I have been praying on the subject of worship recently and I fear that there is a generation of people in church today that have a misguided view of true worship. When we say worship we often think of music, lights, and raising our hands. The bible tells a different story. For thousands of years Gods view of worship consisted of killing something. You did not enter into his presence without a sacrifice. God loves the smell of burning flesh. I pray that this generation takes into account that you cannot enter into the presence of God empty handed, nor without killing something. Lifting your hands during your favorite song twice a week is not what God is calling us to do. When Jesus speaks to the Pharisees and the Sadducees in Matthew 16:1-4, He calls them an evil and adulterous generation because they were demanding a miraculous sign to prove His authority. Jesus was not saying to them that they were adulterous in the aspect that they were having affairs on their natural husbands and wives but that they were not in covenant with God. Anything that we are putting before God, we are in essence, cheating on Him. God is a jealous God! So ask the question… is He Lord of your life before he provides the money? Is He Lord of your life before He brings your future spouse into the picture? Ultimately, is He Lord because He is Lord or because you need something from Him? He is the Almighty God! He deserves worship whether we FEEL LIKE IT OR NOT! When worship becomes habitual, then we better go back and kill something! I pray that God continues to show us daily what we need to kill in our flesh so that our worship never becomes casual but that He takes us to the river and baptizes us in a fire that will purify us, give us clean hands, give us pure hearts, and let us not lift our souls to an idol. Revelation 2:2-5-”I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lamp stand from its place among the churches.” My prayer is that we go back to the days of being so madly in love with you we didn’t care who knew! I pray that we go back to the cross daily, and nail our flesh to it so that we may worship you in Spirit and in Truth!
Jeff Shafer
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Image is of huge importance to the world. People think they should go by what other people think of them. This is how it should really be.
God made everyone a certain way for a certain reason. A specific build, intelligence level, etc. God has plans for everyone. Plans to prosper us, not to harm us. (Jeremiah 29:11) He wants us all to be succesful and prosperous. We just have to live according to his will, not ours.
Have you ever sat beside someone who smells? Whether it be the persons wearing too much cologne or perfume, or they’re not wearing enough. Regardless, you can smell them and sometimes you even know what they’re wearing. That sometimes familiar smell can redirect you to a name or even someone who wears that cologne or perfume.
2 Corinthians 2:15, the bible says we are the aroma of God. We are to be so constantly close to God that he has completely consumed us. So much that others can sense him on us. When someone looks at you, do you think they sense God? Or do they sense the world? This is one of many questions we should ask ourselves when assessing our walk. An assessment that will make us more productive in our walk.
Hope this helped!
Can’t wait to read your comments!
~Jacob Paxton
So, I was praying and I remembered the bible verse Isaiah 40:4-5. It says, “every valley shall be exalted and every mountain should be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the lord hath spoken”. What that means is when he speaks to you, and you do what he says, he will help you and fix things because he is testing you.
So I went and told him. He said, “I have had the worst day and I needed that…would you pray for me?” So I did and he is a Christian now. We need to listen to God and not be hesitant or rethink it. We need to just do it becase he always has something special for you after.
Trust me, he is the best thing you will ever have in your life. You could be the poorest man ever and if you have God, the richest man without him has nothing compared to what you have. Because there is no amount on God, he is everything and more. We just need to follow him, love him, and listen to him. He is all we need.
Can’t wait to read everyone’s comments!
~Mason Cline
Isn’t it good to know that the way God finds us is not the way he’s going to leave us! Our dreams and things we hope to do in our lives are not big enough for God. He wants to take us and use us more than we ever can imagine. God has an awesome plan for our lives and all we have to do is accept it.
John 4: 23- 24 says that “the time is coming, and now is when the true worshipers must
worship the father in spirit and in truth; for the father is seeking such to worship him.”
What Jesus meant by true worshipers was the ones that truly worship him with all they have and all they do and not the ones who just put on a show at church.
The reason we’re not bold is because were not confident in what were saying and the reason were not confident is because we haven’t had a true encounter with God yet. One thing we went over in the book study that we could say to someone when were witnessing to them and we don’t know an answer to one of their questions is “I’m not sure, but I’ll find out”.
“Find Jesus and you find deliverance and salvation.”
Something that’s better than just telling a friend to come to church with us is witnessing and telling them about Jesus right then and there. Your friends will feel more comfortable when you tell them about Christ then having a stranger to them tell them!
We need to have a fire in us for Christ and not let it die down because of who walks by or where we are. We need to constantly be sharing Gods love to our friends. We also need to be reading his word because if we get into his word he’ll get into us.
X2 principle = Allowing God to make us more than we ever think we can be!
Have any questions? Comments?
Comment by clicking the Leave A Comment button right below the title of this blog!
Looking forward to your responses!
~ Tanner Feazell
Last night in service, Pastor Bobby talked about the third point of the X2 Principle.
“He Sends Us”
God calls us to go out to our community and do all these awesome things. How awesome would it be if God used us to heal a sick person just by walking by them and casting a shadow on them. If we go out and try to do these things according to our own selfish ways, we cannot be used. We need to seek God. Matthew 6:33 says that we need to “Seek first the kingdom of God”. We got to get away from our desire to be recognized and get alone with God. A quote Pastor Bobby said last night really helped me.
“Sometimes you have to get so alone, that you are not alone anymore.”
If we are consumed in being accepted in Gods eyes and no one else’s, he will begin to use us, or Send Us. His word prepares us to be sent out. So, therefore, if we are not getting into the word, we cannot be used. Before we can be sent out, we have to line our self up with the Word. We must be in right standing with God. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we need to take every thought into captivity. Our prayer needs to be for God to give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive. When we make it ALL about him, we are gonna be used. We cannot do it without making it ALL about him. (Ephesians 3:20)
As you read this, know that there is more to your walk with God than what you are experiencing right now. Give it all to God. Ask him to give you words to speak. If we make it all about God’s will, we might just do incredible things for God.
How has God used you? Share with us your story here.
Have any questions? Comments?
Comment by clicking the Leave A Comment button right below the title of this blog!
Submit yourself to God, and he will use you like you never imagined. (James 4:7) The sick will be healed. The hurt heart will be mended. Addictions and strongholds will be broken. And God will get ALL the Glory.
Looking forward to your responses!
~ Nick