A NEW SONG

Sing To The Lord A New Song;

Sing To The Lord, All The Earth.

Psalm 96:1

The Psalms are full of exhortations to praise God in song. The one here quoted contains a special challenge. The Lord asks from us a new song. He never wants our praise of Him to become old and stale, or to degenerate into ritual and routine. How can we always be ready with a new song?

In Ephesians 5:18-19 Paul shows us the way: "Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (NASB). Praise of the kind that the Lord requires and that Paul describes can come only from a heart supernaturally filled with the Holy Spirit. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is an indispensable prerequisite.

Out of the Spirit's fullness proceed three kinds of praise: psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

Psalms - are those already recorded for us in the inspired words of Scripture.

Hymns - belongs to the grand, familiar songs of the Church that express our common faith

Spiritual Songs - are not composed in advance. They are given spontaneously by the Holy Spirit. They are truly "New Songs".

Each time we enter God's presence in worship and catch a glimpse of His grace or glory that we have never seen before, the Holy Spirit gives us a new song appropriate to the new revelation. It may be in our own language or in one given by the Spirit. In either case, it is spontaneous response to a fresh revelation of God. Thus our worship always continues to be fresh as God's unfolding revlation of Himself

An extracts from - Through Davi's Psalms by Derek Prince

Have a blessed & victorious week

TPWC

WORSHIP OUR JEALOUS GOD - PART 3

"My people have exchanged their Glory for worthless

idols. Be appalled at this, O heavens and shudder with

great horror,"declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 2:11-12

It's perhaps the strangest of ironies. The nations who worship false gods wouldn't think of adopting another nation's god (verse 11). But Israel, the only nation in that era worshiping the true God, did!

That's what idolatry is: the exchange of God's Glory for something worthless. Whatever takes God's place in out hearts is a travesty of unspeakable proportions. In any kind of worship other than the God-exalting, Christ-honouring kind of passion, we substituted the profane for the holy, the cheap for the priceless, the finite for the infinite, a curse for a blessing, and like Esau of old, our birthright for a bowl of soup. It's a foolish exchange, but we do it all the time.

We worship gadgets, cars, sports, styles, clothes, entertainment, and other wothless junk. We're not sure why. We just know that in the absence of God, we need something else. The problem is that we miscalculated. Our JEALOUS GOD isn't absent. Forsake foolish exchanges. Embrace your Glory.

Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols,

and demolish all their high places.

Numbers 33:52

The high places pointed to one forbidden, nauseating activity: IDOLATRY. They were shrines and altars on hills and mountain-tops designed exclusively for worship of a Canaanite god like the Baals and the Asherim. The high places in Scripture are usually written with contempt, because they were forms of IDOLATRY that was detestable and forbidden by our JEALOUS GOD!

We build high places in our hearts. You can probably identify right away which ones are some of your most persistent. What are your high places? We fall for the seduction of other altars: careers, income, relationships, misused sexuality, highly adored possessions, a purpose and a plan that are not of God's prompting. Our opportunities for high places on which to kneel are nearly limitless. Learn to recognize them. As god instructs, demolish them and turn to Him alone

An extract from Worhip The King - Chris Tiegreen

One of two things is going to happen in the life of a believer: either he is going to be conformed into the image of Jesus by allowing the Word of God that is spoken in the presence of the Lord (worship) to change him, or he is going to conform Jesus into the image of what his heart dictates.
If you go to the MOUNTAIN (worship in spirit & in truth), YOU CHANGE. If you stay at the FOOT (false worship - idolatry), as Aaron did, God's image in you changes - John Bevere (A Heart Ablaze)

WORSHIP GOD!
TPWC

WORSHIP OUR JEALOUS GOD - PART 2

They have been quick to turn away from what I

commanded them and have made themselves

an idol cast in the shape of a calf.

Exodus 32:8

What will distract us from God's demand to worship only Him and provoke His jealousy? IDOLATRY! What is an IDOL? Anything that replaces our worship from our Creator. An idol gives it's creator what they want - the dictates of their own hearts, since they are the ones who create it. It is a very convenient form of worship.

When Moses led the Israelite out of the bondage from Egypt, we saw how God demostrated His Glory through the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, protecting His people with a Pillar of Cloud by day and a Pillar of Fire by night. He even sustained and provided His people with the miracles of manna & quails from heaven.

When they arrived at Mount Sinai, while Moses was on the mountain receiving the law - which began with commandments against worshiping false gods - the recent redeemed people of the covenant were at the foot of God's mountain makng a false god. A tragic story unfold. Aaron and the children of Israel made a molded calf, pointed to it, and said, "Behold Yahweh, the one, true God, brought us out of the land of Egypt." They called this calf the name of the Lord, reducing His glory to the level of the image of a golden calf. They acknowledged that Yahweh saved and delivered them from Egypt; they did not deny His power, however they had reduced His glory

Now, where did the Israelite get the idea of the golden calf from? For 4oo years most of them were exposed to and surrounded by the Egyptian's culture, and Egypt had many objects of worship. The Israelites were delivered from Egypt, which was a type of being born again, but did not know God intimately. They "played church" at the foot of the mountain, which resulted in God's image being reduced to what she had absorbed from his surroundings. Israel was surrounded by society that worshiped golden images of animals and insects. The modern-day church is surounded by a worldly culture that worship SELF, MATERIALISM, SEXUAL PLEASURES .... if we still desire a worldly lifestyle, which is against the flow of God's authority; we can have it by subconsciously serving and worshiping "our jesus" whose will is in accordance with our own desires.

