Worship

I’m going to start things a bit differently today. No Bible verses to start with, just a question.
What does worship mean to you?
Is it when you sing to God, fellowship with other Christians, telling others about God? Is it when you pray, how about the way you live your life? Again, I ask, what does worship mean to you?
Take a few seconds and allow yourself to think about what it truly means and what it means to you. I find that there are times I know what a word means but I don’t stop to think about it. Many times certain things, like worship becomes so much of a routine that I don’t let the meaning sink in. With that said, I will give you the two definitions of worship from dictionary.com.
Worship: 1. Reverent honor and homage paid to God or sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.
 2. Formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage.
Now that you have two definitions to base your answer on does it change your answer? Again, I ask, what does worship mean to you? 
In my opinion Psalm 100 paints a picture of what worship should look and sound like.

“Shout triumphantly to the LORD, all the earth.

 Serve the LORD with gladness; 

come before Him with joyful songs.

Acknowledge that Yahweh is God.

He made us, and we are His —

His people, the sheep of His pasture.

 Enter His gates with thanksgiving

and His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him and praise His name.

 For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal; 

His faithfulness endures through all generations.” (HCSB)

When I think of worship, Psalm 100 is what I think of.  I’m going to admit something that is rather embarrassing to me. Until recently I honestly didn’t understand why we sang in church service. Don’t get me wrong, I love that we sing and I enjoyed the music and being a person who loves to write I enjoyed the words. I guess since I didn’t grow up going to church on a regular basis the purpose of singing slipped my mind. So, if you’re like me and not real sure why you sing at church, it’s to worship God. You are singing His praises and this is also when you can invite Him to come along side you and tell you what you need to hear.  Again in Psalm 95:1-8 you can see what worship looks like and sounds like.

“Come, let us shout joyfully to the LORD, 

shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation!

Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; 

let us shout triumphantly to Him in song.

For the LORD is a great God, 

a great King above all gods.

The depths of the earth are in His hand, 

and the mountain peaks are His.

The sea is His; He made it.

His hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us worship and bow down; 

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

 For He is our God, 

and we are the people of His pasture, 

the sheep under His care.

Today, if you hear His voice: 

Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, 

as on that day at Massah in the wilderness” (HCSB)

Allow God to speak to you and pour your heart out to Him during the time of Worship. We should be praising God constantly. There is always something to be thankful for and being sure to thank Him is important. I asked you, repeatedly, what worship means to you, so let me tell you what it means to me. Worship isn’t just the singing we do during a church service or at an event to ask God to dwell among us. Worship is praising God daily for the small and the big blessings in your life and thanking Him for the unseen blessings in your life. Worship is the way you live your life. Worship is serving God and others with a grateful heart. “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.”(Romans 12:1) We can never be thankful enough for what God has done for us. We can never worship God enough, but we can always worship God in words and actions and in our hearts. Everything we do should reflect God in our lives. Before you go to church tomorrow let me ask you one more time, what does worship mean to you? I pray that tomorrow’s worship service will touch you deeply and mean just a little more to you than it did last Sunday. I pray for those of you reading that you will feel welcome in a church, that you will feel  God’ s love pouring out on you. If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your savior may He speak to you so that you will come to know Him. If you don’t know Him as your savior please feel free to contact me or your pastor and let Jesus become your savior and friend. Until next time, “May Yahweh bless you and protect you.” (Numbers 6:24,HCSB)

Encouragement

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.”  1 Thessalonians 5:11

First, let me apologize for not posting last week. I did not feel led to write so I decided to not write. I did not want to sit down and force something and it not be meaningful, heartfelt or bathed in prayer. I do hope that you had an awesome week and prayerfully the weeks of me not writing will be few and far between.
We live in a world that is so fast paced and all about self that we tend to forget to slow down. More importantly we forget to encourage one another. Being an ex-teacher I feel I can accurately give this example. When you have a student who is struggling or doesn't think they can do the work before them, what do most teachers do? They encourage the student. Sometimes it’s just a few words like: I believe in you and other times its taking them aside and step by step helping them get the work done. Both ways are encouraging to the student, because they realize they can do the work. So, I want to ask you this question: What would the world be like if we took just a few minutes out of our day to encourage someone? The Bible actually instructs us to encourage each other. “But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.” Hebrews 3:13 The deception the author is talking about can be easily understood as the world view on life. If you live a worldly life, you put yourself first and don’t worry about others. Putting others before ourselves is a hard thing to do. We are in a world that promotes putting self-first, but it’s also of the flesh. It’s a battle that everyone at some point struggles with.
Back to my question, what would the world be like if we took just a few minutes of our day to encourage someone? I would like to think it would be a better place. How many times a day have you gone through your entire day at work and made it home and did not encourage someone? Depending on what you do for a living you may not be in an environment where you can encourage someone. So then what are you supposed to do? What about finally going to bed and not even an encouraging word to your family leaves your mouth. This is when the “little” things can go a long way. Here are a few suggestions: Put a note in your loved ones lunch. Write someone a letter or a card and mail it to them. We tend to focus on technology so much we forget what it feels like to get a letter or card in the mail. The person receiving it will probably smile, and that means you just made their day a little better. You could give them a call, text or email and say hey I was thinking about you…hope you have a great day. You could buy the food or drink or put a little money towards the persons purchase behind you. There are a ton of things that you can do for someone, that doesn't cost money. Obviously there are things you can do that cost money too, but if you take just a moment out of your busy schedule to encourage someone; you will find that it makes you feel better too. :) I’m not saying go broke just so you can encourage others, but if that’s what you feel led to do…go for it! You can start small. Pick one day of the week and send a note to someone or call someone or do both.
I have always wanted to help people. I like to encourage people and feel a burden to help others as much as possible. I’m always looking for ways to do more and my biggest fault is I want to do it on a BIG scale. The truth is, if we start by doing one thing nice or encouraging one person you are starting a ripple effect. Prayerfully the person who received your kindness will be kind to someone else. The same goes with encouragement, if you encourage someone they will probably take the time to encourage someone else and so the ripple begins. We are called to plant the seed and let God take care of the rest. You never know how someone is truly feeling or what they are going through. Give encouragement and be the blessing that person needs. I’m going to leave you with words from Paul and I urge you don’t wait until the holidays are upon us to start living in peace and giving encouragement…live it out daily. “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11 NIV) Until next time, May Yahweh bless you and protect you.” Numbers 6:24

*Bible verses taken from HCSB unless noted otherwise

If I didn't have...

