Restoring passionate worship

The death of pop star Whitney Houston has increased the wildfire surrounding the shady functioning of the music and movie industries, as well as what some might call their blatant disregard for human souls. Houston was not the first to fall to the music industry’s subculture of drugs that so often gets the attention of the mainstream media, but she is one of the most recent as of this writing. Many have spoken up on her behalf saying that she was not a person who wanted to be living an immoral lifestyle, but that she was a Christian woman desiring to know God on a deeper level who was trying to get delivered from the grip of drug addiction.  

R&B superstar Chaka Khan had a close friendship with Huston, and according to CBN, accused the music industry of being downright “demonic” shortly after the news about Houston’s death went public.

Gospel music singer Helen Baylor is also boldly speaking out about the darkness of the music industry, and she isn’t stopping with the secular music industry.  Baylor has been willing to be rather vulnerable about her own struggles in relation to the influence of the music industry and drug addiction in her life, even as she admonishes that the Gospel music industry isn’t very far behind the secular in terms of where it’s headed. She claims that the focus has become misdirected over the years in the sense that Gospel music has become a form of entertainment rather than a means of ministering to people.  The mindset of using Christian music as a tool to help people focus on drawing closer to God through passionate worship music has given way to a market-driven mentality of appealing to the approval of the masses.    

Even back in the 1990s, Christian music that was played on many radio stations was more rooted in the Word than much of what is being played today.  This also gave people a chance to be more familiar with what the Word actually said and have more of a moral compass to guide them in their daily living. But as praise and worship music became more commercialized for the masses, the concept of Word-based lyrics became less of a focus.  That being said, it seems that much of today’s church struggles with understanding why praise and worship is important, and there is a growing sentiment that it’s only people who are musicians and singers who really experience the presence of God through that venue anyway.

However, if that were truly the case, there wouldn’t be passages like 2 Chronicles chapter 5 verses 13-14 in which the praise and worship music was so rich with the presence of God that the priests couldn’t continue ministering because the glory of the Lord was so powerful in the temple.  There was a visible cloud representing the presence of the Lord that filled that place, and it wasn’t just the singers and musicians who saw it. Everyone saw it.

When David wrote all the Psalms that he wrote, it wasn’t all about him and it wasn’t to provide entertainment for the Israelites. He wrote those with the intent that they would be used in passionate worship to the God of Israel by the Israelites when they gathered to worship God on the Sabbath.

 The church needs to realize that we are being called to return to a focus of using praise and worship as a means to worship God, and to do so in Spirit and in truth.  In the Gospel of John chapter 4 verses 21-24, Jesus states that the Father is “seeking” out people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. When the word seeking is taken back to its original Greek meaning (the New Testament was originally written in Greek) it could also be translated as to go hard after because of being strongly desired. Talk about a life that’s blessed! God chases after, or pursues us when we worship Him in Spirit and in truth! And there’s nothing there about such a wonderful blessing being reserved for only musicians and singers.  It’s directed at anyone who is willing to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, that is, spontaneously from a passionate heart for who He is.

God leads Christian Recording Artist to Kenya mission field

Worship leader Brandon Smith thought that the opportunity to lead worship at a conference for pastors in Africa would be similar to other ministry outreaches in which he had participated. But God had other plans. According to the Christian Newswire, when Smith reached out to these leaders, God reached into Smith’s heart and gave him a new ministry vision.

Instead of the hotels and / or missionary housing often provided for conference leaders, Smith stayed with a local pastor's family in Kenya, and the less-than-ideal conditions of the poor community were eye-opening. Smith, a father of four, decided to partner with Kenya's Manna Ministries to help develop a feeding program in the slum schools of Nairobi. The No Hungry Children initiative program will directly affect and potentially save the lives of thousands of poverty-stricken children each year.

“After seeing the children in the slums of Nairobi first-hand, there was no way I could come back to my comfortable life in Atlanta and do nothing to help these children. My life was forever changed.”

Smith has launched a new initiative to raise $120,000 annually, so that an additional 2,000 children can eat each year, since it only costs $60 to feed a child for a full year.

On May 19th, No Hungry Children will hold a benefit festival at Bergfeld Park in Tyler, TX. The all-day event, sponsored by Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-a, Jason's Deli and State Farm Insurance, will include a variety of events for the whole family, including food, silent auction and musical performances.

Smith is also donating 100% of the sales of his latest album, See the Glory, to the No Hungry Children initiative. The first single, "Can't Get Enough," is currently being serviced to Christian radio stations nationwide.

"With 100% of the donated funds going directly to purchase the food, it only takes $1 to feed 1 child for 1 week. I still can't believe how little it takes to make such a huge difference. I won't rest until we're feeding them all."

For more information, please visit www.nohungrychildren.org  and www.brandonscottsmith.net.

Gatekeepers of Worship

Many years ago when I was a relatively new Christian, I had the pleasure of seeing one of my favorite music artists, Twila Paris, in concert for free. I happened to be the right caller during a radio contest giveaway. Since I believed that part of God’s plan for me was that I’d one day get be used by Him to minister in song, the concert was also an opportunity to learn from a more mature Christian.

