These have been inspiring me lately, so I thought I'd share them here! I so often find that there just aren't any words to describe what it's like or what it means to worship God...it can really only be expressed with our hearts and with our spirits. But I guess that doesn't stop me from trying or from meditating on things like this!
It is in the process of being worshiped that God communicates His presence to men.
--C.S. Lewis
We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the psalms, and that the habit of celebrating the greatness and graciousness of God yields an endless flow of thankfulness, joy, and zeal.
--J.I. Packer
God must speak to us before we have any liberty to speak to Him. He must disclose to us who He is before we can offer Him what we are in acceptable worship. The worship of God is always a response to the Word of God. Scripture wonderfully directs and enriches our worship.
--John Stott
A true love of God must begin with a delight in His holiness.
--Jonathan Edwards
If your heart takes more pleasure in reading novels, or watching TV, or going to the movies, or talking to your friends, rather than just sitting alone with God and embracing Him, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever and ever in His presence? You'd be bored to tears in heaven if you're not ecstatic about God now!
--Keith Green
To be used of God. Is there anything more encouraging, more fulfilling? Perhaps not, but there is something more basic: to meet with God. To linger in His presence, to shut out the noise of the city and, in quietness, give Him the praise He deserves. Before we engage ourselves in His work, let's meet Him in His Word...in prayer...in worship.
--Chuck Swindoll
To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.
--William Temple
Worship is not a repetitious exercise of rituals and formulas. These create a veil that actually prevents us from enjoying the presence of the Lord. Worship is the heart poured out in gratitude and awe, expressing our appreciation of who He is and what He has done for us by His grace through Jesus Christ.
--Dave Hunt
We're here to be worshipers first and workers only second. We take a convert and immediately make a worker out of him. God never meant it to be so. God meant that a convert should learn to be a worshiper, and after that he can learn to be a worker...the work done by a worshiper will have eternity in it.
--A.W. Tozer
If we haven't learned to be worshipers it doesn't really matter how well we do anything else. Worship changes us or it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience.
--Erwin Lutzer
God is God; you are but one of His creatures. Your only joy is to be found in obeying Him, your true fulfillment is to be found in worshiping Him, your only wisdom is to be found in trusting and knowing Him.
--Sinclair B. Ferguson
Adoration is the spontaneous yearning of the heart to worship, honor, magnify, and bless God. We ask nothing but to cherish Him. We seek nothing but His exaltation. We focus on nothing but His goodness.
--Richard J. Foster
Should I worship Him from fear of hell, may I be cast into it. Should I serve Him from desire of gaining heaven, may He keep me out. But should I worship Him from love alone, He reveals Himself to me, that my whole heart may be filled with His love and presence.
--Sadhu Sundar Singh
When it comes to satisfying our spiritual appetites, there is no such thing as excess. There are no restraints placed on us by God. There are no rules of temperance or laws requiring moderation or boundaries beyond which we cannot go in seeking to enjoy Him. We need never pause to inquire whether we've crossed a line or become overindulgent. You need never fear feeling too good about God.
--Sam Storms
The Father and the Son have sought to redeem us that we may become worshipers. Jesus said that the Son of Man came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. In John 4 he reveals the purpose for His seeking. The Father sent Christ to seek and save for the specific purpose of producing worshiping people.
--John MacArthur
We are never nearer Christ than when we find ourselves lost in holy amazement at His unspeakable love.
--John Owen
Wow do I love all of this. Worship is LIFE! The amazing privilege we have to worship Him, the invitation to enter into the most holy place where His very Presence dwells so humbles and awes me and is far and away the greatest blessing He has given or will ever give me - to find all my delight and joy in Him, to be found whole and made FREE in His Presence, to lift up and glorify His Name with a heart of praise! What a precious and priceless gift, what a matchless and glorious existence! I love that I was MADE to worship Him, and worship I will...with all my being...now and for all eternity!! Thank You Lord!!!
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
--Psalm 29:2
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Proverbs 2
How did I just now discover this completely awesome passage of scripture?! It is so speaking to me where I'm at right now! I LOVE GOD'S WORD!!!
