Worshiping God is a life style, it is a way that we live. It is not an event that we attend and participate in from time to time. We are called to worship God with our lives. We are to live lives of worship to God. Which means that we are to worship God in all that we do, all that we speak, and all that we think… That sounds like a tall order, but all the glory goes to Jesus because our works do not earn us salvation, Jesus paid for our salvation on the cross. We respond to Jesus by living our lives to draw closer to God and to worship Him in all that we do. Have you ever thought about how you live your life? What causes you to make certain decisions? Why do you do what you do? What navigates you to think certain ways about this or that? When we live our lives as acts of worship to God it deepens our relationship with Him and lets us become who we were made to be. Romans 12:1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. What do you think it means to live your life as a living sacrifice? Do you see yourself praying all the time, doing nothing but reading the bible? That is what many people might think of but this verse goes more deeper than that. This verse points us back to Jesus and the way that He lived when He was on the earth, walking in the flesh. Jesus lived his life looking for the things that His father God wanted Him to do. He was on mission to show the world who God is. Do you live your life on mission to show the world who God is? Do you find that when you are seeking out what God wants you to do that you are growing closer to God? Living our lives as worship to God causes us to love God more and live the life that He has for us to live. The live that He has for us to live is much greater than any other life that you will ever know. James 4:8 puts it this way. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. God longs for us to be close to Him. All we need to do is draw close to Him. When we seek to live a life that is about Him, and for Him. It causes us to lose interest in the things that use to distract us away from God. Living your life as an act of worship to God is the most powerful way to live your life! When you find the power of Love you will see that God’s way is the best way. Be guided by God is the only thing that will ever matter, because God is the best way that you will ever go. Take some time this week and dig into living your life as a sacrifice as an act of worship and you will never ever want to live any other way!
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Worshiping God is a life style, it is a way that we live. It is not an event that we attend and participate in from time to time. We are called to worship God with our lives. We are to live lives of worship to God. Which means that we are to worship God in all that we do, all that we speak, and all that we think… That sounds like a tall order, but all the glory goes to Jesus because our works do not earn us salvation, Jesus paid for our salvation on the cross. We respond to Jesus by living our lives to draw closer to God and to worship Him in all that we do. Have you ever thought about how you live your life? What causes you to make certain decisions? Why do you do what you do? What navigates you to think certain ways about this or that? When we live our lives as acts of worship to God it deepens our relationship with Him and lets us become who we were made to be. Romans 12:1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. What do you think it means to live your life as a living sacrifice? Do you see yourself praying all the time, doing nothing but reading the bible? That is what many people might think of but this verse goes more deeper than that. This verse points us back to Jesus and the way that He lived when He was on the earth, walking in the flesh. Jesus lived his life looking for the things that His father God wanted Him to do. He was on mission to show the world who God is. Do you live your life on mission to show the world who God is? Do you find that when you are seeking out what God wants you to do that you are growing closer to God? Living our lives as worship to God causes us to love God more and live the life that He has for us to live. The live that He has for us to live is much greater than any other life that you will ever know. James 4:8 puts it this way. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. God longs for us to be close to Him. All we need to do is draw close to Him. When we seek to live a life that is about Him, and for Him. It causes us to lose interest in the things that use to distract us away from God. Living your life as an act of worship to God is the most powerful way to live your life! When you find the power of Love you will see that God’s way is the best way. Be guided by God is the only thing that will ever matter, because God is the best way that you will ever go. Take some time this week and dig into living your life as a sacrifice as an act of worship and you will never ever want to live any other way! In The Secret place… Have you ever made something? Have you ever created something? Have you ever been in art class? We create things all the time, and when we create things we create them with a purpose. I have made things because I needed them to preform a purpose, I had a need that they would fill. Art is the same way when we create art it creates an outlet for an expression that we longed to share. Now think about you, you were created by God, don’t you think that you were created for a purpose. Do you think that God creates to just create or does He the great creator create with a purpose in mind. 1 Chronicles 16:28-29 tells us this 28 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength,29 ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. In other words we were created to worship God. It is in us and lives there with us at all times! When something was created with a purpose it is only working as it should when it lives out it’s purpose. So do you worship God, do you do it in private, do you do it in public with others? We were made to worship God and when we worship God, we reflect God to the world around us. Our worship pleases the Lord. There is real strength when believers bring a corporate offering of praise to God in the church. God receives our worship and He sees that we are living out our purpose. Do you worship God in private where no one will ever know that you have worshiped God except God? It is a powerful thing when we get along with God and just give Him glory and praise. We all need to grow our personal relationship with God in the secret places, theses times when it is just God and you. I love these times, like when one of my children have a nightmare and I go to there bed and worship God singing them back to sleep in the protection of God’s arms. They may fall right back to sleep, but I will continue to worship God and talk to Him for another hour or so. My child knows nothing of this for they have fallen asleep. But in the quite still moments God and I just hang and I praise His name to the darkness. Worshiping God in the quite places is a powerful thing that changes us from the inside out. When we develop good habits of hanging with God and giving Him praise it helps us see what we were created for. Give it a try this week, in a quite and secret place just worship God and tell Him how great He is. Sing to Him a worship song, or create your own song to give Him praise. This is a special time where you just focus on how great He is. Take some time this week and just give Him praise. It is what you were made for! What comes to your mind when you think about the word and the action of worship? We all worship things and sometimes we worship people. But how does worship play out in our relationship with God? Is worship just about the music and the style of music? Or is worship the thing that can only happen when we are with others in church? The word worship can bring up many questions and it can leave us a little puzzled at times. So for the month of February we are going to go deep into the meaning of worship. We are going to unpack it and we are going to experience it together. So how does the dictionary define worship? wor·ship (wûr′shĭp) a. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object. b. The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed. 2. Ardent devotion; adoration. Now the dictionary will never ever be able to fully define worship or the experience of worshiping our God. To truly understand worship one must experience it and in the experience of it one grows a deeper understanding of who God is. In John 4:23-24 we get a glimpse of what how worship is defined by Jesus. This definition of worship comes while Jesus is in a conversation with a woman who does not know who Jesus is, she is attempting to match wits with Jesus. The discussion goes into worship and where one should worship and how they should worship. Jesus defines worship this way. 23“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Basically Jesus is saying that worship has to do with more than just songs, it has to do more with your heart. We can sing songs but if we don’t have the right heart attitude, it really isn’t worship. So what kind of heart do you need to have? A heart that truly longs to give Him praise as a response to what He means to you. A loud cry of You are the one! A quite and still move of your heart to say that You are the one I want to follow. Worship starts with your heart and then moves out from there. What are you thankful for? What do you think of God? When you let it all out and you come before Him, then you are beginning to understand worship. God is all powerful and He loves you. So what is your response to Him? Do you just carry on with your life or do you have take some time and cry out to Him letting everything in you know that He is king and that He is worthy of worship. Worship defined: Knowing who God is and giving Him everything that you have as a response. |
Cover Articles from Extreme Faith MagazineWritten and Posted by The XGT Experience Team of leaders Archives
October 2015
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