THE WONDERS OF WORSHIP by Pastor EA Adeboye (June 2013 HGS)

JUNE 2013 HOLY GHOST SERVICE

THEME: THE WONDERS OF WORSHIP

MINISTER: PASTOR EA ADEBOYE

BIBLE TEXT: John 4:23-24 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

Worship is reverential treatment to something i.e to show reverence and adoration for something/someone. There are people who worship their husbands/wives, some worship money, some worship things like bicycle, some worship man-made gods etc but today we shall be talking about worship to God.

Worship means total submission to the one you are worshiping. As a Christian, worshiping God should be the same as breathing for you. Worship should be a habit/lifestyle, not a one off thing.


Worship is not passive, it is active! You can pray to God silently but there is no way you can praise silently. Also worship is not just a thing of the mouth, it's a thing of the mind.

When you worship God, he shows up in your situation. You can weep as much you like, it doesn't solve your problems. At times prayer doesn't even guarantee solutions but the moment you begin to worship, the Helper of your destiny shows up and situations will change.


When you worship God, He breaks protocol to attend to you. It is against protocol for a prophet to touch a leper but when the leper worshiped Jesus, Jesus touched him and He got healed immediately (Matthew 8:1-3).


Worship is a weapon of warfare! When you worship God, God and your enemies will enter the same trouser (African saying which means God fights your battles)


When you worship God you provoke God to intervene and brings about divine intervention. You can weep as much you like, it doesn't solve your problems. At times prayer doesn't even guarantee solutions but the moment you begin to worship, the Helper of your destiny shows up and situations will change.


The greatest wonder of worship to God is that when we are not too sure prayers will succeed, we know worship would . This is because the most important ingredient to answered prayers is in Isaiah 55:6 which says “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near”. In other words, there may be times you may seek God and he cannot be found and times when you call on him and he may not be near. Also in proverbs 8:17, God said “…those that seek me early shall find me.” Ok, when is early? Is it at midnight or 6am? How early is early? So we have a problem in prayer because since God is not visible we don’t know whether He is near or far while we are praying. However there is a solution is in John 4:23-24 where the bible says that God himself will personally seek out those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. If you worship God in spirit and in truth, He will seek you out Himself. Believe me, God knows your address, He knows how to find you when He needs to pay you a visit. 

Psalms 68:1-3 says "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice." When you worship God He arises and as soon as God arises to pay you a visit, you enemies are in trouble. In Judges 15:13-15, when the spirit of God came upon Samson , he killed a thousand enemies with the jawbone of an ass.

What is your enemy tonight? Many a times when we talk about enemies, people start to think mother-in-law but your enemy isn’t necessarily human. The bible talks about leper who got healed after worshiping Jesus in Matthew 8:1-3. The beauty about the story of the leper is that when he was going on his knees to worship Jesus he was a leper but as he was getting up, he was completely cleansed and healed from leprosy. Also in Mark 5, the mad man of Gadera got healed from madness after worshiping Jesus. Tonight as you worship God ,whatever sickness followed you here will be solved in Jesus name. Amen. (N.B. After you get your healing, don’t stop worshipping because if you stop, things could go worse.)


What if your enemy isn’t sickness but bondage? Worshiping God can deliver you from bondage! If you are a good worshiper, you don’t need deliverance service to be set free. There is no way you can be a good worshipper of God and still have demons living in you. The devil and demons don’t stay where people are praising and worshiping God because nobody enjoys watching people praise his/her enemies. Tonight if you are in any form of bondage worship God and as you worship God, He will set you free but remember never stop worshiping after you’ve been delivered.


If you need material breakthrough, worship God. The bibles says in 2Chronicles 1;1-16 that Solomon worshipped God by offering 1000 burnt offerings to God and as a result became one of the richest and wisest man that ever lived. The thousand offering Solomon gave was an act of worship people in his days had never seen before. After this worship, God showed up and told Solomon to ask for anything, he asked for wisdom and God blessed him so much with it.


Anytime you worship God he responds mightily. David said in Psalms 108:1 "O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.’ The almighty responded in David’s situation and in psalms 23 :6 David said “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”


If you make up your mind that you are going to praise and worship God despite all your challenges, He will respond, show up in your situations and even bless you despite all your enemies try. In Psalm 34:1, said “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Then God replied ‘David since you are going to bless me at all times, goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life.


