:: To Worship Him ::

REVENGE VS. LOVE

Bloged in Worship Music, Discipleship by DeNelle Stotser Saturday June 10, 2006

A story is told of a man who stepped outside his Mid-Western home on his birthday and found two tons of manure piled eight feet high on his front lawn. The present, compliments of his brother on the West Coast, was the latest in an outlandish gift-giving war that erupted between the two when the Mid-Westerner sent his sibling one of those “insulting” birthday cards. He got 50 back. Recently the Mid-Westerner received a pet rock that tipped the scale at 4,000 pounds. He responded with 10 tons of pebbles and a note telling his brother that the pet rock had babies. Over the years, gifts between the two have also included a full-grown elephant and two busloads of choirboys. Which goes to show, it’s not just the thought that counts.

How do you feel when you have spent time on a project and someone comes along and ruins it? Maybe you’ve just bought a new car and someone parks next to you and puts a dent in the door of your car? Did thoughts of revenge well up inside of you? Anger and the desire for revenge are powerful emotions. When these emotions are not checked, they will eventually lead to ungodly behavior. I heard on the news yesterday that now some docters are saying that road rage and bursts of anger are actually a mental disorder. In other words, now you will be able to justify your fits of anger. It’s not your fault you have this problem. Probably your parents! Hogwash!

Exodus 22:6 says; “If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution.” God made provisions for how to balance the scales of justice for behavior and loss, damage or injury. Even though we have these laws, there are no laws that can constrain the evil and wickedness that infects our hearts. All that laws can do are to show us how sick our hearts can be. It is up to us to receive healing. Do I really want to fulfill the demands of revenge or do I want to understand and show compassion? What are the things that set-off my anger? When we take the high road, we can be above the situation. When we say no to anger and yes to compassion and love, we win every time.

Father, as Jesus forgave His murderers, help us to forgive those who treat us unjustly. Help us to turn revenge into love. Amen.

A CHRISTIAN LIFE TO SHARE

Bloged in Quiet Times, A Walk In The Word, Discipleship, Worship Leader, Encouragement by DeNelle Stotser Wednesday January 18, 2006
 
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than ourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others.  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”  Philippians 2:3-7
 
Have you noticed that when you are closest to the Lord, you are more apt to think of others first and more apt to respond to the need of others?  That is the way the Body of Christ should operate, continually exercising the art of giving and receiving. Christian lives are made to share in community and fellowship.
 
When Paul was under house arrest in Philippi, He wrote His Christians friends telling them that they should strive to imitate Christ’s selflessness.  He gave them four things that they needed to focus their life on:  (Philippians 2:3-5)
  1. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.
  2. With humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.
  3. Do not merely look our for your own interests.
  4. Look out for the interests of others.

When we are in real Christian fellowship, we will experience mutuality.  We will learn to live depending on one another.  To do this we must learn to be real with one another.  To be open and honest with one another takes a lot of courage.  Learning to walk in humility is certainly one of the greatest keys to Christian living.  Humility does not come naturally.  We must work on it.  The life that the Lord would have us live is experiencing life together.  It is unselfish loving, honest sharing, practical serving, sacrificial giving and comforting those that are in need.  The Lord gave His life so that we could walk in community and fellowship.

As I said earlier, focusing on Jesus and having a close relationship with Him results in a positive Christian lifestyle.  A lifestyle of selflessness, generosity and community.

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WHAT’S THE SIZE OF YOUR HEART?

Bloged in Quiet Times, A Walk In The Word, Discipleship, Worship Leader, Encouragement by DeNelle Stotser Tuesday January 17, 2006
 
What is the size of your heart?  Have you measured it lately?  I recently read the account in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24, about the two that were walking to the village of Emmaus.  They were deep in conversation when Jesus caught up with them and continued on with them.  They were not aware that it was Jesus.  Jesus inquired as to what they were discussing and they answered with a question about Jesus not knowing what had happened in Jerusalem the last few days.  When they arrived at the village where they were headed, Jesus acted as if He would go farther but they insisted that He stay and have supper with them.  He obliged and sat with them for the meal.  He took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave to them.  At that moment they recognized Him.  Then He disappeared.  They commented that they felt a fire within their hearts as Jesus spoke with them.
 
They immediately headed back to Jerusalem with the news.  When they found the eleven and their friends gathered, they related the news of what had happened on the road and how they had sat at supper with Jesus.  When they were saying all these things, Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.”  They thought they were seeing a ghost, but He assured them that He was really flesh and blood and that He had risen from the grave.  He went on to open their understanding of the Word, showing them how to read, study and tarry until the Holy Spirit would be sent by the Father to equip them for ministry.
 
He then led them out of the city over to Bethany.  Raising His hands He blessed them, and while blessing them, He took His leave, being carried up to heaven.  The next verse says, “They worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.”
 
