Does the thought of spending any amount of time quietly sitting still and telling God how much you love and worship Him and Jesus sound impossible to you? So many of us have such busy lives that we wonder where we will find time to spend in worship. Well, consider this, something so simple as you telling God how much you love and adore Him brings Him immeasurable pleasure. However, it requires something that has become a rare commodity, your undivided attention.
If you were to ask most Christians what they think they will be doing for much of eternity, I believe a very high percentage would acknowledge that they would have an intimate, loving relationship with Jesus and the Father. Most would say they expect to enjoy times in His presence basking in His glory and free of all care. But, if asked, chances are those same people would have no clue that they can enjoy that same presence right now while still on this earth.
One thing I have discovered as I have endeavored to cultivate His presence in worship is that this is not a race to a finish line it is a journey. Some days the journey is rich with His presence full of joy and excitement knowing that you have the attention of the creator of the universe. Other days are a struggle trying to keep every thought focused on Him. Whether it is financial worries, family problems or just random thoughts, it is a challenge to keep your thoughts focused on Him.
Isaiah 26:3 says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee."
If you were to add all the hours I have spent in private worship and then subtracted the hours spent struggling, fighting with everything in me to keep my thoughts focused exclusively on Him, I am sad to say that I think the hours free of struggle would be very few.
Here's why; my soul thinks it is still in charge and fights endlessly to maintain control. For example, just today, I was sitting in my chair worshipping the Lord with all my attention focused on Him when all of a sudden off go my thoughts on a totally unrelated subject. Today, it wasn't necessarily worried thoughts, I think I was thinking about giving my dog a bath. But, nevertheless, my soul was in control for those few seconds. So, I regained control once again and with everything in me I focused on Jesus. I worshipped Him. I told Him how much I love Him. Next thing I know, my mind wants to think about food. If I let my mind, it will run all over the place thinking about one thing and then another. "What am I going to do today?" "Has anyone sent me an email?" "What is the weather forecast?" "I need to wash my truck?" The list goes on and on because the soul demands to be in control. The act of worshipping the Lord is birthed out of your reborn human spirit consequently your soul is gaining nothing from it, in fact it is losing its seat of dominance and it hates it. Your spirit soars with joy every second you give yourself over to worshipping God, while your soul pines away, sulking because it isn't in control.
Just consider your soul like a spoiled little brat always wanting his way and never growing up. Be stern and don't let it get by with anything. Maybe you don't even realize your thoughts have drifted until about 10 minutes later. Don't get upset. Crack the whip and demand your soul to shut up then put your attention back on the Lord.
Look back at that scripture once again. Look at those words, "perfect peace". Can you imagine perfect peace? Most people, Christians and non-Christians alike have no idea that "perfect peace" is even possible in this life, especially now with the financial downturn. To think that anything even remotely close to "perfect peace" is possible in this life is like a fairy tale to most.
Let me assure you that "perfect peace" is not a pipe dream. It flows like a river out of your new nature and can be accessed through private worship. His peace will role over you like waves across the water as you focus all your attention on His greatness and His all consuming love for you. He loves you. God, who set the sun and the moon in their orbit and spoke this world into existence loves you, that's right you, with a never ending love.
Crawl into His lap and put all your attention on Him as you worship Him and allow His "perfect peace" to engulf your entire being. That is what He wants for you.
~Blessings Mark
Showing posts with label struggle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label struggle. Show all posts
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
When Your Desire Is Gone
I'm sure it is safe to say that only the truly committed believer is interested in pressing into worship. Having said that, why is it that people who are so committed still only last a short period of time trying to break through all the barriers of flesh into worship before giving up? Please don't feel condemned when I say; if you have not stopped yet, most likely you will unless you do something to prevent it.
I, like you, have many of the same struggles trying to juggle the things in life that are necessary and still have time to spend with Jesus. What I am finding out is that no matter how hard we try to maintain our walk and go deeper into God, the flesh begins to get "thick" once again in areas we may have previously seen progress in. Private times of worship is one of those areas.
The Lord has directed me to do some things to address these issues with my own flesh in an effort to retake some of that ground that the flesh recaptured. You see, I have been noticing in my own walk that my time of private worship was being challenged. I know how important it is to continue to press on if I am ever going to really break through and go to the next level in my relationship with Him. What the Lord directed me to do may seem to you a bit drastic and maybe even unrelated to the problem at hand, but believe me it is not. He directed me to do was to Fast. Yes, Fast. I know that is probably not what you want to hear, but let me share with you what I have discovered.
When the Lord sent me down this path into private worship it was clearly a mandate from Him and I charged in ready to conquer it. The fact is, developing a lifestyle of private personal worship is not accomplished over night and it is not something you conquer and then go onto the next assignment. Your objective is to establish a pattern for the rest of your life of intimate fellowship with your Father and Jesus which will follow you into heaven and eternity. Your enemy is not at all interested in you taking the first step down this path. But, for those of you who have won that battle and are already making your way down that path, his job is to sideline you and get you to the place where you are not interested in pressing in any longer. Somewhere along the way you lose that desire to go on and before you know it weeks have gone by and you have not spent any time at all worshiping your Father. This is usually followed by the enemy telling you what a loser you are and how you failed again so why even try to get back up and worship. Can you identify with what I am saying? The next thing you know there is absolutely no desire whatsoever to worship and so you stop.
