John 4:23-24 says, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The hour has now come because He has now come. The veil is taken away, and we can behold His glory (2 Cor 3:16-18). His sacrifice has cleansed our sin and given us access to His throne (Heb 10:19-22). We are seated in heavenly places (Eph 2:6). As the book of Revelation shows, much worship is occurring around His throne. This is the worship that He desires, born in Heaven, enabled by Heaven through Christ in us, and returning to Him in Heaven.
The next statement in verse 23 could be troubling, because if there is true worship, and true worshipers, then there must logically be false worship and false worshipers. Fortunately, a definition, and indeed a requirement, of true worship is provided: Worshiping the Father in spirit and truth. True worship comes from the spirit of God. The spirit of God guides us into all truth (John 16:13). To reach true worship, we must shed the influences of our flesh and brain, allowing Christ in us to develop His mind in us so the expression of Heaven will come forth. We must also shed the influences of religion, tradition, culture, and for that matter all of man's ideas and systems. We cannot stop in one place and say that we have found THE way of worshiping God. Yes, there is one Holy Spirit, one truth, and God is always the same, but He is always moving. We don't drop anchor in one spot, we always have our sails up and go where the wind of God blows. Furthermore, every person that is His is unique, and thus has a unique expression of Christ in himself or herself, and because people are being and will be born, there is a continual parade of new expressions of Christ coming to earth. For that matter, those that are already born are growing up into Christ (Eph 4:13-15), so new expressions of Christ are coming forth in each of us.
True worship is not static, but dynamic. We will never come to the end of discovering more and more of the riches of who God is (Rom 11:33), so there will never be an end to the richness of the true worship of Him. True worship is from The Eternal in us, is to The Eternal, and lasts eternally. Some say they want to go to Heaven, and others point out that Heaven is coming here, but Christ has declared that the hour has come for true worshipers, so a piece of Heaven has already come, not only in us, but through us in true worship, transforming the body of Christ and the earth into a habitation of God in the spirit (Eph 2:22). May true worship and worshipers keep arising, so that the fullness of Christ and our love for Him may grow in our hearts, the fullness of the bride of Christ may come forth, and the fullness of Heaven will come to earth through Christ returning.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Promised Land
Exodus 15 is the Song of Moses, which he sang after they escaped the Egyptians by miraculously crossing the sea. Verse 17 expresses confidence that God will bring them to the land He has for them, and it will be a place where He will dwell. Stacy's song “None Like You” expresses it as a habitation of praise. Israel made it to the promised land and dwelled there. God also made it to His promised land – the habitation of praise in their hearts. Praise was a key to further conquest, with Jehosaphat even putting the musicians ahead of the army. As we know, Israel eventually lost their promised land and went into captivity. This happened because God (in them) went into captivity because of their worship of other gods, so He lost His promised land. Their loss had to follow.
We as Christians have a promised land. This is typically considered to be Heaven. God also has a promised land, which is more than a habitation of praise in our hearts – it is Christ Himself, through the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Many Christians basically want to go to Heaven, and some even have an escapist mentality, waiting for the rapture to come (which it never will with that mentality). However, God desires Heaven to come here. He desires us to praise Him, allowing Christ to completely conquer our hearts so we may be the pure and spotless bride that He longs to come for. We are to come together in corporate praise as well, so we may be built together as a dwelling place of God in the spirit (Eph 2:22). He desires to use us to expand His tangible kingdom influence on earth, preparing the way for Him to come again. Second Peter 3:12 says we can hasten the day of the coming of the day of God. Praise will do this. We must be a praising people who do not allow Christ in us to be captured by the world and its gods, or we will lose our promised land because Christ has lost His in us.
Let praise arise in your people, oh God! May we enter your rest through praise (Hebrews 4), and may none of us succumb to unbelief, doubt, discouragement, or distraction. The earth is yours and all its fullness (Psalm 24:1). We give the fullness of the landscape of our hearts, our families, our workplaces, our churches, and every place we go to you. We commit ourselves to following your commission to us (Mat 28:19-20), transforming the world by your power in us, praising all the way, longing for you to come as your Spirit desires (Rev 22:17), and hastening that time.
