A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need no consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.
C.S. Lewis
Daily Christian Quote Website
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A sinful act involves worship of the wrong kind, submitting ourselves at that moment to serve the appetites of our pride or lust, and so repentance is literally a transfer of our worship back to the One who rightfully owns it….. Worship has been misunderstood as something that arises from a feeling which “comes upon you,” but it is vital that we understand that it is rooted in a conscious act of the will, to serve and obey the Lord Jesus Christ. The feelings, the joy of having been forgiven, follow on as a consequence of our reunion with him.
We simply start saying, “I love you” as we turn our attention toward him for a moment or two. As I do so I find it helpful to recall some reason I love God: his goodness, the beauty of the world… a kindness I recently received. “God is the creator of everything I love.” Just repeat that to yourself, “God is the creator of everything I love.”
The first century money changers were in the temple, but they didn’t have the spirit of the temple… They were out of sync with the whole purpose of the Lord’s house. “The atmosphere of my Father’s house,” Jesus seemed to say, “is to be prayer. The aroma around my Father must be that of people opening their hearts in worship and supplication. This is not a place to make a buck. This is a house for calling on the Lord.
God has planted in each nation sounds and colors and celebration that He longs to have released to bring glory to Him. These cultural expressions, when in alignment with the Word of God, allow people to express their love for Jesus from the core of their being. From the yoiking of the Scandinavian Sami, to the haka of the Polynesian Maori, to the arias of Italian opera, to the hip-hop of young Latinos, to the drums of the Africans, to the fan dances of Korea, and the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah. When the aim is to bring glory to Jesus, the joy is contagious. The celebrations of different cultures help all of us to worship God more freely!
Our entire being is fashioned as an instrument of praise. Just as a master violin maker designs an instrument to produce maximum aesthetic results, so God tailor-made our bodies, souls and spirits to work together in consonance to produce pleasing expressions of praise and worship. When we use body language to express praise, that which is internal becomes visible.
Worship moves you into a place of peace where you can receive His love. No matter what is going on in your life, entering into the presence of God through worship will enable you to drop the shield of anxiety, release your pent-up emotions, calm your heart and receive a peace that passes all understanding. Once that peace settles in, God’s loving presence floods in. It shields you from fear of the future and enables you to enjoy His presence in the now. Focus on the face of Jesus—no matter what storm rages around you—and though the storm rages, you will no longer notice because you are captivated by Him.
The presence and the manifestation of the presence are not the same. There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His presence. On our part there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for His work it is to show us the Father and the Son. If we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.
We may sing beforehand, even in our winter storm, in the expectation of a summer sun at the turn of the year; no created powers can mar our Lord Jesus’ music, nor spill our song of joy. Let us then be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord; for faith had never yet cause to have wet cheeks, and hanging-down brows, or to droop or die.
I praise him! I adore him! I love him! My whole being is his for time and eternity. I am not my own. He can do with me as he pleases for I am his. I know that what he chooses must work out for my eternal good. He is too wise to make mistakes and too good to do me evil. I trust him, I trust him, I trust him!
Samuel Logan Brengle
Daily Christian Quote Website
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I praise him! I adore him! I love him! My whole being is his for time and eternity. I am not my own. He can do with me as he pleases for I am his. I know that what he chooses must work out for my eternal good. He is too wise to make mistakes and too good to do me evil. I trust him, I trust him, I trust him!