As Merriam Webster defines the word, it refers to the "reverence offered to a divine being or supernatural power; also:an act of expressing such reverence." Another definition is "extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem."
No matter how this world defines the word, there is this definition in the book of Romans that clearly states the guidelines as well on how to give true worship to the Living God.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." - Romans 12:1 (NIV).
How to achieve True and Proper Worship?
Offer your bodies to God! This means total surrendering, leaving 0% of your lordship in your life and giving Him the 100% Kingship over it!
Offering your bodies to Him requires the following guidelines to be applied in your everyday life:
1. Living Sacrifice. This means doing His Will over yours, putting aside the pull of this flesh for the sake of obedience to Him. 2. Holiness. He is a Holy God. Hence, those who want to behold Him must make every effort to be and stay holy as Hebrews 12:14 says, "...for without holiness, no one will see God." 3. Pleasing to God. Being a member of the Worship Team in your local church, you must have this knowledge of His Excellence in everything He does. It is but expected of you to "...play skillfully..." unto the Lord says the great Psalmist in Psalm 33:3. Making these key points about Worship a part of your lifestyle would mean a tremendous outpouring of His Spirit in your life!
Enjoy worshiping the King of kings and the Lord of lords!
Anorexia, or loss of appetite, is a medical condition a person needs to be alarmed about when diagnosed. Even though causes may vary from light to serious ones (kindly refer to http://www.medicinenet.com/loss_of_appetite/symptoms.htm), it still gives discomfort to the affected person. Such abnormality may happen to everyone.
On the same hand, “Spiritual Anorexia” exists. It is when a person losses appetite in listening to God’s Word, reading the Bible, and worship. Churches (this includes the unbelievers) nowadays experience “Spiritual Anorexia.” This is a sad truth that every believer needs to be alarmed about; hence, must take precautionary actions before it happens to the local church where he belongs.
Below are the top 10 reasons why this happens:
Mismanagement in the Church. When system and order are not present in a church, a church-goer tend to find another place of worship, and when gets tired may end up never going to any church anymore, returning back to his old ways.
Character of the Believers. It is a duty of every believer to live a life that encourages other believers (as well as the non-believers), not becoming a stumbling block to others, to the ‘Baby Christians’ and most of all to those who do not know Christ yet. This takes a lot of character to perform such duty. The fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23 must be clearly evident in every self-professing Christians.
Broken Trust. When a ‘Baby Christian’ experiences a situation wherein his trust is not handled propely by a more matured Christian, there is a great possibility that he could no longer be seen in the Church and worst, might generalize this bad thought to all Christians.
Hypocrisy. ‘They look and sound so holy when in Church but do the other way when they’re outside the Church.’ Sounds familiar, right?
Monetary Concerns. I have known many Christians skip church just to have enough money to pay the bills and/or debts. This might also happen when a believer tries to evade the person to whom he is indebted to.
Poverty. “An hour spent in church might give me and my family a meal when otherwise.”
Concerns of this World. “…but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” – Mark 4:19
Boredom. A believer who finds everything in the Church a routine, lacking anointing and power from God will most likely get bored and would loss the passion to come early in every fellowship, and worst would never attend to any of it anymore.
Complacency. Both believers and non-believers who think their level of knowing God is good and desires no more to grow more nor to dig deeper in Him would soon find himself no longer interested in the things that would please God. His laziness consumes his passion for God.
Worldliness. Both believers and non-believers who find joy in satisfying themselves over God would surely loss their spiritual appetite for godly things.
Christians are just so excited for Jesus Reigns! 2014. If we try to check the committees as to how they are doing in their preparations for this gigantic annual event for the Almighty Jesus Christ, we would be so amazed yet humbled upon knowing their reports. On its 3rd year of celebration of the glorious and powerful works of Jesus Christ is every Christian's life, 82 provinces are now one in this event, exalting the Name of Jesus Christ alone and no one else on that day! Some of the Jesus Reigns! team has gone to Israel, expecting a revelation from God as to how He desires it to have it done. To our surprise, Jesus Reigns! Israel has been planned out and it's gonna be done simultaneously with us in the Philippines! What a glorious day it would be!
Before I would give you a glimpse of the preparations, let me acquaint you about this momentous event first.
JESUS REIGNS: A DAY OF CELEBRATION
VISION
To see a Christian nation, consumed by the love of the heavenly Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit, seeking to honor God, worshipping Him alone, and exalting the Name of Jesus in righteous living as one body for individual restoration and national transformation.
