaust himself for the benefit of their souls. This is not the only place Paul communicates the idea that he is glad and rejoices to serve others, even at the expense of himself. To the Philippians he said, “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all” (2:17). And to the Thessalonians: “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:8). Paul’s service to the believers imitated his Savior who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
It is the Lord Christ whom we serve as well (Colossians 3:24). The Lord has called us to joyful service wherever He has placed us. There may be times and places where we would love serving if it was a different area of service or a different sphere where we felt more fulfilled, our gifts more well used, or our sacrifice more appreciated. Whether we are serving in the church, the family, or the community, we can in love serve one another in the strength that God supplies (Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 4:11). We will one day serve our Lord in complete sincerity and with a whole heart in our long-awaited home. “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him” (Revelation 22:3 NASB2020).
From Psalm 100 I offer four suggestions for how our service to the Lord will honor Him. We can serve the Lord with gladness (100:2). Joyfully, not begrudgingly, we can serve Him. We can serve Him knowing He is God, He made us, and we are His (100:3). We are in the service of the great King. We serve Him because He is our Lord and Master, and He is a kind and benevolent Lord. We can serve with thanksgiving (100:4). Our lives are given as living sacrifices in gratitude for all He has accomplished for us in Christ. Finally, we can serve because He is good and faithful (100:5). He has placed us in exactly the situation, stage of life, sphere of influence, or place of humble service that He knows is the best for us and for His kingdom. We can trust His good and faithful placement of our lives.
Let’s pray through Psalm 100 for willing, joyful, obedient hearts to serve Him wherever He has placed us. Will you gladly spend and be spent for others?
Serve the Lord with gladness
100:1-2 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
Let’s pray:
▫️With joy, we would present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service of worship (Romans 12:1).
▫️When we feel weary with the tasks God has assigned, or weary with the place He has set us, He would renew us with gladness in Himself and give us strength to again present the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness to Him (Romans 6:13).
▫️We would serve the Lord with gladness whether we feel appreciated or not, seen or unseen.
▫️We would serve Him daily knowing we are living in the light of His presence.
We are His people
100:3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Let’s pray:
▫️Knowing that He is Lord and God, we would humbly choose to obey Him where He has us right now.
▫️We would remember that we are His, and that in all we do, it is the Lord Christ whom we serve (Colossians 3:24).
▫️Since we are His sheep, and He is our good Shepherd, we would serve faithfully, boldly, and sacrificially knowing His provides, cares, and protects His own.
▫️We would use our gifts that He had given us to build up those around us, especially in our families and local churches, with the strength that God supplies (1 Peter 4:11).
The Lord is good
100:4-5 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Let’s pray:
▫️We would give thanks that we get to serve our great God through serving one another in love.
▫️We would bless the Lord at all times and His praise would be continually on our lips while we are serving Him (Psalm 34:1).
▫️His goodness, His love, and His faithfulness would give us strength to serve, and our light would so shine before men that they would see our good works and give glory to our Father in Heaven.
▫️We would gladly spend and be spent for others (2 Corinthians 12:15).
▫️It would be our pleasure to be poured out for the service of others’ faith (Philippians 2:17).
May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All right reserved.
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