Monday, January 27, 2014

WORSHIP QUOTABLES (PART 1)


Have You Ever Wonder What Does God Think Of Our Worship?

"The revelation of God is the fuel for the fire of our worship." - Matt Redman

"Worship has a purpose. We don't worship for worship's sake. We don't sing, clap, pray and rejoice for our enjoyment or fulfillment but for the Lord. The Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit are objects of our worship." - LaMar Boschman


"Worship is our reason for being." - Tom Kraeuter


"Worship is the believer's utmost priority and highest occupation." - LaMar Boschman

"Worship is a verb." - Robert Webber

"Worship is an attitude expressed." - Judson Cornwall


"Worship is always a now activity." - Judson Cornwall


"Worship is an exercise of the Holy Spirit directed primarily to God." - Ralph Martin


"Where feelings for God are dead worship is dead." - John Piper


"Regardless of how magnificent the musical moment are, unless your heart is fully engaged in the worship being expressed ... it is still only music." - Darlene Zschech

"Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." - Jesus



Here are a collection of worship songs for listening:

Have a blessed and victorious week \0/\0/\0/ -TPWC :)

Monday, January 20, 2014

WORSHIP "UN-BOXED"

We have a tendency to limit our Christian experiences by “boxing” them in a confined space. We label our spiritual boxes, both large and small, and place our boxed experiences neatly on the shelf of our minds ... along with other boxes we’ve collected over the years. It all makes for a tidy intellect, an organized life, manageable encounters with God and man.



There’s only one problem with all this. Spirituality and all of life is organic. When the Spirit of God breathes life on something, it grows. Sometimes, life oozes out of our tidy little boxes, drips down the sides of the boxes in our minds we can no longer contain them. If you’re like me, I foolishly try to control matters by simply placing them in newer, larger boxes! But sometimes, we experience such explosive growth that our boxes literally burst and there we stand — with real spirituality splashed all over our faces and dripping down our arms. It’s a truth that many times God is not tidy with us. He cannot be contained in our mental boxes despite our best efforts. When He breathes life on something, it will grow … and many times in ways we cannot manage. The problem with all our boxes and labels is that we think of a given spiritual experience in terms of the label and the dimensions of its box.

Similarly, our box labelled “worship” hardly resembles the worship of the Old Testament and early church. The modern-day church has reduced the word to mean “praise and worship music”. If you don’t believe me, ask the average Christian about how the“worship” was at his church last Sunday and he will rattle on about the music. While music is a wondrous tool for worship, it is not itself worship per se. Our churches miss so much if music is the only thing in our “worship box”. This must be not only admitted by us as church musicians, but must be taught by us until we really believe it.

Here are a few things I’m certain we’d never hear from early Christians: “The worship this morning was just awesome!”, or “I just can’t worship when we use one of David’s new psalms,” or “The timbrel was so loud in worship this morning! Someone needs to talk to Asaph about it.” No, worship in the Bible is actually unaccompanied by music.

With the exception of the Psalms, which display much music associated with worship, the majority of worship stories in the Bible have no music involved at all. Worship did not require a song, it required a heart. Job laid in the dust and worshipped in affliction. Isaiah trembled and worshipped in awe. Jehoshaphat worshipped in warfare. David danced and worshipped in abandon (other times, he worshipped in laments). Hannah worshipped in perseverance through bareness. John the Revelator got to see the worship of heaven. To be sure, some of these stories had musical components. But worship was the central spiritual experience, not music.

This is a hard pill for me to swallow. I can embrace the concept of worship apart from music in the larger corridors of my intellect. But in the small, inner chamber of my heart I must admit I see my worship as primarily music. I am only beginning to understand what a beautiful gift of expression music is, by putting it in the context of worship among other God-ward expressions.

Maybe through embracing this truth we as church musicians become humble (The Holy Spirit finds humility in God’s children absolutely irresistible!). Maybe if we empty out our box of worship and ask Abba to breathe on us, worship will grow without restraint. Maybe by emptying our hands of instruments and microphones and conductor’s batons and by bowing down, we will begin to encounter a Beautiful Savior, a Loving Father, an Empowering Spirit.

An extract from - John Randall Dennis’ “Living Worship: A Biblical Guide to Making Worship Real in Your Life” 
Blessings
TPWC

Monday, January 13, 2014

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.

Worshippers 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 worshippers.

Continual worship is central to the life of a worshipper. A worshipper offers the sacrifice of praise to God continually"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.

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

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 worshiper is worshiping in spite of bad circumstances.

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

Monday, January 06, 2014

WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH


God Is Spirit, and those who worship Him 
must worship in spirit and truth
John 4:24 (NKJV)  

What is your worship like? Is it a Sunday ritual or a frenzied emotion that you can put on and take off? Is it limited to one style of music or a particular church? Most important, is it more than skin-deep?
Considering the central role of worship in the life of a human being - it is our entire reason for being, as well as the eternal activity of the saints in heaven, according to the WORD - we might do well to consider what God wants it to be like. Does He prefer informal or formal? Ritualistic or spontaneous? Noisy or quiet? Dignified or recklessly passionate? Nearly everyone has an opinion on these alternatives, but they aren't really the HEART of the issue. What God desires most has less to do with how we express our worship than with the spirit behind it. In our adoration of our Creator, God seeks inspiration and integrity and a spirit of sacrifice. He wants our outward expression to match our inward attitudes. He wants us not to worship ignorantly, but to know Who He is. He wants it to be real.
That's hard for us. We fall into error so easily: We're either too emotional or not emotional enough, too rigid or too unstructured, too self-conscious or not self-aware enough. Most of all, we're apt to turn a worshipful heart into a routine behaviour in the blink of an eye. What was sincere devotion yesterday is a performance for God's approval today. What was once an act of passion is now an act of obligation. Our HEARTS can grow cold faster than we ever thought.
Worship defines the relationship between God and His people and touches every aspect of our existence. 
God seeks those whose worship emanates from deep within. He desires legitimate praise and integrity between the HEART and mouth. He wants to be the One we treasure most. Most of all, He wants you! 
As we step into the New Year, let us consider the priority the Word of God places on TRUE WORSHIP - Jesus' declaration that REAL WORSHIP is what God is after - to WORSHIP HIM In SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.
(an extract from Worship The King by Chris Tiegreen)