Unbolt The Door To Your Heart

Tag: worship

  • Worshiping for the right reasons.

    “And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.  And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. Acts 16:22-24 KJV

    These verses set the atmosphere for the most important aspect of worship any of us can begin to learn.

    What is true worship? Worship meant to change us not our circumstances?

    I am not going to attempt to completely answer the first question. I will attempt to give you things to think about when you talk to the Holy Spirit.

    Worship is not about us or what we get out of it. You should not worship, or go to a worship service so that we feel good or get a blessing out of it. Many times I hear people say, “I did not get anything out of that worship service”.  That is proof you came to worship for the wrong reasons.  Worship is what you are offering God. Every single instance of any worship in heaven around the throne is about the elders and angels singing and shouting the blessings and the greatness of God. They did not come to get blessed, they are there to be a blessing to God. You should not come to be blessed. You are to worship to show God and show others about the saving grace of your Savior. You are there to bless others with your praise and thanksgiving of the wonderful blessings of God. You are not at worship or church for your benefit. That may sound harsh, but the elders and angels were not surrounding God for their benefit.  They were only there to worship and praise the God that had already blessed them. Worship is for you to return to God your praise for those blessings.

    Paul and Silas had been beaten badly, unjustly and did not deserve any of what we would consider punishment. They were bleeding with open wounds.  They were cast down into the darkest depths, an inner room.  The light from the sun has never entered. The only light that ever entered was when the Jailer used a torch to enter so he could see.  Foul, smelling worse than anything you can imagine.  The cleaning crew does not go down there. To make matters worse they were put in stocks. They were setting in foul and filth. They were not there alone. There were many other prisoners chained in the darkness.

    And now the wake-up call that all of us need!

    “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16: 25-30 KJV

    This set of verses are so important for what you read and what you do not read in these verses. 

    You do not read about complaints, or negativity directed toward the government or authorities. You do not read about any negativity toward anything that has happened to them. Justly or unjustly. They were not praying for their release from the darkness and shackles. They are not crying out to the Lord for any benefit for themselves.

    What are they doing?  They are singing and praying out loud, not silently.  Why? So that the other prisoners would be blessed by their worship.  The other prisoners did not need to hear about any pain and suffering that Paul and Silas were going through. The people around you do not need to hear about any troubles, pain, that you are going through. They only need to hear your praising God. The people coming to your worship service should see you singing, praising God with hands held high, swaying and moving like no one else is watching but God. Not standing with hands in pockets and barely moving your lips in a whisper.  You are Praising God. You are not there for your benefit. You are there for their benefit. 

    Then God caused a great earthquake that broke open the chains and doors and walls. Many of you may think this was for the benefit of Paul and Silas. To break them out of the dungeon. God had already blessed Paul and Silas by keeping them alive and not dead after the beatings. They were praising God for that and not requesting or expecting deliverance. They were content with the circumstances.  How do we know they were content?  They did not run when given the opportunity. The other prisoners understood this too.  They could have run and been running from the law for many years.  But they understood that standing and staying with men that can praise God in their troubles is better than freedom in the world.

    The earthquake was only to get the attention of the Jailer and the other prisoners. It was not meant for the benefit of Paul and Silas. They knew they were in God’s hands.  Others needed to see that and experience they also were in the presence of God.

    This is one of the most important things for any of us to learn and remember.  “Deliverence” no matter what shape it comes in, is not for your benefit.  It is there for you to be a witness to others about God’s great saving power.

    God promises you to be with you in the shadow of death. He may allow you to go into the shadow of death. You need to be content with those circumstances. He is allowing you to be beaten and thrown into shackles for His Glory. God has a bigger picture than any of us can understand or comprehend.

    “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God”. Romans 8:28 KJV

    The words “all things” mean just that. All things, good or bad, painful or joyful, just or unjust, work for your benefit.  You are in God’s hand. Your name is written on His palms.  Now stand up and shout the praises of the one you planned your salvation even before the creation of this world. That is LOVE!