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
--Proverbs 2:1-11
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
--Proverbs 2:1-11
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Come Away
Over the past couple of weeks I've been realizing that God's plans for me and His call on my life are so much greater than I've ever even allowed myself to imagine. I know it's a truth straight from His Word and so it shouldn't come as a surprise, but at some point head knowledge has to become heart knowledge, right? And God has really been speaking to and preparing my heart for something beyond what I can conceive, something way out of the ordinary. He has been breaking down my fears one by one and stirring up a passion so fierce and placing desires within me that just aren't conducive to the confines of religion, to life inside the box. More and more I'm feeling like I'm on the brink of something big and unexpected. This whole past year, while definitely a period of waiting and transition in many ways, has been all about preparation...strengthening...growth...fueling the fire. It's all been building me up for what's to come. And I know I'm on the right track because I'm coming up against a lot of resistance from the enemy (to whom I say, BRING IT! I've got your #). But words cannot describe what the Lord has been showing me lately and I'm just so excited for what He has in store! I do not know, cannot fathom what all lies ahead, I have no concept of the end goal...and I'm finally accepting and understanding that that's okay. It's not even for me to know. Him and Him alone is all I know or need to know. And nothing will deter me from seeking Him and following after Him with all my heart, no matter where it leads me. Every time I get a fresh revelation of who He is, every time I get another glimpse of His heart, I'm struck with wonder and awe so overwhelming and consumed with such deep longing for Him, increasingly confirming this one thing: I have been created, I am here, I am alive only for and only because of Him, nothing less than to live entirely for Him, to make His Name known, to do His will, to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth! Jesus, I'm all Yours in this great adventure!!
I've got a plan for you
It's gonna be wild, it's gonna be great
It's gonna be full of Me...
Monday, August 8, 2011
His Grace Enough
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. - 2 Corinthians 12:9
Pretty sure this is my life verse. I've loved it from the time I came to Christ. I'm amazed at the ways God has used it to speak into my life over and over again! It's such a word for me in this season in particular as I'm taking greater steps of faith and seeking to live for Him ever more boldly. I'm clinging so tightly to this promise! I've always been one, if left to my own thoughts and devices, to dwell too much on what I see as my weaknesses, shortcomings, and imperfections. My inadequacy. But I love the Lord who says that it's in my weaknesses that His POWER is made PERFECT. In other words, they do not hinder Him at all but He shows Himself strong and mighty through them! He, our Creator, already knows all of our weaknesses and promises that His GRACE is sufficient, it's ENOUGH for us. They will not prevent Him for using us right where we are! If we were already strong in every way, if we ever attained perfection, what need would we have for Him and His strength? Our weaknesses necessitate our dependence on God, they make the way for His strength and power to be made manifest in and through us. That's why Paul said that he DELIGHTS in weaknesses, for when he is weak, then he is STRONG (2 Cor. 12:10).
So because God has promised us that He will always come through in those areas where are weak and has told us that we are to look to HIS strength and not our own (Ps. 105:4), we have no need to dwell on them anymore! What is the point? He has overcome all of them! Such freedom! Of course when we come before God we can and should confess and acknowledge exactly where we're at - strengths and weaknesses and all - release it all to Him, and with open, sincere and willing hearts ask God to use all we are and all we have for His glory, to do what only He can do. We offer the sacrifices of our broken spirit, our broken and contrite hearts (Ps. 51:17). And He does not despise, but in love He releases His strength, His grace and His mercy, and fills all our emptiness with His fullness. He gives us HIS heart and HIS Spirit! As we fix our eyes on Him and walk forward in faith and confidence in all He is, as we proclaim His Name and His Word, He performs, He works and acts on our behalf, He displays His power among us!
I've become convinced that one of the greatest tricks and deceptions of the enemy is to get our eyes off of God and onto ourselves. Because he knows that if he can get us to look inward, to be self-focused instead of God-focused, we will be tempted to magnify all of our faults, shortcomings and weaknesses, and we will become slaves again to selfishness and to fear. And when are slaves to fear we cannot be slaves to righteousness, we cannot walk boldly by the Spirit of the Living God. We still belong to God and we are still His children but we essentially become ineffective for His Kingdom. And Satan knows he has no say in our salvation but he'll do everything he can to keep us from the calling God has for us to be His witnesses on the earth.
But God's Word says that He has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of POWER, of LOVE and a SOUND MIND (2 Tim. 1:7), the spirit of SONSHIP! (Rom. 8:15). Meaning, because we belong to God we are led by His Spirit! God says - there is no reason to fear, I am WITH you and yes, I see and understand all of your weaknesses even more clearly than you do but My love and My grace are enough to cover you, My righteous right hand upholds you and guides you as you fix your eyes on ME and only on ME! Trust and depend on MY power, on MY strength! I will NEVER fail you, you will NEVER be put to shame! All I want is your heart, your devotion and your willingness to be a vessel! I don't expect perfection, I know you will stumble along the path...I've already seen it, My grace has already covered it and redeemed it through my Son Jesus Christ, I just need you to get back up and keep walking with Me! I will always meet you exactly where you're at, I'm doing more in and through you than you will ever know or could ever see, simply because you have put your faith in Me, you are called by My Name and are whole-heartedly devoted to My will and My Kingdom on the earth! Fear is a LIE - I have already told you who you are and nothing and no one could ever change that or take that away. Your identity is SECURE! Your weaknesses do NOT define you, I DO! Fixating on and lamenting your weaknesses does not glorify Me; surrendering them to Me so that I can be strong through them DOES. Know that if you follow hard after Me, obey My commands and confess and believe My Word, I will do all the work. It's not about you, or what think you can or can't do - it's about Me and what I can do. And with Me, NOTHING is impossible, NOTHING is too hard! I have overcome and through Me, you overcome! I give you the victory in Jesus! I make all grace abound to you so that you will abound in every good work! You have EVERYTHING you need in ME! Abide in Me, remain in Me - and I will see you through!
