As I spent time worshiping the Lord today, one thought that seemed to stick with me was how much better I know Him now as opposed to before I began worship. Something has been happening to me over the past months that I did not realize, I have grown in my knowledge of who God is to me. When I close my eyes and begin to worship Jesus I don't have to struggle, as I did before, to focus my attention on Him because He is so much clearer to me now. I remember when I first began to separate myself for worship. I would spend so much time just trying to focus my attention on Jesus or the Father and now I know why; who they were to me on a daily, moment by moment basis was vague and almost not real. It's like knowing you have a heart beating inside of you, but until you focus your attention on it, it remains an abstract idea to your mind and not a living reality. Suddenly, Jesus and the Father have become real to me.
Not only have they become real to me, but I now find myself, especially during times of worship, considering things that before were not important to me. For example, the New Heavens and the New Earth we are told will replace what now exist have become more real to me. It is like His thoughts are becoming my thoughts as I spend time with Him. Think about it, how much of your time do you spend absorbed in trivial things that really have no merit in comparison to your life in eternity which will last forever, and yet most likely your life there gets little if any consideration. Please don't feel condemned in any way, but realize if you will that life here is only a breathe and then it's gone. How will you spend that breathe? I want to spend it getting to know the One I will be spending eternity with and doing here what is important to Him and not me.
All of this has happened to me so gradually. I look back and try to figure out when I began to experience these changes and I really don't know. All I can say is I know that the person I am today is not the person I was before I began spending extended times worshiping Jesus. Little by little His thoughts are becoming my thoughts. What is important to Him is what is becoming important to me. Here it is, the revelation of private worship, "I am becoming like Who I worship."
We all know that we become like the person or even the object we spend time with the most. But, who would have guessed that by spending time worshiping our Creator that we can become more like Him. Thinking the way He thinks. Putting higher priority on things of life that are truly important and less priority on the trivial things that will pass away. Actually contemplating our life in eternity while still on this earth and doing things now that will add to our life then. Who thinks that way? Anyone who is willing to take the time and worship Him. Yes, we can become more like Him if we will continue to separate ourselves and worship Him.
~
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Every Time Matters
I just completed what my soulish man considers to be one of the most uneventful times of worship I have had thus far. If my soul could grade today's time of worship on a scale of 1 to 10, it would grade it in the negative numbers. But, it is not my soul that will ever benefit from spending extended time worshiping Jesus. Only my born again spirit will ever benefit from times of worship.
This is one of the main reasons for this Blog. This Blog is to show you that no matter who you are there are going to be those times like I had today. What you need to understand is that even in the driest, most boring times of worshiping the Father and Jesus you are affecting change. The bottom line then is this, every time matters. Not only does every time matter, but every word that you speak matters. From the moment you begin till the moment you end, every single word of adoration offered to God matters. Not one word spoken to Him is without benefit.
Some of you are saying to yourself as you read this, "But I only have 'X' number of minutes to give to Him in worship and that can not be enough to really matter." I say again every word matters, every minute matters, everything matters. Stop allowing the enemy to minimize your efforts in your own eyes. The enemy's objective is to make you stop and he will lie to you and tell you anything he thinks will convince you to stop. But, I'm telling you that all those reasons you have been allowing yourself to believe that keep you out of worship are all birthed straight from the pit of hell.
One of the enemy's greatest weapons is this thought, "You are too busy today wait for tomorrow." Pretty soon a month of tomorrows go by and then the enemy hits you with this thought, "Oh, it has been too long now to try to go back into private worship, just forget it." I'm telling you that if he has not yet tried this one on you it is not far away. The best thing you can do when you hear this devilish suggestion is stop and take 5 minutes and worship God, or whatever few minutes you have just to come against those demonic thoughts. If you have already fallen prey to that particular attack just get back up and start again.