We as Christians have a promised land. This is typically considered to be Heaven. God also has a promised land, which is more than a habitation of praise in our hearts – it is Christ Himself, through the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Many Christians basically want to go to Heaven, and some even have an escapist mentality, waiting for the rapture to come (which it never will with that mentality). However, God desires Heaven to come here. He desires us to praise Him, allowing Christ to completely conquer our hearts so we may be the pure and spotless bride that He longs to come for. We are to come together in corporate praise as well, so we may be built together as a dwelling place of God in the spirit (Eph 2:22). He desires to use us to expand His tangible kingdom influence on earth, preparing the way for Him to come again. Second Peter 3:12 says we can hasten the day of the coming of the day of God. Praise will do this. We must be a praising people who do not allow Christ in us to be captured by the world and its gods, or we will lose our promised land because Christ has lost His in us.
Let praise arise in your people, oh God! May we enter your rest through praise (Hebrews 4), and may none of us succumb to unbelief, doubt, discouragement, or distraction. The earth is yours and all its fullness (Psalm 24:1). We give the fullness of the landscape of our hearts, our families, our workplaces, our churches, and every place we go to you. We commit ourselves to following your commission to us (Mat 28:19-20), transforming the world by your power in us, praising all the way, longing for you to come as your Spirit desires (Rev 22:17), and hastening that time.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Why Am I A Wild Worshiper?
Why am I a wild worshiper? I believe that is who I was made to be. I cast no dispersions on those who were made to be mellow, although I wonder how mellow one could really be if he or she encounters the supernatural, ever-burning fire of the love of God that nothing can extinguish (Song 8:6-7). By the way, that is where my nickname FlameOfYah comes from. It is a literal translation of the last part of verse 6. I have seen translations such as “a most vehement flame”, but they are just plain inadequate. God is the only definition of the flame that He is. None can compare. We can only hope that through Christ in us, we will be limited examples, blazing ever brighter as His flame burns away all that is not of Him, extinguishes the darkness in and around us, and lights our individual parts of the world, a beacon drawing all to Him. He does not just light the way, He is Light and He is the Way.
I am walking out, no, check that, running, dancing, jumping, laughing, and without inhibition loudly proclaiming my healing. I was so crushed and withdrawn as a child, not because that was who I am, but because who I am met with disdain from the world I was in, or in some cases I feared it would, and huge amounts of negative emotions churned within me all the time. Maybe only through God's grace did I live through this. I believe the extreme positive was there somewhere, but it was surpressed. Well, guess what, now it is out, and it is never going back in. Even if my physical life is taken, my witness on earth will still remain, and my eternal life in heaven is assured. You can throw cold water on me, and in my human weakness it might have some effect for a while, but through the true Flame of Yah living in me, you can never extinguish me. Like you cannot control the wind in the natural, you cannot control the wind of His spirit blowing in and through me, fanning the flames and carrying them to unpredictable places. Like my t-shirt says, I am an overcomer, not just an endurer, running the race until I see His face, living, not just existing, thriving, not just surviving. I will trample the enemy's works under my dance steps and drown out His voice through my unrestrained lips praising God. Anointing, proclamation, healing, deliverance, liberty, comfort, beauty, joy, and praise are all mine (Isa 61:1-3). Minds, hearts, spirits, and destinies will be set free. I will be used mightily by God, and only because of God, to help others become wild worshipers too, hastening the coming of the day of God (2 Pe 3:12), where all that is not of Him will be burned away, and all creation will worship Him forever. Submit to God now, all of you who oppose this mission, because it will become very hot for you one way or another, so let it be through wild worship, encountering the ever-burning Flame of Yah.
