Friday, July 23, 2010

Foundations of True Worship - A Study

Note: All references are from NKJV unless specified otherwise.

Jesus said in John 4:23-24, “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. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus reveals the truth about Worship in the above verses – Worship is not just the desire of human beings, rather - Worship is the desire of the Heavenly Father, as Father is seeking worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth.

Q. Now that I have known that the Heavenly Father is seeking for worshipers – then
How do I need to respond to His desire?
A. Please study the material below to answer this question.

My Worship - Usually in worship I seek God for my benefit.
• When I feel heavy or worn out I desire to worship God that He will comfort me & encourage me with His presence.
• When I am under a strain or bondage – worship will bring deliverance for me in the spirit.
• I worship the Lord because the desire is there in me to Honor – glorify the Heavenly Father.
• I worship God to satisfy myself & gratify my desires.

All the above stated reasons are not wrong – but there is something more to it.

Q. Have I ever pondered on this – that through worship I should be fulfilling God’s desires – giving Him what He is seeking?

Q. Have I ever thought - let me satisfy God through my worship rather than getting satisfied in my own self?

Requirement
I desperately need a change of perspective – I need to be a worshiper whom God is seeking & I should not do self-seeking in worship.

When I come to the realization of this point, then my worship will be satisfying God the Father & not just me.

Note: It is not wrong to receive the benefits of worship as I worship the Lord. As the Lord in His great mercy blesses me with much benefits. But it is more important for me to please the Father through my worship & live to possess Him & Him alone.

Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:22, “in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

In Christ we are being built to be a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. This in turn means - The Heavenly Father – The Lord Jesus Christ – The Holy Spirit wants to dwell with me & in me. God wants me to be a dwelling place for Him in which He stays and does not need to depart anytime.

Q. What should be my response to this desire of God mentioned in Ephesians 2:22?
Should I say YES or say NO in unbelief.

Q. Is it possible?
YES – through His Grace. All I need to do is BELIEVE.
I have to stop seeking God for visitations & seek Him for habitation.

Dictionary Meanings: Visitation & Habitation.
→Visitation means an official or formal visit, in particular.
→Habitation means the state or process of living in a particular place.

Let me be a worshiper in whom the Heavenly Father dwells (habitation) and gets ministered to.

The Highest form of ministry is to minister to the Lord Himself & this begins in the closet.

The Bible tells us, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1Cor 6:19

My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit –
→Temple - a building devoted to the worship, or regarded as the dwelling place, of God.

Am I ready to devote my body (the temple of the Holy Spirit) for worship & allow God to dwell in me so that He finds rest in me & is seen through me.

The choice is mine – I have to overcome unbelief by His Grace & by believing in His Word – by saying YES to all that He says to me in His Word.

Friends,
God is worthy to be Honored – God is worthy to be Obeyed.
This is Worship.

Let us prepare ourselves as a sanctuary where God loves to dwell & receive the worship in spirit & truth.

Q. Can I be a rest giver to God?
Zech 6:8 tells us, “And He called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “See, those who go toward the north country have given rest to My Spirit in the north country.””

Yes! it is possible – see those who went toward the North Country, gave rest to the Spirit of God. God is looking for rest that is the reason the people of the North Country could give rest to His Spirit.

If I do what God is seeking I will certainly become that person in whom God finds rest.

If God dwells in me – when my life is worship unto Him – He cannot be hidden. (Mark 7:24)

Everyone will see Him & glorify Him.

John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

When Jesus is truly lifted up in my life – He will draw all people to Himself. Many will come to the saving knowledge of Christ & become His disciples. Disciples - who will obey every command in the Bible & in turn prepare other brides for Christ. This will ultimately hasten the coming of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you ready to become the Worshiper that the Heavenly Father is seeking?

Prayer – Lord I believe that you are seeking me to be a worshiper who worships you in spirit & truth. I believe it is possible. Come & possess me. I am ready to forget my worries & cares. I want you to enjoy me. May you find rest in me & kindly dwell in me. In Jesus name – Amen!

May His Church be filled with true worshipers.

Blessings,
Mohit Tarachand
Pastor
GRACE, The Assembly of Truth
Bangalore

Sunday, July 18, 2010

WHY CHRISTLIKE – A STUDY

All references are from NKJV unless specified otherwise.