There are 2 categories of worshipers
1) Baby Worshipers: These are Christians who worship God only after He has done something for them.
2) Adult Worshipers: These are Christians who worship God before their miracle happens. They worship God when the wall is still standing. Those who worship God before the miracle they are expecting happens always get more than they ask for.

Finally according to the word of God, the sacrifice of a sinner is an abomination to God. If you are a sinner, don’t bother worshiping God tonight because your worship is an abomination but if you truly want to worship God, then you have to surrender your life to Jesus. You need to confess your sins, ask for forgiveness and surrender your life to Jesus. Giving your life to Jesus is another way of saying you will worship God with all you have and you will no longer worship any other thing .


TONIGHT DON’T ASK GOD FOR ANYTHING, JUST WORSHIP GOD FOR AT LEAST 30MINUTES 

***New Song by the Daddy GO***
Shout Halleluyah, shout Halleluyah
For His goodness, for His mercies
Shout halleluyah.

BE A SALT, MAKE IMPACT !

Matthew 5:13 is one of my favourite verses in the bible, it gets me thinking about my life and areas I need to work on. The bible verse reads "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."

What exactly does the bible mean when it says "Ye are the salt of the earth...”?

How can we Christians be the salt of the earth?

Salt is a form of flavour that gives taste to meals. If God says we are the salt of the earth I think what He means is that He has placed us on this planet to add some flavour to the world. We can't just live and die without making impact! Just as a tiny portion of salt adds flavour to meals, we must make positive impact everywhere we go no matter how little.

Salt sweetens food, therefore our lives should sweeten the life of those around us. When things are going sour/tough for them, our words, attitude, actions and way of life should be able to sweeten and brighten up their world.

Salt preserves and prevents decay, God has placed we Christians on earth as a preservative to stop people from rotting in their sin. Every Christian has a responsibility to evangelise (Mark 16:15-16), it's our duty to go out there and call sinners to repentance. Have I really been a salt? When last did I win a soul for Christ? Hmmm, God help me.

Salt is actually one of the cheapest and probably the smallest ingredient needed to make a nice pot of stew, yet it makes all the difference. Imagine how tasteless and horrible a pot of stew will taste without salt...no amount of seasonings can do the work of tiny salt. You are the salt of the earth! No matter how irrelevant, tiny, financially unstable or cheap you think you are, no other person on earth can impact the world like you would. God has placed something special in you and the whole world is waiting to see it (Romans 8:19)

BE A SALT; MAKE AN IMPACT IN YOUR WORLD.

WHAT WAS SHE THINKING? Lessons from the Book of Ruth.

     After studying my Open Heavens devotional this morning with lil sis, I decided to read my ‘Bible in one year’ bit alone so I could have my personal time with God.  Trust me, quiet time today was really fun and I’m so excited to share what I learnt with you. I read through Book of Ruth, learnt a few lessons from the main characters and also had my day dreaming moments, creating the perfect picture of my ideal mother-in-law (LOL! I pray she turns out to be as great as she looks in my dreams. Amen.  LOL! )

Anyway, here is the summary of my quiet time today. Hope it encourages/blesses/inspires you.

Ruth was a Moabite who was married to one of Naomi’s son.  However the marriage only lasted for about 10 years due to the death of her husband.  With nothing else to live for in a strange land after losing both husband and sons, Naomi made up her mind to go back to Israel her homeland but her daughter- in- laws wanted to go with her. On their way, she pleaded with them to go back but Ruth insisted on continuing with the journey while Orpah, the second daughter-in-law returned to her father’s house.

In Ruth 1:16, bible records Ruth saying to her mother-in-law “…wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.”  What on earth made Ruth make that kind of decision? There was nothing exciting about going with Naomi to Israel, well maybe a change of environment was needed but on a serious note the journey seemed like a hopeless one.  Ruth was a young widow, there was no man waiting for her in  Bethlehem , no hope for shelter, riches or a better tomorrow but she insisted on relocating with Naomi. What exactly was she thinking? Who follows someone to an unknown place and decides to serve their God knowing fully well that this same God allowed the death of the woman’s husband and sons for reasons best known to Him?

