Blog: When We Worship

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. – Romans 8:34

How would it change the way you live and think to know that Jesus Christ Himself lives to intercede for you? Jesus is now seated at the Father’s right hand praying for us. He who was without sin became sin for us, so that by His blood we now stand forgiven, and Jesus now stands in the gap and commends us to the Father! There is no struggle, internal or external, that Jesus has not encountered, dealt with on the Cross, and overcome in victory.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, only the fearful expectation that we will one day stand before a Holy God. Along with that expectation, we have the blessed assurance that the Lord is doing a perfect work in us which He will most certainly complete. May we act like we are being prayed for, because we are! May we walk humbly and boldly before God with tremendous confidence knowing that He has secured the victory and is interceding for us every step of the way.

Let’s pray…

Lord Jesus, I trust You and believe You will finish the good work You started. I step forward in faith knowing that You are praying for me! Amen.

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. – Psalms 43:5

I love the psalms. You find the full spectrum of human experience and emotion captured and expressed in them. Sometimes we are feeling like we are on top of the world, and sometimes like the world is on top of us. Whether it be loneliness, betrayal, depression and sorrow, or happiness and thankfulness, contentment and satisfaction…No matter where we are in life there is a psalm that speaks right to us, to our present state, and encourages us.

God knows what’s in our hearts, that we our human, and He knows what we are going to say before we have even said a word. Be honest with God, tell Him how you feel because He already knows. Bring everything to your Heavenly Father – the good, bad, big, and small. God is good in the middle of it all! May we drag our emotions into the light of God’s goodness today, and make the conscious decision to look to, hope in, and worship the Lord. Like the psalmist says, “I shall yet praise Him…”

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father, I am so glad that no matter what may be going on in my heart or around me, I can come to You and tell You about it. I choose to worship and place my hope in You, because You are good all the time!

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” – Matthew 7:13-14

I often feel like I’m chasing after my life, and like it’s running away from me. Can you relate? Well, that’s because life is in front of us. This narrow and difficult path we are on leads somewhere. It leads to Life, it leads to Jesus, and chasing after Life is exactly what we are supposed to be doing! There are many paths a person can take, but only one that leads to Life.

The path to Life is difficult and narrow. That is a reality every one of us does well to consider and come to grips with. It takes a tremendous amount of work to stay on top of our mind, will and emotions, to take care of our physical man, and to continue growing and going on spiritually with the Lord. Oh, what a wonderful work it is though! When all is said and done, once we have endured to the end, those who have not turned to the right or the left shall receive the crown of Life. We are not chasing after any earthly gain or success…we are chasing after the man Jesus Christ. He is our path and our destination.

Keep running, keep doing the work, and most importantly keep your eyes on Jesus and He will give you the energy of His Spirit to run your race well!

Let’s pray…

Precious Savior, You are my Life and I will chase after You today! Help me to keep my eyes on You and to do the work that it takes to stay on the straight and narrow path You have laid out before me. In Jesus name, amen.

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes…” – Revelation 7:9

God loves diversity and His creativity knows no bounds! He placed such a stunning and beautiful kaleidoscope of color and variety in the world around us. He also made mankind tremendously diverse. Not one person is exactly like another. Even so-called identical twins have different fingerprints. Each and every person is unique and original, fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image, and our differences are something to be appreciated and celebrated!

There will be representatives from every language, people, and nation in the world present among the great multitudes in Heaven that worship God forever before His throne. The one thing that every saint in Heaven does have in common is that they are all washed in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. His love leaps over every wall and border, it extends to the ends of the earth, and no group of people will be left out or placed above any other. May our differences be a point of celebration and not division, because we will be spending all eternity together worshiping Jesus for His wonderful work!

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father, thank You for my brothers and sisters from all around the world. Thank You for Jesus, the Hope of the Nations, on whom we all stand! Help us to celebrate our differences and love one another the way You love us! In Jesus name, amen.

“Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.” – Psalms 34:3

Jesus, His nature, what He is really like, is what we are to project. If the world is going to see the Lord they are going to see Him in us. Like a magnifying glass, the Church is to be a lens through whom God is made more upfront and visible. He is our focus, and so we bring Him into focus for others. Yet, we cannot project Jesus if we are focused on and preoccupied with other things. Is there anything obstructing your view of the Lord? Lay it down before Him and place your attention squarely on the man Jesus Christ!

The Church is the pillar and ground of Truth (1 Tim. 3:15). In a world where there are many ideas about truth, many voices claiming to have the answers, many things vying for our attention…may we be concerned with one thing and one thing only: magnifying the Lord so that others get a clear clean witness and testimony of Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Let’s pray…

Lord Jesus, You are the Light of the world! Be magnified in me and be magnified in Your Church today so that the whole world might know what a loving and awesome God You are! Amen.

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. – Proverbs 24:10

There is a pull and natural tendency when things get tough to lay aside our work, and to become disheartened. It’s easy to be about the work before us when things are exciting and the reward of our labor is apparent. On the other hand, how do we do when the work is hard, and there seems to be no results in sight? It is in those times of adversity that God is building our endurance and that our faith is being proved genuine. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT seen.

