Tag: worship

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With All My Heart

Daily Reading

Exodus 36-38

Daily Thought

Have you ever been to a church where the pastor told the congregation to keep their wallets in their pockets, we have collected more than enough this year? “Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, ‘Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.’ So the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more” (Exodus 36:6-7). You can stop giving …and this was a building campaign, no less!

Building the tabernacle of God transformed something inside the Israelites, because their whining mouths became willing hearts and they “kept bringing Moses freewill offerings every morning”–so much so, that Moses had to put a stop to it. He wasn’t after the wealth of the people, but their hearts, and that was delivered in abundance. Once God has your heart, the rest follows.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your abounding grace toward me. May I return my thanks to You with glad heart, a serving spirit, and an open wallet. I pray for a thankful heart that is displayed in a cheerful generosity. You have called us to love others with the same love we have for You. May my love be one of action, demonstrating itself in service and compassion.

Amen

Daily Question

How do you decide how much to give and where to give it?

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I AM

Daily Reading

Exodus 19-21

Daily Thought

“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) is the first, the foundation of all other commandments. Keep this commandment and the rest fall in line. Israel was surrounded by many nations worshipping many gods. This was a polytheistic world and people chose their own brand to worship. But if I insist on choosing the gods I worship, then who is really in charge?

The one God, the true God, told Israel his name, Yahweh. Yahweh means “I AM.” I AM, and all other gods are not, and Yahweh demonstrated this repeatedly in the Exodus from Egypt. Yahweh reminds them, “I AM Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Who saved you? Me and Me alone. Who shall you worship? Me, and Me alone. When Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58), he was claiming the name of the one true God.

We live in a world that tells us no god is above any other–all are to be respected, none rejected. But we worship Jesus Christ and Christ alone. Why? Because rather than supposing we can choose our gods, God is the One who chooses us. Because we know that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). We worship Christ alone because Christ alone saved us. Who brought you out of Egypt? Who died for your sins? Through whom did you experience God’s forgiveness? Who gave you a new life? There is One and only One worthy of your worship.

“You shall have no other gods before me.” ~Exodus 20:3

Daily Prayer

Righteous God, You are holy and just, and we sin. Your grace gives us time to discover Your forgiveness before we encounter Your judgment. Thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all righteousness and made our salvation possible.

Father, I pray that I may trust fully in You, following closely as You lead. May my life declare and display Your good news, proclaiming Jesus to this world in what I say and what I do. I pray that all would receive Your grace before the Day comes when You settle accounts, that wonderful day when You make all things right again.

Amen

Daily Question

How can you tell if God comes first in someone’s life?

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The Allure of Sin

Daily Reading

Genesis 38-40

Daily Thought

Sin was introduced with the serpent who questioned God’s goodness when he asked Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). This is the heart of temptation, that good may be found outside God, that God may be keeping something desirable from us. The same serpent was speaking when Potiphar’s wife “cast her eyes on Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me’” (Genesis 39:7). 

Joseph’s situation was like Adam and Eve’s in the Garden of Eden, “My master has put everything that he has in my charge” (Genesis 39:8-9) …except one thing. The difference was Adam and Eve kept looking at the sin, “the woman saw that the tree was good for food” (Genesis 3:6). Joseph kept his eyes on God, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). 

Potiphar’s wife was tempting, literally. She was ready and willing and told Joseph as much. She looked good, but Joseph knew there is nothing good without God, so Joseph “would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her” (Genesis 39:10). He chose good over evil because his attraction to God was greater than the allure of sin. It wasn’t mere willpower, it was worship, because worship is mightier than willpower.

Daily Prayer

My God, how wonderful is Your love for me, Your attention to my life, Your wisdom and direction in leading me forward. You ask me, simple enough, to follow. You do not ask me to win any battles, but to stand in the victory already won by Your Son.

I shall spend my days exploring the Your wonders of Your revelation. You have made Yourself known in Your Word, and in the Word, which is Jesus. May I everyday become more intimate with You, and may I reflect Your grace and truth to a world that desperately needs the faith, hope, and love of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Amen

Daily Question

Why is our worship of God a stronger force than our willpower in battling temptation?

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One Thing

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 15-16

Daily Thought

The movie is City Slickers. Billy Crystal plays Mitch Robins, a man celebrating his 39th birthday and dealing (poorly) with a midlife crisis. Jack Palance plays Curly Washburn, a crusty old cowboy. “Do you know what the secret of life is?” Curly asks Mitch. Mitch shakes his head no. Curly holds up one finger. “One thing. Just one thing.”

“That’s great. But what’s the one thing?” asked Mitch.

Curly grinned, “That’s what you’ve got to figure out.” 

Mitch is perplexed; he’s worried about lots of things. That’s why he left the city and came to the ranch, but he didn’t know what the one thing was. I don’t think Curly knew, either. Not really. But the Apostle Paul knew, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day” (1Corinthians 15:3-4). Without the resurrection, says Paul, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1Corinthians 15:32). You only live once… if Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead.

