COMING BACK
FROM SEPARATION TO SALVATION
Separation
God created man in His image to walk with Him in the Garden of Eden. He wanted Man to have the most intimate of relationships that a father can have with his children. But when man ate from the tree that gives 'knowledge of what is good and what is evil' a chain of events started that would throw man into separation from God. Man then knew the shame of disobedience and hid from God among the trees. God called out "Where are you?" (Gen 3:9), man had moved from an open and intimate relationship with God to hiding in shame and mankind has been hiding ever since. Ask yourself the question.... “Am I hiding from God the Father? If so behind what?”
Salvation
Whether you are "Believer" or not, the reality is that Christ died on the cross and became that bridge to bring you back to God the Father. The last thing he said on the cross was “It is finished” (John 19:30), his job was done, it was complete and there was nothing else to do. The curtain in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, (Matthew 27:51) symbolizing that you have the opportunity to come into the Holy of Holies and have a real and intimate relationship with the Father.
What do we need to do then? The gospel message - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 - NIV). When you respond to this message and ask Him into your life you are 'Born Again' in Christ Jesus. You move from separation into relationship with God the Father. You are never more spiritual or holy than at that point when you accept Christ into your life. There is nothing to earn as it is a free gift. You are saved, have eternal life and you are going to heaven as there is nowhere else for you to go! From this point on your goal is building a relationship with your Heavenly Father and that relationship will continue to strengthen and transform you for the rest of your days here on earth (and beyond).
Therefore, as your focus is now on relationship, just like any other relationship, you need to spend time with one another. The more time spent the more of an impact He will have in your life.
Think about it, meditate on it. For God so loved us that He gave us his Son (John 3:16). He loves you so much that He gave his Son to die on the cross so that you could have an intimate relationship with Him. Let it wash over you! You are a child of the living God and He just wants to love you and spend time with you and all He asks of you is that you spend time with Him - "Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that." (Eph 5:2 - The Message).
That's what worship is! Taking the time out to have a heart to heart with Father.
RELIGION
But what do we do, fill it with everything other than spending time with Him, both in our personal and church life. We get all religious and forget to have time with Him; we do the church stuff! The Lord nails it in Isaiah 29:13 "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." (NIV)
Christ did not die on the cross to create a religion called Christianity. In our churches we have developed man-made rules and constitutions and built up traditions that have replaced meeting with God.
We can so easily hide behind the structure of our public gathering, whether it is a more traditional denominational services or a bouncing, clapping 'charismatic' type and going through the motions of 'church', singing our hymns and our songs and leaving that meeting putting the tick in the box…. “Yep that's me ok with God for this week” and God is saying "but you never met with me or worshiped me, when are you going to let me love you?"
The same can be said for our “quiet times” we can go through the motions, bible study - check the box, prayer time "bless Granny, be with Mrs. Smith …… " - check, "well that's me got my ticks in the boxes for today, we had a great time God, things are great!" and God's saying "But when are you going to spend some time with me?"
Lets cut to the chase. Are we hiding from our Father behind religion? Are we merrily going on our way playing at Christianity and not spending any time being with and hearing from our Father for ourselves?
WORSHIP
Don't misunderstand me, the songs and hymns we sing have their purpose, but they in themselves are not worship (not to mention that studying the bible is a good thing to do, as is praying). Worship is a heart thing, it’s a spirit thing that has to come from our very beings and let us do it with an honest heart.
Lets look at what Jesus said to the Samaritan Women - ".. the time has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24 NIV). It's of the heart, which to be real must be done in an open and honest manner.
We must get back to basics here and keep things very simple. Our corporate worship is based on our personal relationship with our Father. Jesus shows us through example in the gospels what he did and what I suggest we do not do enough of as individuals - "…he went up a hill by himself to pray." (Matthew 14:23) and gospels document him going off by himself on other occasions (Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16). We need to do as Jesus did, take time to go to a quite place and just hang out with our Father, to wait on Him in silence and enjoy Him as He enjoys us. It is in these times of quiet meditation we begin to hear ‘that still quiet voice’, His voice and the more we hear it the easier it is to recognise it. This is the relationship our Father wants with us when we come to Him in spirit and in truth, wanting to be there and if we are not, being truthful and saying so, confessing it to Him so that it can be addressed together.
Our worship has to be based on our relationship and experience of Him. Through Jesus this is uncomplicated and freely available to us. Jesus did not die on the cross to give us a new religion. He died to bring us new life and bring us back into relationship with God the Father.
Let us grow and flourish in Him. As we spend time with Him, in the quietness let us have a worshiper’s heart that exists with the reality of an intimate knowledge of His Father's heart through our relationship with Him.
