Is There a Personal Time Required for Praising God?

Other than the Fourth Precept Holy call to rest and worship, are we required a personal time of praising God? This inquiry can be summed up exceptionally brief: Yes. We are to praise and thank Yeshua in ALL things at all times, as scripture directs us. Having said this, it stands to reason that, if we carefully observe our waking moments of each day, we will find many events, in fact all occurrences, that should prompt our personal prayer of praise and thanks to our great Father— very humbly, of course. On the other hand, we must first love the Lord before we can praise Him.

Remember the tax collector praying in the temple, beating upon his chest as he declared himself a miserable sinner and begged for God's mercy? As the story goes, he was the only one to walk out of the temple justified by God. The Pharisee, a Jewish religious leader therefore most familiar with God's Holy Word and there at the same time, was not at all justified. (Luke 18:10-14)

Beginning in Genesis to the end of The Revelation, are found incident after incident of the people praising Yeshua for literally everything and every occurrence in their lives: good or bad, in peace or war, births and deaths. But, is there a specific day we should exercise our personal praise? No. It should be every day and in all things. We should rejoice every day (Philippians 4:4). The Bible also warns against unwittingly praising the wicked: "Those who forsake the law praise the wicked" (Proverbs 28:4). Clearly that verse applies to all twelve of Adonai's commands.

Speaking and teaching God's truth is to perfect praise. (Matthew 21:16; II Corinthians 8:18) It also causes us to be called great in heaven: where such praise for us carries the most weight. We are told to worry about nothing, except that we approach everything by prayer and supplication and with thanks to God. By this manner we gain the peace of God that defies all understanding. Additionally, we are told to be satisfied in and with all things, no matter how little or painful any one thing might be (Philippians 4:6-7,11).

As Paul indicated, we should be filled with joy and thanks and praise during adversities, infirmities, and afflictions. Now, why in the world would we want to do that? After all, we are ill, in pain, perhaps dying of a terminal disease, maybe financially ruined, and to top all that off we might even have people picking on us for what we faithfully believe and practice. Worse, those people might even be family members.

According to Acts and various epistles, Paul suffered it all. But, more importantly and concerning the thorn in his side due to the exceedingly generous gifts Christ had bestowed upon him, he stated: "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in [lack of] necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." (II Corinthians 12:9~,10)

Such negatives are just ONE of several signs that we belong to God: a part of Christ's small flocks. Did not Jesus declare we would suffer as He suffered? Indeed. This is not to say, however, that in bearing this token we are guaranteed redemption. A point is made here of this being only ONE part of the sheep's badge: inasmuch as even Satan's synagogues appearing-godly employ some of the same symbols: with exception of blatantly using God's Seal.

With regard to El's Seal, Lucifer had no choice except to design a counterfeit for his use and with which to mark his own goats and those of God's called-but-not-yet-chosen: unless or until they discover Elohim's Truth and choose to adhere to it instead of Satan's blasphemous lies. If this were not true, then why did The Revelation quote the Lord instructing His "people to come out of her, lest they suffer her plagues and her utter destruction?"

Despite physical pain or discomfort associated with diseases or injuries and/or emotional pain fostered by persecution from others, there remains a positive side to what only seems to be a wholly destructive coin. In recalling Job's numerous misfortunes affecting his entire lifestyle and family, we learn that he continued to praise the Lord through it all: never once did he turn away from or deny God in any way, muchless blame El Shaddai, even when things went from bad to worse and finally deep into the worst, almost causing Job's physical death and certainly bringing out the worst in his wife.

Obviously, Job knew what Noah knew and what Paul knew and they each clearly understood God. We also discover Lucifer as the bearer of all that is negative, weapons he uses against those called to salvation in an effort to get them to curse Adonai and outright turn against Him. Satan does not use this particular arsenal against his own, only against Ishi's called. After all, Lucifer already has his own; so, there's no point or even a fleeting reward in tormenting them— unless, of course, it will convince the world that his church is the true church of the One True God, over which he made himself god way back in the Apostles' day.

Unfortunately, there are times when Beelzebub succeeds in turning away one of Christ's called in a blaze of cursing and denials and blaming of God for all that befalls him or her or someone about whom they care. They don't recognize their real enemy in action; yet, these sheep are in real danger of losing the salvation to which they've been called but not yet chosen: IF they do not repent and seek to know our Creator on a much more personal as well as spiritual level. They desperately need to learn to recognize their mortal enemy each time he rears his ugly head, to comprehend that it is not mankind and, more importantly, certainly not God.

