Have you made worship a daily practice yet? Were you able to take time out today to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, to affirm His greatness, and to ascribe the honor and glory due to His Name? Were you left in awe because of His Majesty and Power? Remember the Father is seeking people who will worship in Spirit and in Truth. Isaiah writes: In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw (in a vision) the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and exalted, with the train of His royal robe filling the (most holy part of the) temple. Above Him seraphim (heavenly beings) stood...And one called out to another, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of host; The whole earth is filled with His glory - Is 6:1,2a,3. If only we could, like Isaiah, truly see the Lord high and exalted daily in His Word. The Psalmist in ask God to open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law - Ps 119:18. O God we pray that you would open our eyes so that we can see You, High Holy and lifted up. If we could just see Him as He reveals Himself in His word, our worship would be elevated to a whole new level.. The only appropriate response to seeing the Lord would be for us to worship! My first entry in my worship journal was I Timothy 1:17. I used this verse to meditate on and to motivate me to worship the Lord in spirit and truth: Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen - I Tim 1:17. Paul writes this doxology in response to the overwhelming mercy and grace of God that saved him. As I meditated on this verse I thought about The King. So I wrote in my journal: The King. The One that I bow before. The King who rules, reigns and sits on the throne of grace. The King who invites me into His presence. The King who is eternal. The One who always has been even before the beginning. The Eternal God who chose me even before the foundation of the world. The God who can't be contained or corrupted by mortality. The invisible God who can't been seen but is always present. The only God who is wise, The God who is the God of all wisdom. The King who is worthy of all honor! Think about what our reaction would be if we were invited to the palace to visit the royal family. We would be excited, honored and probably in awe . This week consider the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God and stand in awe of who He is! desiring to be left speechless, Diane ps. if you haven't started one consider starting a worship journal and take your worship to a new level. How would you respond if you were asked when was the last time you worshipped the Lord? Most of us would probably say Sunday. Unfortunately, for far too many of us, worship has become an activity we only identify with and participate in on Sunday while we are at church. However, true worship is not a ritual or routine to be done only on Sunday at church. Jesus engaged in a conversation about true worship with the Samaritan woman at the well, in John 4. The woman was making an issue about where worship should take place. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem (at the temple) - John 4:20. Jesus saith unto her, Woman believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father...But the time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit (from the heart, the inner) and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers - John 4:21 KJV, 4:23 AMP. Worship can't be confined to specific place or time, although participating in corporate worship is important for believers. True worship is not a matter of location, it is a matter of the heart. God the Father is actually seeking true worshippers; people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Worship flows out of a heart of love and affection for a God who first loved us, and loves and accepts us with all our flaws. True worshippers worship God the Father and God the Son in spirit (within their hearts) because they have become persuaded by the Lord's love and moved by the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ. What if instead, the question asked was when was the last time you truly stood in awe of God? Would our answer still be Sunday, or would the question cause us pause? When were you so overwhelmed by the power, majesty, greatness, and holiness of God you were left speechless? The kind of worshipper the Father is seeking not only worships in spirit, but also worships in truth. This kind of worship is based upon a true knowledge about the character of God. True worship involves acknowledging, affirming, ascribing worth to and standing in awe of God: Let all the earth fear and worship the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him - Ps 33: 8. The more knowledge about the character of God we have the more in awe of Him we become. True worship flows out of a heart that is gripped and overwhelmed by the love of Christ and a mind that is blown by the revelation of His character and power; revelation that comes from spending time in His Word. Worship has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. Worship is not about getting our petitions heard or prayers answered. Worship is centered solely on Him. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen - I Tim 1:17. The Father is seeking people who will worship Him. Will He find us acknowledging, affirming, ascribing worth to and standing in awe of Him? desiring to be left speechless, diane p.s. make worship a daily habit. Daily affirm the character of God, stand back and consider His greatness, His holiness, His majesty, His goodness. Start a worship journal, righting down scriptures that affirm who He is like I Tim 1:17. Meditate on these scriptures and before long you will be left speechless. Do you know someone you just love hanging around? You are smiling, right? Just the thought of that person brings you joy. Jesus invites us to hang around Him for that very reason. He wants us to experience abundant joy. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, ...These things I have spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full (John 15: 9,10a,11). Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy (Ps 16:11a). In His encouragement to continue in His love and to abide in Him, Jesus is saying I want you to constantly hang around me so that you can always enjoy my company, be filled with delight and experience overflowing joy. Need more joy in your life? Start hanging around Jesus. I know we have talked about hanging around Jesus before, but if you are at all like me, and I believe you are, it's good to revisit it and to be reminded. There are also other benefits to hanging out with Jesus besides plentiful joy. Abiding in Christ assures us of protection. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty (whose power no enemy can withstand) - Ps 91:1. This promise of protection is available to all believers but only enjoyed by those who have learned to constantly hang around Jesus. Want the assurance of His protection? Start hanging around Jesus. When we learn to hang around Jesus we not only experience plenty of joy, the promise of protection, but also we begin to produce spiritual fruit. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing - John 15:5. Spending time with Jesus allows us to manifest joy, kindness, peacefulness and the other fruit of the Spirit. Want to have a life filled with spiritual fruit? Start hanging around Jesus. Hanging around Jesus affords us plenty joy, the assurance of protection, a life that produces spiritual fruit and answered pray. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you (that is, if we are vitally united and My message lives in your heart), ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you - John 15:7 AMP. Abiding in Christ assures us that our prayers will be answered because the more we hang around Jesus, the more we become like Him and the more our desires become aligned with His desires so that we only ask for things that are aligned with His will. If we want to experience fullness of joy, be assured of God's protection, live spiritually fruitful lives and have our prayers answered, we have to start hanging around Jesus. How do we hang around Jesus? Read His word with the understanding that He is sharing His heart with us, and letting us know what's on His mind. Each day we must become more and more aware of His presence and invite Him into every aspect of our lives, the big and the small things. We must begin to talk to Him throughout the day not just in the morning or the evening, or when we need something. Hang around Him and learn to enjoy His company. still trying to hang around Jesus, Diane p.s. Don't really have a desire to hang around Jesus yet? Be honest with Him and ask Him to give you the desire. I hope you enjoyed hanging out with Jesus this past week, delighting in Him. If you intended to but really didn't get around to it, or didn't spend as much time as you wanted to, the wonderful thing about this journey is that we get brand new mercies every day (It is of the Lord's mercies, that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness - Lam 3:22-23). So we can begin to delight in Him today. Although learning to delight in Him was our focus during last week's leg of our journey, delighting in the Lord is something we should practice daily until it becomes part of our lifestyle. Have you ever noticed that when you spend a lot of time hanging around someone that you start to act like that person? When we delight in the Lord (enjoy His presence and His Word) not only are we promised the desires of our heart (Ps 37:4), but also we start to display His character ( But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord - II Corinth 3:18). As we continue to spend time in the Word of God (reading, studying, meditating upon it) we see the glory of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit begins to do a work in us, transforming us so that our character begins to look like Jesus. The more time we spend delighting in His word and the more honest we are with Him (open face-no pretense) the more we begin to reflect the image of Christ. Enjoying intimate fellowship with the Lord involves personal time spent in the Word (that's God sharing His heart with us) and time spent praying without pretense (that's us sharing our hearts with Him). If we are truly going to live for His glory, we must spend time delighting in His word. Only the word of God through the Spirit of God can change our hearts (For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart - Heb 4:12). As we delight in the Word, we are transformed to reflect the Lord's character and the Lord begins to delight in us (But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight) and (Enoch walked with God and was not, for the Lord took him - Gen 5:24; ...before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God - Heb 11:5). My prayer is that we will become His delight, Diane, p.s. Set aside time to allow the Lord to share His heart with you through His word. Continue to hang around Jesus by replacing your self talk with ongoing conversations with the Lord (instead of all those conversations you have going in your head with yourself all the time start talking to the Lord) . |
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