Made for Worship

Ephesians 1:3-14

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love⁵ he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. ¹¹ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

 I remember the first time that I read this passage. What struck me the most was that he predestined us to be His children, in other words He created us to worship Him. We then are born, given the freedom of choice and a heart full of desire to worship…how we fulfill that desire is up to us. Some of us figure it out quickly; others find ourselves in a pit of sinking sand continually searching for the next thing to devote ourselves to. Many of us never grasp that the emptiness that dwells inside of us is the absence of Him and that no man or thing will quench it. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” I believe that what God wants is for us to acknowledge Him. I also believe by doing this we give Him the opportunity to reveal to us His endless love and allow us the opportunity to fully experience the type of worship that we were created for. So I ask you this (I ask myself this) is Jesus the center of your life or are we too burdened by the things that we have allowed to become our gods, our focus and ultimately our worship. Are we just flat out missing Him? I am really going to stick my neck out there and say something and only because I have experienced this so many times in my life. If you are not serving God then you are serving something. God is God whether we acknowledge Him or not. I believe that complacency is probably one of the devil’s favorite things. We get complacent, comfortable, or busy. We get the mentality that we are “good” people or we feel justified in not studying or reading our bibles and water down the need for church. Before you know it we find ourselves in a place of not needing Him and wake up one day to feelings of emptiness and sorrow and sometimes just plain loneliness. We eventually try and analyze why we feel this way and then wonder where God went. Have you ever heard the saying, “If you can’t find God? Then turn around.” You and I were made for worship (and I don’t mean just walking around singing hymns all day), we are given the freedom and opportunity to know Him. To experience the true endless, everlasting love. What else could be more important? Actually some of you may have just read that and thought that you could think of many things that are more important. If so, then you my friend haven’t experienced His relationship to the fullest. One thing I love about writing this blog is that it has so far been based solely on life experiences. Everything I talk about in here I have been through, every feeling, doubt and fear I know personally. I’ve said before that if we have to live this life out I don’t want to do it alone. Life many times is hard and unfair and for me down right scary sometimes. I’m so thankful that I accepted Jesus into my life and can honestly say He is more wild and crazy, fun and powerful than anything I have experienced before. As I sit here this Christmas Eve morning pouring more coffee into this caffeine filled body (never slept the two cups off from last night) I want to ask you this. Would you allow Him to be the one that fills your empty places, would you allow Him to reveal His love and compassion and be willing to experience a little worship with Him this Christmas? I always love when I get to experience a few things in life that I know I was just made for. Believe me if you are open and willing He will not disappoint. I can’t think of a better time of year (except everyday of the year) to start this. I hope that your Christmas is filled with the love and hope and message of Jesus Christ and if you are one who loves the thought of a do over you find that with Him. Someone once told me this and it healed a part in me that I still think about today (Lyndy do you remember this conversation?) There is beauty in our flaws. I think we can all be thankful for that. Merry Christmas everyone!

  Ephesians 1:17-23

¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.