    You are not called to just sit still and listen to a sermon and go home and have a potluck.  You are called to let the whole world know what God has done for you this week.  Go to worship God and sing His praises.  Do not go to a worship service to be blessed.  You will not be blessed  and you will only hear the words of dread when Jesus comes. “I do not know you”.

    You are meant to be a blessing to others.

    Remember it is not a religion, it is a relationship.

    Prayers and Love for all.

    Larry 

  • Relationship

    A Harvard study on Health and Wellness.

    The project has followed 724 men since they were teenagers in 1938. (Approximately 60 men, now in their 90s, are still left.) The group consisted of men from various economic and social backgrounds, from Boston’s poorest neighborhoods to Harvard undergrads. Over the years, the researchers have collected all kinds of health information, and every two years they ask members questions about their lives and their mental and emotional wellness. They even interview family members.

    Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, says one of the biggest surprises they encountered was that what makes people happy is also what helps keep them healthy — relationships. We started wondering whether we could look back at our participants’ lives in middle age and see what the biggest predictors were of who’s going to be happy and healthy by age 80. We thought that cholesterol level or blood pressure at age 50 would be more important. They were not. It was satisfaction in their relationships, particularly in their marriages, that was the best predictor of a happy and healthy life.

    The Harvard Study has found a strong association between happiness and close relationships like spouses, family, friends, and social circles. “Personal connection creates mental and emotional stimulation, which are automatic mood boosters, while isolation is a mood buster,” says Dr. Waldinger.

    The Study goes on to talk about increase in all aspects of health and happiness, living longer and better mentally and physically. Why? Because of healthy relationships.

    This study is just confirming what God’s word has been trying to teach since it was written. It is about your relationship with Jesus that saves you and increases your lifespan to eternity. 

    It is very important to live a healthy life, eat right, exercise, etc. Yet those that did it in social isolation did not have the same benefits as those that did it in a loving relationship. It was good to follow all the rules of healthy living, but it did not bring about the same results as living with a relationship that is filled with Love.

    Keeping all of Jesus’s teaching, the laws and commandments are very beneficial to your life.  Yet they have no association with the greatest benefit, which is eternal life.  Only a relationship with Jesus can get you that benefit.

    “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” Ephesians 1: 3-8 NIV

    Oh, what peace these verses bring to my life today.  I was chosen to be holy, blameless, and forgiven for my sins before the world was ever created. How you ask?  “blessing in Christ” and “in Him”.   Because of Jesus, God the Father has chosen me to be forgiven of my sins, blameless before the throne and holy.  I am wearing a white robe that has been washed in the Blood of Jesus.

    My name is written in the book of Life.  It did not get there by any action, behavior, habit, law keeping, or being perfect.  The only thing I can do is accept this free gift and to start living a life that shows I value this free gift.  Start living in a relationship that shows I appreciate that He loved me before I was born.

    I worship on the sabbath because I value what Jesus did for me.  I do not worship or go to church because it earns me any salvation. Not everyone in your church understands this free gift.  You can tell it by how they are praising Jesus for the gift of salvation. Are they singing and praising God uncontrollably or barely whispering the words.

    King David sang, danced and praised God, like no one was watching.  “Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might”. 2 Samuel 6:14 NIV

    God is watching how you praise and worship Him for saving you through Jesus.  Are you singing, dancing and praising Him like no one is watching? Does God know by your enthusiasm of worship every day that you appreciate what He has done?

    A simple thank-you is not going to work.  A life that is living in a relationship with Jesus is the only way to show your appreciation for what God did.

    There are people that are living by the law, living it perfectly, and they will list off all the times they went to church and did what they felt would get God’s attention, and yet on that Judgement Day Jesus will look at them with tears in His eyes and say “I do not know You”.  Matthew 7:22-33.

    Remember it is not a religion, It is a relationship.

    Prayers and Love for all.

    Larry