Tag Archives: Worship

Holy Habitation, Prayer

Today’s Prayer Continued: 11/12/22

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Father, thank You for leading us to know that recognition of our great need of You in right and true relationship is our first act of worship. Thank You for reminding us of these things. I praise You that when we seek You wholeheartedly, You keep Your word to make Yourself evident to us and cause us to know You. Father, we — I desperately need You and Your wisdom in these days. We greatly need a fresh wind of Your great vision for us in this time in history. We need You in our every breath. Please breathe on us with the freshness of Your Spirit flow. We need You in our every footfall. Please show Yourself strong as You faithfully direct our steps to paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake. Make us fervent as Your house of prayer in these days. May we be found faithful at Your return. In Jesus, amen.

Devotional Series, Holy Habitation

Soul-Dance

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“Make glad the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” (Psalms 86:4 NASB)

Soul: our mind with it’s thought-life, beliefs, and comprehensive understanding; our wills, going after what we want in disciplined fervor; and our emotions, too often dictated by our raging hormones and the rush of our bodily chemistry. God desires us to love Him, live for Him and serve Him with ALL OF OUR SOULS. Yet, sadly, many people frown and put down those who let the surge of emotions soar free for the Lord.

God gave us emotions so we can “feel” His Presence and worship Him with exuberance: meeting with Him in the truth of all that we are, overflowing with eager enjoyment or approval. We see it in David, when his joy over the ark of God’s Presence caused him to dance the streets in worship, dressed only in a loin cloth. It took hold of Miriam, who took timbrel in hand and led the women in the excited dance of worship to the Lord, for He delivered them from Pharaoh’s grasp.

God wants our all involved in worshiping Him. He is not ashamed of our dance when done in wholehearted sincerity and in trueness to who we are as an individual. A quiet person, in their quiet, private self, worshipping in silence with whole heart is precious to the Father, Who meets them in the quiet. An emotionally, exuberant person is just as precious to the Lord, and He meets them in the dance flowing from the true of heart.

Beloved, true fellowship with the Father, flowing freely out of sincerity to the true inner person He created us to be is a must in worship. Fearlessly giving our all in love to God is a biblical mandate (Mark 12:29-30 NASB).

“Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.” (Psalms 86:11 NASB)

Here David asks the Lord to teach him truly, asking Him to unite his heart in fear’s reverence toward Him. In verse 4, the word in original Hebrew that is translated “soul” is lebab. It means: inner man, the mind, the will, and the heart (the essence of the person that includes one’s emotions). The word used in verse 11, translated “heart” is nephesh. It means “a soul, living being, person, with all their desires, passions, appetites, and emotions.”

The soul. It is the sum of what makes us who we are, and God wants us to use all of it to His glory, even – and I believe especially- our “feelings” – emotions. Like David and Miriam, we’re not to fear getting excitedly emotional over the joy of the Lord and His work in our midst. God loves our exuberance for Him.

So, Beloved, if you are emotionally exuberant in your worship, FROM A TRUE HEART, let no judgmentalism from mankind shame you into silence. And if you, being just as emotional in your quiet way, worship God with your all, let no one make you ashamed of your quietness. However, and here comes the warning for us who are exuberant, be careful that you rule your emotional outbursts.

David marched in the procession, worshipping God WITH OTHERS. Miriam led the PROCESSION of worshiping dancers, with song, everyone joining in with her. These were all worshiping together in timely fashion. There is an appropriate time for exuberance, dancing, and loud merrymaking.

However, we are not to be controlled by our emotions. We must control our emotions, knowing when to express them and when to control the expression. Running around, whooping and hollering while the pastor is trying to preach WILL be used of the enemy to distract the heart of man for the purpose of keeping some from hearing and receiving the Word.

Fear not, Beloved, the expression of true and sincere worship. But do fear getting in God’s way through uncontrolled, emotional outbursts. Tongues is an excellent example. God’s Word says, in the absence of an interpreter, keep the tongue between you and Him (1 Corinthians 14). From my understanding, those who believe they have no control over their audible prayer-tongue are mistaken. It is not to be a constant, loud raucous that can be used by the enemy of God to rob Seed from the heart of others who are deafened by the distraction.

God frees us to be who we are, but He also blesses us with the fruit of self-control. Use your freedom liberally in the controlling power and wisdom of the Spirit of God, and bear much good fruit to His the glory of His awesome, praiseworthy Name.

