The Earth Is The Lord's!

The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. (Psalm 24:1, NASB)

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. (Psalm 19:1, NLT)

As believers in Jesus Christ, we can sometimes forget how big God is. When life gets hard - and it does in a myriad of ways, we wonder if things will ever get better. And if we hurt bad enough we even wonder where God is in all of this, or even question our faith; "Why do I trust God?" "What is it all for?" The Psalmist in Psalm 73 had a very similar concern. I've been there - have you? Somebody might be reading this with a heavy heart, but I've brought you some good news!

Today's passage says the very earth belongs to God. Everything, and everybody in the earth belong to Him. There is nothing He does not see, there is nothing He cannot do. We don't have to look far to see wickedness in the world, but God's glory is still in the earth. All you have to do is look up. Psalm 19 presents a breathtaking picture of God's artwork in the earth; don't miss that. If you allow yourself to see it God is showing Himself every day in a perfectly blue sky, the wind moving through the trees, how the lightening lights up the sky, in how birds fly through the air, such a number of stars in the night that we can't even count them. Psalm 147 says He calls all the stars by name. Who wouldn't believe a God like that? God puts Himself on display on a daily basis all around us; we just have to open our eyes and our hearts to see it. That new job belongs to Him. Every bank, every mortgage company, every dollar running through Wall Street belongs to Him! Be encouraged to understand the very earth and everything in it belongs to Him, and His glory fills the earth. Whatever it is your heart so longs for, ask God to show you His glory. 

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Article courtesy of http://www.experiencingworship.com/articles/studies/2013-6-The-Earth-Is-The-Lord-s.html

We Must Only Worship God - Lesson 8

Jesus said in Matthew 4:10, "You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve." If we worship God in spirit and in truth, we cannot worship anyone or anything else. Anything we worship, other than God, is an idol. According to Webster, an idol is "an image used as an object or instrument of worship."

God forbids us to make and worship idols. God says in Exodus 20:4-5, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." We see we are not to make any image whether it is a statue or any likeness of anything in heaven or earth to worship them. But this is done today when people worship icons. People bow down and pray to these statues and painted pictures whether they be the supposed likeness of Mary the mother of Jesus or one of the many other dead people who are called saints. This is in direct disobedience to the command of God.

When I see people bowing down, burning candles, praying, and worshipping an icon image of a saint, my heart bleeds for them because they are putting their souls in jeopardy of being lost. We are warned in Colossians 2:18, "Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worshipping angels." We can loose our reward in heaven if we worship someone other than God. He is the only one we are to worship because He is a jealous God. God will not allow us to worship anyone else other than Himself. Revelations 21:8 tells us that "idolaters shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." We must only worship God and our worship must be in spirit and in truth if we expect to be with Him in heaven when this life is over.
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Article taken from  http://www.bible.ca/interactive/worship-8-god-alone.htm

We Must Give Our Best To God - Lesson 7

As we worship God, we give Him ourselves. Romans 12:1 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethern, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service." Under the Old Testament some of the Jews were not offering their best and were condemned for it. In Malachi 1:8 we read, "And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?" Is it not just as evil today when we do not give God our best?

Under the New Testament we do not offer animal sacrifices as the Jews did under the Old Testament; but we give Him our lives in service to Him as a living sacrifice. In doing this we must give Him our all. Anything we do for God must be our very best. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind." All our heart, soul, and mind, or in other words, our total being must be in our worship.

How do we show our love to God? Our Lord says in John 14:21, "He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." We show our love to God when we keep His commandments. We do not show our love to God if we only keep the commandments we want to keep or if we add some of our own commandments.

In Matthew 28:18, before Christ ascended into heaven, He was giving His apostles some last minute instructions concerning those they would baptize. Jesus said, "Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." Everything the Lord has commanded us is to be observed. We are to do all that God says and in the way He says to do it. Jesus says in Luke 6:46, "But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

In worship we must do all God has commanded and we must do nothing He has not authorized. Our worship must be from the heart with all reverence and sincerity. We must give Him our very best. Then and only then will we be worshipping God "in spirit and in truth". The purpose and holiness of true worship to God is a precious privilege available only to those who are obedient to the will of God.
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Lesson found at http://www.bible.ca/interactive/worship-7-give-best.htm

Vain Worship - Lesson 6

Our Lord says in Mark 7:7, "And in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." When we follow the commandments of men instead of God's instructions, our worship becomes vain. If our worship is vain, it is empty, hollow, and useless. It will do us no good. If it is vain, it would be as though we had not worshipped God at all and we will be lost. When we worship in the way "we want" then God is dishonored and insulted. When we worship the way God has told us in His word, God is honored and glorified.

