Tag: Personal Worship

The Essence of Worship

On By Ed AlgreenIn Church, Praise, WorshipLeave a comment

May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Pretty amazing that our awesome God would consider even us, to nourish us for His glory! Read on and be blessed!………

The Bible Translation: Common English Bible (CEB)
The Bible Reference: Psalm 48:9-10
The Bible Text: We dwell on your faithful love, God, in your temple. Your praise, God, just like your reputation, extends to the far corners of the earth. Your strong hand is filled with righteousness.

My Take Away: As I meditated on the Word today, I tried to think about where my worship time is today, versus where it should be after reflection on these two verses. I believe that most of us will automatically think of our church services when we think about ‘Worship’. However, it would be extremely challenging for any of us to come to a ‘Worship’ service and be impacted by God if we only sit and listen to the many ways that our Worship Leader, or our Pastor saw God’s faithfulness throughout the week. Could you possibly imagine that praise would exude from God’s people all over the world, if only our Pastors were being touched by God? Friends, in these verses the Psalmist is encouraging us individually to reflect on the faithfulness of God. As we do this all across this vast earth, can’t you see where our thunderous acts of praise and worship in unison, could possibly be compared to the Israelites that marched around Jericho as told in Joshua 6? Our obedience, our actions, our faith and our love for our blessed God would result in many walls of doubt, sadness, and unbelief being collapsed. Please join me in making every effort to recognize God and His handiwork, and to worship and show our appreciation to Him every day. For as we become a worshipping and praising people, we will automatically do that as we meet corporately in our respective churches. Yes, our Worship Leaders and our Pastors will still make every possible attempt  to lead us into corporate worship, but guess what, you and I will have so much joy bottled up inside of us because of us already dwelling on God’s faithful love, that our hearts will explode into worship and praise to our wonderful and magnificent God. Friends, we may be a very needy people, but let me assure you that our awesome God is very worthy of our praise and worship at every opportunity. In our key verses today, it seems like the Psalmist may have completed the following sentence: At my church, our service is …… May I encourage you to try the above for a few weeks then complete this sentence yourself? Always remember, the joy in your heart is not placed there by an exciting corporate Worship Leader, or a young and vibrant Pastor, it’s the result of all that God has blessed, and still blessing, you with! That’s why He is worthy of your personal praise!

Prayer: Dear God, I pray that You may continue to bless us, Your children, but I also pray that You will create within us a clean and contrite heart, so that we might always be filled with appreciation that will result in expressive worship to our Provider, our Redeemer, our Faithful One, our Savior and our Lord. You are so worthy of our praise Lord. Please forgive our lack of appreciation by not responding in constant praise and worship to You. May there be a change in us, oh Lord, and may it be evident in our churches as we fill its pews each week. I ask these things in total appreciation for all that You do each and every day for me. In the precious name of Jesus, AMEN!

Footnote: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely to subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!

2016

Genuine Worship

On By Ed AlgreenIn Worship1 Comment

The Holy Bible (New Century Version – Isaiah 29:13-14): 13 The Lord says: “These people worship me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is based on nothing but human rules. 14 So I will continue to amaze these people by doing more and more miracles. Their wise men will lose their wisdom; their wise men will not be able to understand.”

Thoughts: I believe that it is worthy of note when a scripture is referenced in several areas of the Bible, so not only did God get my attention as I read this passage of scripture, I noticed where vs 13 was referenced and reemphasized by Jesus himself in Matthew 15:8-9 and Mark 7:6-7. Then in vs 14, the words of Isaiah was also referenced in 1 Corinthians 1:19. Friends, this may be controversial to many who may read this devotional today, but I believe that this scripture is still something that should awaken people today. For I believe that way too many people attend church services today so they can satisfy the ‘something’ that is missing in their lives; or perhaps the traditions from their upbringing; or perhaps the pressure from friends and/or family members who might influence or invite them. However, although we might receive encouragement from time spent with other believers in corporate worship, I believe that our most sincere worship comes from those times that we are awaken by something in God’s Word; or perhaps an answer to a personal prayer that you have been burdened about; or perhaps the glory of God shown to you through His marvelous handiwork, healing or call to salvation for a hardened sinner friend that you have been earnestly praying for. For it is times such as these that you realize that there is a personal connection you have with the God of this universe, the Savior of this world, the Jesus who loved us enough to die on a cruel cross just so that we might live eternally with Him. These things create an atmosphere of personal worship in our lives that cannot be explained, and was not urged on by anyone or anything other than your personal relationship with God. Friends, let me encourage you to connect with God before you get dressed for church and worship Him personally there in your home. Then take that spirit of worship with you and allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through you as you continue to worship God through corporate worship. Let’s learn to concentrate on God, not the pretty dress or suit ahead of us, or the fallacies of the preacher as he does his best to share the Word with you. Let’s look for God in our worship services, and let’s plan to worship Him personally, even if no one else is led to expressions of worship. Our worship depends on our relationship with the King of all kings, not the atmosphere or the music or even the preaching, for if it did, we would worship for the wrong reasons. Speak with God about your attitude of worship today and seek to know if you are where He wants you to be in your worship time with Him. I believe that there is no greater joy than to know that you have worshiped God in various circumstances of your life and in every walk of your life!

Prayer: Lord, the reasons why we worship You are endless, for You are beyond description in all that You have created for us to enjoy, and for all that You spare us from each and every day, and for all that You bless us with personally. You have given us Your precious Holy Spirit to guide us, protect us and lead us unto all Truth. Yes we ache, and we have our humanly/earthly issues, but these are so minor compared to the love and peace that we enjoy from knowing You and experiencing You personally. Please Lord, help us to keep our eyes fixed on You, and not the many interruptions and interference that Satan sends our way to distract us in our relationship with You. It’s You that I live for, and You that I worship dear Lord. May my praise offering be acceptable to You oh King. Please forgive me where I fail at doing this wholeheartedly at times, I ask that You touch my life and return my attention to You whenever this occurs. Please touch the hearts of those You encourage to read this devotional today. May they find peace in their worship of You, or be reminded of its importance today, is my humble and respectful prayer that I ask in the precious name of Jesus, my Lord, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!