The sun is up! A day! Another day! I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Awareness of the beauty of the day! The blue of the sky! The sound of the wind and voices of loved ones! The opportunity to smile! The ability to wonder, to experience our unfolding humanness! To savor life, to feel, to sense, to be! The promise of forgiveness and hope and joy!

These are a few of the gifts of our lives. Are you awake and aware and alert to these?

How wonderfully challenging is the magnificence of breath after breath, blink after blink, one moment following another moment. This is what we have been given by grace. This is what we call life.

We did not get it by ourselves. We did not work for it. It was a gift. It is just a small space of time in which we experience this ”thing” we experience daily is the gift of life. And, Someone is the Giver!

Yes, to be sure, this life is a temporary one, yet it is full of mystery, with highs and lows, peaks and valleys, wonderment and awe.

Each breath is granted; each breath is an endowment, from our first to our last. These breaths come to us without any warranty on their quality and without a minimum guaranteed number of inhales and exhales. But, each one is a GIFT of life!

And, while there is life, there is reason to rejoice in hope. Friends, HOPE is an eternal truth, while hopelessness is a dark, foreboding short-lived lie that steals from us the joys tucked away, waiting to be discovered each day.

There’s been many a man who has left off rejoicing at the sight of the morning sun. There’s been many a man who has cursed his day. And, there’s been many a man who, having cursed his day, has lived on to find the happiness and sunshine that was just temporarily hidden behind his clouded sky.

We’ve all probably seen the cartoon of the frazzled, disheveled office worker who looks like she’s just lost a tussle with a gang of hooligans. She says flatly, “I usually take just one day at a time, but recently, several have been attacking me all at once.” Now, that’s just plain funny! And, most of us can easily identify with her.

Yes, sometimes certain events of life can seem overwhelming! But, the truth is life does appear for all of us just one day at a time.

And, life’s struggles need not be overwhelming. We can wake up to the truth of hope. Hope is the precious commodity that is missing when we humans feel overwhelmed.

Why hope? Because there is REASON for hope! There is an ultimate reality behind that hope.

What underlies our hope? What is that ultimate reality?

It is the existence of a truly awesome, all-powerful, creative, merciful God whose dominant characteristic is love.

Friends, hope in the true God is NEVER misplaced. This reality is reason enough to rejoice each and every day. This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Before long, the Creator will step back into our earthly realm of existence so that He can be seen by every human eye. There is such a plan being worked out here on this earth, moment by moment, day by day. A plan so good, it is beyond the wildest notions of human imagination.

This God is full of purpose, on a mission, and shall not be deterred from accomplishing His intent. And, THIS God wants you to get to know Him. Just past this challenging temporary life is a permanent paradise God has designed.

Oh, yes, there is REASON for hope! Oh, yes, there is reason to rejoice!

Don’t let another day go by without an encounter with the One who made you, loves you infinitely more than you can imagine, and who intends to share His eternity future with you. Call us or contact us online. We can introduce you to Him. Or, if you have already met briefly, but have lost contact with Him, we’d love to assist in your reunion.

Communicating with the Source of hope is easy. A person can link to on-going joy in an instant. One just needs the right connections. It’s really that simple. It’s the way life works!

There could be many reasons why someone would fail to pray. One reason involves the feeling of many Christians give that their prayers are blocked. Because of this, they begin to lose heart about praying, and therefore fail to pray as often or sincerely as they might otherwise.

Sometimes we may fail to pray because “Life is Good!” In fact, it is probably easiest to neglect prayer when life is going well, when our day-to-day needs are being met regularly. We live in such a privileged society; we have a glut of “stuff.” And, in the midst of this abundance, when we do pray, sometimes it is to ask for more of the stuff. Sometimes life has to get down and gloomy. Sometimes we have to feel desperate.

Another reason to neglect prayer is that some of us like a little challenge to life – to keep it interesting. Perhaps, we may like to take on the world so we can feel adequate. Some of us really enjoy feeling we have accomplished and neglect giving credit to God.

