Blog: When We Worship

“Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” – Luke 6:20 NKJV

There is something about nothing. There is something about emptiness. Something about it that causes the Lord to say, “Blessed are you.” But what about all those preachers who tell me that God wants me to be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous? Yet, Jesus says when we are poor, having nothing to bring to the table, when we are empty, that we are blessed. Why?

Well, God can’t fill what is already full. If we are full of ourselves we can’t be filled with Jesus. If we are full of the world and its ways, we don’t have room for the Kingdom and His ways. Having nothing, being poor in spirit, without agenda, and being empty is a blessed and joyful state indeed because it makes us able to receive the Lord, His Word, His Life, His Spirit, His provision, His Kingdom, and His ways. His ways are so much better, so other, and so much higher than ours. Blessed are the poor indeed!

Let’s pray…

Lord Jesus, I confess that I have nothing and I am nothing apart from You. Please fill me with Your Spirit and use me for Your Kingdom and Your glory!

“Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies…” – Joshua 10:12-13

What great faith Joshua had and what an extraordinary thing God had clearly placed in his heart to pray! God, who fashioned the heavens and the earth with just a Word, quite literally moved heaven and earth for the sake of His chosen people. Today, that same God will tax the farthest star to come to the aid of His children who ask in faith and in Jesus name! If we believe we serve a great God for whom nothing is impossible, and for whom the impossible is nothing, our prayers will reflect the Mighty God we serve.

Prayer is not a tool for us to get what we want from God, it is a tool for God to get what He wants from us. There is no request too big, and none too small. He cares for us and through relationship with Him we learn better and better how to pray. Let us come to God in faith and not doubting. Let us come often! Let us delight ourselves in Jesus and commit ourselves to serving Him. As we do, He will teach our hearts what to desire and then give us those desires if we will only come and ask!

“Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.” – Psalms 37:4-5

Let’s pray…

Almighty God, it is amazing to me that You have chosen to hear and respond when Your people pray. I set myself to serve You today. Lead me in prayer and let Your Kingdom come! In Jesus name, amen.

“…we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…” – II Corinthians 1:8-9 NKJV

You may have heard it said that God will never give us more than we can bear. That is not true! It is better said that God will never give us something to do that we can accomplish apart from Him. Paul’s life at this moment in time was crushing and the situation God had placed him in, along with those who were with him, was a matter of life and death. It was “above strength” or in other words he needed some beyond human endurance to go through it. He needed Jesus!

Everything God allows us to go through is designed to teach us to depend on Him and not ourselves. When faced with that which is beyond us may we look to and fully place our trust in Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who Himself endured the Cross and now sits in victory over this world. While God does give us more than we can handle, He will always provide us with His Spirit who is the power and heavenly resource we need to not just get through, but to go through and come out with the sweet testimony of Jesus Christ and His faithfulness.

Let’s pray…

Lord Jesus, in my weakness You are strong! Thank you for being my help and my strength. I surrender and place my trust in You. Please give me Your Spirit that I may endure to the end! Amen.

“…John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” – John 1:35-37

What a beautiful picture of disciple-making. John knew it was not about him, gathering people to himself was never the goal, he was just a sign post to point others to Jesus the lamb of God and King of kings! Those who walked with John and heard him speak came away with a clear focus on the man Jesus Christ and left knowing better how to follow Him.

Your life and mine ought to have the same effect. Though not everyone has a formal ministry position, every believer is called to lead others to Jesus. If others follow you where will they end up? May those whom we have the privilege of walking with, no matter how short or how long, be left with a focus on Jesus. If they follow us, may they find themselves at His feet, in His Word, and in His House. May they see us looking unto Jesus, beholding the Lamb of God, and may they too behold Him!

Let’s pray…

Lord Jesus, You are the One who takes away our sins, who gives us Life, and call us to Yourself. You are awesome and truly amazing! Like John, let the keynote of my life be, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” – Luke 6:41-42 NIV

We are liable to be preoccupied with the faults of others while completely missing the glaring issues God wants to address in our own lives. It is a healthy and right perspective to read God’s Word as if it were written not for those around me, but to me…because it is! Jesus tells us that we are to consider our own sin worst and first. He wants us to first do business with Him ourselves and then we will truly be in a place to help others. We will have a testimony and the discernment to be a help and service in the lives of those around us.

This is not a static place we just arrive at, but it is a lifestyle of turning to God in confession and repentance. As we do so, God equips and positions us to speak into the lives of others from a place of humility and grace because God is doing a wonderful redemptive work in our own lives! Finally, don’t go hunting for your own faults and failures either, but let the Holy Spirit be the One to identify what needs to be dealt with. He doesn’t traffic in guilt and condemnation, but in conviction and repentance. God is doing the good and perfect work of forming the character of Jesus Christ in you, let Him have His way.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father, I turn to You afresh today and humble myself in Your sight. Let Your Kingdom come starting in my own heart that I might also be a help and blessing to others. In Jesus name, amen.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17

The Bible does not tell us to attempt to do what God said by our own strength and effort, it instructs us to believe what God said and to walk by faith. Apart from faith it is impossible to please God. If we could please Him some other way Jesus would not have had to die on the Cross. Yet He did die and has also risen, and the life we are now called to live is one of faith in the Son of God!

