The Why, Where, and How of Worship
There’s something that doesn’t mix—the praise of almighty God and the promotion of self. You cannot blend them, nor should you try. If we devote ourselves to worship, we must remove ourselves from the scene.
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There’s something that doesn’t mix—the praise of almighty God and the promotion of self. You cannot blend them, nor should you try. If we devote ourselves to worship, we must remove ourselves from the scene.
While the law was a covenantal gift to God’s people, it is not our covenant law as Christians. We live under the new covenant, so interpreting the old covenant law can be challenging at times.
Sing loud enough to drown out those defeating thoughts that normally clamour for attention. Release yourself from that cage of introspective reluctance—SING OUT! You are not auditioning for the choir, you’re making melody with your heart.
As we share with God every worry that weighs us down, our circumstances may not change but we will. We begin to let Him carry the heavy loads that we can’t bear. We start to trust Him to handle the problems that we can’t control.
Rather than wallowing in self-pity or bitterness, David praised God with a grateful heart. Praise leaves humanity out of the picture and focuses fully on the exaltation of the living God. The magnifying glass of praise always looks up.
Prayer is the greatest and most important conversation we’ll have all day. Through human expressions, prayer touches the divine heart. Infant lips may babble and intelligent lips may baffle, but the Lord hears in His heaven and acts on His earth.
Is it true, prayer changes things? That depends on what “things” we are talking about. I think when most of us wonder whether or not prayer changes things, we’re really asking if God will intervene in a specific situation.
An allegory is an extended metaphor in which the characters are symbols representing other things. While a typical parable is told in order to teach one important matter, an allegory teaches numerous hidden truths throughout the story.
As painful as it is to let go of God’s good gifts, the process of releasing opens our hands to receive the greatest reward—the Giver Himself! As we internalize this biblical account, let’s anchor in our hearts the faithfulness of God who is our Provider.
Many spiritual truths are difficult for us earth-bound people to grasp. We relate much better to things we are already familiar with in everyday life. To help people understand spiritual truth Jesus used parables. And He used a lot!