The beautiful blend of Twila’s voice with the smooth, melodic flow of the chord progressions in the music so beloved by all her fans brought thunderous applause, cheers and whistles between songs. But one act of worshipping the Lord by her in front of the crowd left my eager and inquisitive mind with a rather memorable impression. She broadly smiled and gracefully lifted her arm to the heavens, pointing toward the One truly deserving of all the admiration.

When people go to a Christian concert, is seems many are typically there to be entertained by some quality music that doesn’t have offensive lyrics. It’s not always thought of as a time for worshipping the Lord. However, Twila had apparently come to realize that she was not only a vessel for the music that the Lord had given to her, but she was also like a gatekeeper. God has anointed her to demonstrate worship in spirit and in truth. And that gifting of music He has put in her inspires others to focus their affections on the Lord and worship Him more fully.

What Twila Paris demonstrated in her concert is something that God has ordained every true church Worship Leader to do – help people to focus on going deeper in their relationship with Him. Today’s Worship Leaders are comparable to the Old Testament Levites. Although the passage in Exodus chapter 32: 1-6 as it relates to Aaron’s actions would be an example of a seriously misdirected Worship Leader, it illustrates the gatekeeper concept. Aaron should have spurned their demand for false gods by refusing to fabricate one. God detests idolatry because when we worship anything or anyone other than Him, it’s always a destructive focus not only for us, but often times for those around us as well. However, when Moses stood in the gate (or entrance) of the camp and demanded of those on the Lord’s side to come to him, the Levites at least got that part right (Ex 32:26).

The camp’s main gate was both symbolic and strategic positioning. Not only is the main gate representative of Jesus, but the city gates were also typically the place where hearings happened and judgments concerning legal matters were settled. And Israel had broken God’s law.

Another example of this can be found in Jeremiah 7:1-7. Not only does the Lord direct Jeremiah to stand in the worship gate and prophesy, but the Lord states very specifically through Jeremiah how He wants His people to act, particularly forbidding the destructive practice of idolatry.

Though the Old Testament penalty for not worshipping God exclusively was death, it’s always God’s preference to restore whenever possible. The book of Nehemiah and the restoration of the walls and gates of Jerusalem are yet another example involving the gatekeeper idea – and God’s desire to restore. Of course the ultimate Gatekeeper, Jesus, eagerly awaits our personal decision at the gate of everlasting life.

Prophet Jeremiah's Revelation: Beyond the Clay

One of my favorite worship songs was written by an Australian Worship Leader named Darlene Zschech: "The Potter's Hand". It captures the beautiful analogy of how a life surrendered to God is like clay in a potter's hand -- a concept Christians tend to associate with
Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 1-10.

The potter at the wheel is symbolic of God, and we are the clay He molds. What a comparison! Because just like a person, a lump of clay can be a fickle thing. Now this can work in the Potter's favor or it can grieve Him. The way it works well for Him is that "compliant" clay can be molded into any purpose that He desires. And we will experience a sense of fulfillment in our lives in the long run when we choose His will over ours. But clay that has too much water makes for a wobbly vessel, and clay that's too dry will cause the vessel to crack. So it's important that there is a balance. We don't want to spiritualize every event in our lives, but we also want to be paying enough attention that we recognize it when He is trying to get our attention, give us His directives, or He is moving on our behalf.

The Hebrew word for vessel in verse four (most of the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew) is a very general term and simply refers to something that's being made ready (or is ready) for a particular purpose. There is a story about a man born blind in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John. Jesus spat on the ground, made clay, put it on the guy's eyes, and told him to go wash it off. Jesus told His disciples in verse three of that same chapter that this man-vessel's purpose was for the works of God to be revealed. What an awesome destiny! But if a vessel becomes marred, or more specifically, if we should choose a path of moral decay, or our leaders choose a path of moral decay for this nation, God's destiny for us changes.

It's important that we recognize that the passage about the potter and the clay isn't limited to just you and me. It can be applied to a whole nation. When those who lead our nation are applying the principles in God's Word to their decision making process, we are going to see God's favor and blessings poured out on the nation as a whole. But when our leaders allow our nation to become marred by ungodly agendas and insist on passing laws that are counter to God's Word, then our nation will experience negative consequences. In fact, this would apply to any nation. Jeremiah 18:7-10 does not name a specific nation -- it's a general, blanket statement. And a bill that has elements such as end of life counseling and taxpayer-funded abortions is certainly counter to God's Word. The good news is that those same verses also assure us that not only will God remake the destiny of repentant individuals, but He will also remodel the destiny of a repentant nations.

We serve an incredible God who sets each of us apart for a specific destiny. Though we all start out as "a lump of clay" in His hands, His loving eyes look beyond who we are, and He sees the potential for who we will become as He continues to fashion us beyond the clay.