Starting a second time or a third time or a twentieth time into private worship can be a challenge. I suggest you begin by praying in tongues a while and step from tongues into worship. Jesus is not going to be standing there asking you where you have been and why you have been neglecting Him. Again, those are the thoughts that originate from the pit of hell.
Jesus will be there with open arms waiting to hold you and love you. There will be no condemnation for the missed opportunities only joy that you have chosen to spend time with Him. Our problem is that we just have no idea how much Jesus loves us. Really, I believe that is what this private worship is all about. I believe it is going to be through this private worship that we finally come to understand at least a fraction of His love for us.
In closing, just stay with it. If you have allowed some time to go, or if your mind has become a play ground for the enemy's lies, cast down those thoughts and take the next 5 minutes to worship Him. It will possibly be the best five minutes you have spent today. Just start.
This is one of the main reasons for this Blog. This Blog is to show you that no matter who you are there are going to be those times like I had today. What you need to understand is that even in the driest, most boring times of worshiping the Father and Jesus you are affecting change. The bottom line then is this, every time matters. Not only does every time matter, but every word that you speak matters. From the moment you begin till the moment you end, every single word of adoration offered to God matters. Not one word spoken to Him is without benefit.
Some of you are saying to yourself as you read this, "But I only have 'X' number of minutes to give to Him in worship and that can not be enough to really matter." I say again every word matters, every minute matters, everything matters. Stop allowing the enemy to minimize your efforts in your own eyes. The enemy's objective is to make you stop and he will lie to you and tell you anything he thinks will convince you to stop. But, I'm telling you that all those reasons you have been allowing yourself to believe that keep you out of worship are all birthed straight from the pit of hell.
One of the enemy's greatest weapons is this thought, "You are too busy today wait for tomorrow." Pretty soon a month of tomorrows go by and then the enemy hits you with this thought, "Oh, it has been too long now to try to go back into private worship, just forget it." I'm telling you that if he has not yet tried this one on you it is not far away. The best thing you can do when you hear this devilish suggestion is stop and take 5 minutes and worship God, or whatever few minutes you have just to come against those demonic thoughts. If you have already fallen prey to that particular attack just get back up and start again.
Starting a second time or a third time or a twentieth time into private worship can be a challenge. I suggest you begin by praying in tongues a while and step from tongues into worship. Jesus is not going to be standing there asking you where you have been and why you have been neglecting Him. Again, those are the thoughts that originate from the pit of hell.
Jesus will be there with open arms waiting to hold you and love you. There will be no condemnation for the missed opportunities only joy that you have chosen to spend time with Him. Our problem is that we just have no idea how much Jesus loves us. Really, I believe that is what this private worship is all about. I believe it is going to be through this private worship that we finally come to understand at least a fraction of His love for us.
In closing, just stay with it. If you have allowed some time to go, or if your mind has become a play ground for the enemy's lies, cast down those thoughts and take the next 5 minutes to worship Him. It will possibly be the best five minutes you have spent today. Just start.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Just another day of Private Worship
Something I have discovered about God is that He likes to "sneak" up on you and surprise you when you least expect Him. That's what happened to me today.
Today's worship time began with praying in tongues to help clear out some of the junk from my mind and then I started to worship Him. Nothing special, just the ordinary words that I have said a thousand times before. At times it just seemed like I was talking to the wall. I have had to train myself over time that I am speaking to God, whether I feel like I am or not. Feelings just don't matter at all. I am worshiping Him and He is receiving it, period.
So, I went on like this for a while and the next thing I know my words of worship have trailed off into sleep. Yes, I have nodded off. It happens to the best of us. Once I regained consciousness I got back to worshiping Him again. Why share this with you? Because, you are going to have the same fight as I do. It is inevitable. But, whatever you do, don't allow the enemy to beat you up about it. Oh, the enemy will try to tell you what a sorry excuse you are for falling asleep. That's because he is just mad that you are not worshiping him. More than that, the enemy can't believe that something so precious as worship has been made available to humans. Before his fall, the devil had a leadership position over heaven's worship and now he can only watch us common humans undertake this holy practice.