Hmm, I much prefer the sound of God's voice to that of the enemy. The enemy knows he's finished, that he has no chance to distract or hinder or take us captive to fear and discouragement once we have our eyes absolutely transfixed on God, His power, His strength, His all-sufficiency, all that He is. It's not possible to be God-absorbed and self-absorbed at the same time. So immerse yourself in God, cling to His promises - meditate on them day and night. Know who you are in Him, what you have in Him, who He is! He is so much more, so much greater, ALWAYS! And in this way we will usher in His kingdom everywhere we go, we will shine the light of the glory of His Name in the darkest places, we will show His love to a broken and hurting world that's more desperate for Him than ever before!
Thank You Lord that though man looks at the outward appearance, You look at the heart. You examine the heart and the mind, You search out our inmost being. You know Lord those who are fully devoted to You and You STRENGTHEN them by Your Spirit. I thank You Lord that you don't ask us to be perfect - Jesus is already perfect on our behalf and we are found in Him! You just ask that we come, that we follow You with willing and expectant hearts. You ask that we commit all that we are unto You and unto the things of heaven. In our every area of need and of weakness, with every stumble along the path, we believe and know that Your strength and Your grace are sufficient for us. We put our hope in Your Word, Lord, in Your TRUTH that gives us life and sets us free! Come and show Yourself mighty in and through us today and every day that we walk with You! Increase our faith! Lord, we know we can't do it alone - we need You, we depend on You for every ounce of strength we have. Thank You that You freely pour out on us and that in You we lack no good thing, we are more than conquerors, we are overcomers in You! Glory, honor and power be unto Your Name, Jesus! It's ALL about You.
I will believe
You are strong enough in my weakness
God, be lifted up
Pretty sure this is my life verse. I've loved it from the time I came to Christ. I'm amazed at the ways God has used it to speak into my life over and over again! It's such a word for me in this season in particular as I'm taking greater steps of faith and seeking to live for Him ever more boldly. I'm clinging so tightly to this promise! I've always been one, if left to my own thoughts and devices, to dwell too much on what I see as my weaknesses, shortcomings, and imperfections. My inadequacy. But I love the Lord who says that it's in my weaknesses that His POWER is made PERFECT. In other words, they do not hinder Him at all but He shows Himself strong and mighty through them! He, our Creator, already knows all of our weaknesses and promises that His GRACE is sufficient, it's ENOUGH for us. They will not prevent Him for using us right where we are! If we were already strong in every way, if we ever attained perfection, what need would we have for Him and His strength? Our weaknesses necessitate our dependence on God, they make the way for His strength and power to be made manifest in and through us. That's why Paul said that he DELIGHTS in weaknesses, for when he is weak, then he is STRONG (2 Cor. 12:10).
So because God has promised us that He will always come through in those areas where are weak and has told us that we are to look to HIS strength and not our own (Ps. 105:4), we have no need to dwell on them anymore! What is the point? He has overcome all of them! Such freedom! Of course when we come before God we can and should confess and acknowledge exactly where we're at - strengths and weaknesses and all - release it all to Him, and with open, sincere and willing hearts ask God to use all we are and all we have for His glory, to do what only He can do. We offer the sacrifices of our broken spirit, our broken and contrite hearts (Ps. 51:17). And He does not despise, but in love He releases His strength, His grace and His mercy, and fills all our emptiness with His fullness. He gives us HIS heart and HIS Spirit! As we fix our eyes on Him and walk forward in faith and confidence in all He is, as we proclaim His Name and His Word, He performs, He works and acts on our behalf, He displays His power among us!
I've become convinced that one of the greatest tricks and deceptions of the enemy is to get our eyes off of God and onto ourselves. Because he knows that if he can get us to look inward, to be self-focused instead of God-focused, we will be tempted to magnify all of our faults, shortcomings and weaknesses, and we will become slaves again to selfishness and to fear. And when are slaves to fear we cannot be slaves to righteousness, we cannot walk boldly by the Spirit of the Living God. We still belong to God and we are still His children but we essentially become ineffective for His Kingdom. And Satan knows he has no say in our salvation but he'll do everything he can to keep us from the calling God has for us to be His witnesses on the earth.