On the other hand, some people neglect prayer because they feel too inadequate or unworthy to pray. This reason is truly bogus because none of us can count on any worthiness we may think we have. Jesus has to get ALL of the credit for paying the price that we can come to God!

Some people may think God is angry with them and would not want to listen to them. Some people are themselves angry with God and simply do not want to admit it.

Sometimes we may not take the time to pray because we do not like being humbled! That’s one of the things that prayer is suppose to do for us – humble us.

Others of us may be too numbed. We may be so filled up, surfeited and over indulged to be concerned about others and in denial about how fragile, needy, and vulnerable we really are.

We neglect prayer sometimes because it just does not seem to be the magnificent gift that it is.

Too busy! Too tired! Don’t feel like it right now!

Does one whole day go by without prayer? How about several days? I mean prayer ON OUR KNEES. We know we “should,” so why don’t we? Some of us may wrangle with a choice to pray at the moment, but then think of something else and distract ourselves.

Do we realize how ESSENTIAL prayer is to our salvation (Hebrews 2:3)? Prayer is an INTEGRAL part of God’s plan to be close to us now and forever.

It’s at the darkest times in our lives that we tend to really pray. When our life is in turmoil, and we deeply need God, then is when we turn to earnest, heartfelt prayer.

Sometimes we really do pray, and then… sometimes we play at praying.

Let’s all be honest! Some of us fail to pray because of sheer apathy or sheer laziness. We can bore ourselves with our own repetitive requests. And, many, many of us simply allow ourselves to be distracted. There are many excuses other than the ones mentioned here….

Now, before we condemn ourselves as we admit some lack of consistent prayer, let us remember that our flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41, Mark 14:38, Romans 8:3), and that we CAN make better choices about praying. Our heavenly Father knows all about our inadequacies, including those dealing with prayer. And, He knows we are just vulnerable and frail; our fame is dust.

Psalm 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

It can be a very productive thing to prayerfully examine possible motives for neglecting prayer.

God’s Beauty and Holiness

The Bible links “beauty” with worshipping God in holiness.

The Bible reveals many of the beautiful qualities of God’s nature.  As we come to know God on a personal and intimate basis, we get glimpses of His incredible beauty.  His nature is so generous, giving, and genuine we really do find that God Himself is very, very beautiful!

God also loves beauty in His creation and has set out a plan for our relating to Him in worship where He makes us beautiful as we worship Him.  He greatly desires that we be beautiful, and He greatly desires that we worship Him as our Lord.

Psalm 45:11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.

1 Chronicles 16:29 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name: bring an offering, and come before Him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.


Psalm 29:2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Psalm 96:9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before Him, all the earth.

Our Beauty and Holiness Comes As a Gift From God’s Presence in Our Lives

How do we come to have the holiness and beauty that our King and our Lord is greatly desiring for us?

Such beauty and holiness comes to us as we worship God in Spirit and Truth.  We receive those qualities as we devote time to be in God’s presence.  People tend to become what they admire and worship.  They tend to grow more and more like what they admire.

The true God is beautiful and forever holy.  His worshippers will be beautiful and forever holy, also.  The beauty of a true believer is a gift of God’s own holiness and beauty upon us.  We find this truth in Psalm 90 where the Psalmist (Moses) indicates that the beauty that we can have is actually “the beauty of the Lord our God” that is upon us.

Psalm 90:17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Like all of God’s other special gifts to us, we are to recognize these gifts, acknowledge them, and maintain them. God’s own holiness requires we have it to be in His presence.  He is God.  He knows exactly how to perfect exactly what He wants.  And, He will settle for nothing less than that which He perfects!  God’s children will be beautiful and holy as they worship our Beautiful and Holy God.

While preparing for these annual Feasts of the Lord, let us remember that there are physical and spiritual activities to keep in mind.  Of course, the spiritual is the most important.  However, how we use our efforts and energies to prepare for the Passover season is very important.  We need the proper instruction (necessary knowledge), understanding, and wisdom to prepare properly in a physical sense as well as in a spiritual sense.  One of the important things we do is de-leaven our homes and cars.  As we de-leaven our homes and cars, let us be sure to de-leaven ourselves.