… Hmmmm… While pondering on what her reasons were, it dawned on me that Naomi's life must have really inspired her daughter- in-laws. I think there was something sweet about her that made the ladies willing to leave their homeland for hers.  Ruth’s marriage to Naomi’s son only lasted 10 years but in those years she probably had an encounter with the God of Israel.  She must have watched her mother-in-law closely and noticed there was something great about her God. Hence the reason she said 'your God will be my God'. Despite the terrible things that befell Naomi, Ruth (a Moabite) was willing to serve the God she served.  This was a challenge to me… Does my lifestyle draw unbelievers to Christ or away from Him? Without opening my mouth to preach the gospel, will an unbeliever around me be able to say “Dear friend, your God will be my God”?    Naomi’s story is a practical and classic example of “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”-Matthew 5:16

Even though things had gone totally wrong for Naomi, Ruth followed her nevertheless. Ruth’s decision to serve Naomi’s God no matter the circumstance was the beginning of her greatness. On getting to Bethlehem, what they never bargained for happened!  Ruth found favour in the sight of a wealthy man named Boaz, he married her and together they had a son called Obed, who was the grandfather to King David. That physically hopeless journey Ruth took in faith despite all odds made her one of the greatest women who ever lived. From being a ‘nobody’, she became the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor to Jesus.

At times in life, things may look rough and totally hopeless. We may not understand things happening around us and why God lets very terrible things happen but from Ruth’s story, we see that if we just learn to trust God and keep loving Him despite our challenges or past mistakes, we would realise that of a truth, ALL THINGS MAY NOT BE GOOD BUT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD.

3 lessons you must learn from the lives of Ruth and Naomi

1) Dedicating your live to God is the best decision you will ever make in life. No matter the challenges or trials you face, never let go of God! Trust, serve and love Him wholeheartedly. The decision to serve God despite all odds was the beginning of great things in the life of Ruth.  Her life turned around for good and she went from being a nobody to becoming the great-grand mother of famous king David.

2) Building a good and godly character will take you places.   Abigail Buren once said “The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.” Even though Ruth knew Naomi had nothing much to offer, she still treated her nicely.  Ruth’s kind, obedient, generous, committed and character made room for her at the top and she found favour in the eyes of Boaz.

3) Let your light shine wherever you go and let your life be a blessing to those around you! Don’t just be a Christian by words of mouth only, be a Christian in your works too. Let people see Jesus in you, like Naomi, show love!  Motivate others to good works, be nice to everyone you come across and make an impact in your world!

There are many more lessons from the Book of Ruth, do you mind sharing some? If yes, kindly leave a comment on the blog.

Remain Blessed,

LadyMay.

The Pains & Gains of Waiting on God

Waiting for something to happen isn't always an exciting experience. It is a lot easier to wait when you know that at a set period your wishes will be granted but things can get really stressful when waiting on God for something and it seems like nothing is happening for years. The bible says in Isaiah 40:31   "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint".  According to this verse, waiting on the Lord when things are not fine should strengthen Christians but in my case I realised ‘waiting on God’ made me very restless a few times in the past.

 It was really a painful and annoying experience but after searching my heart, I discovered that those times I said I was waiting on God for something, what I really meant was “I'm waiting on time and chance for something to happen”. Instead of totally putting all my trust and hope in God who is capable of doing all things, I unconsciously consoled myself by assuming with time everything will be just fine with time...Big mistake! That mind-set made the waiting period very frustrating. 

Many of us have things we are waiting on God for, some need children of their own, good spouse, better job, good house etc. but when you say you are waiting on God, are you really waiting on Him? Do you trust and depend totally on Him to do exceedingly abundantly above all you think and desire?There is a huge difference between waiting and waiting on God. An online dictionary says to wait is to remain inactive until something expected happens but I think waiting on God is to stay active till something expected happens. Waiting on God doesn't mean you stay idle, it involves you actively trusting God and praying until something positive happens. Waiting on God means even when God seems quiet, you are at peace, relying fully on Him to step in and grant your heart desires right on time. Waiting on God means making efforts to strip yourself off your self-strength (I can handle it attitude) and depending totally on God for strength. It is only the strength from God that can keep you at peace in the midst of the storm and mount you up with wings as eagles so that you can soar far above your challenges. 

