Todays Passage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2095,%2097-99&version=NIV
Today, I chose to focus on Psalm 95. This Psalm reminds us about how we should worship. Worship of our mighty God is a privilege and an honor that we sometimes take for granted and sometimes even look upon as a burden. We are invited to approach an amazing and holy perfect God. It is our choice and we have to make time for it. We can’t let the busyness of life get in the way of our true and authentic worship. Personally, when I intentionally carve out time in my daily walk I find that my desire to spend time with God increases. My day just doesn’t seem to get going until I’ve spent some time with God. And if I miss corporate worship on Sunday...forget it...my whole week seems to be a mess.
Psalm 95 also reminds me that we are to worship Him joyfully with thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. He is our King of Kings, Lord of Lords, our Shepherd upon whom we depend for provision and guidance and protection, creator of the earth and everything in it and our Savior. We worship Him because of who He is and because of what He has done - and when we rest in that knowledge, we are able to hand over our worries and troubles to him and worship with joy and thanksgiving.
Authentic worship stems from a heartfelt belief in the promises of God. The second part of Psalm 95 warns a generation to learn from the mistakes of a generation of Moses time. Because of their unbelief, a whole generation of Israelites wandered around the wilderness until they died instead of claiming the promises of God and entering into the Promised Land – the place of rest. We are reminded that our unbelief will also keep us from entering an eternal rest in the presence of God. We are saved because of His grace through faith in him. Our salvation is a gift from him that we have to accept in our hearts; it is not a result of our works. (Ephesians 2:8-9). Romans 10:9-10 says "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." The resulting worship from this belief of the heart looks so different from mere intellectual knowledge. It looks more like the authentic worship described in the first 7 verses of Psalm 95. We can rejoice and worship in the promise that the psalmist speaks of. The promise still stands. But without faith...without belief...we will not benefit from God’s promises. (Hebrews 4:1-12).
If you are struggling with moving from an intellectual knowledge to a heartfelt belief, pray that God will fill you with a desire to know him and believe in Him. Feed your faith with his word and time alone with him in prayer and praise. Make yourself available to him! If you'd like, there are many of us following this blog who would love to pray for you. Just leave a comment asking us to pray - for yourself or a loved one. You don't have to even leave your name if you don’t want to...God will know who you are as we lift you up in prayer. Click below to leave a comment or prayer request on the blog.
Today's post submitted by Kelly Coxe
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Yes,Shalom, Shalom, I would like prayer in the areas of Finances, landing a good paying job, and relationship wise healing between my mother and I from past hurts. This is my first ever blog thing, so thank you and keep up the good work.
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