Feeding a Hungry Soul: worship

Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts

Linger In and Ponder the Melody of His Word

Do you participate in the time set aside in your church service for singing,

or do you arrive late hoping the 'music part' will be over by the time you get there?

Let's pull up a chair to His table today and let God show us

how He uses music to feed our souls in a powerful way.

"Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly"

What a beautiful picture of what we do when we sing God's word together!

Through music, the message of Christ dwells among us

definition of dwell:

to linger over, emphasize,

or ponder in thought, speech, or writing

When we sing corporately:

We linger in the presence of the message of God
We ponder His message as we sing it repeatedly
We emphasize His message as we sing it with more intensity.

I don't know about you, but this gives me reason to pause and consider:

Do I linger in the presence of His Word in song or am I focused on getting on with the rest of the service
Do I ponder the message of His word being sung over me, or am I just reading along and going through the motions?
When scriptural phrases are repeated in choruses, do I sing with more emphasis to magnify the glory of God's word or do I wonder if we are ever going to stop singing this song?

"teach and admonish one another

with all wisdom through

psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit"

LOVE this! God uses this time of singing of His word to teach and admonish our souls.

The teaching and admonishing doesn't just happen from the pulpit.

God's word, whether spoken or sung, does not return void. AMEN!

"singing to God with gratitude in your heart"

We are instructed very specifically here:

Sing TO GOD...not to people. And according to the words before this part of vs 16, God sings back to us with teaching and admonishing. LOVE!!

Sing to God with GRATITUDE IN OUR HEARTS. No qualifying statements of the circumstances of our life before we sing with gratitude; just straight out gratitude. { I'm reminded that if I am singing with a grateful attitude, it's almost impossible not to shine with the joy of Christ.

Prayer:

Lord God, thank You for the gift of song. What a joy it is to be able to linger in the presence of Your word sung as melodies and harmonies with fellow believers. Lord, forgive me for the times I rush through the songs and miss the opportunity to ponder the messages of hope, healing, comfort and instruction. Give me an ear to hear Your voice speaking to me in every psalm, hymn and song of Your Spirit. Make my heart ready to respond with each note You sing over me. May my voice be lifted up with a desire to glorify Your name, emphasizing the Your scriptural promises with repeated intensity. And Father God, when I come with a heavy heart, let me remember the hope found in the blood of Jesus so that I may sing to YOU with a heart full of praise and thanksgiving. I come before You in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our recipe today is for Worship
The ingredients are from Colossians
The directions are Linger in the presence of His Word in song; ponder His Words as you sing them; sing with a heart grateful for the promises of the Cross.

{CLICK HERE for a printable version of today's recipe for the soul. Make notes on it of how God is speaking to you today, and carry it with you to feed your soul as needed.}

Other conversations held at His table that may feed your soul today...
Worship...a Response of the Heart or an Act of Obedience?
The Gospel...to be Believed and Worshipped
Dancing with God

I'd love to have you at the table each time I pull up a chair.
If you don't already, won't you join us?

Subscribe to Feeding a Hungry Soul by Email

Just click the link above, submit your email address and then

be sure to click the 'verify' link when the email is sent to your inbox.

After that, I'll be saving you a chair at the table!

God Bless and Keep You,

For more time at His table, try visiting these blogs

where I like to link up in fellowship with other followers of Christ.

A word of encouragement? A note to say 'hey'?
Just click comments below...it makes my day!

The Gospel...to be Believed and Worshipped

{click here for printable version}

Last post I asked this question at the end:

Worship...is it a response of the heart or an act of obedience?

My take is 'all of the above'. Matthew 26:6-13 is a great visual of what I mean.

