Welcome to the party!

Joy is the worship language of heaven, and you’re invited to join in. No matter what the circumstances are, we always have a reason to celebrate! When we lift our joyful songs to the Lord, we usher in breakthrough and freedom.

This verse lays out a beautiful framework for worship, and gives us an inside look into the type of worship that’s happening right now in heaven. Shout for joy to the Lord. Shout! When’s the last time we shouted in joy to the Lord? When the joy couldn’t be contained to merely singing, but turned into shouting his praises? How would you rate your current level of joy?
Throughout life, our joy can quickly be depleted. There are very real earthly circumstances that lead us down roads of grief, hopelessness, loneliness, and anxiety. Instead of shouting for joy, we find ourselves crushed under life’s weight, crying out to God to break through. Maybe there have been prolonged seasons characterized by desperation rather than shouts of joy. I don’t think the psalmist was naïve or delusional about life’s trials- who knows what he himself was enduring when he wrote this!? Yet he stills calls us to shout for joy to the Lord. Why? I have a feeling he grasped this revelation: joy is the worship language of heaven. I believe the way we choose to worship impacts our circumstances, not the other way around.

Where God’s presence resides, darkness and pain cannot.
Where God’s presence resides, there’s no sickness or mourning.

But there is freedom, wholeness, laugher, and glory. That’s the eternal reality for believers - face to face with the creator of the universe who loves us, forever and ever. If that was your reality right now, wouldn’t you shout for joy and worship him with gladness? Wouldn’t that change the way you viewed your current circumstances?
Here’s the secret: you are invited to experience that reality right now. You are invited to the biggest party of all time: the worship of King Jesus. How do I know? The second half of Psalm 100 says to “enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise”. Notice the present tense! Enter now his gates. Enter now his courts. You’re invited right now to step into his gates and join in worship with angels and saints lifting up his name. How amazing is that? When we choose to worship, we get swept into the joyful party of eternity, and heaven’s reality is made available for us to experience on earth.

We are finite beings invited to meet with an infinite God. When we do that, that’s when we get freedom and breakthrough in our earthly circumstances. That’s when we see the Holy Spirit move among us, and His presence manifest. That’s when heaven invades earth, and darkness runs for the hills. So don’t hold back your shouts of praise. Don’t hold back your joyful songs to the Lord. There is always a reason to celebrate - he is good, faithful, kind, and he wants to be with you on earth and in heaven. You’re invited! Come join the party.

Worship Playlist:

Life is Beautiful - Rend Collective

Your Love is Alive - Housefires

I Will Be Undignified - Rend Collective

Freedom - Bethel