After [Jehoshaphat] had advised the people, he appointed people to sing to the LORD and praise him for the beauty of his holiness. As they went in front of the troops, they sang, “Thank the LORD because his mercy endures forever!”
2 Chronicles 20:21 GWT
I love worship music.
My heart is transported from here to there in a single note.
In a moment, I am before the Throne, inside the Holy of Holies, crying out for more, more, more of Jesus.
Read the rest here: Worship as Warfare
Years ago this verse made me cry-God’s Word pierced my heart and His Spirit spoke, “Genuine offerings COST something.”
David: No, I will buy these things from you. Name your price. I will not make an offering to the Eternal One, my True God, that has cost me nothing.
2 Samuel 24:24 VOICE
I. Had. No. Idea.
But now I do.
Worship is no longer just singing along to a hymn or praise song, getting in the groove or swaying to the beat.
Worship is a sacrifice.
It. Is. A. Sacrifice.
It costs me more than I ever thought it would…
And it cost the wise men something too: Costly Worship
Lee does a beautiful job sharing how the Old Testament is full of pictures of the heart of God. This brief devotional spoke to my heart this morning:
What makes “wave offerings” so interesting is that, even though there is a sacrifice, in God’s goodness the offering itself becomes a blessing. God doesn’t hoard offerings; God doesn’t need offerings. But sometimes we need the act of offering to bring us back to God.
All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord. – Exodus 35:22 NIV GotQuestions defines a wave offering as “a portion of a sacrifice presented to God, then released by God for […]
via #CoffeeTimePrayer: Wave offerings — notes
After [Jehoshaphat] had advised the people, he appointed people to sing to the LORD and praise him for the beauty of his holiness. As they went in front of the troops, they sang, “Thank the LORD because his mercy endures forever!”
2 Chronicles 20:21 GWT
I love worship music.
My heart is transported from here to there in a single note.
In a moment, I am before the Throne, inside the Holy of Holies, crying out for more, more, more of Jesus.
Worship makes me vulnerable to the Spirit’s deep work in my heart-I hear truth, I see beyond the pain and I feel God’s love.
But it also makes me a target for the enemy of my soul.
Yesterday I plugged in Pandora to my stereo and was lifted higher, higher until… in a breath I was brought low.
Leaning over to raise the volume of a favorite song I came eye-to-eye with my missing son.
The photo we chose for his memorial folder is hanging with his siblings’ on my living room wall.
And I was transported from here to there in a heartbeat-
from almost two and a half years past that awful day to the moment I first breathed in the truth that he was gone.
I covered my eyes with both hands and refused the whispers of darkness.
The tears fell and my heart hurt, but I hissed back, “He’s not dead. He’s just not here!”
And I cranked the Truth up higher and dared the devil to come back.
I raised my hands and chose to worship the One Who is loving my son until I get there, Who loves me even in my brokenness and Who will redeem this pain and restore what the enemy has stolen.
I took out my sword and declared “He is a Good, Good Father.”
I don’t know what the wise men expected to see.
It seems natural to us who know the story–who know the REST of the story–that they ended up finding Jesus-The King of the Jews-the One whose birth was announced by a star in a humble abode.
But I think it might have surprised those rich rulers traveling so far to worship Him.
In their experience, future kings were born in palaces, surrounded by servants. Such births were announced and trumpeted loud and long.
So when they found this little child with poor parents in a poor house, perhaps they thought they were mistaken.
We don’t know because Scripture is silent on this point.
What we do know is that they offered the gifts they brought, they worshiped the One they had traveled long to see.
They undertook a treacherous and costly journey for the purpose of worship.
True worship is expensive.
To raise my voice and my hands after losing Dominic is hard. It requires that I trust God regardless of my circumstances.
It means I lay my treasure at His feet even when I don’t understand why or how He intends to use it.
But worship inclines my heart to the God Who made it.
Just like the star led the wise men, worship leads me to the feet of Jesus.
And there is where I can safely leave my treasure.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
Matthew 2:1-2, 10-11 KJV
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