Matthew 26 ~

⁶While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, ⁷a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume,

which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹“This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹The poor you will always have with you,but you will not always have me. ¹²When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. ¹³Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

As I meditated on this word, I saw 2 things:

First...A responsive heart acting in obedience to the will of God

[vs 6-7] This woman responded to a longing in her heart to show her love for Jesus by pouring this precious perfume over His head. (response of the heart)
[vs 12-13] Jesus tells the disciples that she did this to prepare Him for burial AND that her response of the heart will be told as part of the gospel message. (act of obedience...we are commanded to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth and God moved her heart to respond in this way as part of His glorious, eternally driven plan)

My heart, when surrendered to the power of the Holy Spirit, is driven to respond in an act of obedience to the leadership and eternal plan of God.

{click here to tweet this}

Second...an example of judgement driven by self focused perspective that plays out between the previous verses...

[vs 8-9] The disciples want to judge her for the way she is showing her adoration and praise for Jesus.
[vs 10] Jesus tells them that this act of worship isn't about them, it's about Him and her.

As I shared in the last post...

The response of my heart to adore and praise God

is driven by the depth of my personal relationship with God.

{click here to tweet this}

I don't know the back story of this woman, but I can only imagine that Jesus touched her in a powerful way at some point.

Did He heal her or a child of hers?
Did He release her from shackles of shame and guilt with His forgiveness and redeeming words of grace?
Did He meet her where she was on a road of sinful disobedience and welcome her into His arms, showing her a better life road to follow?

My acts of worship, (adoration and praise of God), are a direct response to how God has shown up and been there for me.

{click here to tweet this}

Jesus reprimanded the disciples for judging this woman's act of adoration and praise because they judged in ignorance. Just as the 'back story' of what led this woman to feel a need to worship Jesus in this way was not shared with us, the disciples weren't told either. All they were told was 'this isn't about what you think should be done...this is about her and Me'.

At some point, she was a broken woman

and Jesus spilled out all of His grace and power in her life

to put her back together.

Her response of adoration and praise reflects

His glory that was poured out into her life.

Our choir has been rehearsing a song (Broken and Spilled Out) based on this scripture, and it was our discussions about the message of this song that originally drove me to meditate more on this particular word of God.

A good portion of the song is about how Jesus was broken and spilled out for us through the sacrificial act of love on the cross. This is why I'm able to have a personal relationship with God that leads me to worship Him.

But there is also the message of spilled out adoration and praise in this song. Let me share the chorus with you:

Broken and spilled out

Just for love of you Jesus

My most precious treasure

Lavished on Thee

Broken and spilled out

And poured at Your feet

In sweet abandon

Let me be spilled out

And used up for Thee

~ words by Gloria Gaither~

I've highlighted the words that spoke so powerfully to my heart. There was a time in my christian walk that I was like the disciples, judging acts of worship based on what I thought was right and proper. And then there came a time in my life that all that I held together with wires and tape to present myself as the 'good and upright' christian was broken and I was spilled out before God.

That was when I moved

from believing God

to worshiping God.

I released the grip I had on that wire and tape and found freedom in letting Him hold me together instead. It was then I found freedom to worship Him with sweet abandon, holding nothing back.

And how that worship spills out of us with sweet abandon is personal...between God and ourselves. We are just called to respond to it as an act of obedience.

I'm so glad God chose to include these 8 simple verses in His big book of scriptures. This simple act of worship could have been easily left out, but I would have missed this intimate moment with Him, deepening my heartfelt responses of adoration and praise.

It's just as Jesus foretold..."Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told..."

God desires His gospel to not just be believed,

it is to be responded to with worship

(acts of adoration and praise)!

{click here to tweet this}

Prayer:

Lord God,as I bow before you today, I am moved to ask myself;

Have I allowed myself to be broken and spilled out before You, or am I using all of my strength to hold it together and not appear broken to the world?
Do I recognized all that You have spilled out into my life?
Am I ready to spill out my adoration and praise for You with sweet abandon?

