For God So Loved…

Passover, to Unleavened Bread, to First Fruits. All a beautiful leading up to the Risen King.

What does this mean?

This is how we are no longer bound by sin and shame but we are set free in Him and can worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Death is now defeated and we are alive in Him forever.

What did Yeshua do for us? 

He made a way. When you feel bound by your sin, when you feel defeated, when you feel hopeless, remember what He did for you. He died FOR YOU. He died and then He rose so that you could live a life with Him by your side everyday. He came as a man and left as a King. You know all that sin you are embarrassed about? Ashamed of? He can forgive it, and He can give you eternal life. Lay your sin out before Him and confess it because He is just to forgive it.

I am Unworthy

You feel unworthy of His sacrifice? So do I. I daily say, “Lord, why me? I am so unworthy. Why did You die for me?” He is so kind, so good, so loving. He says that we are beautiful in His sight, we are white as snow when we confess our sins to Him. He moves mountains for us, He heals us, He fills us with His presence. He does so much for us that we do not deserve. He doesn’t want Heaven without us, so that is why He tore the veil. He desires to be close to us, to have a relationship with us. Without Him dying on the cross we would not have that closeness with Him. You ARE worthy, you are worth it to Him. Don’t ever forget it. In your time of distress, remember Him, remember His love…

He Loves Us

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,” 1 Peter 3:18

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” 1 John 3:16

“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed…”Isaiah 53:1-12

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Today we celebrate the Risen King. We worship Him, give Him thanks and honor for what He did on the cross. He is coming again.

For God so loved the world… He made a way where there was no way. He freely gave His life, now I owe my life to Him. Make that commitment today. Give Him your all. He deserves all the glory and honor. Amen! He is risen and He is coming back again!

Reasons and Excuses for Worship

Reasons To Not Worship

“Too Shy”

“I am too shy for worship… I don’t want people to stare at me. What will they think of me? I look ridiculous.”

These are what I like to call excuses for not worshiping. For not lifting your hands in praise to our King. One thing we have to get straight is WHO CARES? When we worship, it should not matter what others think about you. You are not worshiping for their sake, so they can see how “holy” you are. The only reason for worship is to lift up the name of my King, to let His praise ever be on my lips! Why are you shy? Why does it feel like the world is looking down on me when I lift my hands? Why is it that all I think about when I lift my hands to praise is shame and embarrassment? These are questions I once had before my true encounter with the Lord.

Why Is It So Hard?

What I want to point out is, it is not hard. All the feelings you have of fear is not God. All the shame, not Him. You are thinking too much about pleasing people and not about what the Lord sees in you. He delights in YOU. He delights in dancing over you and seeing you sacrifice yourself for Him. When we lift our hands in praise it is a sacrifice to God because we are denying the feelings of embarrassment and pleasing others to worship Him. When you lift your hands things happen. When you deny yourself chains inside begin to break and you begin to feel His presence, you begin to feel set free. ‘

Reasons To Worship

Why not worship? He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords! Why not praise Him? He deserves it. He is worthy of all our praise and worship, isn’t He? Worship is like showing your affection to Him, showing your commitment, showing your love for Him. When I worship I just begin to thank Him for all He has done for me. He fights for me everyday even when I am having a bad day and I do not talk to Him at all, He still blesses me, He still loves me, so how can I not praise Him? Worship is the closest thing to Heaven on earth. That is what I can compare it to. I love the lyrics to this new Hillsong song called, “What A Beautiful Name”. It reads, “You didn’t want Heaven without us, so Jesus (Yeshua) You brought Heaven down. My sin was great, Your love was greater, so what can separate us now?” I just love that verse. Yeshua did not want Heaven without us and that is why He died for us, He wanted to be close to us because He loves us. When we praise Him we are thanking Him for the things He has done, for what He did, and what He is going to do in the future.

Worship In Everything

I was listening to a interview the other day with Jenn Johnson and was talking about worship. Her father in-law was in the car with her and she was frustrated with her kids and she said, “Mommy hat off, worship hat on.” In an instant her father in-law replies, “The problem is, is the worship hat never should have come off.” I love that. No matter where you are, you are always in a state of worship. We do not just wait to be in His presence when we go to service once a week or a prayer meeting, the worship NEVER ENDS. I talk under my breath constantly… I am always praying. I am always communicating with my King because I do not know what to do without Him. I come to my church expecting to meet with Him because on the Sabbath our level of holiness is lifted higher than any other normal day and the Father has a meeting with us. So when I come, I come ready, I come already filled with His spirit, I come expecting to be healed, to be set free, to be filled with the joy of His presence. In everything, praise the Lord. When I wake up the first thing that should come out of my mouth is “Thank You for waking me up this morning and breathing Your breath into my lungs.” Let your day be filled with thanksgiving for the things God is doing in your life. He is always dong something for you whether you know it or not.

Worship Setting

There is so much joy involved in being apart of a worship service with other people who are expecting to meet with God the same as you. The most beautiful sound in the world, in my opinion, is the sound of a new song being sang from Gods people in a state of worship. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, a new song is a term used for a spontaneous song from the Holy Spirit. It is the stillness between songs, the moment when the music continues but all you hear is new songs coming from peoples hearts as they lift their praises to the King. It is so beautiful. Worship changes your life, your attitude, your mind… Everything you do will change because of worship. Your health will even be changed. When you are in a constant state of joy and peace you will physically feel good and healthy. If you’re always sad, always down cast, not full of hope, not full of joy, your bones will ache and your heart will sting with bitterness and depression.

Worship Sets You Free

Worship will set you free, because Yeshua is invited in, the Holy Spirit is flowing through the place you are worshiping and touching people. Have you seen altar calls? People who go to the front of the stage and bow down to God to give up things that is not of Him because they desire to be closer to Him, they desire to be set free. Usually others feel led to bow down, or someone will feel led to go up and pray for those who are asking. As a body of Messiah we work together to help each other to be set free from bondage. Yeshua can set you free from sickness, depression, anxiety, fear, worry, sexual addictions, lust… All these things you lay down at the feet of Yeshua. My father in-law told me something that I will never forget. He said this,

“When you meet with Yeshua face to face are you gonna shake His hand or lay at His feet?”

That line says it all. This is how we need to treat worship. When you worship you are coming to meet with Yeshua, to lay yourself down in surrender. To not think of what everyone else thinks and think of what God must feel to see His children laying at His feet in awe of ALL that He is and thanking Him. What joy He must feel…

Scriptures About Worship

“Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done wonderful things,
things planned long ago” Isaiah 25:1

“Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you.” Exodus 23:25

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” Psalm 150:6

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:24

“Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” Psalm 103:1

“You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

“My mouth is filled with your praise,
declaring your splendor all day long.” Psalm 71:8

“Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Habakkuk 3:17-18

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.” 2 Samuel 7:22