YADAH!

Courtesy to markroberts.com

By Sidharth Mohandas

In a previous post I had related one of the seven kinds of Hebraic praise. In this post I want to share with you the second one: Yadah.

“I will praise [Hebrew: Yadah] Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvelous works.” [Psalm 9:1]

What does this Hebrew word mean? Yadah means to praise with extended hands. It carries the meaning of giving oneself or surrendering oneself to the Lord as a young child does to it’s dad. “Take me, I’m all yours.”.

Many people want to go to greater heights with the Lord. They want to soar high in the spiritual and want God to work great things through them. But I want you to pay attention to the above verse. It does say, “I will show forth all your marvelous works”. But that required “Yadah” with our whole hearts. Wouldn’t it look funny if a child stretches his hand to his dad and said, “Dad, lift me up.” And when the dad starts doing it, “No! but I want my legs on the ground!” ?

Have you ever tried taming a wild horse? I haven’t, but I have heard that it’s very hard, but then there reaches a point where the horse is said to be “broken”. At this point the horse fully yields to his master.

Are we broken? Are we living yielded lives? Can we lift our hands in sincerity and truth? Next time you lift your hands, think about this. There is a price to pay for God to exalt you. It’s one of the hardest prices I’ve ever known and that price is to say “no” to yourself and say “yes” to God.

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Will you continue to joy?


Courtesy to www.divineimage.org


By Sidharth Mohandas

Around a month back I had to go to Vellore, and I was to travel in the train. For some strange reason, the electricity in my buggy had gone out and we were sitting in the dark- without any light or fan. I started thanking the Lord, just then the Lord interrupted and said, “Put off your artificiality and thank me with your heart.”. Sometimes we become “super spiritual” and use words we don’t mean to Him. So I started thanking Him with sincerity. I started with thanking Him for the train tickets [getting the ticket was a miracle because I booked the ticket 2 days before Indian Independence Day...and usually it's impossible to get train tickets even a week before the journey], I thanked for the finances… and the list went on… but while I was still thanking Him, the electricity was restored. My heart was filled with joy and I started praising Him. The Lord said, “Will you continue to joy even if the electricity goes off?”. As soon as He said this, the electricity went off. I was filled with awe at what He had just revealed to me! My joy is in Him, not in whether the electricity is there or not. His presence in my life is the greatest joy! As soon as this revelation took hold of me, I began offering a rumble of praise. Oh how blessed we are to have Him in our life!

Decide with me to joy in Him in spite of what you go through. Nothing else deserves our attention but Him!

Hallelu Yah!

By Sidharth Mohandas

“I will declare Thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise [Hebrew: HALAL] Thee.” [Psalm 22:22]

Scripture reveals seven different kinds of Hebraic praise. Today I want to focus on one particular kind called “Halal”. It is from this Hebrew word that the word “Hallelujah” finds its origin. Many Christians use this word without actually knowing its meaning. To majority of them, “Hallelujah” is just “Praise the Lord”. And that is true, but that’s not the essence of it.

The word “Halal” means to “shine forth”, “to let everyone around you know what God has done”, “to strike a party and invite everyone else to join you in celebrating God’s victory”

This is quite different from the monotonous repetition of the word “Hallelujah”, expecting God to be pleased by the number of Hallelujah’s you say and twist His arms to give you something you want. Many people would never think of twisting God’s arms, but that’s exactly what they do. Have you heard people say, “Just keep repeating the word “Hallelujah” and God will give you the gift of tongues”, “Just keeping saying “Hallelujah” and you will feel goose bumps all over you” ? Hallelujah is a declaration, friends, it’s not a magical word! Now do you know when the Israelites used this word? They used it when the Lord won a battle against their enemy or was about to win a battle. So each time we say “Hallelujah”, we are saying, “God has won the battle and satan has lost the battle!”. Doesn’t the declaration put on flesh when you know the meaning?The word is combination of “Halal” and “Yahweh”, and we get “Hallalu Yah”, which means “declaration of the victory of Yahweh”. What does Yahweh mean? It means “I Am Who I Am”. It means to signify that God is never “I WAS” or “I WILL BE”, but “He is” all that “He was” and “He will be” all that “He was”. He won’t change. And because He won’t change, He will always remain the Victorious One. Our response? HALLELU YAH!

 

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