The Passion of God's People

Paul's focus as a minister of Jesus is nicely summed up in Colossians 1:28, "Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. The reason that Paul proclaimed, warned, and taught people about Jesus and God's Word was so that they would become mature Christians- fully grown and initiated in the ways of God. Paul had a passion to help his fellow Christ-followers grow into the person whom God had chosen them to be - a passion to which any godly Pastor alive today can relate, and one which they will encourage their congregations to embrace.

We Christians aren't supposed to stay "baby" Christians and never contribute to the "building" of God's Kingdom- much of which can happen outside of the four walls of the modern-day church. While it is appropriate to minister to our siblings in the Lord, believers who are willing to go out and live what they believe and trust God to bring about the results on HIS timing, are going to experience a sense of fulfillment and purpose that only comes with the understanding that what they are doing is going to have an eternal impact . What joy it brings to the Lord when we believers function as a loving, unified family, encouraging one another to reach the lost. When we reach out to others with the intent of extending and inspiring Holy Spirit motivated - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - God's power is gong to be on our lives. And when believers are reaching out to one another in this way - especially within the four walls of the church (as opposed to competing and moving in arrogance and / or self-seeking) it brings out everyone's best and encourages an atmosphere of rich fellowship permeated with the vast joy and peace of God's unboundless presence.

How empty and stagnate our Christianity would be if we didn't have a growing passion for a deeper relationship with Jesus, God's Word, and a desire to reach out to those around us. And as we continually embrace God's Word and apply it to our lives, He's going to guide us into opportunities in which we get to make an everlasting difference.

Praise, Worship, and Christian Attitude

From my earliest years as a Christian I can remember hearing the words coming across the pulpit of many a preacher, "Worship isn’t just a Sunday thing, it’s a lifestyle thing!" And as one who enjoys worshipping God, especially through music, I have to say that I agree. But what about our praise to God? Where does that fit?

One book in the Old Testament that has some great examples of beautiful praise and worship lyrics is the book of Psalms. Though King David didn’t write all of them, he wrote most of them. And as I researched the authors various uses of the words "praise" and "worship", I made some interesting discoveries.

The book of Psalms was originally written in Hebrew. Throughout that entire Old Testament book, there’s only 1 word that means worship – but the word praise has 7 different word choices. And being the curious soul and lover of praise and worship that I am, I wanted to know about each fascinating word. In a nutshell, here’s what I found.

Praise and Worship: Psalm Style

Psalm 7:17 says, "I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness…" The Hebrew word here is "yadah". This use of the word praise means to hold out the hand, or to give thanks. It’s the one used most often in the Psalms, and was typical of both their corporate and personal praise to God.

Another great way to praise God is with a hymn. In Psalm 22:25 it’s written, "My praise shall be of you in the great assembly…" And the Hebrew word here is "tehillah". Even today there are many churches who still use hymns as a way of declaring the greatness and glory of God, and His ability to do the miraculous. Another interesting fact about "tehillah" is that it could also be used as a musical notation that gave the musician insight into the song’s dynamics.

The praise word "halal" was quite an extensive display of praise to God. "Halal" means to praise with vivid sound and / or color. It could also include singing and bragging about God’s greatness. Some great examples are found in Psalm 148:1-13, and all of Psalm 150. Every single word for praise in these passages is the Hebrew word "halal". Another interesting point about the praise word "halal" is that it also referred to a bride being given in marriage.

"Zamar" is a praise word exampled in Psalm 108:1-2. "O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn." This use of the word praise refers to touching the strings or parts of a musical instrument. It also was the word used for instruments that accompany the voice, and always implied lively songs of celebration.

Many of us who have been Christians for a while know the old song by Martin Nystrom entitled, "As a Deer". Back in the 1990’s many church worship teams and choirs sang this song which is rooted in Psalm 42:1. And moving on to verse 4 of Psalm 42, it states, "…I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast." The word for praise here is "todah", which means a choir of singers and can include extending one’s hand as a type of peace offering or praise offering. "Todah" can also refer to a sacrifice of praise. And for those who wonder just what a sacrifice of praise is, it’s praise offered to God when we don’t really feel like it. It might seem strange, but when we’re struggling due to financial loss, loss of health, or some other loss (or losses) and we make a choice to praise Him, even if all we can think of is just because of who He is, it restores our peace and joy. We may have to do it again an hour later – but that doesn’t matter. We may have to ask Him to give us strength to endure to the end, but that’s okay. He’s faithful. He’ll give it (see Psalm 71).

A praise word that was used in connection with testifying about who God is, is "shabach". All of Psalm 63 is a great example, but verse 3 specifically says, "Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you." And "shabach" includes the idea of praising loudly in triumphant words. It can also be a shout of victory.

A Word of Worship

The one and only word for worship in the book of Psalms is "shachah", and it means to lower or humble ourselves before Him of our own, free will. It can include kneeling or laying prostrate in recognition of His holy presence. Psalm 95:6-7 captures this with the beautiful words, "Oh 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, and the sheep of His Hand." Another nice illustration is in Psalm 132:7. "Let us go into His tabernacle; Let us worship at His footstool." Our willingness to physically lower ourselves reflects the attitude of our hearts. But we don’t have to wait until we go to our "Sunday morning tabernacle" to praise and worship Him – nor should we.