A Praise the Lord Moment, Devotional Series, Holy Habitation, Sovereign, Uncategorized

All That I Am

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“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the Lord, O my soul!” (Psalm 103:19-22, NASB)

This is my greatest need, to bless the Lord in all things, praising Him with all that I am: to seek after, search out, and know my God. There is no greater need I have than to seek Him, find Him, and serve Him with a “yet not my will, but Thy will be done” heart. With this fulfilled, no matter the storms all around me, “it is well, it is well with my soul.”

Articles, Devotional Series, Holy Habitation

The King is Coming! ~ A Vision

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Yesterday morning, I had a vision that I believe to be from God. Lying in bed, hoping to go back to sleep, eyes closed, in that darkness I clearly see our bedroom filling with white smoke. Immediately following my asking the Lord, “What’s going on?” two angels step into the smoke and lift holy hands to God. I cannot hear what they are saying, but I sense worship in the air and step forward, joining the angel’s song. As I do, the image changes. I see many scenes of people all over the world, running in a panic from something. I get the strong sense that whatever is causing the fear and panic is allowed or sent by God. My heart of worship continues and the vision ends.

Last night, thinking on the vision from yesterday morning, I sought God for greater revelation. As I considered the scene of the Angel’s song, God pointed my heart to the position from and to which all occurred. Noting the position of things, I recognized the smoke, coming from the west, is the sacrifice of praise and worship coming from God’s people. The Angels came up into that worship from the southeast and turned to face due east. All the hosts of God’s creation who believe in and seek Him, were watching for and working to be ready for the King’s arrival.

I said above that I stepped forward to join the Angel’s song. I did not see myself do that. I was not seen in the vision, I was part of it, physically joining in the worship going on. It was a heart movement as I mentally and emotionally turned my focus to the East and began to worship God with full control of my very alert faculties.

As soon as I did that, the scene literally swiped away from the southeast where the Angels came from, to the northwest, being replaced as if seeing the screen of a video swiping up to replace the view of those worshiping God, changing to many scenes in a collage of views from everywhere on the earth.

The first, most evident scene was a woman, climbing a big hill or mountain covered with huge boulders, panic stricken, moving north. The next was a couple in a well-groomed, middle class neighborhood, running in a panic, the man looking over his shoulder to the west where the worship was coming from, dragging behind a woman with a panicked expression. Another had city skyscrapers surrounding many people on the run, with all I can recall seeing looking back as if to escape some approaching enemy, having facial expressions of panic. I vaguely remember scenes including a Japanese style building (a pagoda and huts), forest or wooded areas, and there was more my mind could not focus on before the vision quit.

God told me yesterday that the meaning of the vision would be found in my next portion of scripture reading. I finally got to focus on my reading last night, which was 2 Thessalonians. There, in chapter 1, verses 3-10, God reveals it.

“We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, AWAY FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD AND FROM THE GLORY OF HIS POWER, WHEN HE COMES TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS ON THAT DAY, AND TO BE MARVELED AT AMONG ALL WHO HAVE BELIEVED—FOR OUR TESTIMONY TO YOU WAS BELIEVED” ~ 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10.

Those who believe God run to Him in every avenue of life, their very being expressive of the true worship of God. Those who do not believe God run from any evidence of His presence and fight against the knowledge of God that makes Him evident.

I believe God is calling all who truly seek Him with a whole heart, desiring and recognizing His presence, to be more overt in our worship of Him in every way that the Scriptures reveal to be the true and evident heart of worship (1). Every part of our being must seek to possess and remain in the presence of the Lord through a holy life that truly and sincerely worships and honors Him as Lord. Those who do not want to know His presence will flee from us because they recognize and do not want the presence of the Lord. We are not to turn from worshipping God, as man pleasers, but as God-seekers, our focus is to be on the presence and power of our soon returning King.

Every act of our worship reaches out to Him as the savory aroma of the sacrifice of praise. Glorify the Lord with every breath, for the day of His return is nigh (very near to us, quickly approaching).

A few passages that instruct in the true worship seen in the saints of God: Isaiah 58; John 4:22-24; Romans 12:1-3; 1 Corinthians 14:24-25; Philippians 3 (esp. AMPCL).