Worship 2 of 8
The Works of the Lord Are Great!
The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. 
Psalm 111:2
What exactly do the works of the Lord include, you may ask.
The works of the Lord are salvation for you and your whole family if your faith waivereth not. The works of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY are health to your body. The works of the Lord are miracles when you need them. The works of the Lord are the nine gifts of the Spirit for anyone that will believe in Him. The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that will have pleasure therein (v. 2).
I wish the world knew how great the works of the Lord were. I hate to have to say this, but I hope all the church world knew it, too. I know that some of them do, but I feel so sorry for the people who are always working hard to build buildings in their own strength instead of enjoying the great works of the Lord. They are sweet People who spend lots of money, millions of dollars, on buildings for the Lord. But because of the doctrine they are living under, the doctrine that is preached to them, they may never get to enjoy the works of God.
“But, I’m sick. I’m broke. I’m confused. I need help.”
I’m telling you boldly that the works of God are great, and they are manifested when you are willing to worship and praise Him.
As long as you reject worshipping God and praising Him and glorifying His name, you will have no knowledge of His works being great. You will be leaving Jesus out of your life because you are failing to keep your eyes on Him.
The Works of the Lord Are Healing
Some Jews in Jerusalem saw some of the healing works of the Lord, and they were amazed at what they saw. Let’s read about this in Acts 3.
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. verses 1-10
Within a few minutes that crippled man was totally normal. His leg wasn’t crooked anymore! And he went walking, and leaping, and praising God! When the Jews saw it, they were amazed.
“But Jews don’t believe in Jesus, Brother,” someone may say.
When they see a crippled man healed, they do all of a sudden. You would, too, especially if you had someone who was crippled at home yourself. You would believe it quick!
Oh, I have pleasure in the works of the Lord. And, my friend, you should have pleasure in them, too.
The Works of the Lord Are Financial Provision
As I shared before, God said to me: “I want MY people to spend time worshipping Me. I want to see My Church worship. But more than that I want individuals to worship Me, especially when those individuals get alone before Me.”
When God told me that, I began to worship Him more and more. I began to spend time worshipping and praising Him. When I put Him first in worship and praise, finances began to come to me and to my ministry.
The same thing will work within your church. But your pastor and the congregation have to want to worship God. They have to spend more time worshipping God and praising Him, looking toward heaven rather than always seeing the needs and the lack of money.
Put everything in the proper perspective. Then God will provide, and you will see hundreds of thousands of dollars added to your church account. I’m telling you that you will.
You may say, “Well, where does it come from?”
Who in the world knows where it comes from? I don’t always know myself. God will just see that it comes.
I received an interesting letter at my office one day. This is how it read: “I’m down here in Florida and I was praying. Brother Norvel, the Lord told me to send your ministry a check for $26,000.
“I told my wife about it, but she didn’t agree with me. I said, ‘Honey, I know what the Lord told me. I was praying and God told me to send Norvel Hayes’s ministry a check for $26,000. So you go pray yourself and ask God about it.'”
She went to her room and started praying. After she had prayed for a while, she came out and said, ‘Send Brother Norvel the check.'” And he did! My friend, that happens to me all the time. All the time!
My ministry has money in the bank, but we need it with all that’s required at our office and in our Bible school. There is always something that needs to be done. I believe we ought to have a certain amount of money just as a nest egg. Then when something comes up, I don’t have to say, “Where are we going to
get the money?” I can tell you right now, God doesn’t want me to worry about anything.
The Works of the Lord Are Gifts From the Spirit
One time when I was holding a meeting in San Antonio, Texas, a lady came up to be prayed for. When I laid my hands on her and prayed, she raised up her hands and began to praise the Lord. All of a sudden she broke down and began to weep.
It seemed different with her as she was praising the Lord. Both of her hands were being held out as if she were playing a piano. As she continued praising Jesus, her body was standing still, but both her hands were moving from left to right. She was praising the Lord with her mouth and with her hands, and tears were streaming down her face.
She must have stood there for about twenty minutes. When I looked around at her, the Spirit of God said to me, “I’m teaching her to play the organ.” As we saw in Psalm 111:2, the works of God are great. But you will never know much about the great works of God until you bow down before Him and begin to worship. To worship Him, you have to spend some time praising His name and glorifying Him.
This woman’s husband was standing with her by this time. I walked over to them and said to her, “The Holy Spirit just spoke to me, and He is teaching you to play the organ.” After that happened, God unfolded the organ to her and taught her to play it by ministering to her through her hands. She began to play the organ just like a professional. She was so good, in fact, that the pastor of a large congregation in Houston, Texas, had her come to his church and play for them. She was so good at the organ that she played there for months and months.
The Works of the Lord Are for the Next Generation
If you will give your talent to God and dedicate yourself to Him, God will do the same kind of work in your offspring that He has done in you.
I saw this happen through a mother and daughter after I ministered another time in San Antonio, Texas. I met a lady who was a viola player in the San Antonio symphony orchestra.