In the Old Testament, the tabernacle (or temple) was the primary place where your average Joe Hebrew was going to find the presence of God. Today, because of the shed blood of Jesus for our sins, the presence of God lives primarily in us. He goes where we go because we are His temple (1 Cor. 6:19). And our praise and worship to Him is an opportunity to express our love and gratitude to Him.

Longing for the Living God

While praise and worship are clearly two different expressions of our love and gratitude toward Jesus, they belong together. Going back to the concept of the tabernacle for a moment, and thinking simplistically about it, the tabernacle had 3 main sections. The outer court, the inner court, and the Holy of Holies.

Praise is like the outer court. It helps us get our mind off of our troubles, off of the world, and focused on God. It helps us realize that God is greater than any problem we may face, and He’ll either deliver us from it or walk us through it.

The inner court is where praise and worship become intertwined. It’s a transitional place that prepares us to really draw near to God. One Psalm that’s a nice example of this intertwining is Psalm 95.

As we step into the Holy of Holies, this is where our hearts will become calm, or peaceful. The peace we experience enables us to hear from Him. Whether it’s a need for His wisdom, knowledge, understanding, comfort, restoration or something else, the Holy of Holies is where we’re going to experience His presence. And the more of His presence we experience, the more we’re going to long for it. His presence and the building of His Kingdom are the only things that are going to give life meaning and purpose. That’s why praising and worshipping Him needs to be more than just a Sunday thing. It needs to be a lifestyle thing.

Some of today’s Christian music is rooted in God’s Word. Many of the old hymns are rooted in God’s Word. And in Psalm 119:11 King David’s voice would have sung, "Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you." While praising and worshipping God are wonderful expressions of our love to Him, so are knowing His Word and applying it to our lives.

Just as we typically make an effort to avoid saying or doing the things that we know would be hurtful to our loved ones, if we’re going to say that we love Christ, we will typically make choices that express that love. We will choose to ask Him to help us to develop the fruit of His Holy Spirit in our lives (Gal. 5:22-26). This fruit is not only an evidence of true Christianity, but it is a daily praise and worship to Him. When we are in the work place, or at home, or running errands, or whatever we are doing, and we are consistently moving in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, this gives glory to God. Not that we’ll always do this perfectly. That’s impossible. But that’s where willingly humbling ourselves comes in (Matt 23:12). When we mess up, we apologize to whomever we’ve hurt, and to God, and then we move on. God’s not looking for perfection. Just our dependence on Him for His help with having a Christian attitude in a fallen world.

Welcoming His Presence

Somehow, the message of the passion that He feels for us as His bride seems intense at times. Almost overwhelming. His unconditional, undying love is an incredible truth that He lived out for us of His own, free will. He chose to be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), show us a perfect example of how to live (1Peter 2:22), die as payment for our sins and then rose from the dead (1Corinthians 15:3-8). A truth that allows us to experience the amnesty and tender kindness that He offers us today. Now. Always. Still, just like the Israelites when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, many of us are more at ease looking at the Lord through a veil rather than experiencing a relationship with Him behind the veil. We’re more at ease watching Sunday morning worship than actually worshiping. Tragically, we haven’t realized that the more depth our relationship with Him has, the more we will experience Him in our lives on a regular basis.

He Welcomes Our Presence

In His perfect love for us, Jesus desires to spend time with us. In fact, He desires to spend a lifetime with us and beyond. Presently, He not only intercedes for us daily, (Romans 8:34) but He is preparing a special place for each of us (John 14:2). And as we walk through each day, He desires to help us experience the presence of His perfect peace and joy. What Jesus offers us doesn’t fade at the first sign of trouble. It’s a far cry from what the world offers! It’s never out of stock and never needs to be upgraded, uploaded, or rebooted. And it’s free. It’s also rooted in a personal relationship with Him. While there may be occasions that we get out of focus and put more trust in our abilities than in Him, when we come to Him in prayer, He is always ready to forgive a repentant heart and meet our every need.

It’s easy to allow ourselves to be influenced by the "self-made" attitude of the world. However, God’s desire for us it that we would experience freedom from the burdens of what the world dictates we ought to have, see, hear or accomplish. The world teaches us to be corporate-minded. The Word teaches us to be Christ-minded. Being Christ-minded is the only thing that will ever bring true fulfillment and God’s deeper blessings. Asking the Lord to develop the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23) is the bottom line in being Christ-minded.

Personally, I think the Apostle John had the right idea when he laid his head on Jesus’ breast (John 13:23), What a privilege to be close enough to Jesus’ heart that you could hear it beating! Today, we can hear the heart of Jesus by spending time in His Word and by worshiping Him. When we focus on worshiping Him, of our own free will, it brings us to a deeper place of peace and joy that we wouldn’t otherwise experience. Persistent, focused worship, whether we sing it, speak it, or think it, will bring us to a place of being able to gain the victory over our struggles, and obtain God’s deepest blessings.