If you find yourself in this situation, whether it be worship or prayer or whatever spiritual endeavor you are being resisted in, a sure cure for the "I don't cares" is a dose of fasting. Whether you fast for a few meals or a day or a few days it will not take long before your "I don't care" attitude turns into pure desire rising up out of your spirit to do what before seemed impossible. Your emotions can be so strong and if they are working against you spiritually then they must be turned and fasting is how we can turn them. Before you know it, that thick flesh will begin to give way to your born again spirit and your desire to worship will return and you are on your way. What is interesting to me is how quickly you are able to see the true desire emerging out of your spirit. All it takes is for you to put a little pressure on your flesh and before you know it that "want to" to worship is back on line.
Some of you are saying, I need to see some scripture telling me to fast. That is real easy. In Luke 5:33 Jesus is speaking to the scribes and Pharisees who had just asked why John the Baptist and his disciples fasted often but He and his disciples did not. Jesus began to question them about whether or not the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is still with them. He is clearly speaking about Himself and the fact that He was present with them, but would soon be gone. He then says,
Luke 5:35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
We are living in those days. Fasting is not fun and we really need to be cautious how we fast. It is never wise to fast if you have any kind of medical condition before seeking the counsel of your physician. The goal is not to hurt our bodies and we need to make sure we don't. I have found for myself that fasting one day and eating the next and fasting the next is a very good way to get control of my flesh without hurting myself. Sometimes on those fasting days I will not just limit myself to water, but I will drink some fruit juice or if I am working and really feel my body getting weak I will eat a piece of fruit. Most important of all is to learn to listen to our body and not to push it beyond what is safe. Again, consult your doctor to make sure fasting is okay for your body. Everyone's body is different and we need to make sure we are doing what is right for our own body.
Finally, If you are someone who has been struggling and you decide to do some fasting, I would love to hear how fasting has benefited you. Please take a few minutes and write a few lines about the difference you discovered once you fasted. Tell us how your worship was directly impacted by your fasting. I'm sure others would be blessed and encouraged by your testimony.
I, like you, have many of the same struggles trying to juggle the things in life that are necessary and still have time to spend with Jesus. What I am finding out is that no matter how hard we try to maintain our walk and go deeper into God, the flesh begins to get "thick" once again in areas we may have previously seen progress in. Private times of worship is one of those areas.
The Lord has directed me to do some things to address these issues with my own flesh in an effort to retake some of that ground that the flesh recaptured. You see, I have been noticing in my own walk that my time of private worship was being challenged. I know how important it is to continue to press on if I am ever going to really break through and go to the next level in my relationship with Him. What the Lord directed me to do may seem to you a bit drastic and maybe even unrelated to the problem at hand, but believe me it is not. He directed me to do was to Fast. Yes, Fast. I know that is probably not what you want to hear, but let me share with you what I have discovered.
When the Lord sent me down this path into private worship it was clearly a mandate from Him and I charged in ready to conquer it. The fact is, developing a lifestyle of private personal worship is not accomplished over night and it is not something you conquer and then go onto the next assignment. Your objective is to establish a pattern for the rest of your life of intimate fellowship with your Father and Jesus which will follow you into heaven and eternity. Your enemy is not at all interested in you taking the first step down this path. But, for those of you who have won that battle and are already making your way down that path, his job is to sideline you and get you to the place where you are not interested in pressing in any longer. Somewhere along the way you lose that desire to go on and before you know it weeks have gone by and you have not spent any time at all worshiping your Father. This is usually followed by the enemy telling you what a loser you are and how you failed again so why even try to get back up and worship. Can you identify with what I am saying? The next thing you know there is absolutely no desire whatsoever to worship and so you stop.
If you find yourself in this situation, whether it be worship or prayer or whatever spiritual endeavor you are being resisted in, a sure cure for the "I don't cares" is a dose of fasting. Whether you fast for a few meals or a day or a few days it will not take long before your "I don't care" attitude turns into pure desire rising up out of your spirit to do what before seemed impossible. Your emotions can be so strong and if they are working against you spiritually then they must be turned and fasting is how we can turn them. Before you know it, that thick flesh will begin to give way to your born again spirit and your desire to worship will return and you are on your way. What is interesting to me is how quickly you are able to see the true desire emerging out of your spirit. All it takes is for you to put a little pressure on your flesh and before you know it that "want to" to worship is back on line.
Some of you are saying, I need to see some scripture telling me to fast. That is real easy. In Luke 5:33 Jesus is speaking to the scribes and Pharisees who had just asked why John the Baptist and his disciples fasted often but He and his disciples did not. Jesus began to question them about whether or not the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is still with them. He is clearly speaking about Himself and the fact that He was present with them, but would soon be gone. He then says,
Luke 5:35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
We are living in those days. Fasting is not fun and we really need to be cautious how we fast. It is never wise to fast if you have any kind of medical condition before seeking the counsel of your physician. The goal is not to hurt our bodies and we need to make sure we don't. I have found for myself that fasting one day and eating the next and fasting the next is a very good way to get control of my flesh without hurting myself. Sometimes on those fasting days I will not just limit myself to water, but I will drink some fruit juice or if I am working and really feel my body getting weak I will eat a piece of fruit. Most important of all is to learn to listen to our body and not to push it beyond what is safe. Again, consult your doctor to make sure fasting is okay for your body. Everyone's body is different and we need to make sure we are doing what is right for our own body.
Finally, If you are someone who has been struggling and you decide to do some fasting, I would love to hear how fasting has benefited you. Please take a few minutes and write a few lines about the difference you discovered once you fasted. Tell us how your worship was directly impacted by your fasting. I'm sure others would be blessed and encouraged by your testimony.
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