MISSION
To celebrate Jesus Reigns: A Day of Celebration nationwide
To gather all churches for a nationwide day of worship to the Only True God and promote unity in the body of Christ, simultaneously in all 82 provinces of the Philippines
To reach out to the unbelievers and declare that there is hope in Jesus
CORE VALUES
Prayer - Through consistent and intentional prayer and fasting, we affirm that our strength and dependence to tackle the work set for us will rest upon the Lord and not on our human might.
Anonymity - No other name will be magnified or exalted except the Name of Jesus. Names of individuals or corporate donors will remain anonymous.
Unity - It is God's intention for the body of Christ to work together. As members, we need each other in order to achieve greater things for the glory of God's Kingdom. (Eph. 4:3-6)
Sacrificial Giving - Just like David in 1 Chronicles 21:24, who said, "I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that cost me nothing," the men, women, churches and establishments behind Jesus Reigns: A Day of Celebration have also committed their time, talent and resources sacrificially.
Excellence - In anything and everything that we do, we will strive to achieve excellence because the Lord deserves nothing less.
Now that you have gotten to know more the heart of this event, let me give you a snippet of preparations through these pictures below...
Jesus Reigns Philippines Celebration: Press Conference 2014 at
Mabuhay Restop, Manila. Together with the Vision keeper, and the Luzon
Coordinator and the media sector
November 15, after the Presscon at Mabuhay
Restop, Sis. Gina Osmena , JRP Vision Keeper, Bro. Albert Tanlimco, the
over all JRP Luzon/NCR Coordinator and the rest of the JRP group prayed
the venue of our forthcoming Jesus Reigns Philippines Celebration on November 30, 2014, 3pm
Many people might be asking as to what's gonna happen on that day and that why would they take time to join in. Well, here's what we could expect on NOVEMBER 30...
CEBU
2pm - Opening Program and Parade (this includes Street-Dancing and Parade of Floats)
7pm - Extravagant Worship (Live Bands to Lead in Praising and Worshiping the Living King, Dance Numbers, Song Numbers, Choir, Fireworks Display, and a lot more...)
Click on the Links below for more information about the preparations and teasers..
HAVE YOU DECIDED TO JOIN US ON THAT DAY, DECLARING THAT JESUS REIGNS IN YOUR LIFE, IN YOUR WORK, AND IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS?
Post your comment/views/suggestions/more photos or videos below. You can use your facebook account to comment. ;)
Several years ago I spent about a week in India. Each day I saw countless starving, diseased people with no home but a few square feet of filthy street. I could not help but feel compassion and pity on those people who lived in such misery.
In a spiritual sense, though, before God saved us, we were each even more pathetic than any beggar in India. Spiritually, we "were dead in [our] trespasses and sins . . . and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ" (Eph. 2:1; 3-5). God saw our wretched condition and was moved to do something about it.
How does mercy compare with grace? Mercy has respect to man's wretched, miserable condition; grace has respect to man's guilt, which has caused that condition. God gives us mercy to change our condition; He gives us grace to change our position. While grace takes us from guilt to acquittal, mercy takes us from misery to glory.
Doesn't it give you great joy to know that God not only removed your guilt but looked at you and had compassion? And He's not through giving us mercy: "The Lord's lovingkindness indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness" (Lam. 3:22-23). We can always "draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).
Because of His mercy, God desires to lift sinners out of their pitiful condition.
Suggestions for Prayer:Thank God for His great mercy, for the forgiveness and blessings you have as His child.
Did you ever sin so terribly that you felt, I really blew it this time. There's no way God would want to forgive me now? It's easy sometimes to let our past sins be a constant burden to us, even after we've confessed and repented. Paul has comfort for those who feel this way, and that comfort is founded on the power and measure of God's grace to us.
Before his conversion, Paul (then known as Saul) persecuted the church mercilessly (see Acts 8:3 and 9:1-2). He was "a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor" (1 Tim. 1:13; see also Gal. 1:13). If anyone could be beyond grace, it was Paul.
But God intervened and saved him (Acts 9:3-19). Why? "For this reason," Paul says, "I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost [sinner], Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life" (1 Tim. 1:16). If God would forgive Paul, He will forgive anyone who will confess their sins and repent. If He would show abundant grace to a violent unbeliever, He will also shower grace upon His penitent children.
God is not stingy with grace. Paul celebrates God's saving "grace, which He freely bestowed on us" (Eph. 1:6), and "the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us" (vv. 7-8). Speaking of sustaining grace, Paul says, "God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you ma have an abundance for every good deed" (2 Cor. 9:8). Notice the words Paul uses: "all grace," "abound," "all sufficiency," "everything," "abundance", "every good deed." God's grace is inexhaustible and is given so freely that words cannot express it fully.
Great sins require great grace, but God will give super-abundant grace to those who seek forgiveness, for "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Rom. 5:20). Don't let your past sins weigh you down; learn to rest upon God's super-abundant grace.