As we read in John 4:24, "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." To worship in truth is to worship as the word of God directs. Jesus said in John 17:17, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." Since the word of God is truth, when we worship God in truth, we worship Him according to His word. The only way God will accept our worship is to follow His directions in the Bible.

God says in Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." If we don't know what God says, we are going to be destroyed or lost for our lack of knowledge. It is sad to say but the vast majority of people are illiterate of God's word. They don't really know what the Bible says.

When people are ignorant of God's directions on how He is to be worshipped, they wander in spiritual darkness. Our Lord says in Matthew 15:14, "And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch." We must first have a desire to know the truth of God's will and then be willing to change when we find we are wrong and are not worshipping according to His truth. Jesus says in John 8:32, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Only the truth can make us free, otherwise we are still under the bondage of sin. We may be sincere in our worship, and we must be, but if we do not worship God "in truth", that is as God directs, then our worship will be vain and unacceptable to God.

Also if we try to worship God "in truth" but not "in spirit", that is not with the proper motive of honoring God and with reverence, then we are just practicing ritualism and our heart is far from it. This type of worship is also vain and unacceptable to God, for Jesus says in Matthew 15:8, "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." We must worship God both in spirit and in truth.

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Lesson taken from http://www.bible.ca/interactive/worship-6-vain.htm

Acceptable And Unacceptable Worship - Lesson 5

God has shown, in the Bible, His approval with those who follow His will and His displeasure and wrath with those who refuse to worship Him the way He has directed. An example of acceptable and unacceptable worship in the Old Testament is that of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel both worshiped God. Abel did as God directed, but Cain tried to worship God the way he saw fit. We read in Genesis 4:3-5, "And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering."

Why did the Lord have respect for Abel's offering and why did He reject Cain's offering? Hebrews 11:4 tells us, "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." Notice Abel offered his sacrifice "by faith" but Cain did not. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." So faith comes by the word of God. Abel offered his sacrifice by faith or according to the word of God. If we worship God by faith, we worship as the word of God directs.

Abel offered the firstborn of his flock "by faith" and it was accepted because his worship was according to the instructions of God. But Cain chose to ignore God's instructions and sacrificed an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Cain chose to sacrifice to God the way he saw fit. Cain did not offer his sacrifice according to God's instructions, so God rejected his sacrifice and worship, since it was not "by faith".

From this example we see our worship must be "by faith", that is "by the word of God." We read in Romans 14:23, "For whatever is not from faith is sin." If our worship is not "by faith", that is it is not "by the word of God", then it "is sin". It will also be rejected just like Cain's. It is a very serious matter if God rejects our worship. If He does we are going to be lost. 

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Courtesy of http://www.bible.ca/

The Purpose Of Our Worship Of God - Lesson 1

 

The purpose of our worship is to glorify, honor, praise, exalt, and please God. Our worship must show our adoration and loyalty to God for His grace in providing us with the way to escape the bondage of sin, so we can have the salvation He so much wants to give us. The nature of the worship God demands is the prostration of our souls before Him in humble and contrite submission. James 4:6, 10 tells us, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up". Our worship to God is a very humble and reverent action.

Jesus says in John 4:23-24, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." It doesn't say we can worship God anyway we want, but we "must worship Him in spirit and in truth". The word "must" makes it absolute. There is no other way we can worship God and be acceptable to Him. The word "must", according to Webster, expresses "an obligation, a requirement, a necessity, a certainty, and something that must be done". When "must" is used it means that it is not optional. Here the word "must" is expressing that in spirit and in truth is the only way to acceptably worship God. God seeks true worshippers, and He identifies them as those who "worship Him in spirit and in truth". Worshipping God in spirit and in truth is a serious matter which must not be taken lightly. If we have any regard for our own souls, we will want to make sure we are worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

Since God is the object of our worship, He and He alone has the right to determine how we are to worship Him. We read in Jeremiah 10:23, "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself, it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." We are not granted the option of directing our own ways in religion. God is the One who we look to for guidance and direction in our lives.

Our very best in worship is due God and is prescribed by Him in the Bible. The worship God has prescribed is the only way we can be pleasing to Him in this life and finally attain everlasting life with Him in eternity. The Christian's worship is of the greatest importance.

Worship is a time when we pay deep, sincere, awesome respect, love, and fear to the one who created us. Acts 17:24-25 says, "God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives life, breath, and all things."

God is the one who holds our eternal destiny in His hands. Philippians 2:12 tells us to, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Our salvation is a very serious matter and will not happen by accident. We must work it out "with fear and trembling". Our salvation depends on whether our worship is pleasing to God or not. On the Day of Judgment it will be too late to make any corrections.

