September 10:  Make a Joyful Noise.

Singing Is an Act of Worship.
Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer.  So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.--2 Chronicles 29:30, NKJV

SINGING, AS A PART OF RELIGIOUS SERVICE, is as much an act of worship as is prayer.--Patriarchs and Prophets, 594.

A congregation may be the poorest in the land.  It may be without the attraction of any outward show; but if the members possess the principles of the character of Christ, they will have His joy in their souls.  Angels will unite with them in their worship.  The praise and thanksgiving from grateful hearts will ascend to God as a sweet oblation....

...The people of Israel, as they journeyed through the wilderness, praised God in sacred song.  The commandments and promises of the Lord were set to music, and all along the journey these were sung by the pilgrim travelers.  And in Canaan as they met at their sacred feasts God's wonderful works were to be recounted, and grateful thanksgiving was to be offered to His name.  God desired that the whole life of His people should be a life of praise.  Thus His way was to be made "known upon earth," His "saving health among all nations."--Psalm 67:2.  So should it be now.--Christ's Object Lessons, 298, 299.

                                        God be merciful to us and bless us,
                                      And cause His face to shine upon us,...
                                        That Your way may be known on earth,
                                              Your salvation among all nations.
                                             Let the peoples praise You, O God;
                                                 Let all the peoples praise You.
                                                                                           --Psalm 67:1-3, NKJV

September 9:  Make a Joyful Noise.

Singing Chases Away Sadness.
Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds.--Psalm 149:5, NKJV

WHEN WE HAVE a sense of Christ's sacrifice in our behalf, our lips are turned to the highest, loftiest themes of praise.--Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 369.

Music is often perverted to serve purposes of evil, and it thus becomes one of the most alluring agencies of temptation.  But, rightly employed, it is a precious gift of God, designed to uplift the thoughts to high and noble themes, to inspire and elevate the soul.

As the children of Israel, journeying through the wilderness, cheered their way by the music of sacred song, so God bids His children today gladden their pilgrim life.  There are few means more effective for fixing His words in the memory than repeating them in song.  And such song has wonderful power.  It has power to subdue rude and uncultivated natures; power to quicken thought and to awaken sympathy, to promote harmony of action, and to banish the gloom and foreboding that destroy courage and weaken effort.--Education, 167.

Amidst the deepening shadows of earth's last great crisis, God's light will shine brightest, and the song of hope and trust will be heard in clearest and loftiest strains.--Education, 166.

                                              My heart is steadfast, O God!
                                I will sing and make melody with all my being!
                                               Awake, O harp and lyre!
                                               I will awake the dawn!
                             I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
                                    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
                                                                               --Psalm 108:1-3, ESV

September 8:  Make a Joyful Noise.

A Weapon Against Discouragement.
Sing, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, O Israel!  Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!--Zephaniah 3:14, NKJV

THE MELODY OF PRAISE is the atmosphere of heaven; and when heaven comes in touch with the earth, there is music and song--"thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."  Isaiah 51:3.

Above the new-created earth, as it lay, fair and unblemished, under the smile of God, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."  Job 38:7.  So human hearts, in sympathy with heaven, have responded to God's goodness in notes of praise.--Education, 161.

With a song, Jesus in His earthly life met temptation.  Often when sharp, stinging words were spoken, often when the atmosphere about Him was heavy with gloom, with dissatisfaction, distrust, or oppressive fear, was heard His song of faith and holy cheer.

On that last sad night of the Passover supper, as He was about to go forth to betrayal and to death, His voice was lifted up in the psalm:

"Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and for evermore.
From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same
The Lord's name is to be praised."...Psalm 113:2, 3.--Education, 166.

As our Redeemer leads us to the threshold of the Infinite, flushed with the glory of God, we may catch the themes of praise and thanksgiving from the heavenly choir round about the throne; and as the echo of the angel's song is awakened in our earthly homes, hearts will be drawn closer to the heavenly singers.  Heaven's communion begins on earth.  We learn here the keynote of its praise.--Education, 168.

September 7:  Make a Joyful Noise.