Moses saw that the people were running wild ...

and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.

Exodus 32:25

What does God think when His worshipers "run wild" in disobedience and devotion to materialism, greed, religiousity, lust, status and prestige? If worship is first and foremost about His reputation, and we fall away from it so easily - allowing all sorts of rivals to compete with His reputation in our lives - do not His enemies have a right to laugh? ARE WE NOT PROVOKING GOD'S JEALOUSY!

You shall have no other gods before me

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of

anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or

in the water below. You shall not bow down to them;

for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God

Exodus 20:3-6

Do not worship any other god. For the Lord,

Whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.

Exodus 34:14

From these verses in the scriptures that we learn that WORSHIP BELONGS TO GOD AND GOD DEMANDS IT! DO NOT PROVOKE HIS JEALOUSY! (See also May 17, 2009 post).

Blessings

TPWC

WORSHIP OUR JEALOUS GOD

For you shall worship no other gods,

for the Lord, whose name is JEALOUS,

is a JEALOUS God.

Exodus 34:14

Our God has many names and titles. One of them, however, isn't discussed theses days. You don't hear of it being made into songs, written in calligraphy on wall plaques, or engraved on jewelry. It is "JEALOUSY" But Exodus 34:14 said that's His name!

A few days after his marriage, a gregarious young husband decided to demostrate his love for his bride by taking her out to an elegant restaurant. When they were at the restaurant, a bright, attractive young waitress greeted them. The husband smiled up at the waitress with obvious delight. He noticed her name on her uniform, and used it to engage her in a few moments of spirited coversation before giving her their order for dinner.

As the waitress walked away, the husband turned his eyes back to his wife ...and was startled by the change in her countenance. She looked hurt and grieved.

"Honey," he said, "what's wrong?"

"I saw your eyes lit up when you looked at the waitress. That hurt me!"

He was confused. "Hurt you? Why should that hurt you? I was only trying to be friendly. Hey, that's my nature I'm outgoing. I enjoy people."

What's your take on the above story? To most people - the lady was obviously overly sensitive and probably has a problem with jealousy. JEALOUSY was an issue with the one who had it - and she needed to work it through! But the coupled was in a COVENANT RELATIONSHIP, and in such a union there can be no tolerance of any competing affection. In a wedding ceremony, they both vowed before God that they would cherish each other and love each other with all their hearts.Therefore in the above case, the jealousy was warranted. She was right to be jealous. She wanted his eyes. She wanted his heart - his whole heart. And because of their vows, she had every right to expect these things.

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

Exodis 20:5

In order to explore this further we need carefully define what we mean by jealousy? According to J.I. Packer, we see two sorts of jealousy among humans and only one is a vice. The one sense of jealousy which is perhaps most common is expressed in the attitude "I want what you have and I hate you because I haven't got it." This is essentially envy/covetousness and is a violation of the 10th Commandment. Clearly God does not exhibit jealousy in this way. Yet, according to Packer there is another kind of jealousy which he defines as "zeal to protect a love relationship or avenge it when broken." A helpful example of this is the passion a husband exhibits for his wife in order to preserve the faithfulness of this relationship in the midst of a depraved and adulterous world. This is a relationship that is by rights his and he jealousy guards this by taking actions in order to protect it.

If we really understood the jealousy of God - and how pure a jealousy it is - we would avoid sin like a plague. We don't understand it because it's hard to imagine the perfect, pure, radiant God having a burning passion for peole like us. But people like us were designed specifically to house His holy presence, to commune with Him in the intimate depths of our hearts. That's the fundamental purpose of being made in the image of God.

That's why God gives us such graphic images of His jealous love - so we can grasp it. A woman who doesn't know her suitor's love is apt to violate it. So God gives us ample opportunity to know it. We are to be a bride deeply in love, a bride who so adores her Husband that she cannot get enough of His presence.

The key to overcoming a wandering eye is to know how deeply and how purely we are loved by our God. If we truly know His jealousy, we'll never truly provoke it. Our hearts will burn as passionately as His.

Is it any wonder throughout the scriptures God often describes himself as the faithful husband pursuing a love relationship with his wife (i.e., the people of God). Unfortunately, God's people are not always faithful, but our COVENANT keeping Lord is always faithful.

"Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love for a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments." (Deut. 7:9)
"He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever— holy and awesome is his name." Psalms 111:9

What a privilege to know that we are His bride. Let us worship with our whole heart this holy, loving, faithfully jealous, covenant keeping God!

Blessings - TPWC