Lord, show me what I cling to for self preservation or worldly validation so that I may be further broken and spilled out before You. Give me eyes to see You in every aspect of my life...to see Your glory and not my circumstances. Let the response of my heart be driven by my recognition of all that You have poured out for Me. ......I come to worship You in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our recipe today is for Worshipping with Sweet Abandon
The ingredients are from Matthew 26:6-13
The directions are to allow ourselves to be broken and spilled out before God

{CLICK HERE for a printable version of today's recipe for the soul. Make notes on it of how God is speaking to you today, and carry it with you to feed your soul as needed.}

Other conversations held at His table that may feed your soul today...
Limp or Rigid?
Ready to Run

I'd love to have you at the table each time I pull up a chair.
If you don't already, won't you join us?

Subscribe to Feeding a Hungry Soul by Email

Just click the link above, submit your email address and then

be sure to click the 'verify' link when the email is sent to your inbox.

After that, I'll be saving you a chair at the table!

God Bless and Keep You,

For more time at His table, try visiting these blogs

where I like to link up in fellowship with other followers of Christ.

A word of encouragement? A note to say 'hey'?
Just click comments below...it makes my day!

Worship...a Response of the Heart or an Act of Obedience?

My last entry on this blog was spurred by the challenge given by our church pastor to approach Monday - Saturday as days to prepared ourselves to worship at church on Sunday. Motivated by the excitement of how this challenge changed the way I mentally approached each day, I think that post got a little long winded!

So before I dive into more thoughts on that topic using other scripture God has laid before me, let me summarize that prattling post in a few bulleted thoughts:

John 12:16 ~ The disciples didn't understand that God was fulfilling prophesy until Jesus was glorified. Even though scriptures of old laid it out, they still needed to be enlightened to understand.

I too need God to reveal to me His glory every single day. Left on my own, my view becomes self centered, prideful, critical, bitter or full of self pity. And how does God reveal His glory to me? When I take time to read His word, meditate on His thoughts and listen to His voice.

If I am not prepared on Sunday to worship God for all of His revealed glory, I walk blindly into a sanctuary full of people, words, and music but no realization of what it's all about. Sure, I have the 'big picture'...this is God's day, this is something I'm supposed to do on my check list of things 'good Christians' do...but I am not prepared to worship.

Worship by definition is an act of adoration and praise. Spending time daily to see the glory of God in my life and in His word gives me new reasons to adore and praise Him. Worship means I come to church needing to adore and praise God as an overflowing response of my heart, not as a dedicated act of obedience. {click to tweet this}

John 24:23-24 ~ God is seeking 'true worshipers' ~ those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. A truthful response to the moving of His Spirit.

If I worship only as a dedicated act of obedience, I am not a 'true worshiper' as defined by the scripture. I come. (to the church service) I do. (the steps of the service / pray, sing, give, listen). I leave. (unchanged but feeling good about my act of obedience to go to church)
However, if I have prepared myself throughout the week by seeking God's revealed glory in my daily life, I am overflowing with a desire to praise and adore:

My God.
My Creator.
My Savior.
My Comforter.
My Shelter.
My Rock.
My Healer.
My...... (whoever God revealed Himself to be for you personally that week as you prepared yourself to see His revealed glory in your life)

Bottom line...

It's personal.

Preparing myself for worship

is driven by how personal my relationship is with God.

The more I see Him in my life; the more I correspond with Him in prayer and scripture; the more I seek Him with a surrendered heart ready to follow His lead...

the more PERSONAL my relationship with God becomes.

And as the intimacy in my relationship with God grows,

my need to respond grows too.

Providentially, our need to respond with adoration and praise

also fulfills our need to obey God's word:

{click here for printable version}

{simplified and paraphrased...Go to church and praise / adore Him!}

To sum it up...

I need to spend time with God daily, asking Him to reveal more of His glory in my life so I am more and more aware of who His.
The more I learn of how He is working in my life, the more intimate my relationship with God becomes.
Intimacy breeds adoration, which goes beyond respect and acknowledgement of God as God.
Because worship is a natural outpouring of adoration and praise and not simply an act of obedience, my time at church becomes less about attendance and more about worship. (I attend because God tells me to - Hebrews 10:24-25 - I worship because I desire to)

I entitled this post:

Worship...a Response of the Heart or an Act of Obedience? {click to tweet this}

I think the correct answer is: 'all of the above'.

