Devotional 170310

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. We read chapter 4 of Revelation as devotional reading in our staff prayer meeting. Apostle John was led by the Holy Spirit to receive a glimpse of what it is like to live in heaven. He saw how the heavenly beings worship God in eternity. The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being" (Rev 4:10-11).This description of the heavenly worship should be the spirit of our personal worship today.

Christians worship with a conviction that they are in the presence of God. Worship is an act of attention to the living God who rules, speaks and reveals, creates and redeems, orders and blesses. Outsiders, observing these acts of worship, see nothing like that. They see a few people singing unpopular songs, sometimes off-key, someone reading from an old book and making remarks that may or may not interest the listeners, and then eating and drinking small portions of bread and wine that are supposed to give nourishment to their eternal souls in the same way that beef and potatoes sustain their mortal flesh. Who is right? Is worship an actual meeting called to order at God’s initiative in which persons of faith are blessed by His presence and respond to his salvation? Or is it a pathetic, and sometimes desperate, charade in which people attempt to get God to pay attention to them and do something for them (1 Kings 18)?

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Rev 3:20-22). This is a message that the Head of the Church delivers to the Church: I stand at the door and knock! That means the Head of the church is outside of the church waiting to enter. It can also mean our Lord is waiting outside of our being waiting to enter and truly become our Lord! Will you open the door and welcome Jesus into your life?

True worship is to submit to His lordship and attend to His will. It is not a ritual of singing a few songs and listen to a sermon. We may want to reduce worshipping God to just a weekly 1.5 hours ritual, and enjoy worshipping ourselves for the rest of 166.5 hours weekly. By doing so, we “pay for” the pass to heaven and the security of His blessings daily. If you practice worship in this manner consciously or sub-consciously, you are absolutely wrong and Christ is still outside of your being. If church focuses on producing a “good show” on Sunday morning in the name of worship, she is absolutely wrong and Christ is still outside of the church waiting to enter. Have mercy on us O Lord! We want to welcome you into our church and our being to truly become our Lord and King. Amen.

Love you in the name of our Lord,
Lawrence