Christmas is a time of joy and giving. Christians all over the world commemorate this occasion because "God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son Jesus Christ ..."
In our celebration, we proclaim the Good News with carols on the streets and we expressed the loved of God to the world with our gifts to the needy and the orphans. In the midst of all these activities, do you know that the spirit of Christmas is also WORSHIP? All those who came to meet Jesus at the manger WORSHIPPED ...
The Wisemen
"Where is the one who has been born king of Jews? we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." (Matthew 2:2)
"On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh " (Matthew 2:11 - note: worship before gifts)
The Angels
"Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appreared with angel praising God saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men ..." (Luke 2:13)
The Shepherds
"The shepherds returned, glorifying God for all the things they had heard and seen ..." (Luke 2:20)
Simeon The Godly Man
"... Simeon, who was a righteous and devout ...took Him in his arms and praised God ..." (Luke 2:25-33)
The Prophetess Anna
" ... she gave thanks to God ..." (Luke 2:36-38)
As we celebrate this year's Christmas, let us reserve the best gift for our Lord - WORSHIP
Blessed Christmas!
TPWC<
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
WORSHIP
Worship is "lovemaking" with God. The most common New Testament word for worship - proskuneo - literally means to "step towards to kiss." We can bow and prostrate our selves before God from a distance, but we must be close, intimate, trusting, and vulnerable if we are to step forward into God's loving embrace and receive His kiss of life, His Holy Spirit. Worship, properly speaking, is our response of love to the God Who has reached out in love to us. "It is quite impossible to worship God without loving Him. " writes A.W.Tozer, " and the inward operations of the Holy Spirit will enable us ... to offer Him such a poured-out fullness of love."
In worship we come face-to-face with the living God, beholding Him as He really is, letting our hearts assume their rightful place in response to Him. God desires to reveal Himself to us. When we come before Him believing the "He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6), we can expect that He will impress upon our thoughts, feelings, and understanding, by His Spirit, true knowledge of Himself. In this "seeing" or "beholding" of Him. all our self-righteousness, all our pretense, even all our "goodness" is seen for what it really is. We know that He is God, and we are not. Our only response, when we behold Him face-to-face, is to worship Him - giving ourselves over to Him in trust and in surrender to His love.
Worship is our deepest act of surrender. It is meant to be intimate, personal, and all-consuming. In worship, when Spirit touches spirit, God's life is imparted to us, His imprint is left upon us us, and we carry ever more clearly the Spirit-imparted pattern of adopted sons and daughters. Glorifying and praising God, giving Him His worth, is the very best thing for us as human beings. We are made to worship the Almighty God; meant to be transformed through worship into His likeness.
Do you want to be more like Jesus, Who is "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being?" (Hebrews 1:3). Then "fix your thoughts, on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest Whom we confess" (Hebrews 3:1). We become like that upon which we focus. We begin to be transformed into the likeness of that which gains our attention. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). As we worship God in the freedom the SPirit gives, we reflect the Lord's glory and are being "transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
An extract from - Discipline of the Holy Spirit by Dr. Tan Siang-Yang & Douglas H. Gregg
Blessings - TPWC
In worship we come face-to-face with the living God, beholding Him as He really is, letting our hearts assume their rightful place in response to Him. God desires to reveal Himself to us. When we come before Him believing the "He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6), we can expect that He will impress upon our thoughts, feelings, and understanding, by His Spirit, true knowledge of Himself. In this "seeing" or "beholding" of Him. all our self-righteousness, all our pretense, even all our "goodness" is seen for what it really is. We know that He is God, and we are not. Our only response, when we behold Him face-to-face, is to worship Him - giving ourselves over to Him in trust and in surrender to His love.
Worship is our deepest act of surrender. It is meant to be intimate, personal, and all-consuming. In worship, when Spirit touches spirit, God's life is imparted to us, His imprint is left upon us us, and we carry ever more clearly the Spirit-imparted pattern of adopted sons and daughters. Glorifying and praising God, giving Him His worth, is the very best thing for us as human beings. We are made to worship the Almighty God; meant to be transformed through worship into His likeness.
Do you want to be more like Jesus, Who is "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being?" (Hebrews 1:3). Then "fix your thoughts, on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest Whom we confess" (Hebrews 3:1). We become like that upon which we focus. We begin to be transformed into the likeness of that which gains our attention. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). As we worship God in the freedom the SPirit gives, we reflect the Lord's glory and are being "transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
An extract from - Discipline of the Holy Spirit by Dr. Tan Siang-Yang & Douglas H. Gregg
Blessings - TPWC