The strength we need to endure to the end is not found within ourselves. Our own human grit and tenacity will only get us so far. Even the strongest among us faint, and give out at some point. The strength to endure to the end is only found in Jesus! Don’t grow weary in doing what is right. Keep serving the Lord, keep those hands lifted, and God will meet You with the true enduring strength of His Holy Spirit! Not only that, but He will give you enough for yourself as well as some overflow for those around you! There just might be someone who is getting the encouragement they need to get through from watching you. I pray you are encouraged and strengthened in the Lord today for whatever challenges He is taking you through!

Let’s pray…

Lord Jesus, thank You for being my strength, give me Your Spirit and I will serve You and endure to the end! Amen.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. – Colossians 3:3

What a wonderful thing to be emancipated from self-concern and to come alive to God for His purpose and plan! In order for God to have His way in us we must set ourselves and our own agenda aside. As long as I am still concerned with me and my own interests, God can’t use me for His. Let it be our habit to go to God daily and ask, “what does today look like if it’s not about me?”

We must learn to hide ourselves from ourselves, so that we can be free to serve Christ and His interests in others. After all, has God not already given us everything necessary for life and godliness in Jesus Christ? If He cares for even the birds of the air and flowers of the field, will He not also provide and care for us? Has He not forgiven our sins, conquered death, and promised us eternal life? Is there really anything more that God can do that He has not already done on our behalf? Allow yourself to simply be hidden with Christ in God, and be free to give without sparing, without any consideration for yourself.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father, thank You for the satisfaction that is ours in Jesus Christ! Let today not be about me, let it it be about You Your interests in those around me! Amen.

“The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the hearts.” – Proverbs 17:3

If there are any impurities in a metal they will rise to the top when heat is applied. The Lord does the same with hearts. I’ve heard it said what’s in you comes out when you’re stressed. Character isn’t formed in times of trial, it is REVEALED. The heat of God-ordained trials bring to the surface what is hidden in our hearts.

Have you ever been surprised by what has “floated to the top” when you’ve had some heat applied to your life? I have. Sometimes it has been a pleasant surprise, and sometimes it wasn’t pretty. Though trials aren’t pleasant, God is working a perfect and marvelous work in you and I for His Purpose, and for His glory! James says it like this…

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” – James 1:2-4

Brothers and sisters, don’t jump out of the fire! The Lord is after something, He is forming the character of Jesus in you. Don’t wait till the heat is on to press in to Jesus, but when life is hot and heavy let that drive us all the more fervently to the Lord’s feet!

Let’s pray…

Holy Father, thank You for the perfect work You are doing in me! I take my eyes off of the trial, and look forward with joy to the end result: being complete lacking nothing, and You getting all the glory! In Jesus name, amen.

As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” – Romans 8:36-37

Jesus Christ Himself conquered death and put all authority and principalities under His feet in victory when He sacrificed Himself on the Cross. This is utter foolishness to the natural man, and what a contrast to the way power is gained in the world. Yet, there has never been nor will there ever be a greater conqueror than Christ!

Jesus, out of His love for the Father and for us, humbled Himself to experience all the difficulty and futility that comes with living in this fallen world, yet He was without sin or fault. Ultimately, He gave His own life for us. There is no depth that Christ has not descended to, and no height which He has not risen above, no trouble too great, no state too grim, that can prevent or keep you and I from God’s love.

Although we don’t yet see all things put under Jesus’ feet, we stand victorious here and now. You and I are the victory of God! When things are difficult, may we not give way to self-pity or doubt, but instead look to Jesus and remember that difficult is the way that leads to life and we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. May we walk like we have the victory, because we do! Sin no longer has controlling power over us, and even death is a pathway to life. Like Jesus, our victory is not won by defending our rights, it isn’t measured by worldly success, our victory is found at the foot of the Cross! The victorious life is one of humility and obedience to the man Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray…

Almighty God, I surrender my life to You afresh and thank You for the victory that is mine in Jesus!

“For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” – Luke‬ ‭22‬:‭27‬ ‭CSB‬‬
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That which is highly valued in the world is not what God values highly in His Kingdom. Also, the things that are considered lowly and insignificant by the world are often considered highly valuable and precious in God’s sight. Servants, for example, are not thought to be all that impressive, nor is the work they do held in very high esteem. Yet, God considers servants great in His Kingdom! God takes note of those who humble themselves, He honors them and lifts them up.

Jesus Himself didn’t come as a royal dignitary or top official. He came as a servant, born in obscurity to a family of no notoriety at all. Jesus, the King of kings, humbled Himself and came as a servant, and God The Father exalted Him by giving Him the greatest name of all. If our Lord laid down His rights and humbled Himself to serve, how much more should we? God is not looking for us to be great or do great things. He is looking for sons and daughters who have the heart of a servant, those who will humble themselves, seek His Kingdom and serve His Purpose in others. In a time where many seek after greatness and staunchly defend their own rights, may we lay ours down and follow Jesus. May we be identified with our Lord and be counted as “one who serves.”

Let’s pray…

Lord Jesus, I humble myself in Your sight and set myself to serve Your will and purpose today. Lead me by Your Spirit and I will follow! Amen.