it is my JOY to worship you

Worship: It’s a touchy subject.

It’s a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of his worth. It cannot be done by mere acts of duty (for example, attending church simply because you feel you HAVE to). You have to worship from your mind AND heart, with affection and passion and joy. If we only worship out of duty – it is dishonouring to God. When we worship out of desire and in joy – it honours God. For example, a man brings home flowers for his wife – with a smile on his face, he says – ‘here, these are for you. I bought them because I have to since I’m your husband.’... uhm, yeah – i  would be offended haha However if he hands the flowers to his wife and says, “these are for you, I love you and I want you to know how amazing you are to me.” – perfect! Okay, I know, it’s a cheesy analogy, but you get the point right? What are we saying to God? “I worship you because it’s my duty?” OR “I worship you because it’s my joy?”

Worship IS expected from us as Christians. Hebrews 10:25 “Let us not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing”. We are called to be a part of the ‘body of believers’, attend a church, small group etc. The quality of your private worship life does NOT exempt you from worshiping among other believers. “There’s an element of worship and Christianity that cannot be experienced in private worship or by watching worship. There are some graces and blessings that God gives only in the ‘meeting together’ with other believers” – DS Whitney.

BUT our public worship should not take away from our private worship. ‘How is it possible to worship God publicly once each week when we do not worship Him privately through-out the week? Can we expect the flames of our worship of God to burn brightly in public on the Lord’s Day when they barely flicker for Him in private on other days? Isn’t it because we do not worship well in private that our corporate worship experience often dissatisfies us?’ Bam. Private Worship is a blessing. God blesses us through it. Daily strength, guidance and encouragement is available to us. How amazing is that Jesus Christ is willing to meet with us individually for as long as we want, whenever and wherever we want? He is EAGER to meet with us, every day!

Remember though, worship cannot be forced, diagrammed or calculated. It is the response of a heart in love with God. But, it is ALSO a Discipline. We must discipline ourselves to worship so that our relationship with Christ can be healthy and strong and always growing. Worship should not be an ‘on and off’ switch, it must always flow from our hearts – for God is ALWAYS God and ALWAYS worthy of worship.

True Worship.

Don’t fake it... the act of worship without actual worship is a miserable and hypocritical experience. If worship wearies you – you aren’t really worshiping. How can we stand before the throne of God Almighty and fake our worship...? I would write more here... but I don’t really know what to say. It happens SO often – how insulting is that to our God... wow. The object of our worship is our Great, Glorious and Majestic God. When worship becomes empty – the problem IS, no doubt, with US (the subjects) and NOT with God (the object). God is worthy of ALL the worship, ALL the time. The best and most whole-hearted worship we can give Him.

Worship is so valuable. It is to be treasured and protected. It is to be biblical and passionate. It is not to be taken for granted, It is not to be taken lightly. It is not meant to be shallow and meaningless. Worship is a gift. It is an opportunity to meet with our King and grow in our relationship with Him. It is our chance to give back just a little bit.

pursuing godliness. part two.

*If you read Part One, hopefully you’re beginning to grasp the importance of reading the Word and growing in your knowledge of it. The Bible isn’t there for us to simply open on Sunday mornings, it isn’t there to open when we need it most. The Bible is a tool given to us, directly from God, in order to help us pursue godliness and in pursuing godliness we become more like Christ.*

Another HUGE Spiritual Discipline we as Christians must be practicing is prayer. Colossians 4:2 “devote yourselves to prayer”.

What does it really mean to be devoted to prayer? Well, I look at it this way... A couple is devoted to one another. They make time for each other; they sacrifice for each other and make the other a priority in their life. They will do anything to maintain a strong and healthy relationship with the other person. So, therefore when the Bible calls us to be devoted to prayer, I think it’s somewhat similar. We are to make prayer a priority, sacrifice for it and give time to it... God EXPECTS Christians to be devoted to prayer.

So why is it then that so many Christians struggle in their prayer life, feeling as if they are talking into thin air? “We can be prayer pessimists and see the expectation to pray merely as obligation, or we can be optimists who view the command to pray as an opportunity to receive the mercy and grace of God.”  DS Whitney.  If we are only praying because we feel obligated to as the duty of a ‘good Christian’, then chances are our prayer life will not be fruitful. It’s so important to remember that God desires to have a relationship with us. He wants to be in constant communication with him because He loves us and cares for us. Prayer is something we are able to do because of God’s grace, take full advantage of that! “His command to pray is a command of love. In His love He desires to communicate with us and to bless us.” Remember that prayer is for our benefit; It is something we, as believers, NEED because we cannot be like Jesus without it.

“When our awareness of the greatness of God and the gospel is dim, our prayer lives will be small. The less we think of the nature and character of God, and the less we are reminded of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, the less we want to pray.” This statement is so beyond true. This is a main reason why reading and growing in the word is tied hand and hand with prayer. If you truly grasp – even just a little bit – of who God is and what He has done for you – how could you NOT want to be speaking with him. Prayer is an incredible gift that we SHOULD take full advantage of because we WANT to, not because we are asked to...

Finally, it’s important to remember that God doesn’t mean for prayer to be a means of one-way communication. God also speaks to us, we just need to listen. “Where God leads you to pray, He means you to receive.” CH Spurgeon.  The point of prayer is NOT to ‘get’, but it is critical to know that God always answers prayer, maybe not always in the way we desire – maybe sometimes it seems as if his answer to our prayer was the exact opposite of what we were hoping for – but, He knows best. We have to believe that. God has our best interest at heart.

Don’t just turn to prayer when you feel you’ve hit a dead end and run out of options. Don’t just wait to pray on Sunday mornings or bible-study nights. Pray Often. Pray without ceasing. Pray about everything. Talk with God – realize how blessed we are that we can do that.

pursuing godliness .part one.