Leavening is an agent that puffs up dough.  God uses this analogy in several places in the Bible (example: 1 Corinthians 5:2-7).  It is not always clear to us which items are leavened or are leavening agents.  Hopefully, recognizing common leaven and items below that may have leavening will help us to be alert.

• Items that are considered to leaven:

Yeast, baking powder, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate – when an acid is added), and potassium bicarbonate (potash), trisodium orthophosphate, tripotassium phosphate (as in Cheerios), sodium phosphate

• Many items that commonly (but not always) contain leavening agents:

Bread, cake, crackers, cookies, some cereals, cream puffs, donuts.

• An example of an item that does not commonly have leavening is pie crust (yet, some do, therefore we need to check the ingredients list).
• Items that are not necessarily leavening agents because they do not
  puff up by themselves:

Brewer’s yeast, yeast extract (a flavoring, often found in canned soup), cornstarch, cream of tartar, autolyzed yeast, torula yeast, ammonium carbonate (baker’s ammonia), ammonium bicarbonate (hartshorn), sourdough starter, tartrate powder, alum, sodium aluminum sulfate, sodium caseinate, polysorbate 60, egg whites.

• Do not be fooled because a bread product looks flat.  Many flat items contain leavening.  Be sure to read the ingredients.  Examples of this are items like pita bread and flour tortillas.  We have even found leavening in matzos that some people use for Passover.

NOTE: While there are homemade foods that look fluffy that do not have leavening, perhaps we need to avoid them during the Days of Unleavened Bread based on the verse in 1 Thessalonians 5 that tells us to avoid even the appearance of evil.  Examples of these are cream puffs and angel food cake.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. 

 Learn to read labels.  Our family motto is “if in doubt, throw it out.”  If it looks puffed up maybe we need to leave it alone.  Being cautious is a good thing.  Yet, we need not suspect everything.

During Unleavened Bread we are to have no leaven or leavened products in our home.

Exodus 12:15,19 (15) Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. (19) Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.

Exodus 13:7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.

When people usually think of houses or temples of worship, they obviously have a church building of some sort in mind.  However, there are some other common places of worship.  Some of the places of worship have simply been open altars that were built to hold large sacrificial animals.

Of course, these places of worship people use may be quite diverse.  We can see from Scripture that in the Old Testament, places of worship varied greatly, for example, there is the altar Noah built, the altar Abraham used, the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the Temple at Jerusalem.

An important aspect of these places of worship was that the worshippers were not to defile these locations of worship in any way. They were very special areas because these places of worship foreshadowed a very distinctive and unique future Temple for worship.

The ancient sites had been set apart for acts of true worship by those faithful believers, like Noah, Abraham, and Moses.  Believers have considered these sites to be holy because of the reason they were apart. Today, many church members of numerous denominations also tend to consider their houses of worship as very special.  Some consider the spaces to be holy.

Today, that distinctive and unique Temple that God is constructing is a very special spiritual Temple. There are Bible passages that show that the Temple God is building is also holy. The construction of that Temple apparently began with the giving of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost following the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The Apostle Paul grasped the spectacular meaning in what God was doing toward this spiritual Temple, which is now referred to commonly as the Church of God.  Realizing God’s purpose, Paul fervently warned the believers in Corinth about defiling that Temple.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (16) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (17) If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Yes, the Temple of God is special.  It is holy.  Notice the last few words of 1 Corinthians 3:17.  Those words tell us that we (true believers) are now the Temple of God that God is building.

As true believers, do we consider ourselves to be holy as God’s Word describes?  We are holy!  Do we actually realize that we are now growing into the Temple of God?  Do we realize that God is building a Temple where He will abide forevermore?

2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Truly understanding and appreciating what a special calling and privilege it is to be part of God’s Church will help us to stay clean and avoid things that would defile us.  God’s desire is that His Church remains clean, pure, and holy because wherever God lives MUST be holy!

