Day 10: The Heart of Worship

Question to Consider: What area of my life am I holding back from God?

With what I'm watching in the news and the things going on right around me, I'm not holding back any area of my life from God. I'd rather do that than chance what might happen if I don't. We've always been taught that if it's too good to be true then it probably is. Is that why we are so hesitant to believe how much God love us?

As you know I usually post in the mornings, but I just now found the time today. My mother and I were talking the other night about protecting ourself with spiritual armor and I think that I've even blogged about it. Today it makes perfect sense to me.

Eph 6:13
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Eph 6:14
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Eph 6:15
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Eph 6:16
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Eph 6:17
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

I retain more of what I read in the Bible than I do what I hear someone talk about or write about. My Bible is my reference book and where I go, most of the time it goes with me...literally. When I'm out and about it's in my purse and when I'm at home it usually makes its way to my desk at some point because I've referred to it for one reason or another.

Today, I was visiting with a friend and one of my sales reps. My sales rep, who is also my friend, and I were talking about how God is going to take care of us, but it seems like it's a constant struggle not to lose your faith. My friend who was listening to us said, "I don't want to struggle just so I can believe". I looked at them both and said, "that's just it though, we've been raised to think that we have to fight and struggle, but we don't. The Bible says to put on your armour so you can stand your ground and not be deceived into thinking you have to struggle for what God promises us. All you have to do is stand your ground".

I have surrendered my life. I'm not asking anyone to believe the same way I do. However, I am pleading with everyone to search for the truth for yourself. My friend asked me how I could go to church, but not believe in organized religion. My answer is, I go to church because its incentive for me to read the Bible. It's very difficult to sit down and start with page 1 of the Bible and read it from cover to cover like an ordinary book.

As a child raised in church, I remember being taught Bible stories and how I felt when I heard them. When I hear a Bible story being told to me as an adult, I don't just listen, I research what the Bible actually says. I used the story about Noah and the Ark as an example. Not only was it mentioned in the chapters we've read so far, a few church services ago, the pastor told the story just as I remember it being told to me as a child. When telling the story, he used the words "what if everyone was making fun of Noah" because he was building an ark. It caught my attention because a few months ago I was going to read the Bible from cover to cover and I didn't get very far past the story of Noah. I remembered thinking what about all the people that where supposed to have made fun of Noah for building the ark, the Bible doesn't say anything about them. It put the story in a new perspective for me.

The whole world was corrupt. Noah was the only one God found pleasure in. My thinking is that he probably kept to himself and didn't associate much with the outside world. I seriously doubt that his family went around telling people what Noah was doing. They believed Noah, otherwise they wouldn't have gotten in the Ark with him.

I look around at all the corruption in society today and wonder how much longer do we have before Jesus comes back. If people want to think I'm a dork because I believe in God, that's fine with me. Honestly, I don't care anymore. I've seen God at work in my life and those around me too much in the past couple of days to have any doubt in my mind that He does exist and because He does exist, what He's promised me is real. The only way I know to keep myself from giving in to doubt is to repeat His promises to everyone around me.

Someone I'd decided would never believe in God and thought I should keep my distance from, saw God in action and knew without a doubt that it had to be God and not just several coincidences in a row. A year ago I would have been more comfortable agreeing with her that some things that happen are just a mere coincidence and have nothing to do with God. Today, because I chose to live for God, she is remembering how she felt when God loved her as a child. She has been comforted knowing that there is hope that someone she and I both love, has also felt God's love for them as a child and if she can remember that feeling, they can remember that feeling too.

I told God a while back that I didn't have a problem telling others about Him, but I don't want to ever be at a loss for the words to say. The topic of money came up today and the comment was made that Jesus didn't have much money so we should be happy with being poor if we are going to be a Christian. For a second I started to agree, but then I thought wait a minute...and I started naming off people in the Bible that were considered wealthy by societies standards. Job was a wealthy man. David was a king. Before I could name anymore she was agreeing with me.

She told me that because of whatever it is I have, it's given her strength to be able to face what she is going through. As hard as it is for me to stand and hold my shield of faith, I pray that God gives me enough strength and lets me hold my shield in front of her so that she will be protected from anything that will make her change how she feels about God, just until she can put on her own armour and stand with me.