That was a question I was asked today.  

I do believe it is an individual thing. The Lord will tell one to do one thing, and that one thing is completely the WRONG thing for another. God’s leading is perfect!

And God will tell us to do one thing at one time, but if we try and do that same thing at another time, we can be completely out of whack!! God’s timing is perfect!

And then about places? God will have one place for one to be and a complete different place in the field for another. God’s positioning is perfect! He plants us where He needs us!!

Anyhow, that’s my thoughts for the day!

“But the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24, NKJ)

So then, what is this worship that Jesus was talking about? And what does it really mean to worship in spirit and truth? Do we really see it in church today? What are the elements involved in worshiping God? Is it singing and music, and does it have to be music? What if we can’t sing, can we still worship God?

This was one of the topics of conversations on our bus trip the other day.

(You know, I feel so blessed at the moment. Everywhere I turn, there seems to be God’s people. I don’t feel starved for fellowship, which hasn’t always been the case. In fact for years, it was far from it. Now, there seems to be so many Christian friends the Lord has put in my path. But that’s all btw!!)

Thursday was one of those blessed times. Lots of great fellowship. And on the bus, I was sitting not too far away from our new Pastor. He was sharing his heart about worship, and how he’d like to encourage more of it in the church services. But isn’t worship what the church service is all about?? I listened very intently, over top of the other conversations that were going on.

His conversation got me thinking some more. He quoted the verses in John 4, which I’d only read a day or so before. I then found out that there was a congregational meeting on Saturday afternoon. The pastor wanted to talk to us… my guess was that he wanted to share about his thoughts on worship. I decided to go, and guess what? I was right!!

But, I want to rewind back to this morning first. Over my morning cuppa, I decided to do my own quick study on what worship really was, and what it meant to worship God in spirit and truth.

WORSHIP:
The Greek word used for worship in the John text is “proskuneo” (from “pros” - towards, and “kuneo” - to kiss), and it means to make obeisance, do reverence to. I’ll have to look more into the kissing bit, but interestingly, the idea of the kiss is mentioned in Psalms…

“Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” (2:12)

Also, in the Old Testament, worship always involved bowing down, by bowing the knee, or laying prostrate.

IN SPIRIT:
The spirit is our inner being or our heart. It’s the inner sanctuary of our temple body. Worshiping from our feelings is not enough. True worship doesn’t work if we don’t bow down our hearts, submitting to His will.

IN TRUTH:
Jesus is Truth! God’s Word is Truth! The Holy Spirit is Truth, and He leads us into all truth. He reveals the truth in us.
As we bow, we look at the true nature of our hearts. We should not come to God with any pretense. Rather we need to open our hearts wide to Him, so that He can search them, revealing our motives and intentions, and all that is unclean.
As a goldsmith purifies gold, our Father wants to bring those impurities to the surface so we can be purified by Him… so that we reveal His image. We must want to be changed into His likeness!

So, how does that line up with what we find in churches today. I liked what our pastor said this afternoon. He mentioned these three models of modern worship.

• The Entertainment Model - so we can be entertained;
• The Service Station Model - so that our needs might be met;
• The Lecture Hall Model - with the high view on preaching so that we can learn.

The trouble with these is that they are all “ME” centered!! They satisfy MY enjoyment, MY needs, and MY learning and knowledge.

Oh, for more “GOD” centered worship!! And the challenge for us is to ask ourselves, “Why do I go to church?” The primary reason SHOULD be to meet with and worship our God together.

I shared this with a friend this morning. Past circumstances had dealt him a hard blow, and even though things have been going well for him, he was finding it hard to believe that it could continue. Surely there must be some evil lurking around the corner?

So here were my thoughts…

I think that foreboding feeling is something that’s etched in your memory. And I can understand that it would not be easy to erase. Past experiences haven’t taught you anything different. How can you believe or expect better?

I guess that’s a bit the same as it is for us when it comes to finance. I can see potential of how things could improve, but past experience tells me it doesn’t.

So what do we do? Don’t look to the past!!! Instead, LOOK UP!!! (to our Father!) LOOK INTO His Word and see His promises! LOOK IN at our hearts with the searchlight of His Word, and let Him do the changes there! Then LOOK FORWARD in HOPE!! Maybe that’s what FAITH is??

Anyhow, my thoughts for the morning!!

And a Scripture:

I share this diamond with a friend, and this was his comment:

I was thinking that verse would be one good to really sit and meditate on. What exactly does it mean to do justly? Love mercy? And walk humbly with our God?

How does that look in our lives today???

Like, in practical, every day terms?