The Way It Was in Ancient Israel

The events surrounding the story of ancient Israel’s Exodus from Egypt makes it clear that Israel was chosen by God to engage in His worship.  God intended relationship based on worship.  Yet, the idea of worship goes back even further in the history of mankind.  Genesis describes various activities of worship by a number of people.

However, the English word for worship does not appear in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible until Genesis 22 when Abraham traveled to a special mount where he was to “sacrifice” his son Isaac.

Genesis 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

By the time we get to the end of Genesis, we find additional accounts of “worship” activities.  One of the most common activities was sacrifice.

Thousands of years ago, God promised a special relationship with Him to “the Fathers,” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their future generations.  God’s desire for this relationship with the children of Israel was enormous!

God had set up the foundations for this relationship with ancient Israel years before their arrival in Egypt.  By reviewing the events in Exodus, we find that Abraham’s descendants went eventually into bondage in Egypt; becoming slaves to the Egyptians.  In the midst of their trial and turmoil, they cried out for deliverance and freedom.

Let us recall that God wanted ancient Israel to leave from Egypt and to sacrifice to Him as an act of worship.  This is the message that Moses and the elders of Israel delivered to Pharaoh.

Exodus 3:18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.

Of course, we are aware that Pharaoh would not cooperate.  God surely knew what Pharaoh would say! (Exodus 5:2). It was all part of God’s plan to completely deliver Israel and show Israel WHO HE IS – the only TRUE GOD.  It was all part of His plan to BE ISRAEL’S GOD and for them to BE HIS HOLY PEOPLE.  It was all part of His plan to create a special relationship.  It is by a proper relationship with God in True Worship that distinguishes the people of God from all other people.  True Worship is a clear and irrefutable sign that there is a powerful connection with the Divine.

Worship Has Had a Number of Forms

 In the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we find a very complex and detailed set of directions as part of worship for Israel.  In addition to praying, bowing the head, kneeling, or prostrating oneself, worship also included numerous forms of offering and sacrifice.

The first five books of the Bible show just how important the idea of sacrifice was to the worship of God long ago.  While Israel was camped at the foot of Mt. Horeb in the Sinai desert, God gave very thorough and specific instructions on how He would expect Israel to begin to worship Him as part of what we now call the Old Covenant.  He followed an important physical pattern that reflected a heavenly reality (Hebrews 8:5 and Hebrews 9:23).

Hebrews 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

Hebrews 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

God gave the meticulously detailed plans for the portable tabernacle, the altar, all of the furnishings, the sacrifices and gifts, the priest’s attire, and many other key details to Moses who directed the work.  In the book of Hebrews we learn that Moses did the assigned work faithfully.

Hebrews 3:5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

Everything God does, He does with forethought and purpose.  It is important to realize that God always accomplishes what He says He will do (Isaiah 55:11).  God had promised to bring Israel into a very special relationship with Him, and worship was central to that relationship and the promises God had attached to it.

The Way It Is and Will Be

Even so, in these last days, God wants His people to be in a special relationship with Him.  He desires it greatly and has paid the Treasure Above All Treasures (the life of His Son, Jesus the Christ) for that relationship.

While God makes wonderful promises to those in this intimate relationship with Him, He also has established what He requires of us.  We are to BE HIS HOLY PEOPLE!

Deuteronomy 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy14:2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

God is currently seeking worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

What a privilege!  What a calling!  What a responsibility!  What a wonderful, spiritual connection to the TRUE GOD!  It is the relationship God deeply desires.

God Set the Pattern into Motion

Through the millennia, God has made covenants with specific people and ratified these covenants with animal sacrifice (as in Genesis 8:20 and Exodus 24).  In the beginning, it was God Himself Who set His worship by sacrifice in motion.  We get the first hint of this pattern of worship in Genesis 3.

