Learning to Worship Daily

Genesis 12:8

From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

Abraham established a culture of worship.  At the end of each of his journey segments, Abraham built an altar for the Lord from which he worshiped.  He built the altars to set up and keep up the worship of God in his family. He maintained the ceremonial part of religion, the offering of sacrifice and he nurtured the practice of seeking his God.  He preached concerning the name of the Lord.  He taught his family and neighbors the knowledge of the true God.

The way of family worship is a good old way, no new thing, but the ancient practice of honoring Almighty God.  Abraham showed us that worship is an ongoing need.  As he moved from station to station, at times unsettled in the midst of enemies, wherever he pitched his tent, he built an altar to worship Almighty God.

We can learn great lessons from Abraham by applying his worship principles to our own daily lives.  If we consider each day a journey, we should conclude each journey by finding a quiet place to worship God.  If our daily journey takes us away from our homes, let us not fail to take our worship practices along with us.  As Abraham did, let us establish a place of worship at the end of each journey no matter we are located.  Let us be separated from all of our daily activities and spend our time with Our Lord.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for placing a desire in our hearts to worship You.  We pray that You show us how to come to you each day to worship you in a manner that pleases you.  Strengthen us and guide us, Lord, so that we are able to find a quiet place and time each day.  We ask that the Holy Spirit help us separate our minds from all of the daily issues of the world so that we may focus on You alone.  We pray these things in the precious, holy and mighty name of Jesus Christ.  

But Do You Know Him?

John 8:19
Then they asked him, "Where is your father?" "You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."

One of the greatest blessings of our salvation is that the Holy Spirit leads us beyond head knowledge of Jesus into a real relationship with Our Savior.  If we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will find a peace in our lives that we never knew and we will learn God’s will for our lives with more depth than we ever imagined.

Seeking a relationship with Jesus and abiding in His commandments should be the highest priority in our lives.  After all, every good and faithful promise that has been given to us by God through His Holy Word hinges upon our relationship with His Son and our obedience to His commandments and calling on our lives.  

Because of our inability to form the relationship and to follow through in discipleship, our merciful Lord provided the Holy Spirit to be our helper.  We must learn to take full advantage of this blessing and gift.  Our eternal resting place in the kingdom of God is guaranteed when we accept Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior and we seek to live our lives under His discipleship.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to know You through Your Son, Jesus.  We pray that we will come to know you intimately through our relationship with Your Son.  May we find peace and joy beyond any that the world can provide.  May we be transformed by the Holy Spirit.  May the world know us as disciples of Jesus Christ.  We pray these things in the name of the Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Building Our Lives on the Rock

John 20:22

And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Ahh...the new year...time for new resolutions, time for new plans, time for new dreams, but unfortunately, usually the beginning of things that will not succeed.  Our failures will not be because we did not try.  Our failures will be because we had the wrong foundation.

Just as the apostle Peter learned when he failed the Lord three times, we can never count on our own strength.  Our resolutions have no power in them.  Our own strength is never enough to meet the demands and challenges of this world.  Our strength must come from the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that He gives us.  The Holy Spirit has been sent so that we may have the foundation that we need to rise up against the enemy that is always trying to bring us down.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Holy Spirit to come along side of us to be our counselor.  We praise the name of Jesus who defeated all evil when He died on the Cross so that we could defeat the evil that comes against us.  We pray that you will teach us to accept our utter failure without Christ.  Help us to realize our best will never be good enough until we are cleansed by the blood of Our Savior and receive His Holy Spirit into our lives.  Help us Father to build our lives on the Rock that is Jesus Christ.

Waiting on the Lord

Psalm 130:5

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

In our society, patience is a lost virtue.  Everybody wants satisfaction instantly.  Nobody is willing to wait on anything.

The rush to get things done is in direct opposition to how Our Heavenly Father works.  No single thing is done in His kingdom until everything is in perfect order for the perfect result.  This is especially true in our lives.  The Lord does not want us to advance until He has prepared us and our surroundings properly.  If we try to move ahead of God’s plan, we will meet heartbreak and disappointment.

We can make a lot of good decisions in our lives without God.  We can accomplish a lot of good things without God.  We cannot accomplish anything of real kingdom value without placing our reliance on Our Heavenly Father and waiting on Him to direct us through His Holy Spirit.  In order to be deemed good and faithful servants, we must learn to wait on the Lord in all things.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for working all things in our lives for our good when we trust in You.  We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to be with us always to remind us to lean on You and not on ourselves.  We pray, Lord, that you will give us the patience to wait on you.  We ask that You show us how to be still in the valley as you prepare the mountain top for us and those that You have given us to serve.  We rejoice in Your faithfulness.  We ask all these things in the name of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.

Understanding the Mysteries of God

Job 11:7

“Can you fathom the mysteries of God?  Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

All the head knowledge in the world cannot prepare us to fully understand the essence of Almighty God and His plan for the world.  Yet Our Heavenly Father reveals the deepest mysteries to even the most simple minded through His Holy Spirit.  Our challenge is to let go of our reliance on the words of man and grab on to the living words of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Of course, we need to set aside quiet time if we want to hear what God wants to say to us.  We have to find a time and place where we shut out the clamor of the world and just listen.  It can be helpful to open our quiet time with a simple question, "Father, what do you want to say to me today?"  He is waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are always with us, ever ready to speak to us and ever ready to hear our prayers.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in finding and setting aside a quiet time and place to commune with You each day.  Lord, may we learn to delight in Your presence and learn how to experience the revelations of who You are and all of Your wonderful mysteries.  We pray these things in the name of Your precious Lamb, Jesus Christ. 

Moving Forward in Faith

Isaiah 11: 8-9

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.  And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith…

What an amazing example of living in faith is provided by the story of Abraham.  It was a great step of faith for Abraham to leave his family and his homeland in response to God’s calling on his life.  He did not even know where God was leading him.  Yet he faithfully followed the path that the Lord laid out for him.  And for his simple act of faith, he became the father of all nations.

God calls each of us to take simple steps of faith.  As we respond obediently, He puts before us the next step which usually requires a little more faith in Him and letting go of faith in ourselves.  We may not become a father of a nation by yielding to our calling, but we will surely gain more than we ever imagined.

Prayer 

Heavenly Father, we thank You for having a unique plan for each of us.  We rejoice in knowing that the reward that You have prepared for us if we respond to Your calling is beyond our imagination.  We pray, Father, that you will give us the strength and guidance to follow the path that you have laid out for each of us.  Even though we may not know our destination, Lord, may your Holy Spirit keep us steadfast in our journey to stand before you in the image of Your Son.  We pray these things in the precious name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our Hope in Jesus Christ

Romans 5:5

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

In Paul’s writings to the Romans, he establishes that there is to be no shame in following and putting our eternal hope in Jesus Christ.  I could never have imagined that there would be a time when this teaching would be relevant here in the United States of America.  Yet here we are.  

Christians are mocked daily on talk shows, news shows and entertainment shows.  To publicly stand for the very truths given to us by Our Heavenly Father makes us bigots, haters, etc.  Now more than ever, we are called to share our good news with the world around us.  The hope that we have in Christ is the only hope left for our beloved nation.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for this new year that You have given us.  We thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit to build up our strength to stand against the folly that this world will try to get us to accept.  We pray that the Your Holy Spirit will give us the courage we need to boldly present the “way, the truth and the life” that is in your Son, Jesus.  We ask this in His precious, holy and mighty name.