If My People . . .

After the dedication of the temple, the house set aside for worship and sacrifice, the Lord appears to Solomon and says "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of worship or sacrifice."  But then the Lord goes on to say what is required of the people, in verse 14 of chapter 7.  "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  

As I read this again, it struck me that God didn't say the whole nation or land had to do these things in order for healing.  He only requires His people to do these things in order for healing of the land.  This is the requirement for true revival.  And I believe that every time the people of God gather for worship, we should experience revival.  How does that happen?  The people of God - humbling themselves, praying, seeking God's presence, and turning away from or repenting of wickedness.  It is so simple, yet we try to conjure up all kinds of other things to see revival.  When it is simply a matter of each person in the gathered body choosing to humble himself, pray, seek Him with a passion, and turn from sin.  Can you imagine the worship?  Can you imagine the revival if every person simply - obeyed?  May His people get it.  Only then will others be drawn to Him and only then will we see a true healing of our land.  It doesn't begin with the heathen.  It begins with the humble.  Help us, Lord.  mjm

Our Future Worship

In Revelation 5:9 . . . And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. . ." Our future worship is the Song of the Redeemed.  Even the angels will stop, sit up and take notice as we sing the redemption song.  Because, it is a song they cannot sing. Only those who have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb can sing this song. Read the words of this old hymn:  

There is singing up in Heaven such as we have never known, 

Where the angels sing the praises of the Lamb upon the throne.  

Their sweet harps are ever tuneful, and their voices always clear,

Oh, that we might be more like them while we serve the Master here!

Refrain:  Holy, holy is what the angels sing.

And I expect to help them make the courts of heaven ring;

But when I sing redemption's story, they will fold their wings,

For angels never felt the joys that our salvation brings.

Then the angels stand and listen, for they cannot join the song.  

Like the sound of many waters, by that happy, blood-washed throng.  

For they sing about great trials, battles fought and victories won,   

And they praise their great Redeemer, who hath said to them.  "Well done." - Johnson Oatman Jr.

Our future worship will be a Victory Song of the Redeemed.  Our mission is to here and now engage, encourage, and invite every tribe, language, people, and nation to come and join the song of the redeemed.  mjm

Our Pursuit in Worship

I read this week what Lifeway worship department had used as their vision this last year.  I thought it was great and speaks to our worship.  The vision phrase was: "God's hand on us, God's Word in us, God's glory our only pursuit."  

We know both by scripture and experience that God's hand is always on us.  As we live our lives and sometimes look back, we see the steady, faithful hand of God directly and indirectly involved in our lives, continually.  God is faithful - as in Exodus and Deuteronomy when it says . . . "the Lord has brought you out by the power of His mighty hand, " and of course in Ezra . . . "I felt encouraged because the gracious hand of the Lord my God was on me."  Knowing God's hand is always on us is one of our motivations to worship Him.

We also know that the result of  . . . "letting the Word of Christ dwell richly, (be at home) in our hearts" is singing, praise, and worship. This is God's Word in us.   I Thessalonians 2 says ". . . when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God which effectually works also in you . . ."  The truth of God's Word works in us to bring truth to our worship of God.

"O God, we give glory to You all day long and constantly praise Your name." (Psalm 44:8)  It is our vocation as a believer to constantly praise and give glory every day, all day. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. [For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him.]  To Him be glory forever! Amen (so be it)." (Rom. 11:36, Amp.)  God's glory our only pursuit.  O Father, may it be so!  mjm

Non-Negotiables in Worship

Last blog we talked about the fact that there are some non-negotiables in worship as we had discussed unacceptable worship.  

First non-negotiable is - PUTTING HIM FIRST - "You shall have no other gods before me." (Ex. 20:3)  Now some are saying that's ridiculous because that is a given.  Is it?  We live in a day and in a culture where we come and put on our worship face and sing and do all the right things while putting many other things before Him.  God here and in Micah makes it clear that this is unacceptable worship.  The word "jealous" is used five times in the Old Testament referring only to God, which indicates the value He places on His relationship with His children. In chapter 34:6-7, God makes it clear that He . . . "does not leave the guilty unpunished."  Any idol, relationship, materialism, a way of life that we must have becomes idolatry no matter how many times we . . . go to worship.

The second non-negotiable is - OUR PERCEPTION OF THE ONE WE WORSHIP - In Ex. 32:1-8, we use the golden calf as an example of the worship of a false God.  We can not worship "the god" we have conjured up in our own minds.  We must have a strong commitment to truth in every aspect or part of our worship.  This is especially true in our own representation of who God is.  We can not worship God as we perceive Him instead of how He reveals Himself.  To do so is a distortion of the truth.