Finally, my head was clear and I got back to worship. Nothing else seemed different. My words were the same. My feelings and emotions were the same. It was dry. But then suddenly these words seemed to flood my spirit. It was like I could hear them and see them at the same time. "Son, I am so proud of you." This was followed by what I can only describe as an "embrace" by the Father. It was only for a moment, but what a moment it was. All the feelings were there. All the joy was there. For a moment, I could sense His pleasure for staying in there and worshiping Him.
My question to you then is this, What is it worth to you to have a moment like this? Is it worth fighting through the fatigue? Is it worth the hours of watching your words hit the floor? Just to hear your Father tell you He is proud of you is worth every moment. There is so much more to this Private Worship than we have realized. Our Father and Jesus must receive some kind of awesome blessing from our worship. All I know is that I am not going to stop. I want to find out where this will take me. I believe it has endless possibilities.
Today's worship time began with praying in tongues to help clear out some of the junk from my mind and then I started to worship Him. Nothing special, just the ordinary words that I have said a thousand times before. At times it just seemed like I was talking to the wall. I have had to train myself over time that I am speaking to God, whether I feel like I am or not. Feelings just don't matter at all. I am worshiping Him and He is receiving it, period.
So, I went on like this for a while and the next thing I know my words of worship have trailed off into sleep. Yes, I have nodded off. It happens to the best of us. Once I regained consciousness I got back to worshiping Him again. Why share this with you? Because, you are going to have the same fight as I do. It is inevitable. But, whatever you do, don't allow the enemy to beat you up about it. Oh, the enemy will try to tell you what a sorry excuse you are for falling asleep. That's because he is just mad that you are not worshiping him. More than that, the enemy can't believe that something so precious as worship has been made available to humans. Before his fall, the devil had a leadership position over heaven's worship and now he can only watch us common humans undertake this holy practice.
Finally, my head was clear and I got back to worship. Nothing else seemed different. My words were the same. My feelings and emotions were the same. It was dry. But then suddenly these words seemed to flood my spirit. It was like I could hear them and see them at the same time. "Son, I am so proud of you." This was followed by what I can only describe as an "embrace" by the Father. It was only for a moment, but what a moment it was. All the feelings were there. All the joy was there. For a moment, I could sense His pleasure for staying in there and worshiping Him.
My question to you then is this, What is it worth to you to have a moment like this? Is it worth fighting through the fatigue? Is it worth the hours of watching your words hit the floor? Just to hear your Father tell you He is proud of you is worth every moment. There is so much more to this Private Worship than we have realized. Our Father and Jesus must receive some kind of awesome blessing from our worship. All I know is that I am not going to stop. I want to find out where this will take me. I believe it has endless possibilities.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Introduction to "My Journey into PRIVATE WORSHIP"
My Journey into Private Worship began several years ago when I first heard Pastor Dave Roberson explaining what an awesome transformation had taken place in his own life as he spent extended periods of time in worship. I listened intently as he spoke about how God had given him specific instructions regarding how much time to spend in worship and how He wanted Pastor Dave to pursue this intimate relationship with Him.
As I listened to Pastor Dave teach and saw the change which had taken place in him I knew this Private Worship was for me. I went home to Florida and locked myself away in my back bedroom and proceeded to offer up my worship to Jesus. Days turned to weeks and weeks to months until finally the financial pressure was so great that I eventually found myself back in the work force and my extended times of worship had decreased to almost nothing.
Since then, my wife Debbie and I have moved to Tulsa, OK and now attend the Prayer Center, pastored by Dave Roberson. Frequently, the Lord has had me teach at our 8:30 am services. A couple of weeks prior to Labor Day the Lord directed me to begin once again to spend extended periods of time in Private Worship. I discovered that I was not having to start over from the beginning. Instead, it wasn't any time at all before I could see that I had merely picked up where I had left off in the process of developing in Private Worship.
