The Heart of Worshipping God

Hello beloved of God,

  The beauty, power, and majesty of God are beyond anything else. The wonder of God is a culmination of everything good and righteous. I hope your week is starting out with many reasons to give God your praise and worship. Worship Him for the life you have and the anticipation of what He has planned for your future! Our understanding of God throughout Scripture and our personal relationship with Him shows us that He is our Father in Heaven, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sustainer, and everything else that our hearts were created to desire.  The God of the universe is worthy of all my worship. Worship is a heart felt response that God hears from His children. It extends from my heart to His through His Holy Spirit. This is what we do when we truly love God. Will you give God your worship? He deserves it.

 Worship is a spiritual act of gratitude to God for who He is. Worship strengthens our connection with God and our spiritual walk with Him. Worship is not something done when you have other worries on your mind, or distractions. Worship is practiced when we are in the presence of God and we are reflecting on His Majesty. This is when we give our worship for all that He is to us, and all He is doing in this world.

   God’s first command is “You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 This is very important because if there are any other gods in our heart other than God, we are not putting God first. When other gods or idols are filling our hearts, we are not able to worship God the way we should. We are worshipping the thing we have first in our hearts, whatever that is. Who do you worship? The only secure choice is to worship God through Jesus Christ. Then we can know that we are walking each day with Him, secure in His arms of protection. Now that I know what it is like to walk with God each day, compared to what it was like to walk alone and insecure, I choose to walk with God because He loves me more than anyone else can. That alone is a reason to worship Him with all my heart, and all my strength.

  There are many ways we can worship God. We can spend time with Him by just thinking of Him and what He is doing in our life. We can talk with Him and listen to His response. We worship God by singing songs of praise and helping others to do the same. One of the greatest things we can do is to read His Word so we can know Him from His inspired Word. A very enjoyable way of worshipping God is focusing on Him all day long, not just an hour every Sunday morning. Every day we bring God worship by focusing on Jesus and His life that was lived for us.

   Let’s give God our praise and worship out of our appreciation for His nature and His worth, all day, everyday. Will you join me today and forever, as we worship God?

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Psalm 100:2

“…a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Matthew 2:2

“…I will praise you among the nations, O Lord; I will sing praises to your name.” Psalm 18:49

Let’s give God the glory for all He has done for us by giving Him our worship.

We will now be reading 1 Chronicles 10 – 29 for three weeks.

Blessings,

Tricia

Live a life of Faithful Obedience to God

Dearest Readers,

  There is great joy that comes when we walk in faithful obedience to God and His commands. God’s first and greatest commandment to us is to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5 When we take this command seriously and follow it with the help of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we are following all of God’s commands. When we love God this much, He becomes number one in our lives over anything or anyone else. Living our lives with God as number one will bring glory and honor to God in ways we can only imagine. When we honor God with our lives, God will bring honor to us through our relationships, our health, and our daily goings on. But, this is a benefit we can experience only if we stay close to God through Jesus Christ.

  King Josiah was a faithful and obedient king of Judah, who learned very early about God’s commands and instituted them during his reign. He did even more than his great-grandfather King Hezekiah in getting rid of the false idols and false gods that had plagued Israel and Judah. He destroyed all the high places where the Israelites burned incense. He also eliminated all the priests that were not from the line of the Levites. King Josiah completely demolished into dust anything that dishonored God in His kingdom. This then made it possible for the people of Judah to be lead to worship the one true God. For awhile there were no more deceptive objects of worship around to steal the hearts of the people away from God. King Josiah lived a life faithful to God in all he did. He loved God and followed Him no matter what. He trusted God as the Ultimate Authority and that authority was to be followed.

  Recently I have learned that God has been waiting patiently for me all my life. Finally, my heart and soul began to understand that He is the only one I can truly depend on and trust with my heart and soul. Only God through Jesus Christ can truly love me the way I was created to be loved. Once I understood this, I was better able to love Jesus and allow Him to come in a powerful way every moment of the day. He is everything I have ever needed and wanted. Now that I am experiencing Jesus’ true love for me, my love for others has been greatly blessed. When I have Jesus this close, I can know He is leading me through the good and bad days. I can depend on Him to show me the better way to handle all the ups and downs of life. This is walking in faithful obedience to God the way He desires us to; closely communicating with Jesus all day long.

  Isn’t this the way Jesus walked when He was on this earth? Just look at many of the examples during His ministry. He was in constant communication with His Father in Heaven. The obedience Jesus showed to God is our perfect example of how we should live each day in obedience to Him.