The Lord takes pleasure in blessing His people. We can know this because of the parable Jesus told us about the son who asks his father for bread in Luke 11:11-13. If the typical parent desires to give good gifts to their children (and they usually do), then how much more will our perfect heavenly Father desire to give us good gifts? Another way to look at it is this: friends, who are imperfect people, often desire to bless one another. So how much more would Jesus, the perfect friend, desire to bless us? It’s Jesus’ delight to bless us. Especially when He knows we will respond by sharing our blessings with others.

Drawing Near to Us

Jesus refers to us as His friends (John 15:15). He desires to draw near to us and He’s not bothered by our imperfections. In fact, He understands them because He has experienced life as a human and knows about limitations. Even before He first called the twelve to follow Him, He knew all of their flaws. He knew these, his closest friends, would abandon Him when He would have been most blessed by their support. He’s experienced what it’s like to be weary, hungry, tempted and misunderstood. He’s aware of each area in which we struggle and still chooses us as His beloved, desiring to help us achieve victory in every area of our lives.

As we invite Him into each area of our lives, He’ll be faithful to extend His guidance to us. Our challenge is to remember to slow down long enough and spend the necessary time in prayer – and then waiting on His reply. Time spent in prayer is never time squandered. In fact, I have heard many a minister say that more is accomplished when he or she takes the time to pray than when they just "jump into their day." Somehow, God always makes up the difference when we seek Him first.

Drawing Near to Him

It’s no secret that there are plenty of decisions in life that we must make. Everything from decisions concerning our career, to finances, to our choice of friends. And two of the most major decisions that we’ll ever make are who to marry and what house to buy. We can do what we think is best and then hope He’ll bless it, or we can ask Him what we should do and know He’ll bless it. When we make the decision to seek Him first, He’ll direct our path.

Two leaders from Israel’s history who can really bring us some insight about this are Johanan and Jezaniah (Jeremiah 42:1-22). They were in the middle of a rather ugly situation and asked Jeremiah to pray that God would show them where they should go and what they should do. However, they’d already decided where they’d go and what they’d do. They were trusting in their own ways. The only reason they wanted God involved was so that they’d have a guarantee concerning what they wanted. They didn’t really want what God wanted. That’s legalistic religion and God doesn’t respond favorably to those types of prayer requests. Even our Savior, while in the middle of a grueling struggle for our souls in the garden of Gethsemane, was willing to yield His will to the Father. This being the case, can we really consider doing anything less?

It’s sometimes difficult to let go of our own plans. Most of us don’t like being dependent on someone else concerning our futures or anything else that’s important to us. But yielding our plans to Him, in the long run, will bring the greatest blessing. In addition, our willingness to choose to ask Him to direct our plans is a type of life-style worship that will draw us into a deeper relationship with Him. It will cause us to draw near to Him, which in turn, will welcome Him to draw near to us.

Heavenly Treasures

One of my favorite non-fiction authors is Rick Joyner, and one of many wonderful books that he has written is entitled, The Call. I was just really blessed by the insight of a particular character who, when asked what he saw when he looked at a prison yard full of people replied, "A great field of buried treasure." The young man’s reply left a rather memorable impression on me and there were several reasons why it spoke to me. But I think the primary one is that no matter how bad things look in the natural, God can turn it into a treasure. One of the most valuable questions that we can ask Him is, "Lord, what do you want to teach me through this?" If we can remember to do that then we will set ourselves up to receive added depth to our character and our relationship with Him. These treasures will position us to step into the meaningful future that He has planned for us, and enable us to remain faithful with it.

Hidden Treasure

Jesus speaks of a man who finds a hidden treasure in a field, sells all he has, and buys the field (Matt 13:44). And when I checked out the Greek word for treasure, (the New Testament was originally written in Greek) I discovered that the word could be used either literally or figuratively. So this wealth is not necessarily a monetary issue. While our greatest treasure will certainly be our personal relationship with Jesus, our relationship with those who love us is also a treasure. The talents and abilities that the Lord has put into each of us are treasures that we can use to express our love to Him. Also, encouraging one another in our giftings, or even helping one another to discover them are treasures that will change lives – perhaps even the world.

But it all begins with a personal relationship with Jesus. If we don’t have that, we don’t have the most valuable treasure of all. Without Jesus, we’re directionless, dejected and destitute. And laying up treasure in Heaven only begins with making Jesus the center of our lives. When the rich young ruler in Luke chapter 18 verses 18-23 asked what good thing he could do to have eternal life, the problem wasn’t the fact that the man was rich. It was his focus. His arrogance, pride, envy, and greedy lust for lots of stuff and cash cost him the greatest treasure of all. He thought he could do something to earn or buy his personal relationship with Jesus. He couldn’t understand that a healthy, real, relationship with God can’t be earned or purchased with human strategies. By the way, neither can God’s goodness - nor His grace, favor, forgiveness, peace nor any of His other blessings.