One of the key verses in which Jesus talks about worship is in John, Chapter 4, when He met the woman at the well. It is in this encounter that Jesus made the statement, verse 24, "God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." When He said "in spirit", He was not describing a spiritual realm people reach when they say, "We are in the spirit." As if to say, "Finally, we pressed in hard enough until now we are 'in the spirit.'" No, that is not what Jesus was referring to. What Jesus was referring to was our reborn human spirit. Once we are born again our spirit man is reborn and we are finally able to communicate with God, spirit to Spirit. No one is capable of having such a relationship with Jesus until they are born again.
Now that we are born again, we are able to give our Heavenly Father and Jesus what they have wanted since time began. We are able to fellowship with our creator through the avenue of our spirit communing with Him.
As a result of this change, anywhere at any time we are capable of getting alone with God and offering up worship to Him.
Most people have never considered worship outside of the few moments spent at the beginning of most church services. Generally, a few songs are sung and that is the extent of the worship portion of the service. Too often, people stand singing songs about the love of Jesus all the while harboring hate in their heart for their neighbor. People stand and sing, maybe even lifting up their hands in worship, but their minds have ventured off down the street thinking about what will happen later that day or next week. Is this really worship?
Look again at what Jesus said in John 4, verse 23. The last part of this verse says, "for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." God has been seeking people who are able to offer Him worship out of this reborn human spirit. For Jesus to say that the Father is seeking this kind of person to offer to Him this worship is a very strong statement. He did not say God was seeking people through whom He could manifest miracles. He did not say God was seeking people through whom endless prayers could be prayed. No, He said specifically that God the Father seeks worshipers.
So, if God the Father is seeking worshipers with such a longing as only God can have then it only stands to reason that He must want something more than just lip service at the beginning of the church service.
Yes, in fact He wants much more of our time devoted to Him in worship. Our worship of God needs to become a lifestyle, but in order to reach that place there will be some dry times when our worship seems to fall from our lips to the floor. "I worship You, Jesus." The next sound we hear is, "Splat". That is the sound of our words falling to the floor. We get a spatula and toss them back up to God and once again say, "I worship You, Jesus". Once again, "Splat".
So, what's happening? Even when it seems our worship is getting no higher than our nose, rest assured God receives every word. Whether or not we feel anything is irrelevant. Too often, Christians make the mistake of thinking that because they feel nothing then nothing is happening. Wrong! The Journey we must make will require us to offer up our soul on the altar of worship until its lordship over our lives is broken. For most of us, this will not be a short journey. Slowly but surely as we stay in our closet and offer up worship to Him our flesh is being worn down little by little until finally one day His presence can come and stay because we have created a place for Him to dwell.
This is the journey we are embarking on together. Join me by scheduling daily time devoted to nothing but worship. Separate yourself from all the distractions and focus all your attention on Jesus and your Heavenly Father. Begin to tell God how much you love Him and adore Him. Don't stop. Continue offering up worship. Speak words of adoration. Slowly the minutes will go by. At times you might find that it is easier. Other times may seem like you are marking off the seconds until you are finished. Be diligent about doing this. One thing I can tell you from my own experience is that the more you do this the easier it becomes.
As the Lord leads me, I will post what I have experienced in my time of worship in order for you to see what you can expect. At times, I may post some additional teaching on the subject.
But, the main purpose for this Blog is to encourage you to either begin or continue to develop a lifestyle of worship. This could very well be one of the most revolutionary steps you have ever taken in your walk with Jesus.
I look forward to sharing with you my Journey Into Private Worship.
As I listened to Pastor Dave teach and saw the change which had taken place in him I knew this Private Worship was for me. I went home to Florida and locked myself away in my back bedroom and proceeded to offer up my worship to Jesus. Days turned to weeks and weeks to months until finally the financial pressure was so great that I eventually found myself back in the work force and my extended times of worship had decreased to almost nothing.