But God's Word says that He has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of POWER, of LOVE and a SOUND MIND (2 Tim. 1:7), the spirit of SONSHIP! (Rom. 8:15). Meaning, because we belong to God we are led by His Spirit! God says - there is no reason to fear, I am WITH you and yes, I see and understand all of your weaknesses even more clearly than you do but My love and My grace are enough to cover you, My righteous right hand upholds you and guides you as you fix your eyes on ME and only on ME! Trust and depend on MY power, on MY strength! I will NEVER fail you, you will NEVER be put to shame! All I want is your heart, your devotion and your willingness to be a vessel! I don't expect perfection, I know you will stumble along the path...I've already seen it, My grace has already covered it and redeemed it through my Son Jesus Christ, I just need you to get back up and keep walking with Me! I will always meet you exactly where you're at, I'm doing more in and through you than you will ever know or could ever see, simply because you have put your faith in Me, you are called by My Name and are whole-heartedly devoted to My will and My Kingdom on the earth! Fear is a LIE - I have already told you who you are and nothing and no one could ever change that or take that away. Your identity is SECURE! Your weaknesses do NOT define you, I DO! Fixating on and lamenting your weaknesses does not glorify Me; surrendering them to Me so that I can be strong through them DOES. Know that if you follow hard after Me, obey My commands and confess and believe My Word, I will do all the work. It's not about you, or what think you can or can't do - it's about Me and what I can do. And with Me, NOTHING is impossible, NOTHING is too hard! I have overcome and through Me, you overcome! I give you the victory in Jesus! I make all grace abound to you so that you will abound in every good work! You have EVERYTHING you need in ME! Abide in Me, remain in Me - and I will see you through!
Hmm, I much prefer the sound of God's voice to that of the enemy. The enemy knows he's finished, that he has no chance to distract or hinder or take us captive to fear and discouragement once we have our eyes absolutely transfixed on God, His power, His strength, His all-sufficiency, all that He is. It's not possible to be God-absorbed and self-absorbed at the same time. So immerse yourself in God, cling to His promises - meditate on them day and night. Know who you are in Him, what you have in Him, who He is! He is so much more, so much greater, ALWAYS! And in this way we will usher in His kingdom everywhere we go, we will shine the light of the glory of His Name in the darkest places, we will show His love to a broken and hurting world that's more desperate for Him than ever before!
Thank You Lord that though man looks at the outward appearance, You look at the heart. You examine the heart and the mind, You search out our inmost being. You know Lord those who are fully devoted to You and You STRENGTHEN them by Your Spirit. I thank You Lord that you don't ask us to be perfect - Jesus is already perfect on our behalf and we are found in Him! You just ask that we come, that we follow You with willing and expectant hearts. You ask that we commit all that we are unto You and unto the things of heaven. In our every area of need and of weakness, with every stumble along the path, we believe and know that Your strength and Your grace are sufficient for us. We put our hope in Your Word, Lord, in Your TRUTH that gives us life and sets us free! Come and show Yourself mighty in and through us today and every day that we walk with You! Increase our faith! Lord, we know we can't do it alone - we need You, we depend on You for every ounce of strength we have. Thank You that You freely pour out on us and that in You we lack no good thing, we are more than conquerors, we are overcomers in You! Glory, honor and power be unto Your Name, Jesus! It's ALL about You.
I will believe
You are strong enough in my weakness
God, be lifted up
Monday, August 1, 2011
Covered
Came across this today in my reading and it so touched and encouraged me, so I wanted to share! Always know who you are in Him and how He sees you!! <3
"If you struggle with seeing yourself as Christ sees you, try this once. Visualize yourself wrapped in a white robe embroidered with His initials that rest upon your heart. Wrapped around you is a robe of righteousness that covers you (and all of your personality lumps and bumps) and says you've had a bath (love covers a multitude of sins)! You've been washed clean! Jesus has got you covered. Your identity has been established and you have been purified in Christ. Love sees. And Jesus loves what He sees in you.
Instead of seeing ourselves (and others) as a sum of flaws and attributes, we must constantly look for and see before us beautiful creations, designed for a marvelous purpose. Because that's what we are. That's who we are."
--Susie Larson, The Uncommon Woman
"If you struggle with seeing yourself as Christ sees you, try this once. Visualize yourself wrapped in a white robe embroidered with His initials that rest upon your heart. Wrapped around you is a robe of righteousness that covers you (and all of your personality lumps and bumps) and says you've had a bath (love covers a multitude of sins)! You've been washed clean! Jesus has got you covered. Your identity has been established and you have been purified in Christ. Love sees. And Jesus loves what He sees in you.
Instead of seeing ourselves (and others) as a sum of flaws and attributes, we must constantly look for and see before us beautiful creations, designed for a marvelous purpose. Because that's what we are. That's who we are."
--Susie Larson, The Uncommon Woman
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