Thursday, August 25, 2016

A Definition of Worship


This is from Reved's Blog:
Planning and leading worship services for the church week in and week out can sometimes drain the essence out of worship itself.  Worship becomes something I do, an act of professionalism rather than encounter with my heavenly Father.  As Presbyterians are known for doing things “decently and in order,” our worship often takes on a rehearsed tone, and “passionate worship” is not how visitors would typically describe the service.
So it is that I came upon the following by A.W. Tozer in his book, The Purpose of Man: Designed to Worship.  May this serve as a corrective understanding for all of us as we prepare to enter into worship again:
A Definition of Worship
First, worship is to feel in the heart. I use that word “feel” boldly and without apology. I do not believe that we are to be a feeling-less people. I came into the kingdom of God the old-fashioned way. I believe that I know something of the emotional life that goes with being converted; so I believe in feeling. I do not think we should follow feeling, but I believe that if there is no feeling in our heart, then we are dead. If you woke up in the morning and suddenly had no feeling in your right arm, you would call a doctor.  You would dial with your left hand because your right hand was dead. Anything that has no feeling in it, you can be quite sure is dead. Real worship, among other things, is a feeling in the heart.
Worship is to feel in the heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe.  Worship will humble a person as nothing else can. The egotistical, self-important man cannot worship God any more than the arrogant devil can worship God. There must be humility in the heart before there can be worship.
When the Holy Spirit comes and opens heaven until people stand astonished at what they see, and in astonished wonderment confess His uncreated loveliness in the presence of that ancient mystery, then you have worship. If it is not mysterious, there can be no worship; if I can understand God, then I cannot worship God.
I will never get on my knees and say, “Holy, holy, holy” to that which I can figure out. That which I can explain will never overawe me, never fill me with astonishment, wonder or admiration. But in the presence of that most ancient mystery, that unspeakable majesty, which the philosophers have called a mysterium tremendum, which we who are God’s children call “our Father which art in heaven,” I will bow in humble worship. This attitude ought to be present in our church today.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was one of the greatest minds that ever lived. When he was only in his teens, he wrote advanced books on mathematics, astonishing people. He became a great philosopher, mathematician and thinker.
One night, he met God, and his whole world was changed. He wrote down his experience on a piece of paper while it was still fresh on his mind. According to his testimony, from 10:30 pm to about 12:30 am, he was overwhelmed by the presence of God. To express what he was experiencing, he wrote one word, “fire.”
Pascal was neither a fanatic nor an ignorant farmer with hayseeds back of his ears. He was a great intellectual. God broke through all that and for two solid hours, he experienced something he could holy characterize as fire.
Following his experience, he prayed; and to keep as a reminder of that experience, he wrote it out: “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and of the learned.” This was not a prayer for somebody who reads his prayers; this was not formal religious ritual. This was the ecstatic utterance of a man who had two wonderful, awesome hours in the presence of God. “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob not of the philosophers and of the learned. God of Jesus Christ… Thy God shall be my God… He is only found by thy ways taught in the Gospel… Righteous Father, the world has not known Thee, but I have known Thee. Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy…” And he put an “Amen” after it, folded it up, put it in his shirt pocket and kept it there.
That man could explain many mysteries in the world, but he was awestruck before the wonder of wonders, even Jesus Christ. His worship flowed out of his encounter with that “fire” and not out of his understanding of who and what God is.
Tozer, A. W. The Purpose of Man: Designed to Worship. (Grand Rapids, MI; Baker House Books) pg. 108-110.
Blaise Pascal

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

21st Century Baal Worship


This is from the blog MARKIVEY.ORG:
Jezebel had instituted Baal worship as the State religion in Israel. Baal was considered the God of weather and fertility and it was believed that the hot summers and lack of rain meant Baal was displeased and needed to be resurrected from the underworld to provide rain. Baal could be appeased in three ways: Unrestrained sexual immorality, child sacrifice and pantheism or the worship of creation over the creator where the environment is more important than people.
One of the consequences of this activity was unexpected pregnancies but that’s not a problem for Baal as he will accept any child as a sacrifice. The arms and lap of Baal were lit with fire and the babies were placed in the fire as the drums were playing to drown out the cries of the child. The larger issue is not that the culture worshipped Baal but that God’s people had also become loyal to Baal while attempting to worship Yahweh as well.
Lest we think this has no relevance to us today, remember that several media outlets recently carried the report of arches to Baal being built in New York and London. Because there was such a strong backlash from the Christian community, those projects were placed on hold. However, one needs to read the fine print that said 1000 of these Baal arch/temples were scheduled to be constructed around the world. It is clear we are surrounded by 21st century Baal worship. Unrestrained, legalized, sexual immorality, abortion and extreme environmentalism called climate change is nothing more than Baal worship under a new name called progressivism.
Remember though, that God never allows the spirit of Baal to reign without being confronted by the spirit of Elijah. As God raised up a passionate follower of God in the Old Testament, He is raising up people in the body of Christ who have no other desire but to see the honor of Jesus in the land. Get ready: A fresh confrontational, powerful and corrective grace is coming to true believers to tear down the altars of men and rebuild the altars of God!

Adrenochrome

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

A Dream about Donald Trump

Donald Trump
Dreams from the LORD 2011-2016
25 May 2016
Last night I had a dream where I was driving this tractor-trailer.  Sitting in the cab of the truck with me was Donald Trump.  We were hauling heavy equipment.  We couldn't find a place to park the tractor-trailer, so I drove to this lot next to this job site and parked it there.  I told Donald Trump that I had parked trucks there before.  The owner of the lot walked up to our truck and I asked him if I could park our tractor-trailer there for a short while.  He said it would be all right to park it there for a few days.

Another dream about Donald Trump:
Dreams from the LORD 2011-2016
20 September 2016
Last night I had a dream where I saw Donald Trump dressed in a business suit sitting comfortably on top of this bed. He was surrounded by many people—they looked like reporters. Trump was casually talking to the reporters.
I believe this dream means that Trump will easily win the election in November.
[Donald Trump is a combination of Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, General George S. Patton  and Ronald Reagan.]


George S. Patton at the Virginia Military Institute, 1907.  Patton looks like Donald Trump.

churchill quote