This is the first account, to my knowledge, of them worshiping Jesus.  I really feel they were unable to worship earlier because their eyes and ears where not open.  I believe it is impossible to offer true, authentic worship without a vital relationship with Jesus Christ.  Until we are in right standing with the Lord, we have no revelation to base our worship.  An attempt would only be foolishness.
 
Someone once said, “When God measures a man, He puts a tape around the heart instead of the head.”  I think God measures our worship as well.  The more revelation of who He is produces greater and deeper worship.  The more time we spend on the road to Emmaus, sitting at table with Jesus as He breaks bread with us; and opening ourselves up to intimate fellowship with Him, will determine the size of our heart.
 
Let us seek to have enlarged hearts for our Lord.  Let His Words burn like fire in our hearts;  then we will return with great joy, continually in His house, praising and blessing God!
 
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NOTES ON PRAYER

Bloged in Quiet Times, A Walk In The Word, Discipleship, Worship Leader, Encouragement by DeNelle Stotser Monday January 16, 2006
 
Judson Cornwall said in his book Elements of Worship that “the word prayer invokes more guilt among Protestants than does the word sin, for, although Bible-believing Christians feel a responsibility to pray, few have developed the discipline of prayer.”  Far too many of the Church use the 911 method to help when emergencies come.  Far too many use prayer to manipulate God using praises, promises, fastings, and formulas to gain what’s wanted.  “When such primitive concepts of prayer are used,” Judson said,  “it  is little wonder that prayer is praised publicly but is passed over privately.  When prayer is reduced to management of God, it becomes obviously too great a chore for the common person.  When prayer becomes a channel of communication between man and God, what a delightful privilege it becomes.”
 
On earth we lack pure worship so we must look to heaven to find the pure pattern.  The same is true of prayer.  Much of our praying can become selfish, focusing on the need, and void of much faith.  Our greatest heavenly prayer is the pattern the Lord gave us in Matthew 6:10.  “Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 
 
In the book of Revelation we read forms of prayer that is being used in heaven.  The most common form is the petition being used by the waiting martyrs.  “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”  Revelation 6:10  Another form in heaven is the communication. In Revelation 15:2-4 we read the prayer song of the saints who had gained victory over the beast.  They were asking for nothing.  They were joining in a joyful communication with God.  A third form of heavenly prayer is communion.  In the midst of a worship experience, the living creatures and the twenty-four elders cried out, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”  Revelation 4:11  They were desiring to express deep inner feelings about God as an act of communion.  Their words were not as important as the feeling and heart behind those words.  If we really study prayer, we find it is more than a prayer or thought, but far more the expression of a desire and thought.  Prayer is petition, communication and communion with God.
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OUR EYES FIXED ON JESUS

Bloged in Quiet Times, A Walk In The Word, Discipleship, Worship Leader, Encouragement by DeNelle Stotser Sunday January 15, 2006
 
“Surrounded then as we are by these serried (crowded or pressed together) ranks of witnesses, let us strip off everything that hinders us, as well as the sin which dogs our feet, and let us run the race that we have to run with patience, our eyes fixed on Jesus the source and the goal of our faith.  For He himself endured a cross and thought nothing of its shame because of the joy He knew would follow His suffering; and He is now seated at the right hand of God’s throne.  Think constantly of Him enduring all that sinful men could say against Him and you will not lose your purpose or your courage.”  Hebrews 12:1,2    J.B. Phillips’ Bible
 
Life is all about the big race and how we choose to run it.  It can only be done individually.  My race and how I finish depends entirely upon my dedication and how smart I run it.  Some of the major hindrances to running a successful race are:
  1. Strip off everything that hinders us, as well as the sins that so easily beset us. Hebrews 12:1   
  2. Worldly allurements.  Genesis 19:26  Lot’s wife looked back to her world and her possessions and she turned to a pillar of salt.
  3. Attempting to use other’s and their equipment instead of relying on the Lord.   1 Samuel 17:39  David attempted to use Saul’s equipment in fighting Goliath but it didn’t fit or suit David. 
  4. Discouragement.  Nehemiah  4:10   Judah became discouraged because the strength of the laborers were failing and they felt that they were not able to build the wall.
  5. Unbelief.  Matthew 13:55-58   Unbelief hindered the work of the Lord.
  6. Worldly possessions kept back the rich young ruler from discipleship  Matthew 19:22  Jesus said that a rich man will find it very difficult to enter the kingdom of Heaven. 
  7. Imaginary hindrances loom up before Christian worker   Mark 16:3,4   When the women were arriving at the tomb they pondered the hindrance of the big stone at the opening and how they could get it moved. 
  8. Family ties prevent a man from following Christ. Luke 9:59   Jesus said, “Follow me” and there were those that used family duties to excuse themselves.
  9. Weights, as well as sin impede our progress. Matthew 12:1   Habits, attitudes and indifference can hinder us.
  10. Friends that are not Christian influences in our lives.  Proverbs 22:24  Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.
  11. Ungodly environments.  Proverbs 17:1  Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”  Helen H. Lemmel  1922

 
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