David Platt talks about the fact that the gospel compels us to live radical lives of surrender to Jesus:
This morning I was reading Revelation 4 and God struck me with just how worthy the Lord is of our praise, because he is the holy creator of all things! Take a moment to read these verses and allow them to sink into your soul, as the truth in them is so counter to the usual way we view Jesus. We often view Jesus as our buddy and more similar to us than different, but here we see a picture of the Lord high and exalted.
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:8-11)
It is humbling and convicting for me to read of these heavenly beings falling down before the throne and worshiping the Lord. I often take God for granted, but they see him for who he truly is and can’t help but fall at his feet. “Worthy are you!” “Holy, holy, holy!” May these become the cries of my heart!
Do you worship the Lord as he deserves? Do you humble yourself at his throne and honor him alone as holy and worthy of all that you are? What have been some moments when you feel you have really experienced God in this way?
Take ten minutes today to watch this video and pray for India! May God break our hearts for what breaks his heart: 1.3 billion people and nearly 90% are considered unreached with the gospel!
Here is a brief excerpt from a great blog post about the need to include a missional focus in our community group models. Without mission, community often is shallow and does not lead to the expansion and growth of God’s kingdom. However, when community is infused with an emphasis on mission, relationships grow deeper and lost people are reached with the good news of the gospel.
As I read the Scriptures alongside books like Total Church by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester, The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch, and others, I began to discover what the community groups I led were missing. Our community wasn’t a failure, but it was incomplete. Community had become an end to our mission rather than the context for it. We had embraced the blessings and transformation of the gospel as a community, but we did not seek to extend these benefits to others. I came to realize we needed to radically redefine our purpose for small groups.
We often seek to develop intimacy through conversation, confession, and prayer within a small group that grows together with time and trust. But actually, we tend to form our lasting friendships through shared experiences, shared time, and shared mission. This insight reflects what we see in Scripture with Jesus and his disciples along with the early church. Luke 10 show us Jesus opening up and sharing his compassionate mission with his disciples. They celebrate together when the disciples return from mission. The relationship between mission and community extends throughout the book of Acts.
Read the rest of the article at: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/05/14/community-on-mission-with-depth-of-intimacy/
I have to confess something – I am not musical… at all. In fact, for anyone who hears my musical efforts, it is probably quite painful and frustrating. So, I have generally not looked to music as a primary avenue of worshiping Jesus, but that has changed recently.
In the past, I would seek to spend time with Jesus daily, and it primarily consisted of Bible reading and prayer. Sometimes I would mix in some journaling, but that was about the extent of the variety of my personal times of devotion. Music certainly was never involved.
Things have changed these past couple weeks, as I felt compelled to look up a couple songs on YouTube. I started with “All Creatures of Our God and King”, and after reading the lyrics while listening to the song my heart was lifted up in worship to the Lord. Then I moved on and listened to another, “Come Thou Fount”, and again I had the same experience.
I realized that I had been missing out on one of the ways that God even commanded us to worship him, which is through song. Psalm 150 says,
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with the trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
God has ordained that we worship him through music, and I have just recently realized how much I was missing out by not obeying this command. I have been enjoying starting each morning off by singing along with some of my favorite worship songs, while reading the lyrics as they pop up on the screen. Praise God through music, and for music!
Practically, here is what I did. I went on to YouTube and started looking up some of my favorite songs and looking for videos that scrolled the lyrics on the screen throughout. I made a playlist of about 30 songs and then I just put it on shuffle and sing along. I recommend it to you if you have never done this before!
Do you connect with the Lord through singing worship songs? What are some of your favorites? Do you play the music yourself or prefer to sing along with a CD or video on the Internet?
James starts out his letter to the dispersed Jewish believers by telling them to count their trials as joy. That’s a difficult command to follow, because we face trials each day and sometimes it seems like I just can’t go on any longer. How do I look at those moments with joy? How do I view those circumstances in a positive light?
James tells us in 1:3-4: “…for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Walking faithfully in the midst of trials leads to becoming “perfect and complete”. Essentially, it leads to maturity in our faith.
When we run into difficult circumstances and face many kinds of trials, we have a tendency to try and run away. We want to avoid suffering and difficulty. We want to run to comfort and an easy life, but I think we are making a major mistake in those moments. Paul writes this in Romans 8:16-18,
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Paul tells us that we must join with Christ in his suffering in order to join with him in his glorification. We desire to be glorified with him, but we first must suffer with him, and it isn’t optional according to Paul or James. Suffering is a necessary component of the Christian life if we desire to grow into maturity and bring Christ honor.
However, we can rejoice in two things: (1) while suffering we grow more mature and deeper in our relationship with Jesus; and (2) our present sufferings pale in comparison with the glory that awaits us if we remain faithful to the Lord. So, let us “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…” (James 1:2).
How do you view suffering and trials in your life? Do you see it as an opportunity to draw nearer to the Lord, or as an obstacle to your present comfort and ease?
This is a good blog post about the faithfulness of God in the midst of trials.
Psalm 22 contains some of the most heart-wrenching cries to God recorded in all of the Psalms. God himself is on trail and David asks, “Will God remain faithful?”
This is the song of a believer who experiences great suffering and wonders where God is. It is a psalm that, in the midst of injustice, wonders if God himself will be faithful to his promise.
Have you ever caught yourself feeling like God just doesn’t care about what is going on in your life? Thinking ‘Where are you Lord?’ while you were going through difficult circumstances? I know that I have, and this blog post was very encouraging!