God will lavish grace upon sinners who are truly repentant.
Suggestions for Prayer: Ask God to teach you to understand His grace more fully and help you forget "what lies behind" (Phil. 3:13).
"Nak, you're not getting any younger; you should marry now! Look at you. You're 27 years old and still, you're single!"
I could still recall the voice of "Mama Cha-cha" saying these words to
me 3 years ago. These are also the common lines I hear from people in
our church, at my workplace, and even from our clients--the parents.
It's like I am about to get deafened with these statements. I choose to
defend no more - for me, it's like of no use. Phew! I rather let them
enjoy whatever they want to think bout this concern.
But honestly, there have been so many times, usually when I'm tired and
alone, that I come to ponder about this. "Should I really marry now?" I
start to ask myself. I then try to weigh things, listing on my mind the
things I would lose if I'd get into it as well as at those I might
possibly gain if I'd pursue it. Here, then are some of the things I have
come to consider about this issue: Absolute Liberty, Absolute Control
over Finances, Companionship, and Responsibility!
Liberty. It is something people strive to enjoying having with, at the
same the reason why many people are now in prison cells. But as for me, I
really am so thankful to God for the liberty I have to do what I can
and what I want for my fulfillment and satisfaction. And it is this same
thing that had been a vessel towards my past failures, which somehow
made me mature. Am I that ready to give it all away or even slice a half
or a portion of it for marriage's sake? Hhhmm... Please give me time to
think.
Another concern I really struggle about is Finances. Hahaha! Well, I
guess I am not the only person in this whole wide world who is tempted
to lose heart because of financial lack. Considering my age, I am not
yet that fulfilled financially and materially--not yet! Inside marriage,
whatever amount I'd receive every payday would then be surrendered to
my other half; I can't imagine how my life would be considering this
idea!
Companionship. Every living creature, I
believe is designed to live in harmony with other creatures. To prove,
GOD Himself saw through Adam that "it is not good for a man to be alone"
(Gen.2:18). So, He took one of his ribs to form a woman (because she
was taken out of a man), and was soon named Eve. I admit that there have
been times that I started to get bored and saddened because of being
alone. There have been several times that I tried to imagine myself
getting old alone, never liking how it turned it out in my mind. And I
believe my Creator saw me during those times. Should I marry then so I
could have someone to be with every day of my life until its end?
*Sigh...
Lastly, if I'd marry soon enough, I have this really huge matter to
face---Responsibility! It's not just a mere of it, but a GREAT one! As I
have been trying to assess myself about this matter, here is what I
believe in: "With great power comes great Responsibility!" Peter Parker
had an in-depth realization and understanding of the word. Marriage is
but a hub of great power! Some might raise an eyebrow on this point. But as a slogan goes, "Family is the basic unit of
a society," I can say that one can be so influential when he manages
his family really well. And it is but a man's responsibility to manage
his family, regardless of his age!
To end this dilemma, I must continue doing what is right...that is, seeking for the positive and negative sides of marriage so I could really "weigh" things fairly. As of now, I would be so glad to hear from you...Please post your ideas below! Thanks and may God bless u!
Today
we continue a short study of a topic that brings joy to every
Christian: God's love. Both Paul and John call His love "great" (Eph.
2:4; 1 John 3:1), because only great love would provide such a sacrifice
as God did in Christ.
We
have already seen that God's love is unconditional, unrequited, and
righteous. God's love is also vicarious; it bears the pain of others. In
a prophecy about Christ, Isaiah wrote: "Surely our griefs He Himself
bore, and our sorrows He carried" (53:4). Christ bears our earthly
sorrows, and, infinitely more significant, He bore the pain and
punishment for our sins.
True
love is a sacrificial love that gives without expecting anything in
return. God gives so many good things to everyone, and He gave the
greatest gift of all, His Son. As John 3:16 teaches, love was His motive
for sending Christ to die; He wanted to provide salvation for us.
Again
we must examine ourselves after seeing God's love. Galatians 6:2 says.
"Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ." Are
you encouraging and helping other Christians in difficulty? Also, ask
yourself if you love regardless of the sacrifice. Some will "love" up to
the point of pain or inconvenience but no further. However, Jesus
commands us, "Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting
nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons
of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men"
(Luke 6:35). Love is not always easy, but it's always best.
So
much more could be said about God's love. Countless books and hymns
have been written about it. We can get only a basic understanding of
these few paragraphs. But let this introduction serve as a starting
point for a lifelong study of God's love. It's one of the greatest
themes in the Bible; you can't miss it.
God's love is vicarious and sacrificial.
Suggestions for Prayer:Pray for strength to bear the burdens of others and to love with sacrificial love.
