LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE THE LORD (PSALM 150:6)

I Will Extol The LORD At All Times;

His PRAISE Will Always Be On My Lips

Psalm 34:1

What would happen if we decided to let every thought and every breath bless God? Imagine the result if His name were affectionately on our lips as we lay down at night, as we turned over in our sleep, as we awoke in the morning, and as we went about our daily business. Would such a perspective radically change our hearts? Probably. Would it change our world? It's likely. Anytime in the Bible someone gives himself to WORSHIP, God does amazing things through that person. Blessings abound. God's work is done. He is honoured.
What prevents us fom such a persuavive sense of His worth? Are our schedules just too busy Or is it deeper than that? Perhaps it's suspicion that He hasn't been as good to us as Scripture declares that He is. Or maybe it's a subtle resentment that He has not paved our paths with gold and has allowed us to taste the bitter trials of life.
Whatever reasons we can come up with, we should ask ourselves if a WORSHIP-FILLED HEART is worth sacrificing to the gods of busyness, apathy, and disappointment. If we really got a glimpse of God, we would never be disappointed with His will for us. We would understand that underlying everything we go through and every responsibility we're given is the loving hand of a God who is leading us closer to Him. The end result is greater blessing than any earthbound human can possibly imagine.
The angels surrounding God's throne cry out day and night, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD ALMIGHTY; THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY" (Isaiah 6:3). Perhaps we were not created with exactly the same role as those angels were; but then again, perhaps they are pictures of the praise all creatures - including us - owe Him. We at least have a similar purpose: to honour God and ascribe GLORY TO HIM. What prevents us? Nothing should. What would result? EVERYTHING OUR HEARTS truly desires.
(an extract from: Worship The King by Chris Tiegreen)

THE WORTH OF YOUR WORSHIP

"All this I will give you," he said,

"if you will bow down and worship me."

Matthew 4:9

For only one life in history was it ever approriate to worship and to be worshiped simultaneously. Have you ever considered that? Jesus as the in carnate God is worthy of our worship, yet at the same time He demostrated true worship for us in the flesh. The worshiped became the worshiper for a brief moment in time. He's our key to how worship ought to work.
His lesson in human worship begins for us in His temptation. Satan, the enemy of anything and anyone who honors God instead of him, waved his withered hand toward all the kingdoms of the world and promised them to Jesus in exchange for the Son's worship. It was a monumental request for Jesus to flip the switch of our universe so that all worship would flow in the opposite direction from its true course. If the Son had worshiped the rebel, the tide would have turned. God would have given up His place as rightful LORD. In effect, Jesus would have lied about who was worthy of true worship. All the kingdoms of the world weren't worth that.
But that's a temptation we're faced with daily. Our sinful flesh and our number one adversary try to distract us, to distort our motives and our vision, and to get us to tell a monumental lie. A corrupted world, still firmly gripped by the chief rebel, still waves its kingdoms in front of us and tells us we can have them - at least intriguing and provocative pieces of them. A little misplaced ambition here, a little greed and lust there, an dsuddenly we're lying about the worthiness of God. We're worshiping the unworthy. We've tried to flip the switch ourselves because we want the current of the universe to run in the direction of our cravings.
It won't work. Jesus is our model. He knew up front that the kingdoms of the world were pitiful reward for forsaking the true God. That thought has to permeate our thinking so that our response in temptation is always an automatic reflection of verse 10: "worship the LORD your GOD, and serve Him only."
(an extract fromWorship The King - by Chris Tiegreen)

HE WHO WITH HIS WHOLE HEART DRAWS NEAR TO GOD MUST OF NECESSITY BE PROVED BY TEMPTATION AND TRIAL - Albert The Great

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP - PART 2

“The Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.”

1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT)

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP
FROM THE HEART

When Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart and soul” (Luke 10:27) he meant that worship must be genuine and heartfelt. It is not just a matter of saying the right words; you must mean what you say. Heartless praise is not praise at all! It is an insult to God.