You?

Prayer:

Lord God, I come to praise Your name and offer up my words of adoration as a response to Your revealed glory in my life. You provide for my every need, You catch every tear and become my comforter, You protect me from more than I am even aware of, You are more faithful than I can even fathom and I am able to call You Lord and Savior because of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. You are the grace I need to move forward, free from shackles of shame and guilt. You are my healer, allowing me to move beyond my brokenness and into all You created me to be. As my Creator, I am amazed at the intricacies of Your design. And each day brings me new word of Your faithfulness, love, grace, comfort, healing, provisions.... Oh Lord the list is longer than I can bring to mind, but I am mindful of all Your word says You are to me and the countless times You prove Yourself to me even when I come with doubt in my heart. Father...You prove Yourself to me over and over not because You are required to but because I require it. Your love for me is comprehensible. You never give up on me as I continue to need reassuring, reminding, refining, and redeeming. I am overwhelmed at the thought of how much I am loved by You, unconditionally. I worship You with praise and adoration as an outpouring of response to Your faithfulness and love. I come and praise You in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our recipe today is for Worship

The ingredients are from Psalm 100:4

The directions are to deepen your intimate relationship with God and surrender to the response of your spirit to give unreserved adoration and praise to Him.

{CLICK HERE for a printable version of today's recipe for the soul.

Make notes on it of how God is speaking to you today,

and carry it with you to feed your soul as needed.}

Other conversations held at His table that may feed your soul today...
Holy Holy Holy...Lord God Almighty
Heartfelt Praise and Worship

I'd love to have you at the table each time I pull up a chair.
If you don't already, won't you join us?

Subscribe to Feeding a Hungry Soul by Email

Just click the link above, submit your email address and then

be sure to click the 'verify' link when the email is sent to your inbox.

After that, I'll be saving you a chair at the table!

God Bless and Keep You,

For more time at His table, try visiting these blogs

where I like to link up in fellowship with other followers of Christ.

A word of encouragement? A note to say 'hey'?
Just click comments below...it makes my day!

Holy, Holy, Holy ~ Lord God Almighty

Reading through Leviticus, there is a lot of detail about sacrifices, rituals, priests, etc., and I will confess that I was inclinded to skip over a lot of it. But I reminded myself that the goal for reading the Bible in 90 days is to actually READ each chapter and book so that God can reveal more of himself to me.

And so I asked God to show me why I needed to know all of this detail that had nothing to do with my walk with Him today. We don't do those rituals or practice sacrifices anymore.

Soon I began to see how all of this detail emphasized the Holiness of God and the reverence He deserves.

And I began to ask myself, do I truly appreciate the Holiness of God. Do I understand the reverence He truly deserves.

Because salvation eliminates the need for the formalities of the Old Testament, is there a tendency to loose sight of the majesty and glory of God?

Today I challenge you to stop for a moment and consider who God is. And to take some time today to show him ~
Awe
Reverance
Respect
Gratitude

Prayer:
Lord God, I confess that I am prone to get comfortable in my walk with You and see You as an old friend when You are more than words can describe; more than my mind can fathom. By a word You create all that lives and breathes. You are perfection. You are so holy that You cannot even look upon sin. But because of the covering of Christ, I am able to come into Your presence. I confess that I minimize the magnitude of my sin. I fall prostrate to the ground, unworthy of being in Your presence, and humbled that You would provide a way for me to kneel before You. There are not enough words to praise You; not enough hours in a day to sing Your praises. I stand in awe and wonder. I lift my hands to praise You. Hallelujah and Amen.

At Last...Community of Worship

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD!

Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our Salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

~ Psalm 95: 1-2

This is where we left off last time I posted. While my plans were to post the last of the three thoughts in this series right after #2, life got in the way. First it was a crazy travel schedule, during which time my laptop crashed, leaving me without a laptop until today. (confession...I had access to a family computer, but the writer in me was blocked every time I sat down to that foreign keyboard...ya, a little quirky I suppose!) So here we go...picking up where we left off. We started looking at the definition of worship and then explored the call to worship and the warning to worship, where I left us with a promise to explore the concept of community in worship.