Sing With Gladness, for it is Good and Pleasant.
Praise the Lord!  For it is good to sing praises to our God....He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.--Psalm 147:1, 3, NKJV

THE SOUL MAY ASCEND nearer heaven on the wings of praise.  God is worshiped with song and music in the courts above, and as we express our gratitude we are approximating to the worship of the heavenly hosts.  "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth: God.  Psalm 50:23.  Let us with reverent joy come before our Creator, with "thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."--Isaiah 51:3.--Steps to Christ, 104.

When human beings sing with the spirit and the understanding, heavenly musicians take up the strain and join in the song of thanksgiving.  He who has bestowed upon us all the gifts that enable us to be workers together with God, expects servants to cultivate their voices so that they can speak and sing in a way that all can understand.  It is not loud singing that is needed, but clear intonation, correct pronunciation, and distinct utterance.  Let all take time to cultivate the voice so that God's praise can be sung in clear, soft tones, not with harshness and shrillness that offend the ear.  The ability to sing is the gift of God; let it be used to His glory.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, 143.

                                  Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
                                               Serve the Lord with gladness;
                                      Come before His presence with singing....
                                   ...Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
                                                  For the Lord is good;
                                               His mercy is everlasting,
                                      And His truth endures to all generations.
                              
                                                  --Psalm 100:1, 2, 4, 5, NKJV

September 6:  Make a Joyful Noise.

Praise Promotes Health of Body and Soul.
Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!  They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.--Psalm 89:15, NKJV

NOTHING TENDS MORE to promote health of body and of soul than does a spirit of gratitude and praise.  It is a positive duty to resist melancholy, discontented thoughts and feelings--as much as a duty as it is to pray.  If we are heaven-bound, how can we go as a band of mourners and complaining all along the way to our Father's house?

Those professed Christians who are constantly complaining, and who seem to think cheerfulness and happiness a sin, have not genuine religion.  Those who take a mournful pleasure in all that is melancholy in the natural world, who choose to look upon dead leaves rather than to gather the beautiful living flowers, who see no beauty in grand mountain heights and in valleys clothed with living green, who close their senses to the joyful ear--these are not in Christ.  They are gathering to themselves gloom and darkness, when they might have brightness, even the Sun of Righteousness arising in their hearts with healing in His beams.--The Ministry of Healing, 251.

                                              Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
                                                         in everything give thanks;
                                         for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
                                                                                --1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NKJV

September 5:  Make a Joyful Noise.

Singing With the Angels.
My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips.--Psalm 6:3, 5, NRSV

THOSE WHO ABIDE IN JESUS will be happy, cheerful, and joyful in God.  A subdued gentleness will mark the voice, reverence for spiritual and eternal things will be expressed in the actions, and music, joyful music, will echo from the lips; for it is wafted from the throne of God.  This is the mystery of godliness, not easily explained, but nonetheless felt and enjoyed.  A stubborn and rebellious heart can close its doors to all the sweet influences of the grace of God and all the joy in the Holy Ghost; but the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, 625.

Those who walk in wisdom's ways are, even in tribulation, exceeding joyful; for He whom their soul loveth, walks, invisible, beside them.  At each upward step they discern more distinctly the touch of His hand; at every step brighter gleamings of glory from the Unseen fall upon their path; and their songs of praise, reaching ever a higher note, ascend to join the songs of angels before the throne.--Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 140.

                               You will show me the path of life;
                               In Your presence is fullness of joy;
                          At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
                                                                              --Psalm 16:11, NKJV

September 4:  Make a Joyful Noise.

Shout for Joy.
Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly.  The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things!  The strong right arm of the Lord is raised in triumph.  The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things!--Psalm 118:15, 16, NLT

WE OPEN TO OURSELVES the floodgates of woe or joy.  If we permit our thoughts to be engrossed with the troubles and trifles of earth, our hearts will be filled with unbelief, gloom, and foreboding.  If we set our affections on things above, the voice of Jesus will speak to our hearts, murmuring will cease, and vexing thoughts will be lost in praise to our Redeemer.  Those who dwell upon God's great mercies and are not unmindful of His lesser gifts, will put on the girdle of gladness and make melody in their hearts to the Lord.--Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 234.

Let there be singing in the home, of songs that are sweet and pure, and there will be fewer words of censure and more of cheerfulness and hope and joy.--Education, 168.

