Dog Licking Devotion

"Why do you worship?" During study for my Sunday school lesson this week, this question was asked. I began researching what the meaning of the word worship is and found an interesting illustration I would like to share with you. "The New Strong's Dictionary of Bible Words" says that worship means "to prostrate oneself, to bow down, to fall down flat, to put religion into practice." I went a little further and looked at the Greek and Hebrew words and definitions, when I found this analogy. An example of true worship is like a dog licking his master's hand. What!?! As a non-dog slobber lover all I can say is this picture is not appealing to me in the least, but as I let it sink in, what a great word picture! Dogs lick their Master's hand in complete happiness and contentment, happy for any provision given them. They know their place in relation to their owner. They follow their master with total devotion going everywhere he leads, now THAT IS WORSHIP! Oh, that we would follow Christ with this same sense of devotion, to be totally convinced of His love and provision for our good. To live in happiness and contentment for our God-ordained place in the world so that others would take notice of our complete devotion to our master. I want my worship to be one that puts my selfish will under His divine one. I want to put my religion into practice.
Psalm 95:6-7 "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."

Are you a consumer or an owner?

I heard this question on a Christian radio station in our area the other day and it keeps invading my thoughts. In my Church and community, am I a consumer or an owner? I began contemplating several questions. What is the difference and responsibilities of being an owner verses being a consumer? What position do I want to be in? Consumer or owner of what exactly? The first step in trying to get a grasp on this concept was to get a proper definition of both, consumer and owner. A consumer is a person who uses goods or services for personal gain. These goods or services are not to be resold to someone else. An owner is designed to provide goods or services to consumers. The owner is the person that is invested. So what do these definitions look like in the Church or community? In the Church, the consumer is the individual who comes to worship service and consumes the service. They take what the Church offers them and give nothing in return; whereas, the owner is invested in the Church, they spend time and money there. The owner may consume the worship service but they then "resale" or give it away to someone else during the week in the form of ministry. Our community has these two types of services as well. We can be involved in our community as just a consumer or choose to become an owner. We can go places and enjoy activities or we can take time to invest something in them. For example, we can go to the little league game and "consume" the activity or we can get involved in serving the team in some way. We as Christians can complain about the way our community has excepted evil but unless we share the love of Christ in it we can not move from being a consumer in it to one that owns and is invested in it.
I believe God wants us to be owners in our Church and community. He does not desire for us to meet with Him so we can keep it all to ourselves. He desires to meet with us so we can in turn minister to others. When our cup is full of Him our joy and love will overflow on to others. Are you a consumer or an owner? It is your choice. Will you move from just receiving to giving in your Church and community?

Matthew 20:28 -"The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Acts 20:35-"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said,'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Thankful for Walmart

Thankfulness.....I have come to realize lately by watching my four year old son how this Biblical trait is put into action. He is thankful about everything. Last night, as we were walking out of our local Walmart, he yells out as we pass the greeter, "Thank you for the store. I got new shoes." What!?! I can not remember the last time I even thought about being thankful for Walmart! I may be found questioning why they have so many registers if they are not even going to use half of them? I am also prone to comment (while shopping in the evening) about how I feel as though I am constantly in the way of the next pallet of stock rolling through, but, thankful? NO. If I really gave myself a moment to think about it, I should be grateful. I have everything I want at my fingertips and at one place thanks to Walmart and stores like them. I can not even imagine life on the frontier of early America when pre-planning was a must, and everything was ordered and came in on trains. I am thankful that God gave me Trenton for a daily reminder to be thankful. He sees things to thank people for all the time. He is grateful when I roll the window in the car up or if I roll it down. He is thankful when I ask him to take his clothes to his room after I have washed and folded them. We need to all live in this constant state of mind of thankfulness. After all, even when times are bad, we as Christians have an eternal home given to us not through our own merit. We have a God who listens to us even when we consistently do the same offences. We have the Holy Spirit that guides and comforts. We have hope that when we go through tough times God is there with us, and He has a plan for our good. These are only a few of the things that we enjoy as the children of God. God has been good to me. Why can't I let it show a little more?

Psalm 100:4-5-"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
Psalm 126:3 -"The Lord has done great things for us, And we are glad"

Revival, What is it?

What is revival? How would you describe it? Has it ever touched you personally or your church corporately? The basic definition that comes to my mind is to say revival happens when God shows up. Our Church is preparing for revival services to be held in April so the word revival has come up a lot lately. I have begun thinking along these lines and wanted to have a deeper meaning of the word and all it stands for. Our Church leadership, as well as myself, want to see something God-sent happen in our Church and our community. The dictionary defines revival as a restoration to use, acceptance, or activity. To impart new health, vigor or spirit or, my personal favorite, to bring back to life or consciousness. I ran across this scripture today in my devotions and it is a scripture that I like to post on the refrigerator door when I am longing to see God move. In Joshua 3, Israel is getting ready to wage war against the people occupying their promise land. Joshua tells the people before they go to war and see God show up on their behalf they must "Sanctify themselves". Sanctify means to be clean or to make clean. If we want God to show up we have to be made clean. I found a couple of quotes about what revival is that have helped to give me a better grasp of what I am praying God will do through a revival.

Revival is....
"The awakening or quickening of God's people to their true nature and purpose."
Robert Coleman
"The sovereign act of God, in which he restores His own backsliding people to repentance, faith, and obedience." Stephen Olford
"An extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results."
Richard Owen Roberts

The word revival is not found in the scripture but the concept is there as early as the children of Israel when they were called to observe three feasts each year. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven day event where no leaven was to be found anywhere. Getting rid of the leaven in the bread became symbolic of getting rid of the sin in their lives and returning back to a right relationship with God.
Do you have any leaven that needs to be taken out? Do you need restoration back to use or activity? Perhaps, your spiritual life right now is non-existent and you need to be brought back to life. Our relationship with God is the place to start. Before we can have a true revival we must wage war on Satan and get right with God. We must sanctify ourselves or make ourselves clean and obedient so that God can do something great and awesome among us. I do not want to be the one who stands in the way of seeing God move. Do you?