Blood Sacrifice Is Tied to Sin’s Penalty

Notice that in the story of Adam and Eve, we learn that God walked in the Garden with them.  This continued until they sinned.  By sinning, Adam and Eve broke the peace and fellowship they had enjoyed with God. Genesis 2 and 3 describe the story of their relationship and how they lost it and were finally expelled from of the Garden.  Not only did their sins end the close fellowship with God, it also brought about the judgment of death.

It is clear from the first few chapters of Genesis that it was God Who made the animal skin covering for the first human sinners.  Think about it!  For God to make those skin coverings, God had to shed the first animal blood. When God shed animal blood, worship through animal sacrifice began.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them

The blood sacrifice cost an animal’s life. It was the first of many such animal sacrifices.  God required it at that time, and He also added rituals and animal sacrifice to the covenant He made with ancient Israel at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19-24, and the Book of Leviticus).  In fact, the Bible records that Noah, Abraham and others also participated in worship through animal sacrifice (Genesis 8:20 and 15:9-18).

God required the life of the sacrificial animal for a number of reasons that He has made clear through other Bible passages.  One of the most important of these reasons is that there is prophetic significance in that first blood sacrifice and the making of a covering of skins for Adam and Eve.

Animal sacrifice was not the only way that ancient Israel worshipped God, however, it became a very central part of Israel’s worship.  Worshipping God by animal sacrifice continued for many centuries; the Old Testament is filled with multiple examples.

Worship by animal sacrifice continued until the Ultimate Sacrifice of the blood of God’s Perfect Lamb, Jesus the Christ, was shed.  Today, it is by the blood of this Perfect Sacrifice, and only by this blood of the Perfect, Sinless Lamb, that anyone can enter into a covenant of salvation with God and have access to God.

Blood Sacrifice Is Tied to Sin’s Penalty and Jesus’ Sacrifice

God’s covering of Adam and Eve by giving them animal skins was a watershed, prophetic moment pointing to a Perfect Passover blood covering for mankind that would take about 4000 years to bring to fulfillment.

All of the bloody sacrifices made to God in the past are a mere foreshadowing of this awesome, Perfect Sacrifice of Jesus.

Hebrews 10:4-5 (4) For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. (5) Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

That “body” in Hebrews is referring to Jesus Christ.  God prepared that Body…that very special, One-of-a-Kind Body!  This is an often over-looked aspect of God’s Perfect Sacrifice – the fact that God, Himself, was involved in preparing the Perfect blood Sacrifice. Yes, God did this!  Both Father and Son are responsible for this Unique and Priceless Sacrifice!

In John 3:16 we learn why God did it.  It is because He “so loved the world.”  It is astounding to realize that this Sacrifice was conceived and put into an immutable plan before the foundation of the world.  LOVE provided the Way for mankind to have an everlasting life with the Eternal God.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him [Jesus]; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Both the Father and the Son paid this overwhelming generous price to save the world.  The Sacrifice required Jesus’ life and His life’s blood.  Through that blood, sin’s penalty is paid and God has provided sinners who repent with a covering.  The Sacrifice that God prepared is the most costly and precious investment that has ever been made. Selah!

If we truly love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, True Worship will occur!  Loving God in such ways means we will passionately want to please Him.  Loving Him in such ways is part of God’s process of teaching us how to worship.  It is part of how He draws us closer and closer to Himself.  This process is part of God’s design and His Master Plan of salvation for us, and for all of mankind.

Knowing God, and knowing how to worship Him, does involve a deep, abiding love for Him.  The author of Psalm 18 knew how to express it quite well.  Let us follow that example.

• Tell God you love Him, and tell Him that you will always love Him!

Psalm 18:1 I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.

• Express to God why you love Him, Who He is to you, and how you will trust Him!

Psalm 18:2-3 (2) The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (3) I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

• Share your reasons for loving God with others.

Psalm 22:25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

God’s worship was never meant to be compartmentalized.  It is to be ongoing, and ever overflowing throughout our daily lives.  We are to be worshipping our Great God in our most private moments as well as during the times when we are completely and entirely public in expressing our love and faith.

Let us be faithful and open to God in our private moments of prayer, in our study of His Word, and in our joyful worship.  And, let us NEVER be ashamed of our devotion to God in our public worship.