In a sense the father is the priest of the household, laying upon the family altar the morning and evening sacrifice.  But the wife and children should unite in prayer and join in the song of praise.  In the morning before he leaves home for his daily labor, let the father gather his children about him and, bowing before God, commit them to the care of the Father in heaven.  When the cares of the day are past, let the family unite in offering grateful prayer and raising the song of praise, in acknowledgment of divine care during the day.--The Ministry of Healing, 392.

                          "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.
                      Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home
                            and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise."
                              
                                                          --Deuteronomy 6:6, 7, NRSV

September 3:  Make a Joyful Noise.

Make a Joyful Noise in His Sanctuary.
Come, let us sing to the Lord!  Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.  Let us come to him with thanksgiving.  Let us sing psalms of praise to him.--Psalm 95:1, 2, NLT

TO THE HUMBLE, believing soul, the house of God on earth is the gate of heaven.  The song of praise, the prayer, the words spoken by Christ's representatives, are God's appointed agencies to prepare for the church above, for that loftier worship into which there can enter nothing that defileth....

...Happy are those who have a sanctuary, be it high or low, in the city or among the rugged mountain caves, in the lowly cabin or in the wilderness.  If it is the best they can secure for the Master, He will hallow the place with His presence.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, 491.

The melody of song, poured forth from many hearts in clear, distinct utterance, is one of God's instrumentalities in the work of saving souls.  All the service should be conducted with solemnity and awe, as if in the visible presence of the Master of assemblies.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, 492.

The voice of thanksgiving, praise, and rejoicing is heard in heaven.  The voices of the angels in heaven unite with the voices of the children of God on earth as they ascribe honor and glory and praise to God and to the Lamb for the great salvation provided.--Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 246.

                                      I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
                              I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.
                                       I will be filled with joy because of you.
                                   I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.
                                                                                   --Psalm 9:1, 2, NLT

September 2:  Make a Joyful Noise.

Praising With Voices and Instruments.
Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.  Raise a song, sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.--Psalm 81:1, 2, NRSV

GOD IS GLORIFIED by songs of praise from a pure heart filled with love and devotion to Him....Those who adhere strictly to the admonitions and instructions of God's word, prayerfully seeking to know and do His righteous will, feel not the petty grievances daily occurring.  The gratitude which they feel, and the peace of God ruling within, cause them to make melody in their hearts unto the Lord and by words to make mention of the debt of love and thankfulness due the dear Saviour, who so loved them as to die that thy might have life.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 509.

God's children are not to be subject to feelings and emotions.  When they fluctuate between hope and fear, the heart of Christ is hurt; for He has given them unmistakable evidence of His love.  He wants them to be established, strengthened, and settled in the most holy faith.  He wants them to do the work He has given them; then their hearts will become in His hands as sacred harps, every chord of which will send forth praise and thanksgiving to the One sent by God to take away the sins of the world.--Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 518.

                 Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God,
                                           proclaiming our allegiance to his name.
                              
                                                            --Hebrews 13:15, NLT

September 1:  Make a Joyful Noise.

We All Ought to Praise Him.
Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!  Sing out the honor of His name; make His praise glorious.--Psalm 66:1, 2, NKJV

TO PRAISE GOD in fullness and sincerity of heart is as much a duty as is prayer.  We are to show to the world and to all the heavenly intelligences that we appreciate the wonderful love of God for fallen humanity and that we are expecting larger and yet larger blessings from His infinite fullness.  After a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, our joy in the Lord and our efficiency in His service would be greatly increased by recounting His goodness and His wonderful works in behalf of His children.--Christ's Object Lessons, 299.

Let praise and thanksgiving be expressed in song.  When tempted, instead of giving utterance to our feelings, let us by faith lift up a song of thanksgiving to God....

Song is a weapon that we can always use against discouragement.--The Ministry of Healing, 254.

"Rejoice in the Lord alway," the apostle Paul exhorts, "and again I say, Rejoice."  Philippians 4:4.  Whatever your disposition may be, God is able so to mold it that it will be sweet and Christlike.  By the exercise of living faith you can separate from everything that is not in accordance with the mind of God, and thus bring heaven into your life here below.  Doing this, you will have sunshine at every step.  When the enemy seeks to enshroud the soul with darkness, sing faith and talk faith, and you will find that you have sung and talked yourself into the light.--Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students,233.

                        Always be full of joy in the Lord.  I say it again--rejoice!
                                                                                       --Philippians 4:4, NLT