God’s Heart for World Changers

In the Gospel of John chapter 4 verse 23, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that the Father is seeking people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. The Greek word here also defines seeking as, "to go enquire", or "to seek after". So one could say that the Lord pursues people whom He knows He can trust and then grants them opportunities. Likewise, many are called but few are chosen (Matt. 20:16). The Greek word "called" can be defined as "appointed", and the word "chosen" as "favored" or "elect". And just because someone isn’t popular with men doesn’t mean that they aren’t favored of God. Consider David – who would have thought that the young shepherd boy would grow up to be a King? Or who would have thought that Joshua the spy would be the one to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land? Or that a typical, young, virgin, Jewish lady named Mary would be chosen to give birth to the Messiah. But just to name a few examples who are more "modern", Watchman Nee, a man born and raised in Communist China, was used by God to help many of his pagan countrymen realize their need for a personal relationship with Jesus. Luis Palau, born and raised in a small town in Argentina, has a worldwide ministry today. And the well-known Pastor Tony Evans started with a 10 member church right here in America about 30 years ago. Today his church has about 7000 members and his preaching is heard on about 500 stations internationally. These people, once a typical as you and I, were chosen by God to do great exploits because of their faithful, willing, obedient hearts. But we must always remember that to whom much is given, much is required. Or to put it another way, God is going to require an extraordinary depth of character in those whom He has chosen to do extraodinary things.

When we choose to lay our own plans at Jesus’ feet, and be willing to change them if we have a sense that He is asking us to do so, then we will not only store up treasures, but the Lord will also cause us to step into the fullness of the future that He has for us. We can start by simply choosing to ask Him, in a simple prayer, to be our personal Lord and Savior. And one day, we can look forward to hearing the treasured words in Matthew chapter 25 verse 21, "Well done good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord."

Our God is a Poet

When I think of Old Testament poetry, the first book that comes to my mind is the book of Psalms. Now someone might say, "Psalms? That’s more like Israel’s hymnal than it is poetry." But let’s face it, the writings we tend to remember best in our culture are song lyrics – and lyrics often begin as poems. Poetry is often used to help young school children remember things such as the number of days in a month, (30 days has September…) important dates in history such as, "In fourteen hundred ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue", and other important concepts. Just as we use poetry as a tool in this culture, the poetic books were used in Israel’s culture to help them to remember their history, the character of their God, and His directives for how to live in a way that’s pleasing to Him.


Recognizing Redemption

The Lord also used these "poems set to music" as a way to speak to Israel about the arrival of their Messiah. Here are a few specific examples:

Psalm 2:7 highlights the Messiah as God’s son (compare with Matt.3:17, Acts 13:33-34)
Psalm 78:1-2 states that the Messiah would often teach using parables (see also Matt. 13:35)
Psalm 22 speaks of how Messiah would die (compare with Mark 15:33-39)
Psalm 45 highlights Messiah’s victory over evil (compare to Revelation 1:5-8 and Revelation 19:11-16)

There are many other messianic prophecies, but these will create an outline to illustrate how our God often uses poetry to express His desire to have a personal relationship with us and the extent to which He will go to make it happen. All we have to do is confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord (the promised Messiah) and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead. (Romans 10:9-10) And this particular scripture would highlight one of the major differences between Christianity and other religions. Buddha was not raised from the dead, nor was Mohammed, nor Joseph Smith (founder of Mormons), nor Charles Taze Russell (founder of Jehovah’s Witness / Watchtower society), nor any other alleged "prophet of God". Jesus warned us that many false prophets would rise up and deceive many (Matt 24:11). But it’s Jesus alone who was raised from the dead as payment for every sin ever committed. In Acts 4:8-13 the Apostle Peter testified to his fellow Jews that it’s Jesus alone who is able to deliver people from an eternity of suffering, shame and misery. And within that testimony, Peter quoted Psalm 118:22 as proof that Jesus is the Messiah – a Psalm that he would have learned as a boy in the Jewish culture.

Another important difference between Christianity and other religions is that Christians worship one God who offers forgiveness for all sins. All other religions require their followers to work for their forgiveness. In addition, they are required to perform good works in order to get into Heaven, though Heaven might be renamed something like Paradise, Nirvana or "achieving godhood". Now at first glance, working for forgiveness and working to get into Heaven might seem like the same thing. But it’s not. Earning repentance and earning a reward are two different things. But for Christians, it’s Jesus’ shed blood that grants us access into Heaven and a loving, Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers (Jeremiah 33:3). And we do our good works as an expression of our love and gratitude to Jesus – a free, joyous gift to Him: A way to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Reinforcing Relationship

Another important concept that the Apostle Peter pointed out to his fellow Jews was that God’s promise of a personal relationship with Him is for anyone who will accept it (Acts 2:38-39). This being the case, that would make anyone accepting it a part of His chosen people – because He becomes our God. So we get to be grafted in (Romans 11:13-20). As those who are grafted in, we become eligible for the same plethora of promises proclaimed through out His Word. And the promises demonstrate His character.