Since then, my wife Debbie and I have moved to Tulsa, OK and now attend the Prayer Center, pastored by Dave Roberson. Frequently, the Lord has had me teach at our 8:30 am services. A couple of weeks prior to Labor Day the Lord directed me to begin once again to spend extended periods of time in Private Worship. I discovered that I was not having to start over from the beginning. Instead, it wasn't any time at all before I could see that I had merely picked up where I had left off in the process of developing in Private Worship.
One of the key verses in which Jesus talks about worship is in John, Chapter 4, when He met the woman at the well. It is in this encounter that Jesus made the statement, verse 24, "God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." When He said "in spirit", He was not describing a spiritual realm people reach when they say, "We are in the spirit." As if to say, "Finally, we pressed in hard enough until now we are 'in the spirit.'" No, that is not what Jesus was referring to. What Jesus was referring to was our reborn human spirit. Once we are born again our spirit man is reborn and we are finally able to communicate with God, spirit to Spirit. No one is capable of having such a relationship with Jesus until they are born again.
Now that we are born again, we are able to give our Heavenly Father and Jesus what they have wanted since time began. We are able to fellowship with our creator through the avenue of our spirit communing with Him.
As a result of this change, anywhere at any time we are capable of getting alone with God and offering up worship to Him.
Most people have never considered worship outside of the few moments spent at the beginning of most church services. Generally, a few songs are sung and that is the extent of the worship portion of the service. Too often, people stand singing songs about the love of Jesus all the while harboring hate in their heart for their neighbor. People stand and sing, maybe even lifting up their hands in worship, but their minds have ventured off down the street thinking about what will happen later that day or next week. Is this really worship?
Look again at what Jesus said in John 4, verse 23. The last part of this verse says, "for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." God has been seeking people who are able to offer Him worship out of this reborn human spirit. For Jesus to say that the Father is seeking this kind of person to offer to Him this worship is a very strong statement. He did not say God was seeking people through whom He could manifest miracles. He did not say God was seeking people through whom endless prayers could be prayed. No, He said specifically that God the Father seeks worshipers.
So, if God the Father is seeking worshipers with such a longing as only God can have then it only stands to reason that He must want something more than just lip service at the beginning of the church service.
Yes, in fact He wants much more of our time devoted to Him in worship. Our worship of God needs to become a lifestyle, but in order to reach that place there will be some dry times when our worship seems to fall from our lips to the floor. "I worship You, Jesus." The next sound we hear is, "Splat". That is the sound of our words falling to the floor. We get a spatula and toss them back up to God and once again say, "I worship You, Jesus". Once again, "Splat".
So, what's happening? Even when it seems our worship is getting no higher than our nose, rest assured God receives every word. Whether or not we feel anything is irrelevant. Too often, Christians make the mistake of thinking that because they feel nothing then nothing is happening. Wrong! The Journey we must make will require us to offer up our soul on the altar of worship until its lordship over our lives is broken. For most of us, this will not be a short journey. Slowly but surely as we stay in our closet and offer up worship to Him our flesh is being worn down little by little until finally one day His presence can come and stay because we have created a place for Him to dwell.
This is the journey we are embarking on together. Join me by scheduling daily time devoted to nothing but worship. Separate yourself from all the distractions and focus all your attention on Jesus and your Heavenly Father. Begin to tell God how much you love Him and adore Him. Don't stop. Continue offering up worship. Speak words of adoration. Slowly the minutes will go by. At times you might find that it is easier. Other times may seem like you are marking off the seconds until you are finished. Be diligent about doing this. One thing I can tell you from my own experience is that the more you do this the easier it becomes.
As the Lord leads me, I will post what I have experienced in my time of worship in order for you to see what you can expect. At times, I may post some additional teaching on the subject.
But, the main purpose for this Blog is to encourage you to either begin or continue to develop a lifestyle of worship. This could very well be one of the most revolutionary steps you have ever taken in your walk with Jesus.
I look forward to sharing with you my Journey Into Private Worship.
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