The third non-negotiable is - PRIDE - If in our worship we properly focus on God, Himself honoring and praising Him, then we are valuing Him.  But sometimes, we keep getting in the way of that.  Pride demands a piece of the action.  We've seen this not only with worshippers, but worship leaders, soloists both instrumental and vocal and yes, even preachers.  Even the insistence of worshipping "my way" over your way is a form of pride.  May we never get in the way of His honor or His glory.  It belongs to Him.  We must be His instruments of His glory!  May we not be guilty of seeking glory that belongs to Him and may we not be a part of unacceptable worship.  mjm

Worship Unacceptable to God

"The holy art of worship seems to have passed away like the Shekinah glory from the tabernacle.  As a result, we are left to our own devices and forced to make up the lack of spontaneous worship by bringing in countless cheap and tawdry activities to hold the attention of the church people." - A. W. Tozer

Most of us will tend to worship God in a way that best suits our personality or preference.  Sometimes, our ideas about God, how we perceive Him, and our approaches to worship - based on our wishes, not His will - are simply unacceptable to Him.  In an anything-goes kind of world, people have developed a very casual attitude toward worship.  Coming to a Biblical understanding of what is and is not acceptable to God will bring us to a decision point.  Either we will seek to please Him, or please ourselves.  When we choose the latter, we have stopped worshipping God and begun serving self.  It is easy for us to put what we desire above what God requires.  God is very specific in His Word about what He requires in worship.  Is our heart's desire to please ourselves or to seek, learn, and apply the truth from God's Word about what He desires in worship?  In the next blog we will talk about some of the non-negotiables found in God's Word pertaining to His truth about worship.  mjm

Worshipping Warriors Arise!

We have over 200 folks any given week who focus on praying for our "gathered" worship as a church.  Why is that important?  Because our worship is focused on both adoration and relationship.  This is right and Biblical.  But, our desire and passion to know God needs to go even higher - that of praying and exercising His will on earth.  What our Lord is doing and saying in heaven needs to be manifested on earth.  The call to worship drawing us to intimacy with Him is actually a call for us to go to war.
Lucifer, himself, actually led the hosts of heaven at one time in the worship of Creator God.  But, at some point, he decided that rather than being a worshipper, he wanted to be worshipped.  This was the real beginning of so-called "worship wars".  In fact, this is the real worship war.  Lucifer has masterfully gotten us to focus on our conceived "worship wars" to the ignoring of the real worship war. That  war continues today in the church, on earth, and in heaven.  As we worship, we join the hosts of heaven in adoration ascending to His throne, and it is through that very process that we are able to be effective in warfare.
Worshipping Warriors, stand up!  It is now time for all generations to become one, standing together in bold, passionate worship of the Father.  Let us be a part of waging the battle of the ages and in His power releasing the harvest to His glory!  mjm

High Praise in Worship

"Let the 'high praises' of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands."  (Ps. 149:6)  This is evidently the only reference to "high" praise in all of scripture.  Let's look at some possible meanings:
1.  In many churches, the level of praise in worship is not very high at all.  Half of the folks are not participating and the ones that are participating are somewhere about floor level.  Most of us have experienced those times when praise begins to ascend, and our hearts are lifted in praise and thanksgiving to God to a high level of passion or intensity.  I believe there are levels of praise and "high" praise is first of all a reference to an intense, passionate level of praise.
2.   We must remember that we are not the only ones involved in the praise and worship unto the Lord.  Right now, around the throne in the heavenlies, cherubim and seraphim and angels and creatures and all the saints of the ages are lifting their voices to sing to the holiness of our Lord, God.  I believe it is possible for us, here below, to participate now in that "high praise".  We join a great cloud of witnesses and all of creation in "high praise" of the Father!
3.   There is a type of praise that ascends into the spiritual realm and wars on our behalf.  We all recognize that spiritual forces of wickedness inhabit the spiritual realm.  (See Daniel 10).  The Word makes it clear that evil hovers over nations, cities, households, and even individuals.  Spiritual warfare can be waged.  In the example of Daniel, he prayed through to victory.  But the Lord has given us another great tool for engaging in warfare: high praise!
Psalm 149 also links this "high praise" with the "two-edged sword", or the word of God.  There is a wonderful relationship between the singing of God's praise and the preaching of the Word.  When you have great praise coupled with a fresh word from God, you have an unbeatable combination.  Churches moving in these two dimensions of ministry are victorious, growing, and will not be stopped.  Our Pastor and other Bible teachers in our church are faithful in teaching and preaching the Word, may we also be faithful in passionate, intense praise!   mjm

The Beginning of Congregational Worship

Private or personal worship is the very beginning of corporate or congregational worship. When the body gathers, the intensity of worship depends on what each individual has brought to the table from their own personal worship. Then there is the "Gathering", the great processional as people leave homes, apartments, dorm rooms, and even hospital rooms to a congregating space for the specific purpose of worshipping God together. Imagine all the things that could go into that gathering: Holy Spirit using folks to invite friends and neighbors, using folks to touch and minister, bringing or inviting, newspaper ads, even internet and web, even some out of sense of duty or obligation. God uses all kinds of things to gather people unto Himself. And, imagine if we could stand on the edge of heaven and be able to actually see the gathering taking place - much as in the Old Testament when the trumpets blew and the people came from every direction to gather for worship of God. Calling to worship, first words spoken or sung, establishes the purpose of the worship event - reinforcing the vertical focus of worship between God and the gathered congregation and the horizontal aspect of edifying and encouraging one another. It is an announcement of God's presence, reemphasizing that God comes to us before we come to Him. Praise and Adoration are the first response to God's presence, which is not only affirmation but also shows strong opposition to anything that would try to stand in God's place. There is never anything routine about singing praise to God. Finally, Expectant Prayer is a part of the beginning of worship in both personal worship and in the corporate worship experience. For our worship to be authentic and effective, we petition God to work powerfully in our lives through the Spirit in and during the worship service. Sometimes those prayers are also in the form of songs and hymns as well as spoken prayers. Expectant prayer previous to and at the beginning of worship services expresses a longing for God and deep dependence and humility, acknowledging that power in worship is a gift from Him rather than any human accomplishment. mjm