But he was, and “he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then to more than five hundred brothers at one time” (1Corinthians 15:5-6), and the resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything. You live once, and then you live again, because “in Christ shall all be made alive” (1Corinthians 15:22), and the first life is a shadow of things to come. “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” (1Corinthians 15:42-43). The secret to life is not to figure out what is the one thing that matters most to you, but the one thing that matters most, period, and make that the one thing that matters most to you.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” ~Matthew 6:33

Daily Prayer

Father God, the most important thing, the one thing out of everything, is You. To love You with all that I am, my heart, soul, mind, and strength. In doing this, I will, at the same time, love others as much or more than myself, because that is what You did. In humility, You sacrificed Your Son for me, for each of us, for all of us.

God, grow Your love in me. May You be not the first of many, but rather my one and only consuming passion.

Amen

Daily Question

What would those who know you best say is the one thing most important to you? Why?

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Sunsets

Daily Reading

Romans 1-3

Daily Thought

Paul has longed to share the Gospel with the Romans, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). By Greek, Paul means Gentiles, the non-Jews. Speaking to the Romans of a Jewish Savior, Paul begins with something they have in common, with the world they can see, in order to explain the unseen, “for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:19-20).

I looked up the science of a sunset: the Raleigh equation along with Mie theory employing discrete dipole approximation will mathematically account for the enhancement of the colors of the sky. 

Okay.

Then I looked at the sunset. The firmament unfolding in front of me, colors stroking the heavens. I called my wife and holding her hand, we gazed. Whatever she was doing would wait because the world had stopped and we surveyed the skies, taking time to taste the wonder of the Almighty. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2).

Science can explain how a beautiful sunset comes to be, but not why we stop and stand and stare in wonder. This is worship.

Daily Prayer

Wonderful God, what an incredible creation. The splendor, the spectacular array of colors, shapes, aromas. They speak of Your majesty, Your artistry, Your creativity, Your wisdom, Your power. All of creation glorifies You.

You have called me Your “poema,” Your workmanship, Your poem. God, when I look at each person You created, I see a work of art. Your work. My Creator, I pray I will always treat Your workmanship with love and respect, appreciating the wonder of Your handiwork in each and every one of us. I stand and gaze and marvel at Your creation. I worship You. Oh my God, my Creator, my Savior, Heavenly Father, Lord. What a life! You are wonderful.

Amen

Daily Question

What in creation speaks most to you of God? What does it say to you about God?

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This Is Why We Sing

Daily Reading

1Chronicles 25-27

Daily Thought

To prophecy is to forthtell, to speak God’s Word for today, or foretell, to speak God’s Word for the future, but there must be more, because the sons of Heman, Asaph, and Jeduthun “prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals” (1Chronicles 25:1). Heman was the king’s seer (2Chronicles 25:5). He was also his director of music. King David selected the sons of Heman, along with those of Asaph and Jeduthun, to be the orchestra, exalting God and filling the house of the Lord with music. The music itself speaks God’s Word, not to the present or the future, but to the soul. It is the creature’s response to her Creator. Prophecy tells us more than what is or what will be, but it speaks to who we are and who is our Father. There is a power in beauty that declares the divine and opens our hearts to the wonders of Almighty God.

Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. ~Psalm 96:1-6

Alongside the heavens and the earth, the majesty and mystery of creation, art and music touches our heart, sings to the soul, declares God’s glory, prophecies with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals. This is why we sing.

Daily Prayer

Wonderful God, fill me with Your Spirit, with Your Words, with Your songs, that I might declare Your wonders and Your glory, the beauty and mystery of life. You touch my mind and I understand, but worship is more than what I simply think. There is language deeper than words, unlocked by the heavens, by music, by creation, by wonder, that express Your glory. Your grace and love and truth are displayed not only in what I do and what I say, but in what I sing. What a strange and wonderful thing is music. Thank You for it. Where words fail to express Your glory, music proclaims it to the world. What a wonderful God.

Amen

Daily Question

What is your favorite worship song, and why?

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First Things First

Daily Reading

2Kings 18-19

Daily Thought

God called his people to gather in his Temple for worship. The Temple was due for repair and “in the first year of Hezekiah’s reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He said to them, ‘Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord.’ They began to consecrate on the first day of the first month” (2Chronicles 29:3, 5, 17). 

Genesis 4:4, “Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering.” Exodus 23:19, “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.” Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Romans 1:8, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 2Corinthians 8:5, “They gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Revelation 2:4-5, “You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

First Things First. Hezekiah got it right. 

“He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered.” ~2Kings 18:5-7

Daily Prayer

My Lord and My God, I worship You and love You with all that I am. Which makes sense, since all that I am was created by You. You had an idea for me before I was born, and You formed me and watched me grow. I grow best, Father, when I remember from Whom I came and to Whom I am going.

You are the First and, also, the Last. The Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega, A and Z. You are before all things, and in You all things hold together. There is no life without You. Why would I even think of living my life without You. You are my God. May I wake each morning and think first of You, beginning each day with anticipation. You are God, One and only, first in all things, first in my heart. 

Amen

Daily Question

What can you do in your home to make sure God is always first in everything?