We aren’t merely to wait for Holiness, we are to pursue it.

So how is it then that we become like Christ, how can we grow to be more like him? The answer is found in 1^st Timothy 4:7 “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness”. As Christians, we must discipline ourselves using the Spiritual Disciplines and this is how we pursue a godly life. When we remember this, disciplining ourselves becomes a delight rather than drudgery. “The Spiritual Disciplines are the God-given means we are to use in the Spirit-filled pursuit of Godliness” - D.S. Whitney. Jesus Christ disciplined himself for the purpose of godliness, so if we desire to be Christ-like, we must live as Christ did – Christ not only expects these spiritual disciplines of us, but he modeled them for us throughout his life.  If you want to get real, we all know of professing Christians who seem to have little fruit and power being poured out in their lives – the cause of this may likely be the fact that these people are so spiritually undisciplined. Always remember *It takes sacrifice to succeed*

First of all, one of the main Spiritual Disciplines would be reading God’s word as we should. I think it’s fair to say that MANY Christians – especially young people – struggle with this one .We look at third-world countries where there is a church, a body of believers, and not one person there owns a bible or has read the word of God. Missionaries are amazed at how ‘misled’ or ‘confused’ these believers are because of the fact that they aren’t being guided by biblical truths. It’s one thing to be unfamiliar with Scripture when you don’t own a bible; it’s another thing when you have a bookshelf full. “No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There is simply no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture”.

Romans 10:17 “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Much of the faith we need for day-to-day living comes from hearing the Word. We are called to worship God constantly, in everything we do, but the ongoing worship of God CANNOT be separated from the Word of God. We HAVE to discipline ourselves to hear the word of God – through church, small groups, personal devotion time etc.

“How often do we face problems, temptation and pressure? EVERY DAY! Then how often do we need instruction, guidance and greater encouragement? EVERY DAY!” – John Blanchard.

“A man can no more take in a supply of Grace for the future than he can eat enough for the next six months, or take sufficient air into his lungs at one time to sustain life for a week. We must draw upon God’s boundless store of grace from day to day as we need it.” – DL Moody

In our society, a huge reason many Christians struggle with reading the word as they should is.. well.. it’s laziness. However, tape-recorded versions of the Bible have proven that you can get through the ENTIRE book in 71 hours. The average person in Canada watches that much TV in two weeks... guilt trip!!!! SO the reason so many professing Christians complain (or sadly, are content) with not having any fruit or power in their lives is because they settle for a poor quality intake of hearing, reading and studying God’s Word... therefore they severely restrict the main flow of God’s sanctifying Grace towards them. “Let the word break over your heart and mind again and again as the years go by, and imperceptibly there will come great changes in your attitude and outlook and conduct.” – Geoffrey Thomas.

With reading, hearing and studying the Word of God, we also find other Spiritual Disciplines such as: memorization, meditation and application. We have to always remember that when Scripture is stored in our mind, it is available for the Holy Spirit to take and bring to our attention when we need it most. However, if we aren’t hearing, reading or studying Scripture as we should, we have no weapon in our hand when we face questions of our own or from others, when we face trials, when we face anything... “When the Holy Spirit brings a definite verse to mind, it’s an illustration of what Ephesians 6:17 can mean when it refers to “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” A pertinent scriptural truth, brought to your awareness by the holy spirit at just the right moment, can be the weapon that makes the difference in a spiritual battle” – DS Whitney.

*Until scripture is hidden in our hearts – it isn’t available to use with our mouths*

impossible isnt a friendly word

Lately I can hear that still small voice asking me to simply, ‘stop everything’. The more I try to get myself out of the stressful mess I’m in, the more stuck I become and the more frustrated I get and this cycle of hurt and pain never ends. I’m so focused and consumed on the fact that my life isn’t at all where I’d like it to be and I give my full attention to my fears and worries, not realizing in the moment that it’s destroying me. Sometimes I wonder how in a matter of months I’ve slipped so far under such heavy emotional and spiritual stress, what happened? How did I allow myself to get here? The truth is, the more I ask questions like that – the more I feel as if I’m a failure and my faith is weak.

I can’t remember the last time I took a breath and just sat in silence, listening for Gods voice. My thoughts are always SO loud, in every moment of every day – it never stops. I’m so easily distracted that when I try to pray or spend time with God – I feel like I get nowhere. As time goes by I’m beginning to feel so drained of energy that I’m just allowing myself to remain in this state because trying to find my way out of it seems impossible.

‘Impossible’... I’ve become too friendly with this word and that in itself is an insult to God. I’m beginning to realize that maybe he’s allowed me to cage myself in this mess I’ve been making just to remind me of a simple and powerful truth. Depend on Him.

Depend on Him.

I’ve been here before, a few times actually. It’s amazing how easily we can forget. It’s amazing how God can pull us out of such awful situations in life – and yet the next time we encounter a situation, we try to go it alone and we fail. As I write this I can imagine God with a smile on his face looking at me and saying, ‘are you ready to give up on yourself and rely ONLY on me?’ I don’t see him as angry at the fact that I’ve been pushing Him away by relying on myself and my own strength... I see Him with a smile. He knows my weaknesses, He knows my pain and he knows my way out. The smile makes me realize that He’s been here all along, he’s been waiting... watching my every failed move... the smile makes me realize that he’s holding out his hand and asking me (again) to TRUST HIM and DEPEND ON HIM.

Stop everything. Stop moving. Rely on God’s strength and be filled with HIS love and peace and doors will be opened. Spend time with Him, reading the word and praying and listening to HIS voice rather than your own. Stop looking for a way out. Look to Christ and lean on Him and the way out will come to you.

Trust Him.

Depend on Him.