Community [noun] - a unified body of individuals.

As followers of Christ, we are, by definition, a community. We are a body of individuals unified by a common love for Christ. And the Psalm we have been studying speaks of community in the call to action by saying "let us". The psalmist could easily have left out the collective call to action and just made it a series of strong statements to sing, shout, come and shout. The fact that "let us" is there tells us it is an important part of the call to worship.

And so we do worship as a 'unified body of individuals' each time we come together to bow down and praise God. This is a strong word to us when we are inclined to discount going to church. In fact, it is a very bold statement of personal pride to say "I don't need to go to church to worship God". I'm reminded of another favorite verse that also directs us to come together as a unified body to worship ...

Hebrews 10:24-25 ~ “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,

but let us encourage one another…”

Now, as I mentioned in the previous 2 posts on this topic, I am sharing with you my perspective of a message presented by out associate pastor...Ben. I enjoyed how Ben pointed out the salad bowl concept presented in this verse (let us...lettuce...get it? heehee...I thought it was funny). But I was even more excited by another concept he explored with us. The idea of how the Trinity represents the ultimate goal for real community.

Christ submitted (bowed the knee) to God by coming to earth as a sacrifice for our sins.
The Holy Spirit submitted (bowed the knee) to Christ by coming to be our counselor here on earth.

This is the ultimate picture of a worshipping community.  Each part of the Trinity doing the job it was called to do. Each God, but none striving to be most important.  Imagine...Jesus bowed the knee in submission to the plan of God so that we could come join in the community of worship with Him. If Jesus did it, how much more should we!

I couldn't help but think of the conversations I have had with fellow believers about how hard it is to submit sometimes. I am deeply humbled by that thought as I think about how hard it would have been for Christ. I am reminded of the verse in scripture where Pilate tells Jesus "Don't you know I have the power to free / save you..." (John 19:10).  There Christ stood, submitted in heart to the will of God. I am afraid my flesh would have struggled to keep from standing up and saying something like " are you kidding me?! I have come to save you!!! Don't you see what I am doing here for you!!" But Christ submitted to God's will, let Pilate know that he would have no authority if it had not been given to him by God and then walked the path laid out for Him.

What if we all were to follow the example set by the Trinity, to submit to the will of God without concern of our own personal will. I am reminded of how I used to encourage my children when they were younger to look after one another. When they were inclined to be mostly concerned about 'what was in it for them' I'd remind them that God calls us to look out for others above ourselves and would share an example of simple math. If your only concern is for yourself, then you have one person looking after your personal well being. If you focus on your brothers and sister, mom and dad, and each does the same in return, we each have 5 people looking after our personal well being.

What a great encouragement I received from Ben's example of community as shown by the Trinity.  It overwhelms me to think of the difference the community of believers could make if we all were to follow this ultimate example of bowing our knee in submission to the authority of God, lifting up the well being of others above ourselves.

What do you think?

Don't Forget to Remember!

So, we are on our knees...now what? Yesterday we focused on verses 6-7 of Psalm 95, exploring what the word 'worship' really means. It was a call to come and cause ourselves to bow down. So now that we have come to the table, walking on our knees, let's see what the Psalm tells us to do.

As I mentioned yesterday, this is a study presented from our church pulpit by our associate Pastor, Bro. Ben. This is the continuation of what God laid on my heart from that lesson...

Verses 1-5 of Psalm 95, we find our call to worship. As Ben showed us, this call is for us to REMEMBER. Remember who God is. Remember what He has done. Verses 1-2 tell us that we are to sing and shout joyfully...to come and give thanks. Verses 3-5 tell us what to sing about, shout about and give thanks for.

