This Week’s Personal Action Step
Use the “Guide to Worship” and spend some time exalting Christ in your life by taking a next step in daily personal worship, in-home worship, and corporate worship.
This Week’s Group Action Step
Take some time in your LifeGroup next week to discuss how personal time with God affected you.
JANUARY 11—SCRIPTURE IS WRITTEN BY A PERSON
John 5:39-40 ‘You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.’
You cannot exalt what you don’t know…better said, ’you cannot exalt ‘Who’ you don’t know. But the Pharisees tried. Jesus told them basically, that they read the bible, but they missed the fact that the bible was talking about Him. And that He is the author. God wants us to know Him. Not just know ‘about Him’. He desires an ongoing, heartfelt, growing, personal relationship with each of us. He wants us then to exalt Him, to lift Him up in our hearts, to make Him central in our lives. He wants His presence in our hearts and minds to be a constant. Then in the lives we live, He desires to be evident.
The bible is the only book ever written…ever written…that when you read it, you can talk to the author. Too much of the time we seek the scriptures and miss knowing the author. We miss God. The Pharisees searched the scriptures looking for eternal life. Yet Jesus was right there saying those words. ‘Eternal life Himself’ was standing right there in front of them. Yet they missed Him. He is standing right there with you, actually in you through His Spirit, every moment of every day if you are His. Do you miss Him? Start with the scriptures and look for Him in them. Ask Him, ‘Father, how do you want me to know you more?’
JANUARY 12—CLOSENESS IS DESIRED
James 4:8 ‘Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.’
His desire is for us to draw near to Him. He wants us to make the move toward Him. To desire that. Then He will draw near to us. He wants us to seek His face. He is already seeking ours. The ‘heavens declare the glory of God’. ‘His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.’ Yet, much of the time we seek His hand. What can He give us or do for us. But God wants us to know Him, as a person. To know Him we must seek Him. Look for Him.
To draw near is to get to know him not just with our mind, but with our heart. As we do we learn to trust Him more and more…which in turn helps us to draw even nearer to Him.
JANUARY 13—HOW DO YOU WORSHIP HIM?
John 4:23-25 “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
So much of our worship has to do with the physical environment we are in. In our corporate worship with others we like certain seats, lighting, music. Nothing wrong with things that make us comfortable. But when we must have that comfortable-ness to worship, we are actually worshipping the comfortable-ness. That may sting a little. But Jesus Himself said it is not about that. As He told the woman Jesus met at the well. She was concerned about ‘where’ worship happened…Jesus told her that ‘how’ worship happens is important to God. In spirit and truth. In our personal worship, there is nothing wrong with looking for ways to get alone with God, to remove distraction. But our ability to worship Him through a hectic, busy day will be a test as to whether we can connect with Him in the midst of the daily grind. Our personal and our corporate worship should help us to be connected and stay connected through the hours of our week. The spiritual aspect is more important than the physical aspect. But also, we must worship Him in truth, not in falseness. We must not attribute to Him something that is false and act out on it. To know Him truly means we must draw near to Him and get to know Him. Only as we grow in this way will we be able to love Him truthfully as He truly is.
JANUARY 14—CORPORATE WORSHIP MATTERS
Psalm 34:3 “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!”
Corporate worship is important to God, and to us. We are to exalt His name when we are together. Sunday worship gathering can become a habit that we do just because it is Sunday. We can be in worship service as habit, but our hearts may not be exalting Him with others. We may just at times be going through the motions. Our hearts and minds may be far away in worry or random thoughts. Habits sometimes can take the place of what they were intended do. For each of us to be a part of a congregation which exalts His name, we need to personally push back against that. We must avoid worshipping the habit, rather than the One who is Holy. Focusing on the habit itself is not the way He wants us to focus on Him. He is a Person, not a ritual.
As you come to corporate worship time, ask Him to help you focus on who He is. Focus your heart’s affection and your minds attention on Him. Ask Him to help you avoid the distractions. Ask Him to help you avoid worship as just a ritual habit you walk through.
JANUARY 15—GOD WANTS US TO SEEK HIS FACE
Psalm 27:8 “Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’”
He wants an increasingly closer relationship with us. When we walk through that valley of the shadow of death, He is there with us. During times of difficulty, He wants us to ‘cry aloud’ to Him. When we hurt, and our soul is tired and beaten up, He wants us to cry out to Him. He wants us to seek His face, not just to fix a situation in our lives. He may not fix the situation immediately, but He desires to give you that peace that passes understanding in the midst of your trial.
So many times I think we feel like we should not cry out to Him. We feel we should not burden Him. But He wants us to. He is ready at any moment to hear from you. Don’t put Him off to some time slot of devotions or reading. Speak to Him as you go about your day. He is listening.
Seeking someone’s face is relational closeness. Let your heart lead you to Him. Let your heart say to Him, ‘Your face do I seek’.
