The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

WAYS TO PRAISE: Psalm // Declaring God's Character as We Wait for His Favor // Our Sweet Baby A

• Tosha Williams for FDM • Season 5 • Episode 13

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This Thanksgiving season, join me, Tosha Williams, as I share some profound themes that arise from my grandchildren's names. These aren't just sentimental to my family; the names are powerful reminders of gratitude and thankfulness and, in this conversation series, "Ways to Praise."

This series starts with this intro "Dumisani:  Praise the Lord!" then continues with "Jubilee:  Declare God's Favor". Thing is, Jubilee is the counterpoint to Psalm, both in my family and in our gratitude. This podcast episode explains how both together can impact our days and our praise! Listen in, then seek the Lord through this "devotion driven discipleship" conversation guide...

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“Be filled by the Spirit: speaking to one another in PSALMS, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything…” Ephesians 5:18b-20 CSB

SEEK HIM: Devotion is Meeting with God in Our Own Lives! Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving with some psalms of praise this year. 

  • WHAT:  What is God saying through this Scripture? A psalm is a biblical song, poem, declaration or prayer. The book of Psalms is the Jewish worship manual, and Christians are invited to use it in our worship, too! Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs can lead us in so many “Ways to Praise.” Singing is an outer expression of this praise, while making music with your heart is an inner expression of it. God wants us to do both! ~ How or when do YOU give thanks? What does it look like for you to live a life of worship? 
  • WHY:  Why does this Scripture matter? Every psalm in God’s Word somehow, someway, declares God’s character. For instance, we can trust God because He is faithful (Psalm 1:6). We can rejoice because He is sovereign over everything in this world (Psalm 2:11-12), and so on. Thing is, when we are filled with His Spirit, what’s on the inside will pour out in declarations like the psalms. ~ What does God's Word say about His Spirit in you (John 14:15-17)? How does praising God put music in your heart?
  • HOW: How does God want us to respond to this truth? The psalms are such a meaningful, simple and beautiful way to praise the Lord. Ask God to highlight a psalm to you, then read it silently as a prayer and aloud as a declaration. ~ How do psalms lead to gratitude? What is one character trait of God that is especially meaningful to you? 

SPEAK HIM: Discipleship is Making God Known to Others! Seek Him Speak Him" is so clearly shown in our key Scripture. Quite literally, the Word tells us to speak with psalms and give thanks. We don't just believe in God; we speak up about Him. To whom will you talk about Jesus and declare His character today?

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

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Speaker 1:

There's nothing like a baby or two or three to give you reasons to praise God. And when their very names give you ways to praise, how much the more joy and rejoicing. I've had it in my heart to lead us in a Ways to Praise conversation series this November, using the names of my grandchildren as springboards to talk about thanksgiving and gratitude. In the introduction to this series, I talked about my new friend, dumasani, whose very name means praise the Lord. If you haven't had a chance to listen to that episode, I encourage you to go back, take a listen. You can find the link to that in the show notes With Dumasani as our introduction to this conversation series. In our last episode I talked about my youngest grandbaby, jubilee.

Speaker 1:

This is my personal year of Jubilee as I celebrate my 50th year as a Christ follower and God blessed me with a granddaughter named Jubilee. The Jubilee is all about freedom, healing, hope and redemption. Need any of those things in your life? I know I do. All these are promises that are part of the Jubilee, the year of the Lord's favor that Luke, chapter 4, tells us is fulfilled in Jesus to all who will listen and who will hear.

Speaker 1:

I talked about this in the last podcast episode, the link for which is also in the show notes. But the question is as we wait for the fulfillment of God's promises and receiving His favor in our lives, how do we do the waiting? How do we praise God in the midst of the pain? How do we express our gratitude when life is tough? How do we claim the promises when it seems that the difficulties measure up way higher than the delight? I believe the answers to these questions is found in the name of Jubilee's twin. So stick with me for this podcast intro which, by the way, their daddy, my son, recorded for us. Then I'll be right back to tell you about our little baby A and another way to praise this Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. If you have a real relationship with Jesus, then you're in the right place to be encouraged, challenged and blessed as you seek Him, speak Him. The mission of the Family Disciple Me ministry is to inspire devotion-driven discipleship, which is something we believe every Christ follower can do. Discipleship starts with a conversation, so let's get going with that right now.

