Worship

How to be Pleasing to God in Our Worship!

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Our bodies are reflective of our minds and hearts in worship. We offer up our bodies once we learn what is true of God, and so my question to you is: What is our body saying we believe to be true as we conduct ourself in the exercise of worship? When we sing are we engaged? When our Pastor preaches do we take notes or listen and follow along intently? When there are opportunities to serve, do we get involved? Are we praying? Are we tithing when it’s time to give? Do we understand that what we believe about God is what should compel these acts of sacrificial service? These are the things that we should consider when we look at Romans 12:1.

Is Your Worship Spirited and True? (Part 3)

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Just think, right now in Heaven there is a worship service happening. Within that worship service, truth is being proclaimed about who God is and what He has done. Whenever that happens, there is a response that takes place that causes all of those around the throne to fall before Him and throw their crowns saying, “You are worthy..”. This is going to be so awesome to experience in the future, but I am here to say that we can, and should, be experiencing that sort of a worship service right now!! This is a great picture of worshiping in Spirit and Truth!

Is Your Worship Spirited and True? (Part 2)

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There is an old term called, “True North”, and it is the internal compass that guides you successfully through life. The old timers used to use the North Star in navigating the ocean because it was stationary and didn’t move with the waves and wind, it kept them on a straight path to their destination. In much the same way, there is a “True North” in our times of worship, and that is the Word of God. The Bible is the “compass” that informs and instructs our worship. In it we find all that God has revealed about His nature, character, and covenant with us. All of the thoughts we think, the songs we sing, the prayers we pray, and the ideals we hold to be true must be rooted in the truths of God’s Word. The most powerful force to unlock freedom is truth (see John 8:31-32) . So, if we want to be free in our worship, then it must be rooted in truth!

Is Your Worship Spirited and True? (Part 1)

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In the Old Testament we see that worship was primarily an act of adherence to the prescribed methods and instructions of the law. It was very ritualistic and needed to be carried out with precision or else it was not accepted. The emphasis was not necessarily placed on the inward expression of worship from a changed heart and spirit that was completely submitted to God (although that was God’s intention), but was very much about the external conformity to rituals and traditions. The Jews missed the point! They were focused on the wrong things, and I believe that we can be trapped into the same things today – missing the whole point of worship.

Using our Freedom Properly

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“Live as free people” is what the verse says above, and I believe it is profound! We all have the freedom to say anything that we want – at any time (As Americans anyways). That can be very bad, or that can be very good! In the negative sense, the Bible says that we have the power of death in our tongue (Proverbs 18:21). That is very scary and it should make us think twice before we speak! The very words we speak can and will shape our lives, the tone of the conversations, the disposition of the people around us, and so-on. Using the freedom we have to do evil (e.g. gossip, slander, dishonor, etc.) is never going to bring about anything good and profitable, so let’s not do that. On the contrary, in the verse referenced above it says that the power of life is in the tongue as well (Proverbs 18:21). This is where the “slaves to God” comes into play. Choosing to speak good and noble things instead of letting any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths (Ephesians 4:29), we are speaking life and encouragement into people’s lives as opposed to death and anxiety.

Allowed to Ascend?

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The good news is that God has provided the One who is able to clean us up! His name is Jesus Christ, and anyone who calls upon Him is saved and able to access the throne of God! This doesn’t mean that we can still continue in unholiness and expect to receive blessing, but it does mean that we are able to be clean before God when we come to Christ and seek His forgiveness. Once we have the blood of Christ over us, cleansing our filth, then we can rest assured that we are able to ascend the hill of the Lord, not by anything that we do but through the baptism into Christ for the forgiveness of sins! He makes us clean! He changes our motives! Jesus presents us as holy and blameless before the Father (Ephesians 5:25-27)! If we are holy and blameless principally, then let’s live it out practically as worshipers! All for His glory!

Choices in Life

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We have choices to make in life; Who to marry, how many children to have, where to work, where to worship, who to worship, and so-on. The choices we make should determine our devotion, and the devotion we have should determine our choices.
We do not want death and curses to follow us. We want life and blessings. This will happen for us if we choose to obey Him and remain loyal to Him always in the choices that we make!

Have Mercy God! Why Confession is Important.

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We need to understand that unconfessed sin sucks the life out of us (Ps. 32:3-4) and distances us from God. So, if we are trying to get close to God through worship we will inevitably be frustrated with the results if we are refusing to be authentic and truthful with Him about our sins. Start today, confess your sins to God and allow the refreshing water of forgiveness to bless you and restore you. Humility before God is a sweet thing that will always be received and honored by God. Isn’t that what we want? So, let’s do it!

Pleasing God

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I recognize the importance of speaking out affirmation to my wife. I can watch her face light up when I say something about her that I love. I can see the love in her eyes when I seek to please her with words of affirmation. The encouragement from the author is to “let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.” (through him, Jesus). God loves to hear from our mouths what makes Him special, set apart, what makes us love Him, what excites us about Him, etc. I love this about God! Let’s not forget that He is worthy to receive such affirmation too, right? So let’s please Him by spending much of our time offering up words from our heart that affirm who He is and what He has done for us.