That old Devil and his fallen angels simply work through mankind, just as God and His angels do the same. In reality, this means a person we perceive as an enemy is as much a victim of The Destroyer's machinations as Jesus' people are his intended victims. To destroy all of El's creation is Lucifer's sole mission and has been ever since he was cast to earth in abject shame with utter destruction looming on his black horizon. He didn't do himself any favors when he tempted Eve or attacked Job, despite having had Father's permission to do the latter.

Therefore, there is a distinct yet potentially temporary disadvantage to being called: which disadvantage is a potential for failure to be chosen. And, as there are two sides to every coin, there is a well-defined benefit to being chosen. According to scripture, those who are obedient receive baptism of the Holy Spirit: a token representative of finally having been chosen. The benefit here is that the chosen no longer can be shaken by Satan's temptations and torments. But, don't kid yourself: he goes after the chosen with a burning vengeance, more so than when he sets his cap on those called. It is in this chosen state, however, when the sheep find it easy to praise, give thanks and worship Ishi in ALL things every day: no matter what the day might bring. Until chosen, it is not so easy but it is do-able: if we so choose because we love the Lord.

Regarding the Fourth Precept of Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-14 as well as adamantly discussed in Hebrews c.4, it should be noted that praising, thanking and worshiping our Father every day in no way eliminates the necessity of this unique and defining commandment. As proven in a previous study of this important Statute, it is unique in that it is the Seal of the One True Living God, our Father and Creator, not only stated as such in the Old Testament but also referred to throughout the New Testament and in The Revelation; and, it is defining in that it marks the small flocks of His people of whatsoever nationality in wheresoever part of the world they might reside.

In closing, by this Seal the chosen are known as a peculiar people. There is not one other Biblical matter that sets El's people so dramatically apart from the masses claiming but not wholly living Christianity. The only other remarkable sign among El's children is a deep, abiding love that will not allow them even to promote their beliefs by violence of any kind: they themselves would rather die than give up Yeshua and His truths and the profound love steadfast in their hearts.

In an aside yet relevant to the above Seal, it recently came to my attention that there is a relatively new religious group now teaching the importance and necessity of our Lord's Fourth Precept: even pointing out the hours of the day involved, from 6pm to 6pm— which is not Biblical. According to the Bible, the hours depend on the time of sunset. Still, the name by which this group is identified on the Internet, Mill Pond or something similar, seems to set them apart from all Sunday-keeping denominational sects.

Thus, I recently investigated further only to discover it was not the seventh day of the week to which they were applying ALL of El's Sabbath scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments (see "Truth Gathering" topical Bible, chapter 12, "Saturday vs. Sunday" pgs.191-202, ©copyright 2003 Bonita M Quesinberry, R.C., Infinity Publishing, http://www.buybooksontheweb.com/description.asp?=ISBN #0-7414-1686-7). They are teaching that from "6pm Saturday to 6pm Sunday is the Fourth Commandment SEVENTH day Sabbath and must be obeyed." That is how they phrase their Sabbath instruction.

This is the most blatant distortion of El's Fourth Statute I've ever encountered in over 30 years of research and study, which included a study of all Christian denominations. Until now and during sermons about obeying the Sabbath, it was common for a preacher or evangelist to read a few scriptures regarding this Holy Day while carefully avoiding the term seventh day. Then, they usually conclude their lesson by adamantly saying, "So, you should be in church every Sunday!"

Now, not once have I known any denominational leader to boldly cite Sunday as the seventh day of the week nor to outright declare it the Lord's Sabbath: yet, most do imply that it is Yeshua's Sabbath, calling it instead the Lord's Day and justifying it by Christ's resurrection. Ironically, even theologians admit there is no Biblical justification for Sunday being observed instead of Saturday, for the latter of which there is a ton of Biblical justification: as noted in the above reference to "Truth Gathering."

According to God's timetable, Sunday is the first day of the week: which just happens to be Lucifer's counterfeit mark. Discounting obvious Jewish history, who always have observed the seventh day Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, all historical calendar records as well as any dictionary or encyclopedia verify that Saturday is the seventh day of the week and always has been. Therefore and according to God's timetable, His and Christ's Sabbath begins at sundown Friday and ends at sundown Saturday. It is the Seal of the One True Living God. It is written in His Holy Word.

Praise and thank the Lord in ALL things: for we know that ALL things work to good for those who are called according to God's purpose.

©copyright 2003 Bonita M Quesinberry, R.C.

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