Hmmm….

Always do what is right, I suppose. And act out of love in everything you do… and acknowledge God’s presence in everything you do, everywhere you go.

That’s a start anyway!

Hmmmm (part 2!!!)…

Interesting that justice and mercy are paired, isn’t it? In some ways, they would seem to be at odds with each other. You show mercy to one who is guilty, someone might complain, “That’s not fair!!!” “I want my justice!!!”

What do you think????

I say, “Hmmmmmmm!!” too!! What do *I* think??

Here’s my thoughts: (What does the Lord require of you?)

TO DO JUSTLY - That is our actions. They need to be right and fair. We need to be just in all our affairs. DO THE RIGHT THING!!!

TO LOVE MERCY - This is what we are to show to those who don’t measure up to our standards. People don’t always do the right thing. They let us down!! And likewise, we don’t always measure up. We let others down, often unintentionally. hat is when we want mercy from others. In the same way, we should be merciful to others. Let them off the hook.

TO WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD - We realize that we want to do the right thing (do justly), but we don’t always do it. We are aware of our imperfections, our humanness. Of ourselves we are nothing!! We need God’s help so we can fulfill His first two requirements.

Boy, it seems a LONG time since I’ve been here.  I seemed to have got stumped with finishing the last subject about highways.

I had questions I needed to answer, but then I lost the momentum of writing.  However, I found that a friend of mine is following on the same theme, and he’s written some pretty neat stuff.  So I thought, I’ll put the link here and you can read that.

“Every Valley Shall be Exalted!“  Highly recommended reading!!

And now, I’ll move on to some studies I’m doing in Matthew…

… I’ll start writing soon…

I’VE GOT IT!! I’VE GOT IT!!

Well at least it makes sense to me!!

This “Highway” and “Narrow Way” thing!!!

I found it here in the first sentence…

Go through,
Go through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people;
Build up,
Build up the highway!
Take out the stones,
Lift up a banner for the peoples!
(Isaiah 62:10)

This is MY interpretation:

Go through the TOLL GATES!! Jesus has opened them!! He has paid the toll!!

(As I was writing this, I got sidetracked right here!! A friend’s daughter was having her baby… in the early stages of labour!! But it helped me see something NEW… These gates remind me of the birth of a baby. The gate is really narrow and constricted, eh? But then, after the birth, there’s a brand new, WIDE world!! Sort of along the lines I’ve been thinking about. Anyhow, I’ll continue with what I was saying…)

However, we can’t get on this Highway without going through the gate. We can only go through Jesus, who said, “I am THE gate (or door)!!” He is the only way.

As the only way onto this highway of life is through the birth gate, so the only way onto that Kingdom Highway is through the re-birth gate. We MUST be born again!!! (This latest events was prompting new thoughts here as I wrote.)

Jesus also said:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it.
“But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straight and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14, Amp)

(WOW!! How like birth that is!!?)

It is the way of the Cross!!!

Because it is narrow, we cannot take a load. We need to stop at the weigh station and unload. This road does not take heavy traffic. We can’t take our junk with us, but need to leave it at the Cross.

Anyhow, that’s the start of my thoughts!! More later!!

BTW, the baby was a GIRL!!!

A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there,
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:8-10, NKJ)

I’ve been looking at this text for a couple of weeks now, but have struggled to get any thoughts down. Not that I didn’t have any, but rather that I had conflicting ones.

And what it was, was this verse talking about God’s way being a Highway, where it is smooth and straight and level, and one in Matthew, where Jesus says,

“Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14, Amp)

These verses seem to contradict.

On the one hand, God’s way seems like a SUPER HIGHWAY, broad, straight and smooth, and many can travel on it. And on the other, it is narrow, compressed and difficult, and only a few find it. So can you see why I’ve been stumped?? Anyhow, I have discovered some answers, which I will share a bit later. In the meantime, you might have some suggestions to this dilemma!?

And, I don’t know about you, but of the two, in my life experience, I’ve had more of the second one.

On Sunday nights at church, we’ve been studying Paul’s letter to the Romans, and last night was the final run. We finally came to the end after months of wonderful study.

I LOVE ROMANS!!!!

Anyhow, as we were reading chapter 15, something struck me. Paul had so longed to see the Roman believers, who had come to faith through the message that went by Paul’s followers. How he dearly would love to meet them face to face. But for some reason, he’d been hindered.

15:22 (NKJ) - “For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you.”