   There is always going to be circumstances in this life that can pull us away from God a little. As soon as we realize this, seek God’s presence to continue walking with Him again. This way of living brings glory and honor to God. If we don’t realize that there is a problem, and we ignore God and continue in the wrong direction, we are sinning against Him. If we don’t stop and turn back to Him we are left on my own, unprotected with limited guidance from God. This is when we stop hearing from Him, and we will tend to continue walking in the wrong direction. Other things lead us away from Him, just like the idols and false gods during King Josiah’s day, lead them away from God. The blessings received when we walk this way, are limited. Hopefully Christians will notice that a distance has come between them and God, repent, cry out to God, and seek to walk closely with Him again.

  When this happens to me, I remember who is in charge. It is a fearful thing to know that I have stepped away from God. God never leaves me, but I can forget Him. Because I have respect for God and love Him with all my heart, I do what He asks because I trust Him completely. Whether it is a book to read or not, something to do for someone else, or how to handle difficult people, I seek God’s guidance first. I am doing God’s will and I am delighted to do it. If you are walking closely with God, that relationship with Him should be all you truly desire. The rest will flow from that life of obedience to God.

“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.” IIJohn1:6

“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.” Psalm13:5

“Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.’” John 14:23

There is only one sure thing is this world, that is the love of God. Do you know that love?

We will now be reading 1Chronicles 1-9 for one week.

Blessing,

Tricia

Receive God's Strength

Hello Dear Loved Ones in Christ,

  I am praying that you are filled with God’s peace today and everyday. The bad thing about peace is it can be fleeting. The only way to keep our peace each day is to understand that we are not strong, but weak. We are not in control, but God is. So if we want God’s peace in our lives, we must depend on God’s strength and not ours to take care of the huge obstacles and even the little ones that are in each of our lives. Then our lives will be free to serve and worship God.

  The nation of Israel has now been captured and exiled to Assyria. Twenty-six years later, the chief officer of the Assyrian army came to Judah to declare war. He declared that their god was not able to deliver them from the great nation of Assyria because Israel’s god hadn’t delivered them. When King Hezekiah heard about the threats, he didn’t go out and fight the Assyrian army; he went directly into the Temple of the Lord to seek His guidance and direction in this terrible situation. He sent his officials for the prophet Isaiah. “Isaiah said to them, Tell your master, this is what the Lord says; Do not be afraid of what you have heard – those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.” II Kings 19:6-7

  The Lord did all that He promised and Judah was spared - for a time. When we understand how weak we are, we can then seek God to provide His strength in the situation. He provides for His children in all that we need. We are unable to receive this strength from God. If we think we are strong enough to fight off our enemies and make the right decisions for our future then God will not provide us with His strength.

   Are you willing to first go to God and seek His deliverance for each of your difficult situations like King Hezekiah? Are you willing to be obedient to what He wants you to do in order to accomplish His purposes for your life? Loving and trusting God gives each of us the ability to work with Him to help correct the difficulties in our lives and in the lives of others. This is done in God’s strength, not our own. Won’t you trust God today? When we are weak, this is when He is able to become strong in us IF we ask Him. That is when much is accomplished for the Kingdom of God.

  My desire is to accomplish much in His strength, not my own. This is what God is teaching me right now; to seek His will in the things I write, and the things I say. When I have done these things in my own strength, I have ended up frustrated and left feeling all alone. But when I have relied on God each day for guidance and wisdom, I have watched Him move in the lives of people in remarkable ways. Jesus is so amazing when He works in my life. His is beautiful and wise and understands intricacies of life that are so far beyond my understanding. I love trusting Him everyday.

“But He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

II Corinthians 12:9-10

“…Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Hebrews 11:32-34

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

  We will continue reading II Kings 15 – 25 for one more week.

Blessings,

Tricia

God's Peace

Hello Dear Readers,

  I hope this letter finds that you are doing well, and your heart is being led by the Lord Jesus Christ. There are so many beautiful ways Jesus desires to come and strengthen our relationship with Him. He can do this if we will decide to obediently follow Him with a humble heart. When we do, we can be confident that our lives will be filled with His peace, even in the face of great difficulty.

  I saw a bumper sticker last weekend.  It said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then we will have peace.”  This really reminded me of the kings in the Bible that we have been reading about. 

  All the kings who ruled over Israel and Judah during the times of 2Kings did not put God first; they put themselves and their own ideas of worship first. They had more love for their powerful positions, than for their God. These kings experienced defeat in many aspects of their lives because they failed to be faithful to put God first. If they had humbled themselves before God and took the time to seek His will and guidance they would have had a flourishing kingdom and God’s peace, like King David did. They would have had that peace in knowing they were following God’s will. When war came, they could have had complete confidence that He would deliver them from their enemies.