  Having said these, the waiting room isn't a bed of roses! While waiting on God, there will be diverse temptations both from the devil and loved ones who mean well. People will suggest so many alternatives and sometimes due to pressure it is very easy to start considering these options even when we know that is not the will of God for us. I have seen Christian youths who due to lack of jobs ended up doing all sort of crazy things just to make money. When you ask such people why they do these wrong things they come up with excuses like 'I was frustrated, I got tired of waiting'.  Dear friend, I know it is not easy when most of your classmates who were not as smart as you back in high school are driving Bentley's and you, with all your church activities are going around in a footwagon. I understand the feeling but you have to "Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth."- Psalm 37:7-9

I do not know exactly what you are going through and even if I did, I may not have the solutions but God does and I encourage you to wait on Him! We all have our waiting seasons! Joseph waited 13 years, Abraham waited for 25 years and even Jesus had to wait for 30 years so you are in good company if you are in a waiting season JJJ. I have had painful periods of waiting in the past when it seemed like God had turned his back on me, I waited, prayed, cried, grumbled, ranted and then prayed a little more but despite all my effort nothing was happening. Even as I type this blog post, some of my prayer requests are yet to be answered but then I'm still waiting!  I've given up being so anxious and surrendered everything into the hands of a Sovereign God who can do anything whenever, wherever and however!  Life is so much easier that way and it is my prayer that very soon, like the psalmist, we will share our testimonies saying "I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry"- Psalm 40:1. AMEN!

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD -Psalm 27:14

Have a blessed week,

With love

LadyMay.

PARADOX OF HIS RESURRECTION: HIS PAIN, YOUR GAIN!

 Hi everyone, hope you are doing great and enjoying life? I am! Travelled to London during the Easter break and only just got back to Liverpool *SMILES* Going away for a few days was fabulous as usual, I got to spend quality time with my lovely sister-friends.  *sobs sobs* iMiss them already.

Anyways I'm back to reality and since I got back I've been analysing a particular hymn 'AT CALVARY' by William R. Newell. Guess I’m still in the Easter mood but here are my favourite bits from the hymn

"Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!

Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!

Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary!

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;

Pardon there was multiplied to me;

There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary."

                              

On Easter Sunday, I had the opportunity to read Mark 16 again. One of the interesting things that stood out about the resurrection story is the fact that after Jesus resurrected, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, a woman with a very horrible past! I began to wonder, of all the people who had an encounter with Jesus during his time on earth, why Mary M? Why didn't Christ appear first to one of his beloved disciples? And then the word came, It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done and where you've been, if you decide to just give your life to Jesus, He'll show you love and turn your life around for good.

               

All the way to Calvary Christ went, He tasted death for YOU! He went through all those sufferings so your life can have structure and meaning! He was abandoned by God on that cross so you can be accepted. By dying on the cross, He ended the issue of rejection in your life. He gave himself to be mistreated by men so that you and I may dominate our world. He descended to hell so we can rise and do exploits.

You have so much to gain from the pain Jesus went through at Calvary! What excuse do you have for still living in sin? To reject the gift of salvation NOW is to prepare for everlasting roasting in hell because you can't predict whether you'll be alive the next minute, day or year to ask God for forgiveness. If you are Christian and still toying with sin, you are taking the grace of God and gift of salvation for granted, repent and make your ways right with God before it is too late!

                                                       

Only Jesus can give you the hope to become somebody in life no matter your race, age, gender, background, social-class or past! Only Christ can turn the mess in your life into a beautiful message! He specialises in giving beauty for ashes! If you do not believe that, ask me and I will share a few personal stories with you. I am a product of God's love, grace and mercy...I do not regret ever giving my life to Jesus, the salvation experience is simply amazing and like the song writer I can boldly say "Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan! Oh, the grace that brought it down to man! Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary! Mercy there was great, and grace was free;Pardon there was multiplied to me;There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary"

                                                                   

A life without Christ is crisis! Even if everything goes well for you here on earth, what happens after you die? Whether you believe it or not, there is life after death, you will spend eternity either in heaven or hell. At Calvary Jesus went through terrible pains so you can gain access to God!  Only Jesus can grant you eternal life so give yourself wholly to him now.

HAVE A BLESSED WEEK.

WITH LOVE,

LADYMAY.