But now, he feels his job is finished where he is and that it is time for him to be able to see them. So he writes down what he plans to do in the not so distant future…

“But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.”  (v.23-24, NKJ)

But for the time being, he had some practical things to attend to in Jerusalem…

“But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.  For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.  It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.”  (v.25-27, NKJ)

… and THEN he could see them…

“Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain.” (v.2

Now, if you know anything about Paul’s story, none of his plans to visit Rome in this way, ever came about… well not in the way HE thought. God had another plan, which ended up through MUCH hardship.

Paul ended up being arrested in Jerusalem, and made a prisoner. He then ended up going to Rome, but not as a free man, but as a Roman prisoner. And his crime? Sharing the gospel of Jesus! And his final years were ones of real testing and persecution.

So what does that tell us? His plans were GOOD and very GODLY. Why didn’t God allow them to happen? Why all this trouble? Did Paul do the wrong thing by making those plans? I would say not!

But this does tell me something about our own plan making. It is NOT wrong to plan ahead. However, if we do look at our own plans, no matter how good and virtuous they may be, as the ultimate, and expect God to fulfill them, we will end up greatly disappoint, and maybe even devastated.

It is good to have godly desires. But desiring a thing, doesn’t mean it will happen. Just look at King David. He so longed to build a temple for God, but God said NO!! That was not what God had called him to do. David’s task was to win battles and conquer the enemies. The building would come after the victory had been won, when God’s people were living in peace. So, as we know, King Solomon was appointed to build a temple for God… and how magnificent it was!!

So we shouldn’t be discouraged when our desires don’t come about, and God takes us on a different route. Let’s remember that HE knows the end from the beginning, and HE knows what He is doing!!!

HIS WAYS ARE BEST!!!!

Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face.  (Psalm 5:8, NKJ)

Now this is what the Lord says:
“Sing with joy for Israel.
Shout for the greatest of nations!
Shout out with praise and joy:
‘Save your people, O Lord,
the remnant of Israel!’
For I will bring them from the north
and from the distant corners of the earth.
I will not forget the blind and lame,
the expectant mothers and women in labor.
A great company will return!
Tears of joy will stream down their faces,
and I will lead them home with great care.
They will walk beside quiet streams
and on smooth paths where they will not stumble.
For I am Israel’s father,
and Ephraim is my oldest child. (Jer. 31:7-9, NLT)

They shall come with weeping,
And with supplications I will lead them.
I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters,
In a straight way in which they shall not stumble;
For I am a Father to Israel,
And Ephraim is My firstborn.   (Jer. 31:9, NKJ)

I have held My peace a long time,
I have been still and restrained Myself.
Now I will cry like a woman in labor,
I will pant and gasp at once.
I will lay waste the mountains and hills,
And dry up all their vegetation;
I will make the rivers coastlands,
And I will dry up the pools.
I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;
I will lead them in paths they have not known.
I will make darkness light before them,
And crooked places straight.
These things I will do for them,
And not forsake them.
They shall be turned back,
They shall be greatly ashamed,
Who trust in carved images,
Who say to the molded images,

‘You are our gods.’”  (Isaiah 42:14-17, NKJ)

So why does the Lord make a straight way and a smooth road? Basically so we will not stumble. Yet, as we saw just before in Hosea 14:9, transgressors stumble on the straight way. Would it be because of what they carry?

The NLT puts it this way…

“The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.”

But I’ve found something else in the NT….

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  (Heb 12:1, NLT)

So, what is it that makes the sinners stumble?? They definitely can’t blame the road. But YES!! It is their SIN!! Sin is a weight around our feet that hinders our progress, and makes us fall flat on our face.

But the Lord has made a straight way for us so that we CAN run that race. God has done HIS bit for us. The course has been set. So, just like an athlete preparing for his marathon, all we have to do is to make sure we are ready and fit for our race.

The LORD is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
(Psalm 145:17-18, NKJ)

Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For the ways of the LORD are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.
(Hosea 14:9, NKJ)

To be right, to be righteous… both have similar meanings.

“The Lord is righteous in all His ways”…. “the ways of the Lord are right.”

As regards to the word righteous (tsaddiyq), according to Zodhiates, “God is the standard of ethics and morality; it is part of His very nature and will.” So because that is His nature, then that makes His ways right, and those who are His and who have His nature, the righteous, will walk also in the right way.

According to Zodhiates, the word right (yashar) means “to be level, straight, right, upright, just, lawful.” So then, the Lord’s way is the right way, which is also the STRAIGHT way.

So that puts a different slant on the term “going straight”, eh?

But I find that interesting that transgressors would stumble in the “straight” ways. If a way is right and straight, there is nothing to stumble over. Hmmmmm??? So what is it that makes them stumble?