  God is the same today, He never changes. He desires for us to learn from Him and to love Him. When we do this faithfully, we will come to a place in our walk with Him where we know that letting God be first in our lives is the only place to have Him. Then we can have the confidence that He will lead us down the most fulfilling road for each of us. We don’t have war and battles over kingdoms and regions like these kings did. But we do have spiritual battles everyday that are being waged against us from an enemy whose only goal is to destroy our faith and our close walk with God. When we walk each day on auto pilot, making rash decisions because it’s what we have always done, and because it feels good, we are not walking with God in His protection and peace. What we are doing is walking in our own will and strength. This leaves us open to the enemy’s schemes. God created us with free will, and so we have a choice to make. We can decide to lead or follow God, to seek His will for what He has for us each day.

  God’s peace is demonstrated through complete obedience to Him. When we follow God completely, we have peace knowing that His will is being worked out in our lives. We can trust this because God’s will is perfect as He is perfect.

“When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even His enemies live at peace with Him.” Proverbs 16:7

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.” Colossians 3:15

God desires that we all walk in peace, the peace that only He can provide. Won’t you seek God’s peace every day?

We will be reading 2Kings 16-25 for two weeks.

Blessings!

In Him,

Patricia

Receiving God's Grace

Hello Faithful Readers,

  What a gracious God we have who loves us dearly. God longs for us to recognize His grace poured out in our lives. God’s grace is a gift; not something we can earn or deserve. There is nothing we can do to deserve God’s grace and favor. 

  Naaman was a Commander in the Aramean Army, an enemy of Israel. He came to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy by the God of Israel. After he did what Elisha commanded him to do he was healed. He didn't deserve to be healed. His greatness in the Aramean Army had nothing to do with God choosing to heal him. He could not possibly earn this healing. He was from the enemy army!! However, God's grace was given to this man in healing. Not because of his personal position in life as a conqueror, but because when he humbled himself to obey the man of God, God's glory and power became known. It was the God of Israel that healed this military commander. The God of the people that he had conquered. His own gods could not do this. But this God of a defeated people did! He recognized this and turned away from the gods of his own people and swore to serve the God of Israel. What a dramatic change! This part of the story shows how God’s grace is for all, not just for His chosen people.

  God’s grace is a gift given to all mankind, whether they deserve it or not. God gives because he loves all people. The question is, will every person receive His gift of grace? The greatest gift God gave us was His Son Jesus Christ. Have you humbly received this great gift? If you have, do you continue to receive it on a daily basis? If you do, you will be blessed because you are walking daily in His presence.

  Each morning when I wake up I remember that Jesus is with me and He is the first person I talk to. Will you accept God’s daily grace and welcome Jesus into your daily life? There is much to learn and receive from God if we will accept Him into our lives - daily, hour by hour, and minute by minute. He is the greatest God there is. There is none like Him. And He deeply loves us, no matter who we are or where we are from. He is the God who made all of us and wants to walk intimately with us. He wants to be the God who dramatically changes your life, just like He did Naaman's. Do you let Him change yours? Or do you hold on to your own way of life? Naaman was great in the world's eyes. But he let God change Him dramatically when He encountered the Only God. He knew the others were false gods and left them all behind. What do you leave behind in order to whole heartedly follow after God?

“I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the work of His power.” Ephesians 3:7

“I always thank God for you because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus.” 1Corinthians 1:4

“Now I commit you to God and to the Word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified.” Acts 20:32

Let’s rejoice in God’s beautiful gift of grace because without it, we would be nothing. Let’s give Him the praise that He is worthy of. Let’s thank Him for the grace He has given to each of us every day. If we live in this grace, we will definitely grow in our relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.

We will be reading 2Kings 1-15 for one more week.

Blessings,

Tricia

Honoring our Sovereign God with a Humble heart

Greetings Scripture Readers,

 I hope the start of this week finds you filled with peace and praise before God. Do you find yourself loving Him more and more?  How about submitting to His will more often?  It is a beautiful place to be when we are walking with God, following after Him.

One of the things I see as I read this week's Scripture is that our God is a Sovereign God.  He is in charge.  HE alone is God. And He is not pleased with proud and disrespectful hearts! When two Captains come to arrest Elijah, God destroys them and their men.  God is protecting His man from those who think that they can take down God's prophet.  However, God is very pleased with those whose hearts are contrite and humble before Him.  That is how the thirI ld Captain that was sent to arrest Elijah is.  He pleads for Elijah to come willingly with him, to spare the lives of his men.  He does not demand.  He does not think that he can capture this man of God in his own strength or with might.  He humbles himself before Elijah and pleads for mercy.  God is pleased with this man and shows him mercy.  II Kings 1:1-15

How are we?  Do we walk each day humbly before God? Or do we talk and act like we are in charge and we make the decisions?  Do we try to make things happen the way we want them to; maybe hurting others in the process?  Or do we ask the Lord what HE wants us to do in every situation?  Do we submit our will over to God and let Him really be God, or do we try to do it all ourselves?  Do we really think of Him as being in charge (Sovereign), or are we?  Are we merciful to others or demanding?  Do we show God's love and compassion or pride and arrogance?  Who do we really believe is in charge anyway?