There are burdens and fears that we could let go of if we would let go of them. One huge burden that many carry is the constant weight of trying to please a Holy God. God is already pleased in His Son Jesus Christ, and the moment we come to God on that basis, by grace through faith we have entered into His good pleasure and right relationship! The Lord delights to give us His Spirit, who works through our faith, and is the power to live and do according to His Word.

We must learn to surrender and walk by faith in the moments that the Lord puts before us. That’s what the Word means when it says His righteousness is revealed from faith to faith and glory to glory. Don’t try and live life all at once, just believe God in the moment. As we string together moment by moment of faith we find ourselves living a life of faith and God is glorified!

Let’s Pray…

Heavenly Father, I come to You by faith knowing that only Jesus pleases You and that You’re pleased with me because I am found in Him. Help me to walk by faith, moment by moment, and let others come to know what a wonderful God I serve! Amen.

“All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.” – Proverbs 15:15

On Sunday mornings, I see a glimpse of this verse in action as I watch God’s people enter into worship with lifted hands and glad hearts. The joy of the Lord is tangible. People are delighting themselves in God, giving thanks, laying burdens down at His feet, and focusing on Jesus. The reality of a child of God is that we are separated from our sin because of what Jesus did on the Cross. Sin no longer has the power over us that it once had. God has brought us out of the affliction of living a life of sin and consequences, and delivered us into the law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Our life is now a sweet romance with the Lord, His Word, His way, His Presence, His Kingdom…and all of this is found in the man Jesus Christ. Our Lord, our God, our Savior, and our Joy!

Our lives are not free from struggle and difficulty, and at times we may feel like God is far from us, but our hearts are filled with a kind of joy that is deeper and stronger than any emotion, a joy that strengthens us in and through every adversity and challenge that comes our way! We have a continual feast in our hearts, it’s real, it’s enduring, and it’s found in Jesus. May we draw near to the Lord and worship our way through the difficulties, because in His presence is fullness of joy, and the joy of the Lord is truly our strength!

Let’s pray…

Lord Jesus, I draw near today knowing that in You I have a continual feast and abiding joy. Help me to worship my way through, especially when things are hard, and get all the glory from my life as I do! Amen.

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!” – Psalms 46:10

The world is loud, it seems sometimes like waves and billows crashing all around. Yet, God tells me to “be still.” There is a stillness in the early morning hours that I treasure because it reminds me that I need to be still in my own soul to hear the Lord. He won’t shout over or compete with other voices, starting with my own, He waits for us to quiet ourselves before Him.

God is always talking. The question is are you and I listening? May we take time to quiet our thoughts, to turn off the news, put down the phones, tablets and screens, pick up the Word, and get alone with God. He will speak to us and when He does our joy and peace will be renewed. He will give us a heavenly perspective by pointing us back to His Son and reminding us that Jesus has overcome the world!

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father, Your Words are precious to me and I want to hear what You have to say. I set everything else aside and quiet myself before You. Speak Lord, I’m listening!

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” – John 5:19

If Jesus, who is God and King, submitted and humbled Himself before God the Father, how much more should I, a mere man, take a position of humility and dependency? The truth is I am and can do nothing apart from Jesus, apart from His Spirit, apart from His power, and His direction. The quicker I come to embrace and recognize this reality the better! No amount of good intentions, ambition, resourcefulness, or force of my own will can add a single thing to God. What God is looking for is faith and surrender!

How many of us have really learned to wait on God? Are we still driven by passion and ambition, and trying to do great things for Him? The truth is God can do more with one surrendered and obedient believer who has really learned to wait on and work with God, than a thousand busy saints who are still trying to work for God. May we find ourselves more and more in God’s Word and in prayer. May we submit ourselves to the covering and leadership God has given us in our local church, and may we wait for God to show us the way, to show us His Son, and work with Him when He does!

Let’s pray…

Lord Jesus, I can do nothing apart from You! Only what You do in and through me will last for eternity. I lay down my plans and desires, I humble myself, and ask that You lead me by Your Spirit today! Amen.

“Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men.” – Proverbs 8:30-31

God is not mad, oh no, He is rejoicing! His delight is in Jesus and Jesus’ delight is in us. There is a whole lot of celebrating going on in Heaven even over ONE soul that comes to Christ. God’s love for people is the reason He gave His only Son so that all who believe in Him might be saved! We must not portray God as angry and vengeful, because that is not how He has shown Himself at this time.

“…Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” – 2 Corinthians 6:2

There will come a time for judgement. Yet, at this present time the Lord’s arms are outstretched and now is the time for grace and favor. If we are pointing fingers at other people for their sin we are still blind to our own. The time for grace and favor is now! God’s arms are outstretched, and we being partakers of His grace ought to have our arms open to extend the same grace we have received!

Let’s pray…

Gracious Lord, I am what I am by Your grace. I will not only tell of Your grace, but I will gladly share it with those around me. Bring many sons and daughters to glory! In Jesus name, amen.