Worship should cause us to reflect on the majesty and graciousness of God and Christ, contrasted to our own unworthiness. God does not have to have our worship, but we must worship Him to please Him. Our singing, praying, studying His word, giving, and communion are designed by God to bring us closer to Him and to cause us to think more like He thinks, thus becoming more like Him. James 4:8 tells us to, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."

Our worship not only honors and magnifies God, but it is also for our own edification and strength. Worship helps us develop a God-like and Christ-like character. We become like unto those we admire and worship. When we worship God we tend to value what God values and gradually take on the characteristics and qualities of God, but never to His level. As Philippians 2:5 says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ." How do we take on the mind of Christ? In Romans 12:2 we read, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." We renew our mind as we study and meditate on God's word and worship Him.

When we worship God we develop such traits as forgiveness, tenderness, justice, righteousness, purity, kindness, and love. All of this is preparing us for eternal life in heaven with God and Christ. As we are told in Colossians 3:2 to, "Set your mind on things above, and not on things on the earth."

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Article taken from  http://www.bible.ca/interactive/worship-1-purpose.htm

Everything You Know Is Wrong (About the Pursuit of Happiness)

 

You may be shocked to learn that the supposed essential principle that this country was founded upon -- "The Pursuit of Happiness" -- is nothing more than an impossible vainglorious wild goose chase. All the saints, sages and wise men of history agree: The way to be happy is to stop trying to be happy.

We are by nature pleasure-seeking entities. Everyone seeks happiness, but the problem is we don't know what real happiness is. There are only two people who are happy in this world: The drunk and the self-realized soul. Everyone else in-between is miserable, trying to be happy by gratifying the senses, but making the mistake of trying to sever the pleasure of the senses from the needs of the character.

The ingenuity of man has always been dedicated to the solution to this one problem. How to detach sensual gratification from the service of God, Who is the Self of ourselves. The soul says Eat; the body would feast. The soul says, The man and woman shall be one flesh and one soul; the body would join the flesh only. The soul says, Have dominion over all things to the ends of virtue; the body would lord it over nature to its own ends.

The nature of this material world is duality. Unless we are serving God on the transcendental platform of self realization and true happiness, we can't have one side (material "happiness") without the other (material "distress"). Ralph Waldo Emerson described this duality succinctly in his essay on karma called "Compensation":

Men seek to be great; they would have offices, wealth, power, and fame. They think that to be great is to possess one side of nature, -- the sweet, without the other side, -- the bitter.

This dividing and detaching is steadily counteracted. Up to this day, it must be owned, no projector has had the smallest success. The parted water reunites behind our hand. Pleasure is taken out of pleasant things, profit out of profitable things, power out of strong things, as soon as we seek to separate them from the whole. We can no more halve things and get the sensual good, by itself, than we can get an inside that shall have no outside, or a light without a shadow. "Drive out nature with a fork, she comes running back."
A materialistic person, thinking himself very advanced in intelligence, continually acts for economic development. But again and again, as enunciated in the Vedas, he is frustrated by material activities, either in this life or in the next. Indeed, the results one obtains are inevitably the opposite of those one desires. No one has ever achieved the results he desired from material activities. On the contrary, everyone has been frustrated again and again. Therefore one must not waste his time in such material activities for sensual pleasure, either in this life or in the next. So many nationalists, economists and other ambitious persons have tried for happiness, individually or collectively, but history proves that they have all been frustrated. In recent history we have seen many political leaders work hard for individual and collective economic development, but they have all failed. This is the law of nature, as clearly explained in the following verse.

"In this material world, every materialist desires to achieve happiness and diminish his distress, and therefore he acts accordingly. Actually, however, one is happy as long as one does not endeavor for happiness; as soon as one begins his activities for happiness, his conditions of distress begin." - Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.7.42
Everyone begins his activities with some plan and ambition, but actually, from the beginning of one's plan to the end, one does not derive any happiness. On the contrary, as soon as one begins acting according to his plan, his life of distress immediately begins. Therefore, one should not be ambitious to dissipate the unhappy conditions of life, for one cannot do anything about them.

"The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature." - Bhagavad-gītā 3.27
Although one is acting according to false ambitions, he thinks he can improve his material conditions by his activities. The Vedas enjoin that one should not try to increase happiness or decrease distress, for this is futile. One should work for self-realization, not for economic development, which is impossible to improve. Without endeavor, one can get the amount of happiness and distress for which he is destined, and one cannot change this. Therefore, it is better to use one's time for advancement in the spiritual life of Krishna (God) consciousness. One should not waste his valuable life as a human being. It is better to utilize this life for developing Krishna consciousness, without ambitions for so-called happiness.

 

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