We are to remember that He is a great God, a King above all gods (v3).
We are to remember that He is the creator of heaven, earth and all creation. (v4-5)
We are to remember that He is our Rock of Salvation (v1)

And then Ben reminded us that as New Testament Christians, we are to remember what God did for us at the cross. I was giving that a loud Amen from the choir loft as I remembered my study of a favorite Psalm this last year... God's Unfailing Love.

Psalm 143:8 ~ Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

If you need a refresher for your memory (or would like to print the newly added recipe card for that featured verse), head back over there and remember how we can lay our heads on the pillow each night and instead of saying:

“I’ll deal with it tomorrow”, at the end of a long and troubling day, we can say "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love"

OR, instead of saying:

“Maybe tomorrow will be better”, at the end of a day in a season where nothing seems to be working out, we can say "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love"

So today, as we COME to the table walking on our knees, let's remember GOD. Let's remember who He is. Let's remember what lengths He went to so that we can come to His table and fellowship with Him.

More than remember.... DON'T FORGET! Ben went on to point out that there is not only a call to remember, there is a warning to remember in Psalm 95 as well. Verses 8-11 reminds the reader of a time when the people of God forgot the way they had saved them as they stepped out to claim the promises He had given them. These verses are telling us 'don't forget what God has done for your salvation'! Again, coming back to remembering God's unfailing love.

So the call and the warning are same...but different.

We are called to remember. It's like a call out for a reunion of old friends and family. "Ya'll come...let's get together and remember when....." It's a call to fellowship and joyful rememberances.

We are warned to not forget. This is like a mother telling her child "now don't forget" (visual of finger wagging acceptable here *wink*) This is more than a friendly call to remember, it is a stern admonishment to remember / don't forget!

So we COME to the table walking on our knees so we can REMEMBERwith praises and NEVER FORGEThow God has been eternally faithful and showing His unfailing love.

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD!

Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our Salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

~ Psalm 95: 1-2

Tomorrow... community! How appropriate that this series would end with a look at how worship is an act of community since this blog is all about us coming together to encourage one another to gather around God's table and increase our intimacy and fellowship with Him. I can't wait...hope you can come back!

Our recipe today is to Remember.
The ingredients are from Psalm 95: 1-2
The directions are to come into His presence with a heart of praise, remembering all that God has done and to never forget His everlasting expression of unfailing love.

CLICK HERE for a printable version of today's recipe for the soul. Make notes on it of how God is speaking, and carry it with you to feed your soul as needed.

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER? Encourage the community today with a comment of what you bring to God's table as a praise of rememberance.

Walking On Our Knees (Or...Dorf on Worship!)

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.

Psalm 95: 6-7 (knjv)

I heard a great message from our associate pastor yesterday that has been 'stewing' in my heart all night. In my last post, I shared how the key verse, Philippians 3: 13b-14, encouraged me to forget the past and look forward to the prize of heaven and walking here on earth to the glory of God. And so, I shared how in 2010 I made a resolution to to go from dissonance (conflict of the past ~ whether it be guilt and shame of confessed sin or just feeling of defeat about things I wish I had done better) to consonance (living in harmony with the will of God). (if you missed this one, click here to catch up and then come back to see how this all works together!)

God built on that word for me about my 2010 resolution with a word from the pulpit on Sunday. This is a portion of my take on that message ...

In the Psalm above, we are called to COME...come and worship. First, I love that we are called to come. It implies that we need to GET UP AND DO SOMETHING! It's like ringing the dinner bell... "Ya'll Come" (pardon the southern vernacular *wink*) When you are hungry and you hear that bell, you are on your feet and running to the table.

How perfectly that fits with our comparison to how God calls us to His table daily to share a meal with Him! So are you hungry? Then get up and come to the table.

Are you here with me? Great! What next? Well, the verse goes on to say "come, let us WORSHIP and BOW DOWN".

Here is where Bro. Ben shared a great lesson that I have been so excited about. It started with his explanation of the original Hebrew word for worship (if you are a regular visitor to this blog...you know I sat up straight in my seat and leaned forward when we started digging into the deep meaning of words!) The Hebrew word used here is saha. It's meaning is 'to bow down' or more specifically, 'cause to bow'.

