Tag: honoring God

A Song in Us!

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I sit and I hear the birds calling out to one another.  One sings his melody, and another responds.  The beauty of this conversation puts a smile on my face as I hear the rhythms of nature in their song.

In the heavens, where our eyes cannot yet see, there is a song more glorious being called out: “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts . . .” (Isaiah 6:3) as the seraphim cry out to one another.  The adoration and praises of God fill the atmosphere of that heavenly realm.  There, all give Him the glory.  All recognize His splendor and majesty.

What are our hearts crying out for today?  Is it more of what the world offers, or do we have something within us to offer Him?

Do we feel a calling out within us, stretching us to give Him praise?  Are we welcoming Him in our lives and days, laying things down that we might raise a shout of “Hosanna” (Mark 11:10) in our hearts?  Are we making room for Him, lauding Him as Lord over everything?

Or, have we allowed silence to be louder?

Redemption has instilled a song in us.  Our salvation has enlightened us to be quicker with a heavenly melody of our own.  Our own words of adoration come alive, wake up, take a stand, and shout of His unrecoiling love.

A love that has spared no expense to save me.  A love that has looked hurt and pain in the face that one day I can hear those songs of heaven for myself and let my heart be joined with them when my feet stand before Him.

Yes, in that future we will praise in a beautiful way we have never experienced before.  Until that day, I open my mouth and my heart today and praise the God of my salvation.  I will let the glory of who He is roll from my lips, and let my heart sing her song with rejoicing.

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“We Cannot Bless Your Name Enough!”

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Image by Ondřej Šponiar from Pixabay

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1-5)

Bless the LORD, O my soul, for He has done this for you.  O soul, you that find mercy in His saving grace, in Him you are benefited.  In Him, is found love and renewal.  In Him, forgiveness resides and lives are made whole.  In Him, there is healing for mind, body, and soul.  In Him, your life is redeemed from the destruction it would have known without Him.

It is God, our heavenly Father, who has crowned your life so beautifully with these undeserving gifts.  It was His faithfulness toward you that bestowed such lovingkindness in your life.

Tender are His mercies toward you.  Let us never forget where our help comes from (Psalm 121:1-2).  Let us always be reminded where our hope is found (Psalm 147:11), and that it is God alone who can be attributed to pouring “good things” into our lives (Psalm 103:5).

In Him, we are renewed, as with the strength of an eagle with our wings spread, gliding upon the winds of His Spirit, soaring high in this day, and in the days to come.  You, O God, are our constant help through anything we face (Psalm 46:1), and we cannot bless Your name enough.

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com articles/lessons/worksheets may not be copied or redistributed without the express written permission of WordforLifeSays.com.  Please see the COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.  Blessings to you.

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“Resetting Holiness!”

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Image by Tep Ro from Pixabay

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

“And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean” (Ezekiel 44:23).

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hosea 4:6).

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

Resetting holiness.  Has the church lost this all-important standard?  Has the desire to become a seeker-friendly church (which I have nothing against) and the like caused us to shift our focus from how God calls us to worship, live, and operate?

Have we become like the temple that Ezekiel witnessed, whose people caused the glory of God to leave that place?

Studying Ezekiel 8, we see while there was “worship” going on in the temple, it was not God’s worship.  The people who were to live in a covenant relationship with God were bowing down to false gods and giving themselves over completely to idolatry.  The people who were to live pure and holy, a sanctified (set apart) people, their lives and practices now celebrated the things God called abominations.  Things that were wrong and out of order of the true reverence of God were now being declared to be right and acceptable.

In that, I wonder how far the modern church has drifted from God’s holy standards and how close we are to being like those people of old.  Those who “worshiped” wrongly behind the walls believing it did not matter and that nobody, including God, saw them (ref. Ezekiel 8:12).

While we may not be involved in those exact things, and while I have nothing against the modern uses whereby we usher in worship, I must wonder if in our coming together, we are coming in the right spirit.  When David penned the words, “Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.  Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:1-2), I see in those beautiful verses what God deserves, and I must ask myself are we giving Him what He deserves?

Are we magnifying His glory in our building and in our lives, or are we chasing His glory away from the center of what we call worship, as seen in Ezekiel 10?

For God’s glory to be strong with us, we must be strong in God!  God doesn’t want us to honor Him with our mouths only, but He wants us to live and worship Him from the heart (Matthew 15:8; Isaiah 29:13).

And, my friends, it is from the heart where the resetting needs to begin, a heart that longs for more of God.  It is worship that invites His presence to come closer rather than repelling.  We want God’s glory permeating the atmosphere as in the days of old when they were overwhelmed in worship by His presence in a good way (1 Kings 8:10-11).

But for that to happen, things must change.  Wherever God’s presence is, things cannot go on as before.  He is a holy God, and the environment where He resides must be holy.  There is a transformation that must take place where the people worship.

God’s desire has always been to be near His people.  And in Ezekiel 43, he sees a light of hope.  Instead of seeing God’s glory moving away from His people, God’s glory is moving toward His people, toward His temple (43:3-5).

With that also came a message of warning: “And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.  And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile . . .” (43:6-7).

God cannot reside in an unsanctified place.  The people’s responsibility was to get in line with what God wanted.  For Him, there has always been a line between holy and unholy (Leviticus 10:10).  There must be a resetting of holiness as the standard then, as well as now: “This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy . . .” (Ezekiel 43:12).

In all of this, you may be wondering how exactly do we go about the business of resetting holiness?