Joshua 3:5 -"And Joshua said to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.'"
I Corinthians 5:6b-8 -"Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." NKJV

Running into Clothing Racks

My son Trenton, who is four years old, has been described by many as "All Boy". Up and running from morning to night, he goes and goes like the energizer bunny. Yesterday, I took him into a clothing store to look at a few things. In this environment, I have learned to continually hold his hand because otherwise he tries to run off. Needless to say, he was not happy with me and began telling me all about it. It is then when we pass a rack of clothes he lunged forward throwing himself into them. He looks up at me and says as loud as he can, "Mom, why did you do that to me?" I immediately reply in disbelief, "I did not do that, you did!" We did this routine one more time before I realized exactly what he was doing. He wanted everyone in that store to think I was intentionally running him into racks of clothes because he did not like the circumstances he found himself in. We left the store shortly thereafter in order to deal with this rebellious activity. During the drive home, I was reflecting on this whole thing when I realized as ridiculous as this scene had been, I had done the exact same thing to my heavenly Father. Sometimes I rebelliously go the wrong way. I make the wrong decision to throw myself into the fire of selfish disobedience. I then want to immediately turn and blame God for the circumstances I find myself in. It is not His fault. It is mine. I choose not to be lead by His all knowing hand. Instead of acknowledging this, I want to cry out so that others may know God has let me down even when He has not. I wonder if His response is like mine to my son. One of disbelief, wondering how we could blame Him for something we choose for ourselves. Just food for thought today. Are you living out the consequences of a sinful choice and blaming God for the hardships you are now enduring? Believe me, when we see ourselves in this picture, it is a hard pill to swallow. Rebellion is not something to be taken lightly. If we do not deal with it, I assure you God will. Make sure to adjust your attitude and actions today to show an obedient child holding tight to the Father's loving hand.
I Samuel 15:23- "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king."
Psalm 78:7-8- "That they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; and may not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright and whose spirit was not faithful to God."
Jeremiah 5:23-25 "But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; They have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, 'Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of harvest.' Your iniquities have turned these things away, And your sins have withheld good from you."

Strength For The Pilgrimage

In our Ladies Bible study this week, we read the following verses and I felt God wanted me to pass them on to you. I hope they begin to mean something to you as you mediate on them this week.
Psalm 84:5-7
"Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing throught the valley of Bacca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." (KJV)
The NKJV translates the phrase "In whose heart are the ways of them" to say "Whose heart is set on pilgrimage." When we truly realize we are just temporarily walking through this earthly journey, we get a whole different perspective on our daily trouble. Not only that, but the the word "Bacca" means weeping. Have you ever felt like you are in the valley of weeping? It is pretty dark down there. Isn't it? But God promises enough strength for every day, including when we find ourselves in the pools of water from our own tears. These verses end by saying those who find their strength in the Lord during their valleys will end in victory when we appear before our God. I can't wait to have my own personal time with my Father in heaven face to face where He can tell me exactly what my valleys of despair have done in my life and the lives of others here on earth.
II Corinthians 12:9b- " My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." (NKJV)

Complaining, A serious offense

Complaining.....I rarely go through a day without it. We hear it everywhere we go and from almost everyone we know. I am afraid I do it far more than I care to admit. We are not the first generation to complain about everything. It goes all the way back to the children of Israel and before. In Numbers 11, God supplies a story of a nation complaining and the consequences their complaining brought them. Verse 1 says, the people complained and the Lord's angered was kindled. God sent fire among the camp to engulf the ones who were murmuring against him. Israel cried out to Moses and Moses prayed to God to stop the fire. He did. Fast forward just one verse and the congregation began to desire to have meat to eat. They did not want the manna God had supplied but dreamed of the fish they ate while they were in bondage. Verse 10 says, there was great complaining among the people. Throughout their families they were so displeased with their situation that they were weeping among themselves about how they desired something besides what God had given them. Again God's anger was provoked. The children of Israel complained among themselves so much, God took notice and decided to do something about it. He sent quail, so much quail that it encircled the camp on all sides, a days journey in all directions and three foot high. That is a lot of fish! The first thing Israel did was not fall on their knees in thanksgiving that God had supplied. They went to hoard as much fish as possible. Verse 32 says, they gathered all day, all night, and all the next day. This was just another example of how ungrateful their hearts had become. I can just imagine God standing there shaking his head in unbelief that they could not trust his provisions enough to just gather what they needed. After all, he had been supplying manna every day for years at this point. God again grew angry and sent a plague to smite the people before they could even swallow the thing they desired so much. God wants us to desire him above all. When we show little restraint in our pursuit of material things, always looking to the next thing, continually complaining about what we don't have, His wrath is kindled toward us. Can't we just trust him to take care of us? He has for years why would he stop now? Complaining is a hard habit to break. We must take notice of what God has done and develop a thankful heart through reflection on His previous love and care. In this chapter of Numbers, Moses was also found making a complaint, but I believe the difference was that His requests were made to God directly and not everyone else. Israel made their agony known to each other and not to God. Dear friend this chapter hit me hard, God takes our complaining seriously. Death by fire and plagues are serious consequences. Take notice of your murmurings today and notice that you are truly blessed. He is our Father, His job is to see to our needs. Trust Him fully so you can reflect a thankful heart.
Read Numbers 11
Philippians 2:14-15 "Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world."
Psalm 142:1-3a "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before Him: I shewed before Him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knew est my path."