YOU CAN BE HIS TEMPLE !

"And in His temple everything says, 'GLORY!' "
Psalm 29:9

"Within your temple, O God, we meditate on YOUR UNFAILING LOVE."
Psalm 48:9 (NIV)

What sets God's temple apart from every other place in the universe? It is a place where there is only one theme: God and His GLORY. Everything in the temple says, "GLORY!" Not just the living worshipers - the angelic beings, the cherubim and seraphim - but even the furniture and the structure itself join in the cry: "GLORY TO GOD!" Together they make up a single unit of worship.

However, the worship in God's temple is not limited to outward verbal expression. It is carried on simultaneously in the inner, unvoiced meditation of the soul. The theme of this inner meditation is GOD'S UNFAILING LOVE. The beautiful Hebrew word thus translated has been rendered in many ways: mercy, lovingkindness, goodness .... Each of these conveys part of the meaning, but taken together they do not fully express the whole. It constitutes an inexhaustible theme for the meditation of the true worshiper.

These are the two distinctive marks of God's temple: verbal worship proclaiming His GLORY and inner meditation focused on HIS UNFAILING LOVE. Whenever we meet these conditions and whenever our whole being cries, "GLORY TO GOD!" and all our thoughts are focussed on HIS UNFAILING LOVE, then we become God's temple. It may be in an automobile, or an office, or a kitchen, the physical location is not important.

Right where you are just now, you can become a temple of God! Focus your heart and mind on HIS UNFAILING LOVE. Then open your lips and praise Him. Let your whole being unite in a single cry: "GLORY!"

Blessings
TPWC

ARE YOU A WORSHIPER - PART 2

WHAT IS TRUE WORSHIP?

"A time will come, however, indeed it is already here, when the true (genuine) worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (reality); for the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshipers.
God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality)." - John 4:23-24 (Amplified Bible)

There is so much within these verses. First, notice the Father is seeking (yearning, longing) such to worship. Secondly, He is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Let's consider a typical corporate worship service. We come into a service and the worship leader leads us some fast praise songs followed by some slow worship songs, then we begin to flow into the "river of worship" with some chord progressions. So when you say worship, to most believers the first thing that comes to mind is slow songs sung in a service.

WHAT THEN IS TRUE WORSHIP?

The first time you find worship in the Bible is in Genesis 22. It reads:

And Abraham said to his servants, Settle down and stay here with the donkey, and I and the young man will go yonder and worship and come again to you. - Genesis 22:5 (Amplified Bible)

Abraham was not going up yonder to sing a slow song with Isaac. He was going up there to put the most treasured possession in his life to death, simply because God asked him to do it! So you can see worship is a life of obedience. This explains why God passionately says to His own people who were singing songs to Him:

Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. Amos 5:23-24 (New Living Translation)

WORSHIP IS A LIFESTYLE WE MAINTAIN!

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual (reasonable) act of worship. Romans 12:1 (New Internation Version)

"Worship is an act of obedience of the heart. It is a response that requires the very core of who you are, to love the Lord for who He is, not just for what He does." - Darlene Zschech

Worship is not a matter of skill and technique. It is not confined to just singing some songs during a weekend church service. It is a LIFESTYLE and daily experience. True worship flows from the life of one who has an intimate relationship with God.

Blessings
TPWC

ARE YOU A WORSHIPER?

Profile Of A Worshiper

If someone ask a teacher what he does for a living, he will reply, "I am a teacher." He says that because he works or spends most of his time teaching. Similarly, you know you are a worshipper when what you do the most is worship.

Worshipers don't just worship on weekends. They don't need a bulletin, or a "call to worship" or a worship leader to encourage them to go vertical. They can worship in any place and at any time because they are worshipers.

Continual worship is central to the life of a worshipper. A worshiper offers the sacrifice of praise to God continually (Hebrews 13:15). "From the rising of the sun to it's going down the Lord's name is to be praised" (Psalm 113:3). Endless eulogy, ceaseless celebration and perpetual praise are the earmarks of a worshipper.

Worshippers don't wait for perfect circumstances to worship, and they don't let current situations keep them from worshipping.

There is a song in the Bible that says, "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labour of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

Though I have no money in the savings account and my cheque book is overdrawn, though the fridge and cupboard are empty and I just got laid off, yet I will worship and rejoice in my Lord.

The first step in becoming a worshipper is worshipping in spite of bad circumstances.

An extract from - Exploring the Mysteries of Worship by Larmar Boschman
TPWC