Seeing everything in life as an opportunity to worship God!
As we live our lives we need to constantly be aware of our need for God to save us as we are being led to our many “crosses” and seeking God to revive us each day! As we receive His delivering power in our lives, then it is only fitting to reply with a Shout to Hosanna in praise for turning our Graves into Gardens cultivating Spirit-led, fruitful lives for His glory!
As we seek to live our lives in godly ways, modeling the Kingdom life in Heaven, we need to remember often the Deep Love of the Father upon us evidenced by sending the King of kings down to earth to save us from our lives of sin and shame and to do great things for us that cause us to always bless His Holy Name!
As we look to God to be near to us and to answer our calls to Him for help in life’s various trials and joys, we need to remain steady in the love of God and declaring to others around us of how He is turning the nastiness of our lives into opportunities for His praise! God is always deserving of our dedication and worship!
When we find the Truth of God’s love displayed by sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save it, then we can use that Beautiful Name to overcome any and all the “giants” in our lives. We will see that in Christ alone we will overcome the spirit of fear and death, and trust His love to awaken us to the abundant life that He promised us through His Word!
I pray that as you entrust the battles of your life to the Lord, that you would experience His reckless love as you recognize His voice and discover the hope that comes through submission to the Name of Jesus Christ and the grace that He gives us!
Have you ever found yourself saying, “God, I need You!” I know that I have many times in my life, and I have never once regretted it! I am going to share my testimony now, and I do want you to consider skipping over this section if you have ever been a victim of physical abuse. I would never want my testimony to deter you from having a relationship with Christ, or growing in your walk with Christ, but I do feel that it is necessary to share my story because our testimonies can help people understand how to overcome life’s hurts, habits, and hang-ups and how God can help us do so. Some parts of my story are graphic, so please read with grace.
Advent not only is a time of expectation, it is a season of preparation as well. This may be one of the key elements of the “why” behind Advent. Whenever we are able to prepare our hearts in order to encounter God it is a “win”! That exercise will never be without great reward. We do not have to wait until a special season in order to do it either, we can examine and prepare our heart condition anytime throughout the year. But there are certain seasons where we are sort of forced into (or out of) different rhythms of life, and when that happens it is a very good thing to contemplate the condition of our hearts and minds.
Why? you ask, because these people were doing everything they could to manipulate God! Yes they had the appearance of godliness and they were “rewarded” in the culture as important and highly honored, but they were not connected to the heart of God! God hates insincere rituals and empty religious platitudes that are designed to manipulate Him into thinking that we are somehow better people as a result of them (see Isaiah 1:11-15). God desires expressions of devotion from the heart that recognizes Him as the only reason for any sort of goodness within the one offering up such worship (see Ps. 51:16-17). See, Jesus knew their hearts (as He knows our hearts) and knew that they were not interested in worshiping to be near to God but more interested in showing piety in order to impress and overpower the people around them. He even calls them “white-washed tombs” in Matt. 23:27, saying that they make the outside look clean but on the inside they are full of dead bones. Those are some very harsh words from the One receiving our worship!
I hope that through this post you will more readily have the tools you need in order to find the peace you are looking for in your life! It starts with a relationship with Christ Jesus, because that makes us righteous, and righteousness creates peace. I find it very interesting to note that Isaiah 57:2 also states that the one who is upright and righteous also finds rest! Peace creates a restful spirit that is fully trusting in the Lord to care for all of our needs! There is nothing quite like having that restful peace as a result of having a right relationship with God and the people around us!
Worship begins with a heart that stands humbly before the God of the universe and trusts Him for everything that we need.