She said, “Norvel, would you come to my house, talk to my husband, and beg him to let me work for Jesus?”
I had dinner with them and talked for a long time about the importance of their being open to the Lord’s work.
“You’re not married to a normal girl,” I said to the husband. “Your wife has a deep dedication to God, and she is heavily anointed of God. He is going to do great and mighty things for her, because she would go anywhere for Him.”
She was willing to drive five hundred miles to play one tune on the viola for Jesus. One time she drove to Shreveport, Louisiana, where I was holding a meeting. When she started to play the viola, the Lord healed a crippled man who was sitting down front. Then people started being healed everywhere.
All she did was play the viola as God led her.
When you start praising God with the stringed instruments and with your voice, it is amazing what God will do. He just wants His people to praise Him.
First, that lady used her stringed instrument to praise the Lord. Then she was blessed when a baby girl was born to her. When that daughter grew into her teens, the Lord God gave her a singing voice. He anointed that voice; and by the age of fifteen, she was given the ability to write songs.
Now that young lady is exactly like her mother. She will go anywhere, anyplace, whenever she is allowed to do something for Jesus.
The Works of the Lord Are Already Prepared for You
The works of the Lord are great, and they are available to all who would worship and praise God for all He has done and ever will do for us. When you worship and praise God, it’s as if you are sitting down at God’s table set with beautiful dishes and abundant food. Everything you will ever need in your life has been set before you on God’s table. Every dish on His table has a big engraved sign on each bowl with words like: Salvation, Healing, Faith, Miracles, Deliverance, Knowledge, Wisdom.
The food inside is already prepared for you. You don’t have to hire anybody to prepare it. It has already been prepared and paid for. All you have to do is get yourself in shape so that you can sit down and freely eat from God’s table where His great works are available to you through His Word.
You get yourself in shape by building your faith and learning the promises of God to you in His Word. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). You get yourself in shape by spending time in prayer. But you also get yourself in shape by praising and worshipping
God, and letting it become a part of your life. Worship and praise God all the time you can. Then when you want something from God, you will come to His table and sit down with great manners, with great respect for His Word and His promises in it. You will put your napkin across your lap and sit up straight.
Then you will look over and say, “Pass the healing bowl, please.”
When it is passed, you will take that healing bowl and you will freely dip out of it. You will freely eat out of the bowl of His Word. Of course, when you eat God’s Word, no matter what the subject is, you will start enjoying it more and more.
The kind of lifestyle you have will be based on the food you eat. If you are sick and don’t know how to be healed, or haven’t been healed, it is because you haven’t been eating God’s healing verses in the New Testament.
“Brother Norvel, I read about them.”
Don’t just read them, eat them. Meditate on them and make them part of you!
“But, Brother Norvel, I need a miracle,” you say.
Sit down at God’s table by worshipping and praising Him. Show His Word respect and with good manners say, “Pass the miracle bowl, please. I’ve got a big spoon!”
Reach into that miracle bowl and take out the miracle you need. Eat as much of it as you can stand because miracles are yours! God has miracle-working power, and it is a free gift to the Church.
The Lord said to me: “Son, the reason many people can’t receive is because they can’t even eat at My table without being a nervous wreck. They haven’t built up their faith. Their prayer life is shabby. They have hardly spent any time praising and worshipping Me.”
The table is already set and prepared by Christ Jesus for you to live the abundant life (John 10:10), so eat anything you want from God’s Word that you need. It is all in there.
“When they come to My table to eat,” God told me, the only reason they don’t receive is because they have sloppy manners.”
When they are half-beaten, they sit down at the table and look over at the bowl of healing, hoping to get healed, but wondering,
“Will it work for me?”
If your mind thinks like that, you won’t receive the miracle you need! Renew your mind to the Word of God. You have the mind of Christ in you! When you do, you will sit down at God’s table with respect and say: “Praise God! The stripes on Jesus’ back have paid for my healing. So pass me that bowl of
healing!” Then you will take it, fill your plate full of it, and eat it. As you eat it, you will chew every bite of it. You will gladly take in every mouthful, and you will receive it with dignity.
You won’t be sloppy and let it run down your cheeks, because you don’t want to miss even one drop of it. You don’t want it to get away. You want every ounce of it and every bite of it. That is called having respect for the stripes on Jesus’ back. It is called having respect for the healing verses in the Bible.
Don’t you know that the only part of the Bible you get to enjoy is the part you have respect for? And if you don’t enjoy the Bible as much as a Hershey bar or homemade fudge with nuts, then go
worship God some more.
As you worship God and praise Him, not only will you begin to desire to know what God’s Word says, but it will become more appetizing to you, and you will be able to experience more and more of the abundant life that He has prepared for you.
The works of the Lord are great. Seek after them and have pleasure in them. (Ps. 111:2.)
See Worship 3 of 8– Worship God, and He Will Pay the Bills!
Norvel Hayes