©2004 G. A. Johnston - WorshipersHeart.com (Version 0.2.3)
Separation
God created man in His image to walk with Him in the Garden of Eden. He wanted Man to have the most intimate of relationships that a father can have with his children. But when man ate from the tree that gives 'knowledge of what is good and what is evil' a chain of events started that would throw man into separation from God. Man then knew the shame of disobedience and hid from God among the trees. God called out "Where are you?" (Gen 3:9), man had moved from an open and intimate relationship with God to hiding in shame and mankind has been hiding ever since. Ask yourself the question.... “Am I hiding from God the Father? If so behind what?”
Salvation
Whether you are "Believer" or not, the reality is that Christ died on the cross and became that bridge to bring you back to God the Father. The last thing he said on the cross was “It is finished” (John 19:30), his job was done, it was complete and there was nothing else to do. The curtain in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, (Matthew 27:51) symbolizing that you have the opportunity to come into the Holy of Holies and have a real and intimate relationship with the Father.
What do we need to do then? The gospel message - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 - NIV). When you respond to this message and ask Him into your life you are 'Born Again' in Christ Jesus. You move from separation into relationship with God the Father. You are never more spiritual or holy than at that point when you accept Christ into your life. There is nothing to earn as it is a free gift. You are saved, have eternal life and you are going to heaven as there is nowhere else for you to go! From this point on your goal is building a relationship with your Heavenly Father and that relationship will continue to strengthen and transform you for the rest of your days here on earth (and beyond).
Therefore, as your focus is now on relationship, just like any other relationship, you need to spend time with one another. The more time spent the more of an impact He will have in your life.
Think about it, meditate on it. For God so loved us that He gave us his Son (John 3:16). He loves you so much that He gave his Son to die on the cross so that you could have an intimate relationship with Him. Let it wash over you! You are a child of the living God and He just wants to love you and spend time with you and all He asks of you is that you spend time with Him - "Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that." (Eph 5:2 - The Message).
That's what worship is! Taking the time out to have a heart to heart with Father.
RELIGION
But what do we do, fill it with everything other than spending time with Him, both in our personal and church life. We get all religious and forget to have time with Him; we do the church stuff! The Lord nails it in Isaiah 29:13 "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." (NIV)
Christ did not die on the cross to create a religion called Christianity. In our churches we have developed man-made rules and constitutions and built up traditions that have replaced meeting with God.
We can so easily hide behind the structure of our public gathering, whether it is a more traditional denominational services or a bouncing, clapping 'charismatic' type and going through the motions of 'church', singing our hymns and our songs and leaving that meeting putting the tick in the box…. “Yep that's me ok with God for this week” and God is saying "but you never met with me or worshiped me, when are you going to let me love you?"
The same can be said for our “quiet times” we can go through the motions, bible study - check the box, prayer time "bless Granny, be with Mrs. Smith …… " - check, "well that's me got my ticks in the boxes for today, we had a great time God, things are great!" and God's saying "But when are you going to spend some time with me?"
Lets cut to the chase. Are we hiding from our Father behind religion? Are we merrily going on our way playing at Christianity and not spending any time being with and hearing from our Father for ourselves?
WORSHIP
Don't misunderstand me, the songs and hymns we sing have their purpose, but they in themselves are not worship (not to mention that studying the bible is a good thing to do, as is praying). Worship is a heart thing, it’s a spirit thing that has to come from our very beings and let us do it with an honest heart.
Lets look at what Jesus said to the Samaritan Women - ".. the time has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24 NIV). It's of the heart, which to be real must be done in an open and honest manner.
We must get back to basics here and keep things very simple. Our corporate worship is based on our personal relationship with our Father. Jesus shows us through example in the gospels what he did and what I suggest we do not do enough of as individuals - "…he went up a hill by himself to pray." (Matthew 14:23) and gospels document him going off by himself on other occasions (Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16). We need to do as Jesus did, take time to go to a quite place and just hang out with our Father, to wait on Him in silence and enjoy Him as He enjoys us. It is in these times of quiet meditation we begin to hear ‘that still quiet voice’, His voice and the more we hear it the easier it is to recognise it. This is the relationship our Father wants with us when we come to Him in spirit and in truth, wanting to be there and if we are not, being truthful and saying so, confessing it to Him so that it can be addressed together.
Our worship has to be based on our relationship and experience of Him. Through Jesus this is uncomplicated and freely available to us. Jesus did not die on the cross to give us a new religion. He died to bring us new life and bring us back into relationship with God the Father.
Let us grow and flourish in Him. As we spend time with Him, in the quietness let us have a worshiper’s heart that exists with the reality of an intimate knowledge of His Father's heart through our relationship with Him.
©2004 G. A. Johnston - WorshipersHeart.com (Version 0.2.3)
posted by WorshipersHeart at 2:24 am
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