Praise and worship has to do with the inner being. Without the Holy Spirit living inside of us we cannot know and understand it. The natural mind cannot understand the things of God. It cannot conceive of a God so good that He would give his son Jesus to cover our sins and a Jesus who loved us so much that He endured the cross. It is unthinkable with a carnal mind. The things of God are spiritual. This may be the reason why some may struggle with worshipping and honoring God. Worship cannot be rationalized or understood because it is totally opposite from what we know. The things of God are opposite to our nature; only with a spiritual mind can we understand praise and worship. While sitting in church, I noticed that most people readily offer a hand clap of praise. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing. I am not here to judge anyone on their individual praise or how they praise. But over the years I have found it interesting that some people find it hard to open up their mouths and worship God. When thinking about my topic today, Praise and Worship, I began to wonder why that might be. The bible gives us instructions to praise and worship Him. The Bible says, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6.) My interpretation of that is that every human being that is alive and breathing should praise the Lord. Praise should come up from within. Therefore, there most be something on the inside in order for something to come up outwardly. As I thought about it and researched what the Word says about Worship this came to my mind. To worship God we must understand who He is and what He has done. It is fully revealed in the bible. Studying the bible and getting to know the nature of God will change our heart and mind. We must make a honest attempt to get to know God. If we do not we will be stuck in our own free will and have an unclear view of God. Nothing is more important than our view of God. If our view of God is limited we lack the understanding and the need to worship Him for who He is and what He has done. The things that are in our heart and the inner man will show up in our countenance. As we seek wisdom we will begin to widen our embrace of Him and the praise and worship will naturally flow up out of our belly.

1 Corinthians 2:11 tells us that alone we cannot respond to God in worship because we do not know Him. Only by the Holy Spirit within us can we truly respond to God and glorify him. Being born again is when our minds are changed from worldly things to spiritual things. When that transformation takes place we can then worship with a pure heart, an open mind and a repentive spirit. There is only one way to worship Him and that is in spirit and in truth. It is the only acceptable way we can honor and reverence God. We must be spiritual and we must know the truth. He knows all of us individually and He knows what our individual needs are. His word says seek and ye shall find, ask and it shall be given. Every Word in the bible is pure and we should not deny or reject any of it. It is important to our spiritual growth. To get to know God and to know the truth we must spend time with Him, get to know Him, let Him know how much He means to us and do the things necessary in order for that relationship to flourish and grow. Because our relationship with God is the most important relationship that we can ever have. Getting to know God is the first step toward building that relationship. The second step is being born again and receiving the Holy Spirit. The better we know our maker the more we will increase in knowledge and when the Holy Spirit arrives we shall receive power (dunamis). But you shall receive power (dunamis) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…(Acts 1:8) That power up out of our bellies and we will freely, openly and wholeheartedly give Him all the honor and glory He is worthy of. He is more than worthy of our praise and worship. After all we were made to worship Him. Let’s Worship Him always in spirit and in truth.

Rhonda

Streaming Faith Guest Columist for 2010
Jan 2010 – Dec 2010
Providing devotionals and editorials for the new year
Register at www.streamingfaith.com
Please visit streamingfaith.com and view my devotionals and articles.
Thank you kindly!

IRN/USA RADIO
Dallas, TX
20 Nov 09
1:00

How many of us would ever walk away and not thank someone who has done the slightest thing for us? We are always thankful for anyone who has done a kind deed for us or who has given us even a small gift. We would not dare walk away without saying thank you to show our gratitude and appreciation. I think that is one of the first things children learn as toddlers. They learn to say thank you even though at first the thank you may sound a little like Ta Ta. But yet they say it and it seems they learn very early when to say it appropriately. They know and are taught that as a sign of gratitude, although they have no concept of gratitude, if someone does something, gives something or says something nice in turn you say thank you. It is a given. Very seldom will you find someone who does not show appreciation for a kind act, deed or words. Many times you have done things for your child or someone has done things for your child and you immediately told them to say thank you. You did not hesitate one bit to correct that child and to inform them that if someone does something for you or says something nice to you the proper response is to say thank you. It is instilled in us at a very young age.

Let it be instilled in our heart that we should also thank God for what He has done for us. It should be an immediate response and a natural reaction to His goodness. Most of us know the great things He has done and yet it seems we are so slothful in telling Him thank you and that we appreciate all He has done. He has done more for us than anyone could possibly do for us. He has done and is still doing things that we certainly do not deserve or that we can ever earn. He gave us His only begotten son even when we did not even have any knowledge of Him. His kindness was toward us and His thoughts were with us and we were not even born yet. His Son sacrificed and died on the cross, spotless, so that we can have ever lasting life. Yet we go day after day without saying thank you. Some of us might think, well I said it yesterday or last month and God knows how much I appreciate it and Jesus knows so what’s the point. The point is, that we should thank God everyday for his love and kindness and tender mercies. Because His love just didn’t stop at the cross. His love endureth toward us forever and we should appreciate His love by telling Him thank you every day. After all, every day that we awake is a gift. His Son is a gift and every day we receive the gift of His Son’s sacrifice and Him interceding with the Father on our behalf. God has given us an amazingly huge, wonderful and perfect gift that could never be matched. I don’t know anyone who would or has given someone a gift every day. But, God gives to us daily. Our hearts should overflow with gratitude everyday because of the gift from God and what Jesus did for us. Aside from that gift from God, Jesus in turned left us a gift, the Comforter. We should thank Jesus for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, that lives inside us so that we can endure the hardships we may have to endure. The Holy Spirit, is a vital instrument in our Christian walk. If it was not for the gift that Jesus left us with we would not even know the goodness of God. We are sinners by nature and that sinful nature knows nothing about gratitude, kindness, appreciation or love. Only by the Holy Spirit are we able to grasp the goodness of God and to serve Him. The bible tells us to worship in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23). We should choose to thank God on the basis of truth and in the spirit. The only true worship is in the spirit. Our nature knows nothing about truth. Truth without the Holy Spirit is selfish, dishonest and leads to a sinful life. Our gratefulness shows were we are in our spiritual walk. The presence or the absence of gratitude indicates our maturity level. Maturity shows were we are in our personal relationship with God. If we are spiritually mature then we will always be grateful to God for all He has done regardless of how we feel. Gratitude has nothing to do with feelings. Little has to do with feelings when we serve God. We are grateful because of what God has done and what the bible tells us He will do. If we wait to feel grateful before we express our gratitude then we will probably be waiting a long time and our expression of gratitude will be few and far between. Therefore, gratitude must be developed and cultivated in our lives. We have much to be thankful for so thank Him every day to show Him your gratitude! Rejoice and show gratitude to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Our worship should be one of gratitude and not just of expectation.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Featured in Goldsboro News Argus
Home Town Newspaper Article
4 Oct 09

WCLC New Life 105.1 in Jamestown, TN
October 23 – 11:30 EST

Harvest Christian Books & Music
24 Oct 09- Ballston Commons Mall
Arlington, VA
Please stop by!

[Show as slideshow]

WATC TV 57, ATLANTA LIVE
Taping in Norcross, GA
More Info To Follow….

Book Signing: Harvest Christian Books & Music
17 Oct 09- Manassas Mall, Manassas, VA
Please stop by!

EC will be available at Harvest Christian Books & Music Stores starting 15 Aug 09:
Three locations:

14401 Telegraph Road
Woodbridge, VA
(703) 490-4040

Ballston Common Mall
4238 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA
(703) 248-0499

Manassas Mall
8300 Sudley Road
Manassas, VA
(703) 257-5939