“If the Lord had not been on our side-let Israel say-“  Psalm 124:1 

I had the privilege of going to a Beth Moore conference a couple of weekends ago. I have never been to one, but I can say that I hope to go back to one. This conference was very moving and she challenged us to share our testimony. She gave us the first verse of Psalm 124 and said write some sentences to complete the verse. So I’m going to start with my sentences and who knows where it will go from there. Please stick with me til the end.
                              If the Lord had not been on my side I wouldn't be here.
                   If the Lord had not been on my side I would still be in the dark pit of depression.
         If the Lord had not been on my side I would've succumbed to alcohol and probably drugs.
                  If the Lord had not been on my side I wouldn't have the life I have today.
                    If the Lord had not been on my side I wouldn't have my husband.
                If the Lord had not been on my side I wouldn't have my two blessings from above.

You can look at my previous statements and assume a lot of things, but be careful in doing so. The first statement is pretty obvious and yes I will admit there was a point in my life that I didn't think I worse worth anything and considered suicide. That statement leads to my next statement about depression. I have fought depression off and on since I was a teenager. I can say that I have overcome depression, but there are days when the darkness tries to sneak back in. When you are depressed you are tempted to ease the pain with alcohol or drugs. I have not drunk since my wedding night and I do not plan on doing so. I have nothing against those who drink, I choose not to for my own reasons. I have never used drugs other than those prescribed by a doctor. So, my third statement isn't because I used alcohol and drugs but rather the availability I had to them. The last three statements are full of life and blessings. So, in six sentences you get a drift of my life and how it was and how it is today. You also see how it could have been and how it could be today. The only reason, my friend; that I can say I am here, I am not depressed,  and I did not choose to ease my pain with alcohol and drugs is because I have the Lord on my side. I cried out to Jesus and He heard me and He saved me. “This poor man called and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.” Psalm 34:6 In this verse poor doesn't mean without money, but poor as in he knew he was in trouble and couldn't be saved by his own doings.(explanation from NIV) When you reach that point in your life and you cry out, Jesus will save you. My life wasn't fixed in the blink of an eye when I cried out to Jesus. As a matter of fact I still cry out to Jesus and He still answers me. What did happen was a change inside that made me want to live and keep going and to never give up until He calls me home. I lean on the Lord because He is my strength. “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” Exodus 15:2 You can scan the Bible in the books of Psalm and Proverbs and find several times where it mentions God is my strength. There is a reason for that, and I can attest that when times get tough He is the only thing that keeps me going.
In Exodus it states that God is my salvation and many times when a Christian believes in God they say I am saved. I decided to look up salvation and saved to see if I could picture in my mind what God has done for me. I’m going to give you the first definition for each word then the Theological definition for each word. According to dictionary.com, salvation is the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc. The Theological definition says salvation is the deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption.  When you look at my statements from above again and I tell you God is my salvation. I am really saying….
               If the Lord had not been on my side I wouldn't be here. (God protected me from killing myself.)
               If the Lord had not been on my side I would still be in the dark pit of depression.
                                              (God saved me from depression.)
               If the Lord had not been on my side I would've succumbed to alcohol and probably drugs.
                                   (God protected me from wanting to use alcohol and drugs.)

My eyes have been opened and my mind can see what God has really done for me. When I say I am saved. I’m not saying that I am safe from harm or disease or evil here on this earth. I am saying God saved me from giving in to the sinful temptations of my past and he has saved me from the fiery depths of hell. The word saved according to dictionary.com means to rescue from danger or possible harm, injury, or loss. The Theological definition of saved is to deliver from the power and consequences of sin. The consequence of sin is death and if you are not saved; you don’t believe that Jesus died for you and you die, you will go to hell. This is what I mean when I say I am saved. I have eternal life because I called on the name of Jesus and believed that he died on the cross for ALL my sins. He didn't die for the sins I committed before I believed or the sins that I commit as a believer. No, He died so that ALL of my sins are washed away. (Yes, I just admitted I sin. Unfortunately, I sin a lot more than I would like to admit to.) I’m not perfect…ssshhhh…don’t tell anybody. ;) There is only one name you can call on and be saved and it’s not batman or superman or daddy. The only name that can save you from eternal damnation is Jesus Christ. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 As I start winding this up, I hope you can see why I call God my salvation. You have just read a summary of my testimony.(Thanks Beth Moore) Yes, there is more, but instead of me going on and on I want to challenge you to finish the first verse from Psalm 124 “If the Lord had not been on my side…..” . What would your life be like? Where would you be? Once you write them down share them with someone. I know it’s scary to share with others, but as I mentioned last week a sense of healing and understanding happens when we share our testimony. I would love to hear your testimony, but the important thing is to realize where God has brought us from and Praise Him. I want you to remember this, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 You are sharing the power of God when you become brave and step out of your comfort zone and share. Until next time, May Yahweh bless you and protect you.” Numbers 6:24
*Bible verses taken from NIV and HCSB