God works in the lives of those who honor and glorify Him before men.  Do others see you as someone who honors and glorifies God as truly being God?  Or do they see you as being in charge of your own life??  Who are you like: the first two Captains or the third; proud or humble?  I know who I want to be like!

Do you desire to seek His guidance to show you any sin in your life, so you can repent of that sin?  I do, as often as I think about it.  I believe it is a gift from God when He reminds us to do an inventory of our day to day lives to be sure that we are walking side by side with Him.  God knows we will sin, that is why he sent Jesus to pay for all sin.  Be humble before God and receive His forgiveness and stay close to Him everyday.  God greatly loves you and desires to bless you in His purposes for your life.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding.” Psalm111:10
“Has not My hand made all things, and so they came into being? Declares the Lord. This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my Word.” Isaiah 66:2

How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but You, as we have heard with our own ears.” II Samuel 7:22

“The Sovereign Lord has sworn by Himself—the Lord God Almighty declares: I abhor the pride of Jacob (Israel) and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it.” Amos 6:8

We will be reading IIKings 1-17 for now two more weeks.

Be blessed this week!

Love Tricia

Giving up Everything for the Love of Jesus

Dear Faithful Readers,

  What a great love we share, as we walk closer each day to the Lord Jesus, as we trust Him more and more because we see who He really is, our Creator, and Redeemer. Are you sharing in this great love, or is the world distracting you from Jesus? He is patiently waiting to have your complete devotion and attention. In His great love and patience for each of us, He gives us what we need at the right time so we can grow.  Nothing compares to Jesus, so let Him help you reflect that belief in your life, by giving Him all of yourself, not just a little here, and a little there.

 Elijah called Elisha to follow him by throwing his mantle (cloak) on his shoulders. Elisha seeing he was a man of God obediently dropped everything and immediately followed Elijah and became his successor. But first he asked Elijah if he could go and say goodbye to his family and his old life. Elisha spent the time making sacrifices and feasting with his family and giving up all the things in his life. 1Kings19-21

  This story reminds me of what we as Christians go through when we accept Jesus’ call to follow Him. Once we have accepted Him, we are called to learn about Jesus and all that He has done for us. This training is the work of the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. Then like Elisha, we must give up what our hearts hold so dear and give it to God. Giving them up makes room for Jesus to have complete control in our lives. The amount of time it takes to do this depends on our own free will, and the decisions we make. It depends on if He is able to lead us, or if we are still leading ourselves. This is a training time for our walking with Him in obedience. Each test we pass and lesson we learn moves us on in our spiritual growth so we are able to serve God more effectively. If we still hold on to stuff that God wants us to let go of, we will be hindered in our growth spiritually.

  God may never ask you to literally give up the things or people that are dear to you, but are you willing to stop trying to control these things, and let God be in control? This is the biggest question we all as Christians have to ask ourselves, “Am I willing to give all the control to God?” Believe me, if we truly are willing, God will fill our lives with everything that we need to live full lives for Him. But it takes faith to trust God enough to let Him be in control.

  This process is a spiritual decision we make in our heart and mind. It’s like seeing a situation in your mind and deciding how you would handle it before it happens. What you decide in your heart will tell God what He is capable of using you for in His service. Then you will be able to serve God in a big way, or maybe not so big way, depending on your decision. I don’t know about you, but I am interested in serving God in a BIG way. He knows this because of the decisions I have made in my heart. What is in your heart? Are you willing to give up everything for the love of God? Well if you are, this still takes time to truly be ready to die to self and live for God. He is patient with each of us, and he knows when we are ready to move to the next level of spiritual growth. Are you ready to let Him take the lead, to lead your life now and for all eternity? I AM!!

“May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.1Thessalonians 5:23

“You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go, You have the Words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:67-69

“I commit you to God and to the Word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Acts 20:32

Once you know in your heart that Jesus is, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, your heart will desire nothing else but to please Him in all that you do because your love for Him will be far greater than anything in this world.

We will start reading 2Kings 1-17 for three weeks.

Blessing this week,

Love Tricia