Q. Why it is needful for me to become Christ like?
A. Genesis 1:27 tells us, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him…”

My origin has been in the image of God. I have to be restored back to His image – I have to become like Christ Experientially.
This is the very reason God sent His only begotten Son – that I would be restored to the original image – His image.
Romans 8:29 tell us, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

As the verse describes – God foreknew me –
He has known my coming to existence before the foundations of the earth.
He has chosen me & predestined me to be Christ like before the foundations of this earth. (Rom 8:29 & Eph 1:4).

Q. Who is Jesus – whose image is in Jesus?
A. Yes, we all know Jesus is the Son of God. But Hebrews 1:3 tell us a very beautiful description about the Lord Jesus Christ, “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…”

Jesus Christ has in Him the image of the Father. To understand it more clearly Jesus express the image of the Father as a Person. If you & I need to know God we need to know Him as a person. Yes – God is a PERSON – Hallelujah! He feels what we feel,

He has pains,

He has sorrows,

He has joys,

He gets hurt when I sin & deny Him,

He is love & desires to love.

As a person He is expressed in Jesus. He has chosen you & me to be just like Jesus; which in turn means to be just like the PERSON God is – represented on this earth.
When anyone sees me – they see Jesus operating in my skin – in turn they see the person of the Father in me.

Prayer – Lord help me to believe this truth, that I am predestined to be Christlike. Let people see Jesus in me – let your person be expressed in me & through me. In Jesus name – Amen.

Now that I have got the information in my mind that God desires me to be Christlike. I have received this information from the Word of God which is the truth.

Q. What should be my next step to become Christlike?
A. The next step is that I have to BELIEVE whatever God has written about me in His Word.
I need to believe that indeed God desires me to be Christlike.
It is the desire of the Heavenly Father that His Son is seen in me experientially, that the world may know that I am His Witness. (Acts 1:8).

Believe – God has mentioned in His Word that unbelief is sin. (John 16:9)
Whenever I deliberately choose to not believe in the Word of God. I declare two things.
1. I declare God you say, “your Word is true – but I think you are lying.”
2. I say, “You may have written this in Your Word but I don’t think You have the ability to bring it to pass.”

When I do this either ways I hurt the PERSON, God.
But
When I choose to Believe I declare – Lord you are Holy & I believe what You have written in Your Holy Word is true for me & I am sure you will bring to pass in my life. I believe that You have already finished this work before the foundation of the earth.
When I believe His Word – I choose to Worship Him. I declare His worth & I choose to Honor Him.

I need to believe now that God has predestined me to be Christlike. All the scriptures mentioned in the Bible are for my Christ likeness. This World will see Jesus walking – talking – touching lives through me.

Q. After I BELIEVE what should be the next step for me to start the journey of Christ likeness?
A. I need to ask the Lord to TEACH me to be Christlike from His Word.

TEACH: For me to grow & excel in anything the secret is that I should be taught the subject very clearly & nicely. In order that my foundations are correct & I am not building on a faulty foundation. (Psalm 11:3 - If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?)

Q. Whose help should I take for correct Teaching?
A. To be taught correctly I need to ask God Himself to teach me His heart – which is His Word. The Bible tells us in John 16:13 says, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Holy Spirit needs to be my guide & my Teacher. He has written the Word and only by His help I will learn the things which I need to learn to be Christlike in my life, which in turn will help me to EQUIP OTHERS to be Christlike.
Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

The GREEK Word for LED is ‘AGO’ which means, “to bear, bring, carry, lead,”
Holy Spirit bears us – brings us to the truth – carries us to our destiny – Leads us into the depths of Christ. We need to be totally dependent on the Holy Spirit for being taught into Christ likeness. Holy Spirit teaches whatever He hears from Jesus. That is the practical way of learning. When we are taught by the Holy Spirit there is no doubt of being cheated. He is the Spirit of Truth. He will lead us into our destiny.

PRAYER – Loving Holy Spirit be my teacher in the journey of Christ likeness. I have no one else apart from you who will teach me all truth. I put my trust in you. I believe I am predestined to be Christlike. From today You are my leader, my guide, my teacher. In Jesus name – Amen!

Yes – It is my FATHERS DESIRE that I be Christlike. I submit to His desire.

Note: If you are not aimed at Christ likeness then you have already missed the mark.

Blessings,
Pastor Mohit Tarachand