Tag: #worship

EP232 WORSHIP – THE KEY TO ACCESS TO THE THRONE OF GRACE

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The title of today’s episode is: “WORSHIP—THE KEY TO ACCESS TO THE THRONE OF GRACE”

What is worship?

Isaiah Chapter 6 tells us of the vision of the prophet Isaiah. For time sake I will not read it to you. But it is a beautiful chapter. I suggest you read it. It tells us that above the throne of God there are seraphims (angels with six wings). Their whole purpose for existing is to fly and sing, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, is the Lord of Hosts. These angels aren’t permitted to look upon him. They cover their face with two of their wings.

Yet with all the angels’ praise, He still longs for our worship. Our praise means more to him than all the angels’ praise because we choose to worship. We are his blood-bought children. We have free will to choose good or evil, right or wrong. We choose every day to serve God. We have the choice to stay in the same comfortable rut or break out of that rut and worship. Stepping out is never easy, but it is necessary.

People in the Old Testament worshipped God with sacrifices and incense. Jesus became our sacrifice once and for all time. His blood was enough, we are covered by that precious blood. We can now boldly enter into the throne room to petition or to worship. We have access through the blood of Jesus.

Why do we need to access the throne of grace? To obtain mercy and help for our situations in life. All the answers are at Jesus’ feet.

Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Worship is not about us. Although we get ministered to through worship and God does things in our lives because of our worship this is not why we worship. Worship was designed to get us out of our comfort zone of our flesh and make it all about our enthusiasm for being in God’s presence because we love him. God know when we are going through the motions.

Matt 15:8 -This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

Jesus was quoting Isaiah. The Pharisees and Sadducees had all their rituals and manmade laws. They didn’t even know God when He stood before them. They had never made a heart connection. They searched and searched the scriptures, but didn’t understand them, because they went by what they were taught and not what God could have shown them if they had taken time to ask.

Isaiah 29:13 -“Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:”

We never want to be guilty of making God feel like we are just giving him lip service. He doesn’t want empty words. He wants our hearts.

Psalms 100:2: “Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.”

Serve the Lord with gladness. That gladness comes from making a God connection every day. It doesn’t matter what we are dealing with; we can have joy even in the middle of the worst tragedies. Every day is a day that God has given us. We need to make up our minds each morning that we will approach it with a worshipful heart.

Psalms 29:2: “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

Give God glory means to show respect, honor, gratitude for who he is and not only what he had done for us. There is nothing we can do to ever thank Him for all he has done. But we can appreciate and worship him for who he is and who he is to us.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 219 DEEPER MEANING OF WORSHIP

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: DEEPER MEANING OF WORSHIP

Today I want to talk to you about worshipping God. We often think of worship as attending a church service where we sing songs. Some think of it a little deeper to mean anytime we lift our hands in praise and thank God for what he has done. This can be done anywhere, not just in the church building.

First of all, real worship is always a heart thing. It is when our spirit makes a connection to God. I want to go a step further and look at a Hebrew word that means to worship, work and serve, the word AVAD. This is only one of the Hebrew words that we have translated into English to mean worship. This word means to worship like we would think of as being worship. It also means to serve and to work.

When we worship God we not only sing praise and lift our hands, but the act of serving another is also worship. The act of working can be considered worship. We often think of Moses saying to Pharaoh, “Let my people go.” But the scripture adds “so that they may serve me.”

Exodus 9:1 “Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.”

Every time Pharaoh was approached, he would relent until the plague lifted then his heart would harden again. He told them they could go and worship God and come back, but they were not allowed to take their families or animals. Moses refused and God sent another plague.

Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

God has said many times that he doesn’t want lip service. He doesn’t want someone who is just going through the motions. The Pharisees did everything that would appear to be for God, for their own egos and monetary gain. Neither lip service or going through the motions means anything to God. He wants us to worship, serve and work with an attitude of praise.

Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

When we say words of praise from our hearts, it touches God. When we work with him in mind and not for man’s approval then it is AVAD -it is worship, service or work.

I love how diving a little deeper into the words of the Hebrew language gives us a deeper understanding. It is like the gravy on our mashed potatoes. The English version will feed us, but knowing the meaning behind the translation is the gravy.

How do we serve God?

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

We need to set aside or sacrifice the things our flesh wants to do and do the things God asks of us. This is how we can serve him. When we do this with an attitude of wanting to because he is God and not an attitude of obligation it is AVAD.

Psalm 29:2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The enemy hates us, especially when we worship God. That was his place. He was the worship leader of heaven, but he got prideful and wanted to be god. Right now, in the earth he has a group of people that will worship him as if he is god. He better enjoy it, because his time is short. Soon he will be bound by the lake of fire.

We worship to draw ourselves closer to God Almighty. Every act of mercy, kindness and compassion we show, every time we tell the truth even when we know it will hurt these are all acts of worship. The more of the fruit of the Spirit we have operating in our lives, the more our lives are a complete act of worship.

Let us be thankful today to God for all that He has done. And let us go out and offer up some worship today.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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TRANSFORMATION

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How do we renew our minds? We pray for God to keep us strong and to fill our lives with the things that he needs us to know. We must study the word of God. You can never have too much of the word in you. They can’t confiscate what’s in your heart. That’s why we need to hide the word.

