How to Worship

8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”  Luke 4

Deviating from Ezekiel this week.  I want to talk about worship and serving this week.  It's at the front of my mind because yesterday was my first night back at practice with the worship team at my church in about a year.  I stepped down as I was nearing the end of my pregnancy and haven't felt comfortable making the time commitment away from my family until now.

I missed it!  Music is most definitely how I best worship God.  It's hard to put into words, but to me, it doesn't matter how I sound.  While I'm up there singing to the entire congregation, I'm really only singing for one - God!  In the year when I had stepped away from the worship team, I still sang in my car at the top of my lungs, again to my audience of one.  It's a wonderful way to feel connected to God and it gets me energized.

This isn't the answer for everyone.  My husband hates singing.  He tries, but most of the time during service, he stands quietly.  He doesn't have an ear for it and he'll be the first person to admit it.  That's ok, he has his own ways to worship God.  He attends a men's Bible study group with our church and occasionally leads the group - that's his way to worship and serve God.

God made each of us in his image, but he also made us each unique.  We all have different strengths and passions.  Just like there's no one way to eat a Reese's, there's no one way to worship!

I encourage you, find your way to worship if you haven't done so already.  Follow your passions that God gave you and find a way to use it to worship God.  May you joyfully give that gift back to him!

Thurs Devo: Why??? Why???

Toddlers can ask lots of “why” questions. After a while, it can become frustrating, especially if you’ve answered the same question time and time again! Well, the Israelites were far worse than the annoying toddler.

Numbers 20:2-5      ² Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. ³ They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! ⁴ Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? ⁵ Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

Why are the Israelites asking “why?” If they stopped to think for a moment, then they could answer their own questions. First, God had provided water in the desert multiple times in the past, so they could trust Him to provide this time, too. Second, God brought them into the wilderness to free them from the oppressive Egyptians AND to give them a bountiful country-land of their very own. Third, traveling through the wilderness was the means by which God would prepare them and bring them to the promised land. Fourth, the fact that they were still in the wilderness was not Moses’ fault, but a result of their own rebellion and distrust of God (see Numbers 14).

If the Israelites had stopped focusing on and dramatizing their immediate circumstances and focused instead on who God is and His faithfulness in the past, then I think their attitude would have been quite different. Instead of complaining, passing the blame, and asking “why” questions, they could have asked how and what questions. How would God address their situation? What did God want them to do to participate in the solution?

Are you and I more like the Israelites and annoying toddlers, asking “why” questions when we already know (or should know) the answer?

Or, do you and I truly know God’s character and trust His faithfulness? If so, our attitude and prayers will reflect this.

Alice

Good at Night

 Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me.  For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me.  I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.”  John 12:44-46

An old saying goes that nothing good happens after dark.  This was something my grandmother would say to me as a young child.  As I have grown, it seems there is a lot of truth to that.  Yes, there are evening baseball games and shows and events that entertain us until late in the night.  However, it seems that bad things always happened to me when night fell.  And yet like many others, we all can be drawn to darkness in some form or another.  It is worthy to note that there is indeed good in darkness.  Without darkness, we would not be able to distinguish light.  Also, darkness reveals our deepest fears and brings out our worst character flaws for us to become aware of.  You might say that maybe I’ve lost a screw upstairs for Jesus is ‘the light,’ and what good could possibly come from a world representing darkness?  Why would darkness be positive?

A fallen world gives us a clear indication whether we are truly serving God or not.  Imagine if you will that you are in a dark room by yourself with no light to be found.  Just pitch black.  As you become comfortable in it, you might be able to see something or feel your way around.  You may even start to notice a figure in the room.  However, you will eventually get to the point that you need a light switch, right?  And once we find it, we feel the relief that comes with it.  There are two things to pull from this analogy.  First, we all lived in total darkness until we found Jesus, and with Him, we are able to understand the difference between our lost selves and our reborn in Christ like image.  Furthermore, someone who becomes comfortable living in darkness will not seek Christ.  This leads me to the second point.  Once we are given the light through His Holy Spirit, we become the light in places of darkness.  We are to shine God’s light wherever we go whether it is at church or at the night club for should we shine His light, it becomes the very light others in darkness will run to.

Jesus is always with us.  Knowing this, the appearance of darkness in our life should not be threatening.  It is an opportunity to show our greatest growth.  Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan after fasting for 40 days and nights (Matthew 4:1-11).  Yet, He gained strength from it to further share the Gospel.  One my favorite authors, Dr. Brene Brown, once said, “Who you are in the space where you can’t see in front of you is where courage is born.”  So darkness can either be the precursor of our demise or if positioned from a Godly perspective, further confirmation of the power of the one true living God.  How can you better appreciate being ‘in the dark?’  What must you do to further exhibit God’s light in places of darkness?  My prayer is that instead of dreading, we are courageous enough to see the good in the night.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Speed test

James 1:19-20 “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” (NASB)

Hello,

As the parent of young children I constantly find myself addressing the speed at which things are or are not done. “Slow down, hurry up, move quicker, stop and think” It got me thinking about what the Bible has to say about speed. It is not just about fast or slow – it is about being quick to the right things, and slow to the right things.

So, James gives us a set of speed tests – 1 fast and 2 slow. How are you doing? No, really – how are you doing? I think these are speed tests that we have read so much, we tend to gloss over them – plus really answering them requires some challenging honesty.

Take some time – think through how you are really doing.

Will Hill

Pray so you do not fall into Temptation

Luke 22:39-45

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.  On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”  He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt downand prayed,  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.  And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.  “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them.“Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Being exhausted from sorrow is certainly something that I can relate to.  I’m sure though that the disciples had a lot more on their shoulders at that time.  They were about to watch Jesus be arrested afterall.  He had already told them of what was about to come and here he was just asking them to asking them to pray that they would not fall into temptation. 

I would have to admit that I have fallen asleep while praying.  I’m not sure if the situation with the disciples was a matter of falling asleep while praying or simply falling asleep but either way, we slip into temptation. 

Today I want to encourage you to think about what temptation you face that you need to pray you will not slip into.

On a funny note, yesterday at church, our 2 ½ year old wanted to sit in church with us and during prayers, I had my eyes closed and all of a sudden he yelled out, “Daddy, Mommy’s sleeping in church.”  It was so hard not to bust out laughing.