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Built to Last

Daily Reading

1Kings 8-9

Daily Thought

An Episcopal church in Manhattan, The Church of the Holy Communion, opened its doors in 1844 as a place of worship and a help to the needy. It had a good run, but by mid-20th century, neglect began taking its toll. In 1983, The Church of the Holy Communion was converted into the Limelight Nightclub, the once reverent spot into a house of decadence. Yet, it would sink lower still. In the Spring of 2010, the Church turned Nightclub was reborn as the Limelight Marketplace, with 35 upscale boutiques and restaurants, complete with stained-glass windows. What had become of the house of worship?

God warned Solomon there could come a time when, “Everyone passing by the Temple will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them’” (1Kings 9:8-9).

The first Temple, 960-586BC, Solomon’s, was destroyed by the Babylonians. The second, 516BC-70AD, by the Romans. Why then exert the effort, take the time, pay the price to build a house for God? Not because God needs the Temple, but because the Temple and its people need God. These temples lasted a long time, but they did not last forever. No building of man can.

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1Corinthians 3:16). That “you” is plural, not singular. The Christian life is community. Do not go it alone. This is the Church, the people of God. You are that house. Built to last, because the Church is not a building of man, but the handiwork of God.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, You are holy and righteous. I am not. You made me in Your image, so deep inside I have always known what I should be like. But, on my own, I wouldn’t do anything to change. Thank You for seeking me and inviting me to follow You. Thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus said, “Follow Me.” God, I commit to following You with all that I am. Help me keep that promise. Do not allow me to chase after empty religion, but may my religion be the kind of religion that You embrace, that I will keep myself pure, unpolluted by the world, and that I will look after and serve the poor, the marginalized, the orphans and widows. You are, and shall always be my first love. With all of my heart, with all of my mind, with all of my strength, I will love You, follow You, and serve You.

Amen

Daily Question

What difference does it make to realize you are a temple of God?

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Grace Is Stronger

Daily Reading

Luke 19-20

Daily Thought

Given a choice between riches and God, the man clung to his wealth, and Jesus observed, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25). The disciples were shocked because in their mind, rich people could do anything. Except let go of their riches, explained Jesus, which made it impossible for them to follow God, “but what is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Along came Zacchaeus, “a chief tax collector and rich” (Luke 19:2)–just the guy to show what God can do. 

Zacchaeus, in name Jewish, served Rome instead, collecting taxes for Caesar. This earned him the hatred of his people, but he favored money more than friends. Little wonder the crowd did not part to let the short guy up front, so Zacchaeus was forced to climb a tree if he would see Jesus. When Jesus stopped under the tree and looked up, Zacchaeus must have feared the worst–the holy man would call out the sinner, but instead, Jesus invited himself to dinner, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). It was not a request, but a necessity, not for  Jesus’ sake, but for Zacchaeus’. The crowd grumbled that Jesus would “be the guest of a man who is a sinner” (Luke 19:7), and the sinner opened the door and let him in. Greed may have its grip on the heart of Zacchaeus, but grace is stronger. Grace is the power of God to do in Zacchaeus what he would never do on his own. “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Luke 19:8). God did the impossible and the rich man let go of his riches.

Daily Prayer

Father God, You are good and Your ways are good for me. I choose to follow You, to stay on the path You put before me. Made in Your image, I desire to look like You again. Thank You for Your Son, who showed me what You look like. Thank You for Your Spirit who day-by-day transforms me into Your likeness.

May my life be a reflection of You, so that I can say to others, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” To Your glory!

Amen

Daily Question

What does God compete with most for your heart?

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No Middle

Daily Reading

Luke 10-11

Daily Thought

These middle chapters of Luke’s Gospel describe the middle of Jesus’s crusade, but it is in the middle where no one is permitted to place themself. This is a crusade of the King of kings heralding, “the kingdom of God has come near” (Luke 10:11). Jesus sent his followers, two by two, into the towns ahead of him to announce the coming of the King. If they accept you, they accept me, he tells them, “the one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16). There is no place in the middle, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Luke 11:23). 

It is in or out and it is all or nothing. A lawyer asks Jesus how to receive eternal life, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27). That is everything. Even his friend Martha is chastised for serving him as if he were merely an out-of-town guest, instead of worshipping him as the Lord of the heavens and the earth, as her sister does; “Mary has chosen the good” (Luke 10:42). 

It is time to choose, and choose you must. Some chose and sneered, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons” (Luke 11:15), and if they were not so terribly wrong, they would have been terribly right. 

Jesus is the King of kings, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, or he is a devil pretending. There is no middle.

Daily Prayer

My Lord and God, Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega, First and Last, You are the Creator of all things, and in You, all things will be fulfilled and brought to completion. You, therefore, demand and deserve my all. I want to give it to You. Help me do it. Remind me when I hold part of myself back, or when I use You for my own benefit. Like Martha, don’t let me get away with treating You as less than You are; don’t let me get so busy doing religion that I forget to worship my Savior.

I choose to follow You fully, letting go of anything else which could steal my heart. 

Amen

Daily Question

Would you describe yourself as “all in” for Jesus Christ? Why or why not?