I am walking out, no, check that, running, dancing, jumping, laughing, and without inhibition loudly proclaiming my healing. I was so crushed and withdrawn as a child, not because that was who I am, but because who I am met with disdain from the world I was in, or in some cases I feared it would, and huge amounts of negative emotions churned within me all the time. Maybe only through God's grace did I live through this. I believe the extreme positive was there somewhere, but it was surpressed. Well, guess what, now it is out, and it is never going back in. Even if my physical life is taken, my witness on earth will still remain, and my eternal life in heaven is assured. You can throw cold water on me, and in my human weakness it might have some effect for a while, but through the true Flame of Yah living in me, you can never extinguish me. Like you cannot control the wind in the natural, you cannot control the wind of His spirit blowing in and through me, fanning the flames and carrying them to unpredictable places. Like my t-shirt says, I am an overcomer, not just an endurer, running the race until I see His face, living, not just existing, thriving, not just surviving. I will trample the enemy's works under my dance steps and drown out His voice through my unrestrained lips praising God. Anointing, proclamation, healing, deliverance, liberty, comfort, beauty, joy, and praise are all mine (Isa 61:1-3). Minds, hearts, spirits, and destinies will be set free. I will be used mightily by God, and only because of God, to help others become wild worshipers too, hastening the coming of the day of God (2 Pe 3:12), where all that is not of Him will be burned away, and all creation will worship Him forever. Submit to God now, all of you who oppose this mission, because it will become very hot for you one way or another, so let it be through wild worship, encountering the ever-burning Flame of Yah.
The Unfinished Song
One of my greatest frustrations with the creative process has been the inability to finish what I start. I literally have multiple hundreds of unfinished ideas or songs. In some cases, the music is basically there, but the words are incomplete. However, especially in recent years, I have worshiped anyway, even for much of an entire day. I realized this afternoon that the words or music are not the what ultimately matters, but the encounter with the Lord. Human lovers, or even friends, can spend time together without words or music and enjoy the time, so how much more can each of us do so with Jesus - our creator, our savior, our redeemed, the lover of our souls (despite its places of darkness), our bridegroom, our elder brother, the one who calls us friend. Indeed, I can regard the words and music, or fragments thereof, as bonuses, little kisses to or from heaven. I feel like a weight is being lifted off of me. As the song goes, I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about you, Jesus. Though the music or words may not be all there, if I am all there (or even if I'm not), warts and all, He is all there, and we meet – creator to created, savior to saved, redeemer to redeemed, lover to beloved, bridegroom to betrothed bride, brother to brother, friend to friend. Incompletion is completed in Him. He is the author and finisher of our faith, so He is the author and finisher of the song we are to Him.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Finding the Song of the Lord
It's a challenge, at least to me. I am not even sure the title is correct. Should it be "a song" instead of "the song"? I mean, you could say that whatever the Lord deems to be His song is THE Song of the Lord. However, could it be that each one who chooses to worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24) has a piece of that song through Christ in each one of us, and the sum total of those songs, plus all aspects of the song that Christ has not chosen to reveal at this time, equals the Song of the Lord? I imagine at some level, it is not just about expressing ourselves through what humanity commonly calls a song, but that our lives are an instrument of the Lord, and the "song" of the example of Him living in us is to be heard by a world that desperately needs Him. Scripture says we are the fragrance of Christ (2 Cor 2:14). I pray that I grow more in tune with who He is and who He made me to be, so that I am the sweetest smelling aroma to their ears, so to speak, to move them to worship the Lord who gave Himself for us.
At the Trammell house church tonight, it was mentioned that we are hidden with Christ in God. Therefore, to find who we are (in Him), we have to know the Him that we are in. Thus, to find the Song of the Lord, we have to find and know the Lord of the song. That will take an eternity, so it behooves us to always be pursuing it. This process is more than just head knowledge, and more than just searching the scriptures (John 5:39-40). If He is our savior, He is in our hearts, His deep calling to our deep to fellowship with and unite with Him so our heart is His heart. Then our heartbeat is one with His, our being resonates with His, His sound for us becomes our sound, and His song is expressed through us. That is what I hope to find in greater and greater measure, and that is what I hope to live.
At the Trammell house church tonight, it was mentioned that we are hidden with Christ in God. Therefore, to find who we are (in Him), we have to know the Him that we are in. Thus, to find the Song of the Lord, we have to find and know the Lord of the song. That will take an eternity, so it behooves us to always be pursuing it. This process is more than just head knowledge, and more than just searching the scriptures (John 5:39-40). If He is our savior, He is in our hearts, His deep calling to our deep to fellowship with and unite with Him so our heart is His heart. Then our heartbeat is one with His, our being resonates with His, His sound for us becomes our sound, and His song is expressed through us. That is what I hope to find in greater and greater measure, and that is what I hope to live.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)