Why We Worship 13

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

We have already looked at the omnipresence of God so today I wanted to consider the 

Omniscience of God

                This simply means that God is 

All-knowing

 This includes the past, the present, and the future, and everything within these times.

 It includes what has actually happened and will actually happen but it also includes what could have happened and what could happen in the future depending on how we exercise our free will.

                       So he knows what will happen and he knows what "could" happen.

There was never a time when God did not know everything and there never will be a time when God does not know everything.

Does this not give us a great security because we have a God who knows all things about us, about everyone else and about the universe.

Read through 1 John chapter 3 yourself to get the right context for this verse.

1 John chapter 3 is written by John to people he refers to as:

• Children of God  v. 1 & 2
• Little children  v. 7
• My brethren  v. 13
• My little children  v. 18
• Beloved  v. 21

He is writing to people who are saved but perhaps have not had enough time or opportunity to have learnt many things about their heavenly Father.
Throughout the chapter he is assuring them that they are in God's family and are loved by himself and God.
Nowhere is he trying to scare them with the thought that God knows all things and will hold anything against them.
He is in fact stating that God knows all things so even when they do not think they are good enough God knows their salvation and the truth they are standing on.

How could He not be the rock for us to hold on to.

Do you agree?

Why We Worship 12

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

Oh I have such a problem this week!

There are just too many verses in the Bible that I want to share because today I'm thinking about how good God is.

I will pick this one especially as I featured another one of them a few months ago in an earlier post Thankfulness, Goodness, Love.

When we think about this we probably tend to compare the goodness we see in the acts of others toward us or toward other people, with the Goodness of God.

But we really cannot do this as the goodness of God is perfection because He knows what is best for everyone and our goodness toward each other can never be perfect. 

Thankfully, because we learn from God then we can reflect some of His Goodness in the acts we do too.

                Thank you God!

     We see almost the identical sentiment spoken in    
                        

Psalm 100:5

For the Lord is good;His mercy is everlasting,And His truth endures to all generations.

            

and we can all shout together

Why We Worship 11

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

Today I want to focus on the fact 

                  yes fact 

                              that

God is everywhere.   

He is OMNIPRESENT

This doesn't mean that part of God is in one place, 

                                             
                                                  another part in another place 

                                                               
                                                                         or another in a third place.  

It means that all of Him is present everywhere at the same time, not part of Him in different places.

So there is no-one like our God because no-one can be everywhere at all times.

God has told us that He reigns in Heaven and Earth,

What a consoling and exciting piece of knowledge for us to have.

We are never alone from God, He always hears our prayers, He is always there to comfort, guide and support us.

However,

this also means that no-one can hide from 
God 

                         
                              or that we can do anything behind His back 

                                            
                                              as everything is done in His presence so He sees and hears it all.

Jeremiah 23:24

Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

Does this not thrill you to know for a fact that wherever you go, He is there?

Why We Worship 10

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

Many people nowadays say that God is only a God of Love and want to forget about justice but justice is not a harsh thing, justice is keeping to what is right.

Isaiah 30 v 18 states that

    The Lord is a God of justice

but the verse also highlights the grace and mercy of God

God lets no sinner off the hook without a fitting punishment, or a fitting substitutionary atonement.

God is concerned with all the wrongs in this world.

God wants to right those wrongs.

I am thankful that God cares about the things that are evil and wrong because ultimately they hurt me and everyone else.

So it is very comforting to remember what it says in His Word and realise that God is in control even though we tend to focus on the wrongs.

Let's look at another passage also in Isaiah


Isaiah 45: 18 - 22

18 For thus says the Lord,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited:
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
In a dark place of the earth;
I did not say to the seed of Jacob,
‘Seek Me in vain’;
I, the Lord, speak righteousness,
I declare things that are right.

20 “Assemble yourselves and come;
Draw near together,
You who have escaped from the nations.
They have no knowledge,
Who carry the wood of their carved image,
And pray to a god that cannot save.
21 Tell and bring forth your case;
Yes, let them take counsel together.
Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time?
Have not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A just God and a Saviour;
There is none besides Me.

22 “Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.

It is because God is a just God that he provided His own Son as our Saviour.

Why We Worship 9

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

Today I want to look at God's Mercy.

Mercy is "not getting what you deserve". 

ie.  It is like a judge finding you guilty of a crime, but then not administering any punishment.

The Bible tells us that God is Merciful towards us.

So God shows us his mercy by not giving us the punishment we deserve.

          The punishment we should receive because of the sin in our lives.

          The Punishment which should be death and complete separation from God.

This is a compelling reason for us to worship God and give Him thanks.

Thank you God that you are a merciful God.

Can you pray this along with me?

Why We Worship 8

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

 This week  Malachi 3 v 6  brings us the reason to focus on
                  

This means that God is UNCHANGING

He never changes in His being (who He is) or in the promises He makes.

We can change from year to year or from day to day but God does not.


Malachi  ch 3

Says the Lord of hosts.

6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

Also look at verse 7 to see another promise from God and because He has already declared He does not change then we can believe what He says here.

This gives us great stability and we know that we can depend on Him 

at all times 

and 

       in all circumstances.    

 

I am thankful that I serve an unchanging God, are you?

Why We Worship 7

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

One of the things about God that we may find hard to understand and perhaps never understand fully, but just have to accept that it is true,
 is that 

God 

always has existed 

and 

always will exist

So today I'm thinking about worshipping God because 

We were born and we will die and that is the cycle of life that we understand 

but we are not like God.

He has always existed in the same way: fully and completely as God.

So we must cry

Revelation 4

6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 

7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 

8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:  

11“You are worthy, O Lord,To receive glory and honour and power;For You created all things,And by Your will they exist and were created.”

Have you grasped the  "who was and is and is to come" ?

Do you worship Him even though you may not fully understand Him?

Why We Worship 6

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

God has set us all a great example.

He has shown us the way we should be in all the relationships that we have.

He teaches us that we should be faithful in word and in deed.

So our focus today is on    1 Corinthians 1:9

always remembering to take verses we consider in the context they were written

4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 

5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all [b]utterance and all knowledge, 

6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed [c]in you, 

7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Not only has He shown us that a relationship must be built on faithfulness but He has also provided the relationship we all need.  

The relationship with our Saviour.

So let us worship today because

We will be singing "What a Faithful God have I " in church today.

Are you worshipping Him today?