When we worship, God looks past our words to our hearts. The Bible says, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.”
Since worship involves delighting in God, it engages your emotions. God gave you emotions so you could worship him with deep feeling, but those emotions must be genuine, not faked.
God hates hypocrisy. He doesn’t want showmanship or pretense or phoniness in worship. He wants your honest, real love. We can worship God imperfectly, but we cannot worship him insincerely.
Of course, sincerity alone is not enough; you can be sincerely wrong. That’s why both spirit and truth are required. Worship must be both accurate and authentic. God-pleasing worship is deeply emotional and deeply doctrinal. We use both our hearts and our heads.
Today many equate being emotionally moved by music as being moved by the Spirit, but these are not the same. Real worship happens when your spirit responds to God, not to some musical tone. In fact, some sentimental, introspective songs hinder worship because they take the spotlight off God and focus on our feelings. Your biggest distraction in worship is yourself – your interests and your worries over what others think about you.
Christians often differ on the most appropriate or authentic way to express praise to God, but these arguments are usually just personality and background differences. Many forms of praise are mentioned in the Bible, among them confessing, singing, shouting, standing in honor, kneeling, dancing, making a joyful noise, testifying, playing musical instruments, and raising hands.
The best style of worship is the one that most authentically represents your love for God, based on the background and personality God gave you.
(an extract by Rick Warren)

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP

The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked,

but the prayer of the upright pleases Him.

Proverbs 15:8

Several Bible passages tell us that the fear of God is where wisdom begins ( Proverbs 1:7, 2:5, 9:10 ). If we are to be truly wise, we must understand who He is. All of creation was based on His character. His heart is written into the fabric of every part of this universe, even if sin obscures it. Those who find understanding will be those who can recognize the imprint of God in the depths and design of creation. They will be ardent observers of the way He deals with humanity. They will take their cues from Him.
Proverbs 15:8 points out numerous such cues. This verse tells us something profound about our Creator. He desires the ESSENCE OF WORSHIP more than its demostration. In Old Testament times, the sacrifice would have often been an animal or a grain offering. Today, it comes from our finances at one level and our time and talents at others. In any case, it's not the gift that matters most. God already owns everything anyway. What really matters is the HEART of the giver. Why? Because things do not honour God nearly as much as does a devoted, living being.
Why does God hate the sacrifice of the wicked? Because it is superficial. It is an attempt to brush Him off and get on with the self-life. It bears the appearance of devotion, but there is nothing of relationship in it - no love, no honour, no passion. That tells us volumes about the One who made us. He is no distant force, a cosmic "first cause" who observes us from afar. He is deeply, intensely personal.
Have you really considered the implications of that? It means that when you think He's far off, He isn't. It means that those deep longings in your HEART - you know, the ones that leave agonizing, gasping holes went unfulfilled - are longings He wants to satisfy in the right way at the right time. It means that your soul is a place of warm communion, not cold solitude. It means that what you thought was too good to be true - His  unconditional love and His enjoyment of your personality - is real
(an extract fromWalk With God Devotional by Chris Tiegreen)

WORSHIP - IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

"The true worshippers will worship

the Father in spirit and truth;

for the Father is seeking such to worship"

John 4:23 (NKJV)

The greatest pleasure of the Christian life is WORSHIP, though we scarely realize it until we've dive in WHOLEHEARTEDLY. We often approach it at first as an obligation. We're fairly self-focussed, and it's hard to turn our HEARTS toward God. But if we do, IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH (i.e., with zealous inspiration and according to who God really is), we find in expressible delights. Jesus seeks to turn us, like the woman at the well, into WORSHIPPERS with substance rather than WORSHIPPERS of ritual. How do we make that change?
Many of us ask God this question: "What is my responsibility toward You?" While not a bad question, there is a better, more HEARTWARMING question: "What can I offer You to show my devotion?"
Do you see the difference? The first question presupposes a requirement we must meet. It almost assumes that there will be a minimum standard, and after having met it, we will cease our "God-ward" activity and resume our "self-ward" obssession. The second question presupposes a desire to express LOVE and DEVOTION. It assumes that there can never be enough we can offer Him, but whatsoever we can find to offer, we will. There is no "self-focus" in it at all; it is entirely enamoured with God.
Jesus would have us not ask which requirement we are to fulfill, but what more of ourselves we can offer Him. When we look for our required obligation, we do not WORSHIP IN SPIRIT, because the Spirit of God would not inspire us to fulfill quotas of devotion. And we do not WORSHIP IN TRUTH, because we understand God's worth. He is worth all we are, and more!
Blessed is the WORSHIPPER who can truthfully - and with pleasure - say to the LORD: "What can I do for You? You name it, it's Yours. Whatever I can offer You, please let me." This is the kind of WORSHIPPER the Father seeks.
(an extract fromAt His Feet Devotion by Chris Tiegreen)

Be blessed with this song as we step into the New Year 2012 choosing to BE A WORSHIPER who WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.