Speaker 1:

So, flashing back to this past January, there I was on FaceTime with my son and daughter-in-law looking at their ultrasound pictures from the day. We had been so excited to see their first picture of their baby in the womb. How surprised we all were when, one after another, they showed us the first picture of quote baby B end quote which immediately told us that there was a baby A. Our family was so excited about our coming twins. We were ecstatic with joy A few months later and our next big reveal was whether or not Joshua and Casey were having two girls, two boys or one of each. Personally, I was betting that we were going to have one of each, but time would tell and we would officially find out at their gender reveal party. And so we waited. Along the way as we waited, we had multiple scares with our little baby bee. Each time we prayed as a family, each time we asked God to do the miraculous for this little one, and each time he heard our cries and answered our prayers. All along, as baby B had its ups and downs, baby A remained constant, steady. Baby A remained constant, steady, growing and developing without any issues that we could see. We praised God for all of this. Finally, april arrived and we had our gender reveal party to officially find out whether we were going to have two girls, two boys or one of each. I, of course, already knew that if one of these babies was a girl, her name was going to be Jubilee. But what would the other twin's name be? At the gender reveal party, there were two giant boxes wrapped up with two giant bows, each containing pink or blue balloons. As our crowd waited expectantly, joshua and Casey stood behind the first big box, the box labeled Baby A. When they opened the box, out flew a bunch of baby blue balloons and we knew that we had a baby boy on his way. After all of us cheered with joy and happiness. Joshua and Casey moved on to the next big box, which was labeled Baby B. They removed the bow and out popped pink balloons. God was giving us one of each, a boy and a girl, and we could not have been happier At this point.

Speaker 1:

This grandma knew that baby girl was going to be named Jubilee, but what about baby boy's name? Of course, I had plenty of suggestions, because, you know, grandmas usually do, but Joshua and Casey had their own line of thinking and we couldn't wait to hear what names they were praying about. One afternoon, joshua told us the name they were most considering. He looked at us and said so what do you think about the name Psalm? Immediately, I loved that name. I had never once in my whole entire life heard that word used as a name for anything other than a book of the Bible or a scripture reference. I thought it was the perfect name for Jubilee's twin.

Speaker 1:

My son, joshua is many things, but perhaps the most special of his abilities is that he is a worship leader. So for Joshua and Casey to name their son Psalm is, to me, the perfect expression of their worship, their faith and the legacy that they're bestowing upon their son. And whereas Jubilee is about proclaiming God's favor, I'd like to suggest that the Psalms are about declaring God's character. These two words, jubilee and Psalm, are to me point and counterpoint as we wait for the favor of Jubilee to unfold, to be experienced, to be delivered, for the promises to be fulfilled. Well, the Psalms are the declarations that we make as we wait. Of course we know the book of Psalms, but in the New Testament the Bible says this in Ephesians 5, 18 through 20,. It says Ephesians 5, 18 through 20,. It says, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything Thing is.

Speaker 1:

Psalms are a uniquely Jewish and Christian way to worship and thank God. I may be wrong about this you can help me look but I don't think that other religions have psalms. These are a unique Judeo-Christian way to praise, a unique Judeo-Christian way to declare God's character. A psalm can be described as a biblical song, poem, declaration or prayer. In the Bible, the book of Psalms is the Jewish worship manual, but then in this verse in the New Testament, christians are invited, even commanded, to use the psalms in our worship as well. Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs can lead us into giving thanks for everything, giving us so many ways to praise.

Speaker 1:

When it comes to this passage in Ephesians 5, and when I seek the Lord about what he's saying to me in this scripture, one thing that stands out to me is that singing the Psalms is an outer expression of this praise and gratitude, while the praise making music with your heart is an inner expression of this gratitude, and God wants us to do both. When I ask the Lord, why does this scripture matter. One thing that stands out to me is that every Psalm in God's Word somehow, some way declares God's character. For instance, we can trust God because he is faithful. That's Psalm chapter 1, verse 6. Or we can rejoice and be happy because God is sovereign over everything in this world. That's Psalm chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. Or Psalm 3, verse 4 says that we can cry out to God because he listens to our prayers, and so on. Every single Psalm tells us something about God's character that affects the way that we wait for His favor to fall and for His promises to be fulfilled.

