Worship: Huh?!

I keep hearing people say.... we do worship and then listen to the preaching. Or we open with praise and worship and then go to the message etc. These statements show a shift in our generations perception of what worship is. The current adult generation (mine) often equates worship with music. This may not seem like a big deal....but it is!

Worship is many things and lest I bore you with a deep theology paper that you will not really want to read let me quickly explain. Worship is something we do for the glory of God. Pretty much anything done with a heart and mind directed toward God is worship. There is a very important reason for understanding this distinction. It comes down to the first of the 10 commandments. "You shall have no other God's before me." If worship is just merely singing to a false god or about false things than this would be an easy command to obey. Except it isn't. Worship is a life dedicated to putting God first. It is a life that sees every circumstance from the hand of God. Worship bows in humility before the throne in prayer when in good times and in the bad. Worship for the one true God controls our beings and fills us with the desire to see His name made great every where and in everything.

Yes we worship in song. We worship when we listen to the Word of God read and taught. We worship when we pray together and alone. We worship when we choose to focus our mind on the mighty hand of God instead of the horrible situations you have faced today.

Worship is very important. Who are you choosing to worship? I challenge you to go to Bible Gateway and do a search. Look at the hundreds of verses that deal with worship. See all the different ways people worshipped before a holy God. Then look at praise. We have a great God. He is worthy of all our worship and praise. And that does not mean you should just sing really well tomorrow. It means you should live well every day as an offering of life Worship to the King of Kings.

Wisdom and Discernment : Lost Treasures

I know it has been way too long since I last posted. I'm working on figuring out a day to write. It is nice to get my thoughts on paper and tell you a bit of what I am learning and thinking about.

The topic today is one that is near and dear to my heart. Proverbs tells us to search for wisdom like hidden treasure. I don't see many people doing that today. We as women tend to run to our friends, co-workers, mothers and even husbands. We don't tend to run to the Word of God. Often what I have found is that not only do we not run there, we don't even know where to go if you are running there. Ladies, we need to be diligent students of the word. We need to know where and how to find passages that help us combat stress, anger, sin and the daily struggles we face. There is no excuse for not being prepared. Most women around the world do not own a Bible, but many of us own many copies. We can access it online and search in 2 seconds for a word on any topic in any version. We just get lazy. Or we don't value God's opinion on things enough to turn to him.

I like to define wisdom and discernment this way.
Wisdom: God's perspective on life and godliness
Discernment: knowing how to specifically apply God's word to a real life situation (accurately)

I think that wisdom is lacking in today's world, but even more so is discernment. I see many women and young ladies who know what God's word says on an issue but they refuse to apply it correctly to life. Lets pick on modesty....
these ladies know what the Bible says (adorn yourselves modestly, don't bring attention to your outward appearance) but out of a self serving desire to express their individual liberty they excuse their immodesty as just a difference of views. I recently had someone tell me that bikini's were fine for Christian ladies to wear. My answer, "bikinis are the most naked you can get in public without getting arrested. No one in any culture at any time ever thought they were modest." For Christian ladies to pretend it is ok to push the limit and flaunt their "freedom" shows a huge lack of wisdom and discernment.

I'm not pretending I understand all the ins and outs of this issue myself. Know what to do and what to say at the right time is a constant battle for me. I also struggle with what to wear and not wear at times. The cardinal rule: When in doubt, Don't. Widsom thinks in love first. Wisdom does not push every limit. Wisdom works to be as Godly as possible, not as close to ungodly as possible. Wisdom shines out as different.

Know God's word. Apply it correctly. Be a light in a confused and ignorant world. We need wise men and women.