WORSHIP GOD AS YOU ARE

By Joseph Prince

Posted February 4, 2017

Ephesians 5:27

That He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having wrinkle or any such thing, but that she and without blemish.

Have you been to a worship service where you stood with your hands raised, ready to worship God, only to hear the worship leader say, “Before we worship God, let’s all search our hearts”? Then, as you search your heart, before long, you dig up something that you don’t like. The next thing you know, your hands are no longer raised and soon, you find yourself sitting down—you don’t feel good worshiping God any more.

My friend, I have good news for you. Come and worship Him as you are. Come into God’s presence Jesus-conscious, forgiveness-conscious and grace-conscious! Come into God’s presence bringing only Jesus the spotless Lamb of God as your offering.

Your worshiping God is like the times God’s people in the Old Testament brought their offerings to the priest. The priest examined the animal sacrifice to ensure that it was without blemish. The priest did not examine the sinner. If the animal was without blemish, God accepted the animal sacrifice as well as the offerer who brought the animal.

So when you come into God’s presence, don’t do any self-examination and be discouraged when you find faults in your life. God does not examine you. He sees you through the full value, and all the loveliness and acceptance of His Son. (Ephesians 1:6) He sees you holy and without blemish!

Remember the woman who was referred to as a sinner, possibly a prostitute? She went to the house of the Pharisee who was hosting Jesus and wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair. (Luke 7:36–50) That was her act of worship.

She came to Him as she was. Yes, she knew that she had sinned, but she worshiped Jesus first because of who He is. She was Jesus-conscious. Then, she heard Jesus say, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:48) She received the forgiveness she needed from Him.

Whatever you need from the Savior, come to Him as you are. Worship Him for who He is and then you will hear Him say, “Go your way. Your restoration has come. Your provision is here. You are healed. You have been made whole!”

Thought For The Day

God sees you in Christ—holy and without blemish.

What If They Don't Believe?

By Joel & Victoria Osteen

Posted February 4, 2017

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

"For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?"
Romans 3:3, KJV

TODAY'S WORD:

Have the opinions of others caused you to water down your dreams? There will always be critics and naysayers in life. One of the most important things you can learn is that other people don't have to believe in you in order for your dreams to come to pass. Other people don't set the limits for your life—you do. It's not what others say about you that affects your life, it's what you say and believe about yourself. In today's verse, the apostle Paul is saying, “It doesn't matter if other people don't believe. Their unbelief is not going to keep me from believing in my dreams.” When God puts a promise in your heart, it's not up to other people to bring it to pass, it's up to you! You don't need everyone to validate you. You have to follow the voice of God for yourself and allow Him to order your steps!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

"Father, thank You for another day to see Your goodness in my life. Help me to see myself the way You do. Help me to see the plans You have for me so that I can be empowered to fulfill my destiny. I love You and bless You today in Jesus' name. Amen."

Qualified to Love: I (Don’t) Love You If . . .

By DR. David Jeremiah – Posted February 4, 2017

So [God] said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Exodus 3:12

When God called Moses to go to Egypt and free the Hebrew slaves, Moses was reluctant: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11) Moses went on to object three more times.

Recommended Reading: Joshua 1:5; 3:7

One might expect God to withdraw His love from Moses, to turn His back and find another messenger. But that is not what God did. God didn’t say, “I won’t love you, Moses, if you are going to object to what I ask you to do. I will only love you if you obey Me.” That would have been conditional love: “I love you if you obey Me.” Instead, God was patient with Moses. Yes, He spoke firmly to him after the fourth objection (Exodus 4:14), but God never abandoned His servant. God never stopped loving the one who would redeem His people from slavery. God doesn’t love conditionally. His love is not jump-started by our obedience or cancelled because of our disobedience.

If you fear God has withdrawn His love because of something you’ve done, remember: God does not love you conditionally. He loves you, period.

The true measure of God’s love is that He loves without measure. 
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 Read-Thru-the-Bible:  Leviticus 22 - 25

Known by Our Fruit

by Joyce Meyer - posted February 04, 2017

[Jesus said] Either make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit. You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.
—Matthew 12:33-34

A woman I'll call Dorothy knew more about the church and every member and visitor than anyone else did. She was fairly well-known as the church gossip. "One thing about her," a friend said, "she's not prejudiced; she talks about everyone," and he laughed. He also added, "She'll probably get into heaven, but God may have to cut off her tongue first."

One day as I stood near the front door, I heard Dorothy telling several people about one of the deacons, "But it isn't up to me to judge him," she said. The venom poured from her mouth, and she went on to mention several others. Of course, she was critical of each one.

I listened to her and realized something. She was only speaking from what was already inside her heart. That's obvious, but I grasped something else. Dorothy was so critical of herself, so filled with disgust for herself, how could she speak well of others?

Too often people make promises that they'll speak better of others and gossip less. They really try, but nothing ever changes. This is because they are trying to change their words without changing their thoughts. That's a bad solution, because they start at the wrong end. What they need to do is look inward, asking, What is going on inside of me?

"For out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks," Jesus said. As I considered those words, I felt a deep compassion for Dorothy. She had allowed Satan to fill her mind with critical, harsh thoughts. She didn't speak much about herself, but I'm sure she was totally critical of herself as well as other people, and when she spoke, the evil words came out of her mouth.

Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit. The same is true of our lives. Everything begins with a thought. If we allow negative and unkind thoughts to fill our minds, they bear fruit. If we dwell on the bad, we produce bad fruit.

As we observe people, it's easy to see the fruit of their lives. They show either good fruit or bad. It's that simple. But the fruit is the result of what's going on inside. We can learn a lot about a person's character simply by listening to their conversation. The more loving our words and actions are toward others, the more loving and kind our thoughts will be. 

If I believe God truly loves me, and if I enjoy fellowship with Him every day, I'm planting good seeds in my own heart. The more good seeds I plant, the more good fruit I produce. The more I think kind and loving thoughts, the more I see others as kind and loving. 

"Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks." Kind or judgmental words don't just come to us. They come out of our mouths because we have nurtured them in our minds. The more we open ourselves to the Spirit's positive and loving thoughts, the more we pray. And the more we read God's Word, the more good fruit we produce on the inside. That good fruit shows itself by the way we behave toward others. 

Dear loving and forgiving God, I ask You to forgive me for all the harsh things I've said about other people. Also, please forgive me for allowing harsh thoughts to fill my mind about myself or about others. I know I can't make myself more loving, but You can. Please, help me focus on healthy, positive thoughts, for I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.