Even in this culture we make promises to those with whom we desire to have some kind of relationship. For example, businesses sign contracts, credit card companies have people sign an agreement to terms, banks have borrowers sign an agreement, even a bride and groom make promises or vows to one another in front of witnesses.

In the same way, the Lord has made promises to His people and He put them in writing in the Bible. In fact, Jesus compares our relationship with Him to the relationship between a husband and a wife in many places throughout the Word. And anyone who’s been married for a while knows that a good, lasting marriage relationship requires effort. Many people want to put all the effort into the wedding rather than the marriage. If we rarely spent time with our spouse and we only communicated occasionally, there wouldn’t be much of a relationship there. While our spouse might respond when we mentioned a need or want, a relationship that lacked time together and communication would be somehow unfulfilling – sort of empty and irrelevant. But when we begin discovering our Spouse’s (Jesus’) interests, His likes and dislikes, we begin to see the beauty of our Spouse’s character. That beauty is laid out in every promise in His Word.

One of the most beautiful representations of the analogy of our wife and husband relationship with Jesus is the poetic book, Song of Solomon. It gives us an example of just how deep Jesus’ love for us runs and how much He enjoys us – His people. It gives us a glimpse of how he sees us in spite of our imperfections. Just as the lover in Song of Solomon looks past the flaw of the Shulamite woman’s tanned skin and sees the beauty of who she is, ( Song 1:5-10) Jesus looks fondly on a heart that is devoted to Him.

Reaching the Races

One of my favorite promises is in Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." The reason that I like this promise so much is because it shows me that the Lord has vision for my life – a destiny. And since I know He’s all-powerful (Matthew 19:26, able to finish what He starts (Phil 1:6), and loves me beyond my ability to
comprehend it (Jer. 31:3), I know He’ll be faithful. Of course these promises (as well as many other promises) apply to anyone who has accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. He has a plan for each of us as individuals, and a collective plan for us as His bride (the church). As we experience the joy of going where He leads us and using the talents He’s given us, we get to have the privilege of helping to add to His Kingdom. If we’re not experiencing joy, we need to ask Him why – He might be calling us to do something other than what we’re doing.

As we step into the giftings and talents that He has given to each of us, He will empower us to share with others the great things that He has done for us. He will extend His power to us and bring opportunities to us to share with others what we have learned about His character through each book that makes up the Bible. Each book shows us something different about the depth of who he is. And as we pray and take the time to listen for Him to speak to us through His Word, He will show us His heart – just as any husband longs to share his heart with his wife in a healthy, Christian marriage. Likewise, he will desire to hear his wife share her heart with him as well.

As we continue to make a point of communicating with our Lover in prayer and take the time to listen for His voice through His word, we will not only see that He is a poet, but we’ll see the deeper things too. Such as catching a deeper revelation of His unconditional, undying love for us – and gaining deeper insight into who we are becoming in Him.

Determined to Love

One of my favorite hobbies is hiking. And it just so happens that it’s a favorite hobby for my husband Gary too. God often speaks to us through the artistry of His handiwork, and He gave us a beautiful and powerful picture of a love that’s determined to stay committed. As we walked, I noticed a rock partially embedded in the side of a huge hill and pointed it out to my husband. The top of the rock was covered with dirt, and a couple of intertwined and healthy flowers grew out of it. The Lord began to speak to us about the value of having Christ our Rock as our foundation.

When life’s storms of economic woes, health care scares, and job instability cause us to feel the effects of being dumped on with an erosion of difficulties, it’s only the rock solid love of our personal relationship with Jesus that will cause us (and a marriage) to survive and flourish. We must pull together – or we will pull apart. When we make a choice to run to God by spending more time in His Word, laying our concerns at His feet with our prayers, and determining to continue in our worship of Him, He will cause us to overcome because of the power of His blood and the word of our testimony. Keeping our focus on Jesus is where we will find true peace, love joy, and hope for the future.

Blessed Endurance

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:3, NIV)

Recently I experienced the blessing of participating in a short-term mission trip to the country of Romania. Though free of communist rule for about 10 years now, Christians still experience subtle, devious persecutions. One church that became my living example of staying focused on Christ and enduring opposition was a church that had it’s property deed seized by come corrupt government officials a few years ago. As a result, that group of saints was thrown out of their building and told that they must, "sue the state" if they wanted their building returned. But that little group of believers refused to give up. They continued to meet, found another building, and today, even have a sister church in another village. Praise God for their willingness to continue walking with Jesus and endure in the face of sinful men.