I got wrapped up in a project and missed writing a blog. What I am working on will be of great benefit to the ministry that God has given me to do. I am excited to be turning a spare bedroom into an office/prayer room. I cannot wait until it is finished. When I told one friend, they said, “Oh, a war room.” I loved that way of thinking.

I have started to study the Psalms. I used to think it was all about praise, which a large portion is about worship. Worship is important to the life of a believer. That is how we make a connection to God. The Psalms are filled with David’s regrets, concerns and possible fears. However, he looks to the Lord in good times and bad. When life is good and when he is surrounded by his enemies. We can learn a lot from David. The more I study God’s word, the stronger I feel in the spirit realm. We need to be transformed so that we can be strong enough to stand for righteousness in the times that we live.

Have a blessed rest of your weekend. Thanks for your patience and support.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

LET PRAISE GO BEFORE YOU

Lazarus had died, the mourners were with the family. In a normal situation, this was the end. He had been buried. But Jesus came on the scene. He didn’t make a big production. Jesus asked that they roll away the stone that sealed the cave where Lazarus was placed. He simply said a prayer for the sake of the crowd that had gathered, then said, “Lazarus, come forth.” Soon, Lazarus came walking out of the tomb. He was still bound in his grave clothes and had his face covered with a napkin. It took others to set him free of his grave clothes.

To look at the modern church, one might say we were all but buried. Jesus is calling us to come forth. He is calling for the warriors to arise. He is calling for the army to be who we must be in this day. Every day, we need to put on our whole armor and go to battle. Satan is after the body of Christ. If he can keep us depressed and stressed, we cannot focus on our task.

Many are still bound by their grave clothes. It is up to us to help set them free. We can overcome and set them free if we get down to the business of serious prayer. The enemy is not going to be defeated with a ten-minute prayer in the morning and a ten-minute prayer at night. These are serious times, and it is going to take serious warriors.

Are you a prayer warrior? It doesn’t take any special skill to pray. It just takes an investment of prayer in a quiet place. The biggest enemy of a full prayer life is distraction. The enemy will do all he can to distract us. But we will not be defeated. We will overcome because the power of God is within us.

Take time to be an encourager, reaching out to someone struggling and helping them get free of the grave clothes of fear, anxiety, depression, distraction and being overly busy. We can win the battle if we go to fight. All God requires is for us to show up with worship and prayer.

I often use the story of Jehosophat. He was in a horrible predicament. He had three armies coming against him at one time. It looked like, in the natural there was no way he could win. But God told him to go out to fight and that the Lord would fight for them. Jehosophat sent his worshippers in the front to go before them with praise.

We can fight the enemy better, if we enter into God’s presence with praise and worship. This will get God’s attention and he will fight our battles. He only wants us to lean on Him.

2 Chr 20:15-18 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you. 18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord.

I love this story because it shows how good our God is to deliver those who trust Him. We, too can trust Jesus to deliver us from the things the enemy has planned. We have to stand strong, stay in the word and pray like we have never prayed before now. It is almost time to march out against the enemy. Make sure you go to battle with your praise and worship in the forefront.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

A LESSON FROM JEHOSHAPHAT

Rejoice, for victory is ours. Just as in the days of Jehoshaphat, we can sometimes find ourselves surrounded by the enemy. He did something that, to the natural world, looks stupid. He put worshippers out in front of the army.

2 Chronicles 20: 1- It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

He received word that many others were plotting to come against him from beyond the sea. He feared and he started seeking God. He declared a fast throughout all of Judah. The people prayed and God honored their prayers.

God told them to go down before their enemy.

In verse 17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, not be dismayed; tomorrow go our against them: for the Lord will be with you.

They worshipped the Lord for what he had said to them. The next morning, they rose early to start the march to the wilderness. Jehoshaphat stood before them and said (verse 20) ….Believe in the Lord your God, so shall be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever. 22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. 24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. 25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.

God took the enemies of his people and turned them against each other. By the time they arrived, the enemies had destroyed one another. All that was left for Jehoshaphat’s army was to collect all the spoils of war. It took them three days to gather all the riches of the enemy.

God will take what the enemy tried to use against us and give us a blessing while destroying our enemy. Today we have an enemy that is determined to destroy us. He hates us because God loves us. He wants to take each of us to hell. He cannot harm us if we keep our focus on God. God has made promises to his people today just as he did in the Old Testament. He wants to prosper us and bless us. He will go before us and fight for us.

We need to remember how Jehoshaphat put his worshippers out front before the battle. In the natural, that seems like a ridiculous idea. They would be mowed down by the enemy without protection. But God told them to march, but they would not have to fight. Worship invites God’s presence. The word says he inhabits the praise of his people.

He will go before us and fight for us. We need to go to war on our knees. We need to first invite God’s presence to us through worship. Then we pray for God to destroy the evil in our country. America needs to be saved from an enemy that is not a country but satan himself. The pure evil that is consuming and taking over everything.

By faith, we can reach out and pull down the enemy’s strongholds in the land. By faith, we can ask God to allow the evil to be revealed so that it can be destroyed. We will not have to fight if we have prepared for battle with prayer and worship. God is calling for his prayer warriors to go to battle on their knees. He is asking for his worshippers to arise.

He will fight our battles if we keep our eyes on him. He is craving a relationship with us. He wants us to get back to the place where he is the center of our lives. He wants to have his rightful place and that is first. If we keep our God Focus, we have nothing to fear.

Have a good week, my friends.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS