Moving into Higher Levels of Worship - The Cost Every time we are guided by the Lord to step up into the next level of worship we have to do something . As David said , he would not come to God and offer a sacrifice to Him if it did not cost him something. 2 Samuel 24:24-25 But King David said to Araunah , No, but I will buy it of you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which costs me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and Israel’s plague was stayed. The cost we have to pay is what God is talking to us about today. He tells us that we should not mix things with worship . Proverbs 25:4-5 Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth [the material for] a vessel for the silversmith [to work up]. Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation). That worship is an act which requires pureness of heart , purpose and vision . God is unhappy when we spend time on things that do not build us in intimacy with Him. Worship at it’s root means how much worth do we give something. If we spend lots of time and concentration upon something it can become an idol . Exodus 20:3-6 “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Maybe we don’t have a carved piece of wood or precious metal which we call an idol but nevertheless whatever we spend time on instead of or in place of God , is considered by Him as an idol. Today he is speaking loud and clear that we are mixing too many things with true and pure worship. 2 Timothy 2:21-22 So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honourable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work. Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed); [and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. That means we can either go ahead with the way we are going today with mix or we can hear the Lord’s heart and do something about it. Separation from worldly affairs can be good for monks or nuns but for the every day follower of Christ we cannot afford to stop our work or political involvement . What we can do is an act of separation of our heart and true motives. We are not of this world but we are in it . Jesus said He did not want to remove us from the world but to remove the worldly things from us. John 17:16-18 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. We need to identify those things which are becoming idols to us. Ask the Lord to show us what things are crowding in our thoughts and heart attitude. We need to cooperate with Precious Holy Spirit as He shows us how to separate ourselves from this overcrowding. Gardening for some of us is a pleasure for some it’s not. For all of us there are times of weeding that need to take place before we become hemmed in by so many things which are not productive for a spiritual growth. God says that he prunes us so that we can produce better fruit. It is better to work with the gardener instead of resistance. He says that He will deal strongly with those branches which do not produce ..lop it off ..why is it taking up space in the ground ! Luke 13:7 So he said to the vinedresser, See here! For these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue also to use up the ground [to [a]deplete the soil, intercept the sun, and take up room]? John 15:1-2 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. Why do we need to do all these things ? Our authority level from Christ is a done deal . The manifestation of that authority is not ! Our heart condition and behaviour is what influences our authority. Even though our right standing with God has been completed by Christ we need to ensure that our heart and practical walk is right too. It is no good saying I am the righteousness of God in Christ and go ahead and carry out acts which do not glorify Him. This is the issue with some of us. We tend to rely upon what Jesus did for us and then do whatever we feel like. Wrong attitudes , wrong acts . Doing things we should not do and not doing things we should. Ignoring the poor and needy , the strangers in the land , the orphans , the widows . Leviticus 19:34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. Jesus said the poor will always be with us ..I wonder why ? John 12:8 You will always have the poor among you,but you will not always have me. Maybe they are there to train us in the ways of Christ-likeness . Being kind to one another , welcoming the stranger , feeding the poor , looking after the orphans and the widow. Jesus said that as we do this we minister to Him ..that is a big deal ! Matthew 25 :34-40 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Finally , the Lord wants so much for us to listen to Him and do whatever we need to do so that He can lift us to the next level of worship and intimacy with Him . This is because when we do we are anointed to function at a higher level of authority . We will need to function at this higher level to accomplish all that the Lord is wanting to do through us. Be ready and willing and able …we are able through God . Romans 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 07:03:34 +0000
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