First, I must say that resetting holiness should always begin with repentance.  God’s glory left the temple because of the people’s sin.  Sin corrupts.  Sin interrupts fellowship with God.  Sin will prohibit Him from coming to where you are.  They were to “put away” from them those things that defiled the place of worship (Ezekiel 43:7-9).

James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (see also Isaiah 1:16 and 2 Timothy 2:21).

Then, there must be the restoration of proper worship.  They had to do more than take the wrong things out.  They had to bring in or adopt the right things, the right ways.

For them, the focus was on the altar and how it was to be consecrated, respected, and used (Ezekiel 43:13-25).  They had to fully honor God in His service.  They do this by honoring the way He prescribed things to be done.

How this restoration of true worship may look for us today is for us to refocus on why we are here, what we are doing here, and who are we honoring here.  Answering those questions will help us to realign our purpose for being here, which all boils down to one complete, overall answer: God.

Why are we here? – God.

What are we doing here? – God.

Who are we honoring here? – God.

When we keep those three things in proper perspective, we reset holiness as the standard in our lives and in our worship, and the glory of God can take over the atmosphere.

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“Who have you been glorifying?”

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“Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” Psalm 50:15, NKJV

Who gets your praise when you get a reprieve from the madness all around?  Who receives your honor when troubles dissipate and deliverance has been brought forth?

Have you attributed your successes to your own wisdom?  Has your ingenuity received the credit for plans coming to pass?  Have you praised yourself, thinking, “Look what I have done?”

Who have you been glorifying?  Don’t pat yourself on the back for a job well done when you know if it had not been for the Lord on your side, you would not have what you have, do what you do, and be in the position you are in.

God is not only our Heavenly Father, He is also our mighty defender and our deliverer.  He invites us to seek Him in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1), and He will be our present help.  When we come to Him, and call upon Him, and He delivers us, please do not give His glory to another, or take it for yourself.

Recognize what God has done in your life and honor Him alone.

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us:

Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:

Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:

Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:1-8

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A Man and His Maker

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“At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.” – Isaiah 17:7

Father God, I pray today for that man, woman, or child who would look to You and recognize You as their Maker.

I pray today, that people would have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

I pray today, that people everywhere would honor You as God over all.

I pray today, that not only eyes but hearts would look to You and be saved.

I pray today, that they would see You as Creator of all.

I pray today, for scales to fall from blind eyes and they would recognize that You are the God who loves them, cherishes them, and wants them to dwell eternally in heaven with You.

I pray today, that hearts would be softened to Your will and Your ways.  That many souls would repent and seek a restored relationship with You.

I pray today, for confusion and rebellion to dissipate so that people would see with clarity that You are the true God who reigns from everlasting to everlasting.

I pray today, for people to join Your holy family.  For a man and his Maker to come into sweet fellowship and holy communion as was intended from the time of Creation.

Thank You, for sending Jesus Christ, who makes this reconciling possible through His shed blood.  And I pray today, that men everywhere would grab ahold of that sweet and precious gift for themselves and be saved.  In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, I pray, AMEN!

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What Are We Giving God?

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“Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.” Leviticus 10:3

The over-zealous Nadab and Abihu approached God in a way that was not pleasing to Him. Offering “strange fire” before the Lord, and not regarding the holiness of God, fire went out from God, and they perished (Leviticus 10:1,2).

As I pondered this scenario, I wondered how careful the modern-day Christian is in their approach of God. Do we take Him or treat Him as seriously as we should?

I believe this is a question we all must ask ourselves, both individually and corporately as the body of Christ. Dare I say in some cases, I see an almost flippant attitude in our congregations and service when we gather to worship.

Aaron and his sons were in the process of being consecrated for the services and worship of God. This was not to be taken lightly. When they came before God, their coming was to be done in a way that honors Him.

Are we careful in glorifying God in our worship?

Or are we offering Him whatever we feel is right?

God’s holiness demands that we regard Him as holy. The Bible tells us, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3). His “unsearchable: greatness deserves more.

In a previous post found here, I wrote:

“The Bible commands us, “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy” (Psalm 99:5). Throughout the Bible, God’s holiness is prevalent. When His holiness was disregarded in exchange for a bite of fruit, sin entered in, separation occurred, and mankind lost his place in the sacred garden paradise (Genesis 3). When God’s holiness was substituted, the people fell into idolatry with a golden calf, people died, names were blotted out of God’s book, sins would be punished, a plague would follow, and God sent an Angel to guide them for He said, “I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way,” (Exodus 33:3; Exodus 32:1-33:3). Throughout the times of the judges, prophets, all biblical history, and even today, every time the holiness of God has been forsaken, tragedy strikes, and people reap the consequences of their decisions. 

God does have a standard, and holiness is not only who He is, but it is His standard by which all else is measured.”

Whether it be in the sacred place of a sanctuary or the deepest recesses of our hearts, when we approach God, may we do so with respect and honor to the holiness that He is.

We ask so much of God, but what are we giving?

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” Matthew 6:13

Father God, I want to give You more.  Forgive me, for I have not always approached You in a way that was honoring to Your holy name.  At times, I have been lazy.  At times, I have not taken it as seriously as I should.  It is You I truly want to honor in all areas of my life.  Help me to live this life and to come before You in a way that is pleasing to You, and in a way that is glorifying to You. 

Help my heart and my mind to focus and truly reverence the Holy God of Heaven.  I want to bless Your name.  Not just with my mouth, but with my life.  Thank You for the grace and mercy you have shown me this day.  In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, AMEN. 

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