This is another call to action word. The literal translation for the word 'worship' says we are called to 'cause ourselves to bow down' to God. So the verse could be written like this:

Oh come, let us cause ourselves to bow down and bow down (boy...would my 11th grade English teacher be all over me if I had written that in her class!)

Personally, I LOVE that it is so repetative. There is emphasis in repetitive words. (all you mom's out there know exactly what I mean...you have to say it more than once before it gets done [and for all the husbands reading ~ NO..this is not called nagging *grin*])

If God is repeating himself here...then I think we need to listen and obey!

In fact, the message from Bro. Ben pointed out that we are called to worship God (cause ourselves to bow down) at all times. As I pondered this with my husband yesterday, we talked about living a life on our knees, visualizing ourselves walking on our knees at all times. (but then I got this image of Dorf on Golf stuck in my head and it ruined it for me! I grew up with my Dad loving Dorf, but if you are not familiar and curious...google it. But fair warning...the image of walking in your knees will lose the feeling of 'reverance' *wink*)

Dorf aside...can you see yourself living a life walking on your knees. It would be really hard to have self serving motives or self righteous thoughts if we always saw ourselves walking on your knees. However... it is CRUCIAL that we keep in mind that this image of walking on our knees is done in submission to the will of God. We are now bowing a knee to things of the world or priorities of people...we are bowing a knee to the things of God and His priorities. This means we must KNOW THE THINGS OF GOD AND HIS PRIORITIES!

When we know these things and His priorities and walk on our knees in submission to them, then the blessings of God flow out on our life. Now please, don't interpret this sentence to mean that if we walk on our knees in submission to the will of God that our blessings will be worldly blessings. Ugh.... that is a whole other series of scripture studies ~ so let's just remember for todays time in the word, God's blessings come in many ways and are often not what we expect from the wordly point of view.

Therefore, we must know the will of God and His priorities in order to submit to them. And how do we know these things? All together now.... 'by reading His word'!

So now my visual image of bowing down is one of me walking on my knees with AN OPENED BIBLE IN MY HANDS. Like a road map if you will.

Years ago, before digital cameras (or I'd have this in my docs and could share) there was a picture taken of my husband and me dressed as tourists for a costume party (we took first place by the way!) In this picture, in addition to the ridiculous outfits, we were holding a map and looking lost. Typical tourists was what we called ourselves when asked "what are you". Typical tourists are those who are in a land that is not their home and trying to find their way.

This is us! As Christians, we are no longer citizens of this earth, but aliens here for a while, waiting for God to bring us home. While are here, God takes us on a journey that will bring Him glory. And God's word is our 'map' for the journey.

So there you have it... we are typical tourists, walking on our knees, with the map of God in our hands (ridiculous outfits optional...but it makes the Dorf image work!)

There is more! So come back tomorrow and we'll explore more of what God says to us about worship...at least the part that I learned from Ben yesterday. It's good stuff! Remember to come back...DON'T FORGET! (that was a clue...but you won't get it until tomorrow *wink*)

Our recipe today is to Come and Worship

The ingredients are from Psalm 95: 6-7.

The directions are to cause yourself to bow down and worship Him. To walk on your knees in submission to His will and His priorities.

CLICK HERE for a printable version of today's recipe for the soul. Make notes on it of how God is speaking, and carry it with you to feed your soul as needed.

Now it's your turn. Please share what you are thinking. What is God saying to you about causing yourself to bow down? As a community of believers, we are called to encourage one another. Some of the greatest encouragement comes when we share with each other what God is doing in our lives. Who will your comment encourage today?

P.S. Forgot to share with you how God used this message from the pulpit on Sunday to speak to me on the posting about my resolution. It's all about walking on my knees. There can be no dissonance if I walk on my knees. And if I change my stature from the past (forget the past) and MOVE FORWARD ON MY KNEES... my resolution is achieved. This year is all about paying attention to the times I try to get up.