We are at a vulnerable crossroads in our nation today. While we don’t have government officials kicking Christians out of their places of worship (yet), we do experience a subtle, devious form of persecution in our schools. Often times, if students speak out about their Christian beliefs, they end up experiencing negative consequences that range from a poor grade to expulsion. The only way we are going to stop this madness is to begin to vote leaders into our government who are willing to stand up for family values, morality, and interpret the Constitution rather than try to rewrite to suite their own wicked, liberal agendas. We need leaders who will do what’s in the best interest of the people of America, not the best interest of gaining another term in their political office. We must weigh all the choices very carefully as we approach our primaries. The media is all too willing to try to tell us how to vote; again, to suite their own liberal agenda. We need to take charge, do the research, and put someone in office who will work for the good of our country and our future generations. The future of our nation is up to us. And I personally believe that Mike Huckabee is this nation’s best hope of America being restored to the economically healthy, great nation that we use to be. He is a moral man who loves God, loves this country, and desires to see families restored, traditional family values protected, and TRUE freedom of religion – even for Christians.

I hope and pray that moral and religious freedom and our economy will never get as out-of-control here as it once did in Romania and as it still is in the Muslim and communist nations. Especially when we the people have the power to ensure that this never happens here. But if we are going to be proactive about it, we MUST exercise our right to vote and put leaders in place who are going to work with us – not against us.

Worship from the Heart

Many years ago the small inner-city ministry where my husband, Gary and I were volunteering was in desperate need of more volunteers. Not an uncommon thing for your typical inner-city ministry or church – even today. For some strange reason, churches want to move to the suburbs, forgetting, I suppose, that every great revival in history began in the inner city because of passionate intercession. This hobbyhorse of mine aside, I found myself drafted to lead the praise and worship at the Friday night service.

Being relatively young in the Lord at the time and with the matching inexperience, I began seeking the Lord for His wisdom concerning how to go about leading worship. The very first thing that He showed me was Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John 4:21-24. "Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Three things jumped out at me. I began to jot down some ideas.

Catching the Revelation of Relationship

The New Testament was originally written in Greek. So I did a bit of research and found that the word for "know" in John 4:22 comes from a Greek word that indicates something beyond what we can learn form reading a book, getting a degree, listening to a speaker or a preacher, or other ways of obtaining academic knowledge. It’s the kind of knowledge that the Holy Spirit supernaturally reveals to us.

We can’t get this from our man-made religious traditions and expectations. And if we hold too tightly to what we’ve always done in the past, we’ll miss the blessings that God has for us today.

If we remain focused on what we’ve always done rather than looking honestly at how God is moving today, we will find ourselves in a place where we are only worshiping God with our lips and our hearts are far from Him (Isaiah 29:13). The Lord calls this type of empty worship purposeless in Isaiah 1:10-11.

While it’s true that Sodom and Gomorrah were terribly sinful nations, America has plenty of it’s own iniquity. And we Christians need to be willing to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit with repentant hearts in our churches and our lives before we can ever hope to begin making a difference where our nation is concerned. When we begin worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth on a regular basis, He’ll empower us to walk in the spirit daily (Galatians 5:22-26).

True Worshipers

In John 4:23 the word "true" (as in "true worshipers") comes from a Greek root that means unconcealed. A nice synonym here would be "unashamed" or "open". The Father is looking for people who are openly and unashamedly worshiping Him. Willing to give Him the glory at work, in the car, at the grocery, at home, in the church or wherever He presents us with an opportunity – and that doesn’t necessarily mean in song. Taking advantage of an opportunity to tell someone about some good thing that God has done for us is a form of worship. And when our hearts are willing and obedient, He continues to pour out His blessings on us (Isaiah 1:19).

Another important word in John 4:23 is the word "spirit" (in spirit and in truth) which comes from a Greek word that can be translated as "a current of air", "breath", "blast", or "breeze". Our hearts are a very important part of our ability to "breath". This being the case, we could say that the Father seeks those who will worship Him "from the heart". But here’s my favorite part of that whole verse. He "is seeking such to worship Him." The word "seek" comes from a Greek word that can be translated as to "be desired", "will seek after", and "will seek means". So our Heavenly Father desires and will chase after and even make a way for those who will worship Him from their hearts.

In Spirit and in Truth

Because God created each of us with different giftings and different personalities, worship from the heart isn’t going to be a "one size fits all" kind of a thing. However, there are examples throughout God’s Word of worship from the heart. King David wrote psalms, played the harp, and danced. Miriam and many other Israeli women played the timbrel and danced (Ex. 15:20). King David invited all people to clap their hands (Psalm 47:1), shout (Psalm 32, Psalm 35) play instruments and sing (Psalm 147), and many other Biblical examples could be mentioned.

While it’s important to worship with the church corporately, it’s also important that we make time to worship Him on our own. Whether we choose to sing our praises to Him when we first wake up, think our praises to Him on our lunch break, speak our praises to Him before going to sleep or even in the shower, this time with Him is one thing that will strengthen our relationship with Him, as will reading His Word on a regular basis and applying it to our lives.

As we commit to waiting on Him (or listening for His directives) during our personal worship time with Him, we’ll gain the wisdom and the faith we need to step where He calls us. Our choice to worship God from our hearts, read His Word, and apply it to our lives is going to empower us to live our lives, and equip us to make a difference in the world around us.