Tag: author of our faith

Honoring God Through Worship

Genesis 12:8
From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

Through our study of the Word, we find that Abraham was a forerunner in establishing a culture of worship. At the end of each of his journey segments, Abraham built an altar for the Lord from which he worshiped. He built the altars to set up and keep up the worship of God in his family. He maintained the ceremonial part of religion, the offering of sacrifice and he nurtured the practice of seeking his God. He preached concerning the name of the Lord. He taught his family and neighbors the knowledge of the true God.

Abraham showed us that the practice of honoring God through worship is an ongoing need. As he moved from station to station, at times unsettled in the midst of enemies, wherever he pitched his tent, he built an altar to worship Almighty God.

We can learn great lessons from Abraham by applying his worship principles to our own daily lives. If we consider each day a journey, we should conclude each journey by finding a quiet place to worship God. If our daily journey takes us away from our homes, let us not fail to take our worship practices along with us.

As Abraham did, let us establish a place of worship at the end of each journey no matter where we are located. At the end of each day’s journey, let us practice to separate ourselves from all of our daily activities and spend our time in worship with Our Lord.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for placing a desire in our hearts to worship You. We pray that You show us how to come to you each day to worship you in a manner that pleases you. Strengthen us and guide us, Lord, so that we are able to find a quiet place and time each day. We ask that the Holy Spirit help us separate our minds from all of the daily issues of the world so that we may focus on You alone. We pray these things in the name of the author of our faith, Jesus Christ.

Aligning Our Mindset with Christ

Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.

Jesus was well aware that the mindset of the individuals around Him was a critical determinant in their ability and desire to accept His teaching. Jesus knew that many of the people that He was trying to reach set up blockades to learning because they granted authority only to their logic, tradition, culture and emotional feelings. They would not accept the truth and authority of the King of Kings. Thus they closed the door on the truth in His teaching. Ultimately, He closed the door on them.

As parents, teachers or caretakers, we understand the joy and the pleasure of an obedient and respectful child. The obedient child’s constant compliance to our instruction melts our hearts. Their demeanor invites instruction. It is easy and very natural for us to give compliant and respectful children greater responsibility because we are confident that they will handle the responsibility appropriately.

So it is when we become new born babes in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Almighty God rejoices when we are obedient and we demonstrate our faithful compliance to His laws, His commands, His Holy Word and His callings on our lives. When we come to Him humbly and in awe of who He is, He rewards us with more knowledge, more wisdom and more responsibility in His kingdom.

Let us seek to sit at the feet of Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, with the same eagerness as children sitting around a story teller. Let us be childlike as we delightfully soak in all that we hear. Let us be even more childlike as we learn to accept all the teachings of Jesus Christ in complete faith.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for receiving us as innocent babes in Christ. We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible that we could stand before You in righteousness. We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who inspires us to come to You as expectant as young children who go to their fathers eager to learn about the world and anxious for their dreams to be fulfilled. We pray for the grace to please You in all that we do. We ask that You release to us the knowledge that we do not have and the wisdom we seek. May it all be for Your glory and the gain of Your kingdom. We ask all these things in the name of the Author of Our Faith, Jesus Christ.