Psalm 119:80,116 (80) Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed. (116) Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.

Romans 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

John 4:23 tells us that God is seeking worshippers.  God wants to be OUR God.  Yes, He IS God, …and He wants to be OUR God!

This is a special, very special, one-of-a-kind relationship that God desires, and we have to be invited (called) to be a part of it.  In fact, we can’t even come to Jesus our Savior without the invitation from the Father. Furthermore, we have no access to the Father except through Jesus Christ.

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Wow!  God’s holy calling is a very distinct and exclusive privilege being offered to mankind.

Thousands of years ago God offered a special relationship to the ancient nation of Israel as He brought them out of Egyptian bondage (a type of the bondage of sin).

Exodus 5:1,3 (1) And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. (3) And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.

It is clear from this passage about ancient Israel in Exodus 5 and from many other passages that God was then seeking to be GOD to a people who would be His worshippers.  Today, God is seeking true worshippers, also.

Jesus said so!

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Today, we need to understand how precious it is that God is seeking each of us individually and collectively as a Church (the Body of Christ) to worship Him!

God has created mankind purposefully.  And, He is paying an awesome personal price to complete His purpose for us. God is seeking a fulfillment of His purposes for all of us.

• God is seeking a people that are His, and His alone.
• God is seeking to be their God.

2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

• God is seeking a people to live the righteous way of life He lives. It is a way of life that emphasizes His divine nature.

1 John 3:10(a) In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God….

• God is seeking a people to look like Him, and to make wise decisions as He does.
• God is seeking people to be His children.
• God is seeking a people to have His Spirit to have His nature, and to think like He thinks.

2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

• God is seeking His children to love Him fully as they love nothing else.
•  God is seeking those children to love one another deeply because He loves all of His children.

1 John 4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Mark 12:30-31 (30) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. (31) And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

1 John 3:10, 17 (10) In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (17) But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

1 John 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

• God is seeking His children to tremble at His Word.

Isaiah 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

• God is seeking children to inherit all things.
• God is seeking those children to live in an everlasting peace and prosperity.

Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Isaiah 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Everlasting Worshippers

And, God is seeking those children (all of them) to worship Him joyfully, purely, and freely both now and forever. He is creating exactly what He is seeking in and through the Body of Jesus Christ, His Church.

All of these things that God is seeking and creating are a part of true worshippers being involved in our on-going participation in True Worship. Creating these worshippers is a momentous, long-term purpose (goal) that God will certainly achieve.

God is patient in achieving His purposes for us. James 5:7 describes His longsuffering as He waits for the precious fruit of the earth (meaning true believers who become His True Worshippers).

James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

God can be very patient, because what He is creating will exist forever.  Worshipping God is not just for the here and now.  Worship is forever!

God fervently desires to connect with all of mankind on a permanent basis. God has prepared all that is necessary to attain His desire to fellowship closely with us. God knows our frailties and our weaknesses.
Psalm 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust
Yet, God has opened THE DOOR for us to a relationship with Him. Our going through that Door is the crucial beginning step we must take in a very detailed and vital process God has set in motion to save us. The Almighty God calls us into direct contact to Himself when He draws us to His Son, our Savior and Messiah.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is then and only then that we can enter into true and deep fellowship with the Father through Jesus. He is the ONLY Way.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
After accepting what God offers us through our Savior, we confess Jesus as Savior. We repent of our rebellious and wrong ways of living. We go through baptism and receive God’s Holy Spirit so that we can become new creatures in Christ Jesus. We have a new life. Old things are passed away.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
When we are freed from the bondage of sin, we become true believers and disciples. It is at that time, our entire new life needs to become an act of worship!
As true believers we want to center our lives on God and His worship. Right?
How does this happen? One way to center upon God is by determining that we will always treasure opportunities for worshipping Him. We can proceed by realizing that it is worth our time and effort to examine our views and our “worship” practices on a continuous basis and to make improvements as God leads us to see what needs to be done.
1 Corinthians 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.