Speaker 1:

For my family with the twins, the day of the Lord's favor officially arrived a little bit earlier than expected. In the month of July, psalm and Jubilee were brought into this world. Psalm was baby A and he was born first, and then, a minute later, his twin baby B, little Jubilee, was born. What a night of joy and celebration. The Lord was so kind in that, even though Joshua and Casey were 12 hours away from us, we were able to get onto a plane and get down to Phoenix literally as they entered the world. It was an amazing, amazing night.

Speaker 1:

But joy and celebration is often mixed with hardship, with suffering, with difficulty. And that was nowhere more true than that night when the twins were born, because, even as baby A, our little Psalm was healthy and able to stay with his mama, well, our little baby B, jubilee, had to be whisked away, to nick you. I look back on the days that unfolded from there and I think about how we watched and waited and prayed for her life, waited for this tiny little prematurely born baby to grow and develop and cross all the hurdles in NICU, even as Psalm was healthy and growing and able to leave the hospital within a few days with his mama. But we had to wait for Jubilee. And how do we wait for God's favor, for God's promises, for all the goodness of the Lord, the healing and the hope and the freedom that he promises? How do we wait for that?

Speaker 1:

I believe that one way that we can wait with thanksgiving is to wait with a psalm. To me, these two are inextricably linked together. Our worship and praise is filled with hope and joy and anticipation as we proclaim God's favor, and it's also filled with declaring who he is and what he has promised he's going to do. Jubilee and Psalm are for me the daily, moment-by-moment, living, breathing reminders of this truth. So the question is how does God want us to respond to this? When Ephesians tells us be filled by the Spirit, speak to one another in Psalms, give thanks always for everything, how does God want us to live this out? I believe that, as we consider ways to praise, the Psalms are such a meaningful, beautiful way to praise the Lord. Responding to the truth of this conversation is as simple as finding a Psalm in Scripture and declaring it back to the Lord. I encourage you to do what I've done Spend a few moments thumbing through your Bible, to the book of Psalms, and ask God to highlight a Psalm.

Speaker 1:

Maybe it's a verse, or maybe it's a full chapter. Talk to him about how he wants you to declare his character and praise him today, and when he shows you that Psalm, read it silently as a prayer to him and then read it again aloud as a declaration. Colossians 3, verse 16, says Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, singing to God with gratitude in your heart. So how do the psalms lead you into gratitude, your heart? So how do the Psalms lead you into gratitude? What is one character, trait of God that is especially meaningful to you this Thanksgiving. Where in your life are you waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled? In your life, or in your family, or in the lives of other people that you love? As you wait, as you anticipate God's favor, I encourage you to declare God's character.

Speaker 1:

While Jubilee may seem a little challenging to wrap your head around and I get that. It's taken me months and months to come to terms with understanding the concepts of Jubilee we can all agree that the Psalms are such an easy way to dive into speaking to God, praying to Him, talking to Him, showing Him our gratitude and expressing this aloud to others. And let me add, that's the thing, because seek him always leads to speak him Quite. Literally, the word tells us to speak with Psalms and give thanks. Worshiping God isn't just about believing in him, but it's about speaking up about him. And that's why I'm recording this podcast series, because I want my grandchildren to know what their names mean. I want them to know the legacy and the richness of the word of God that's been bestowed upon them and their very names.

Speaker 1:

But then, beyond that and by extension of that, I want to say these things to you. I want to declare God's character to you, I want to proclaim God's favor to you and I encourage you to spend time. Look at some of the passages that we've talked about. Look at what the scriptures are in the show notes. Spend some time with Jesus in his word, seek him, ask him the questions what, why and how, and listen to what he says to you. And then turn around after you. Seek him, turn around and speak him into the life of someone he's entrusted to you.

Speaker 1:

In my family, our little baby's psalm is a song that we're so excited to see and hear as his life and his heart unfolds. But in the meantime, we each get to choose what we want our life's songs to be. Oh, this Thanksgiving, and always may our lives be full of psalms, and always May our lives be full of psalms. Psalms that declare God's character, psalms that declare our trust as we wait for his favor, psalms that express our hearts full of gratitude, and psalms that raise others' eyes and hearts to seek him as well. Oh, go with God, friend, be encouraged this Thanksgiving, seek Him, speak Him and let your days be full of ways to praise Until next time. God bless you, friend.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for joining us in this podcast episode. You can find the matching conversation guide in the show notes. To get the latest updates about the Family Disciple Me ministry, as well as word about our soon-to-be-released app, sign up to be the first to know at familydisciplemeorg. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, help us get the word out by leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. God bless you, friend. Now go seek him. Speak him.