Worship & Sacrifice

In Genesis 22. It tells the wrenching story of God's test of Abraham. "Take your son, your only son, whom you love … and offer him …" Just a few quick thoughts from my most recent reading of that chapter-

In verse 5, Abraham tells the young men accompanying them to wait. " I and the lad will go over there, and we will worship and return to you ."

The first time the word worship appears in Scripture, it is here. Worship and sacrifice . What about sacrifice?

The sacrifice was loved . God didn't ask for lambs or gold or grain. He asked for what Abraham held most dear.

The sacrifice was offered , not taken.

Without the sacrifice, the offering, worship is a burden . It's carrying wood up the mountain, just to burn it. It's empty.

Sacrifice of Worship pt. 1

Indeed, the time is coming, and it is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for people like that to worship him. - John 4:23

Worship = Sacrifice


1 Chr. 21:21 through 1 Chr. 21:24 (NKJV) 21So David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground. 22Then David said to Ornan, "Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the LORD. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people."


23But Ornan said to David, "Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all."


24Then King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing."


Even though the Lord called David a man after His own heart, we know that David also had several flaws. In 1 Chronicles 21 David had sinned by taking a census of the people. As a result God let David choose between three punishments: three years of famine, three months of military defeat, or three days of plague.


As we read in the text, David chose to have plague on the land for three days. In his distress, David was allowed to peer into the spirit realm, and he saw the angel of the Lord with sword drawn getting ready to destroy Jerusalem. David pleaded with God to stop, and God directed him
to build an altar and offer a sacrifice at the very place where the angel was standing with his sword drawn. The place was the threshing floor of a local farmer, Ornan.


Having been made aware of David's intent, Ornan offered to give David everything that he needed for the sacrifice, but David answered and said, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing."


David was faced with a very tempting offer. Here was someone who didn't have a lot, and he was willingly offering his land, his best ox, and his crops so that David could offer a sacrifice. We know from scripture that worship is sacrifice, but many times we want to curt-tail on someone else's sacrifice. In other words, we want someone else to do all the work to get to God, and we want to share in the benefits of their labor.


Do you know people like this? They are quick to get excited in worship when things are going well, but if things are not going so great, they will stand there—arms folded and lips closed tight. But that is not what God has called us to do. We are called to worship just as much (or more) in the bad times as we do in the good times. That's where the true sacrifice comes in to view.


When the money is low can you still offer up a song of praise? When you are suffering from a disease can you muster up the strength to lift your hands in surrender? When the world around you is falling apart—as in David's case—are you still going to offer your best to God?


You see, David could have taken all of Ornan's possessions and offered them for his sacrifice, but he made the choice to give out of his need.


1 Chr. 21:25 through 1 Chr. 21:27 (NKJV)
25So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering. 27So the LORD commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.


Because David made the right choice and gave out of his need and his pain, God responded to his sacrifice, and answered his prayer. True worship will take us to a place where God will respond. Does God respond to your worship? If not, maybe you need to examine your heart? Take a look at what you are offering to God. Is it someone else's offering, or is it something that comes from your heart in repentance and surrender? Does it come from a spirit of greed, or do you give it freely only to bless the Lord?


The last thing that I want to mention is this. There was a second sacrifice in this story. The first sacrifice grabbed God's attention, and God answered David's prayer. The second sacrifice was given as a response to what God just did.


1 Chr. 21:28 (NKJV)
At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.


David offered up one final sacrifice to seal the deal. When we truly worship in a spirit of sacrifice, God is going to move. But if we only worship to get God to do something, I believe He will eventually stop meeting with us. Because there has to be a response of worship for what He has done.


David worshiped before the answer came, and he worshiped again after the answer came. Do you remember the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17. All ten of them began to cry out to Jesus saying, "Jesus, have mercy on us." You see, they were coming to Jesus in their need. They knew that He was the only one that could heal them. However, when Jesus did heal them they all left, but one turned back to thank Him. And because of that, Jesus pronounced a special blessing on him. He said, "Your faith has made you whole".


The Greek word that is translated ‘whole' is ‘sozo'. It means not only ‘to heal' but also ‘to save'. As worshipers we must understand that God wants genuine sacrifice. Romans 12:1 says that this kind of sacrifice is holy and pleasing to Him. True worship is done in good times and in bad. True sacrifice is offered before the answer comes and once again after the answer.


Psalm 34:1 says, "I will bless the Lord (praise and thanks) at all times (every season). His praise (song) shall continually (regularly, perpetually) be in my mouth." David wrote these words at one of the lowest points in his life. He was being chased by King Saul who wanted to kill him. The town that he fled to recognized him, so he began to act demon possessed to distract them. But still in the midst of pain, suffering, and fear, he said, "In every season of life, I will keep a song
of praise on my lips."


That is the secret to true worship and true sacrifice. Don't ever give God something that costs you nothing. Don't rip God off and don't be a cheap skate when it comes to worship.

Whats Your Desire?

.Webster defines desire as…An emotion or excitement of the mind, directed to the attainment or possession of an object from which pleasure, sensual, intellectual or spiritual, is expected. So many have misguided emotionally driven desires basically because they are looking at the wrong things and have an appetite for less that what God desires. In the Garden Eve was shown a piece of fruit hanging on a tree and the account reads that when ” she saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.” A lot of things look good and can bring wisdom, but are they necessarily good? NO! You have to be careful what you look at and what you have an appetite for. If you acquire the wrong desire, then you will possess less than you are destined for! Desire is formed by what you see and then acquired by what you have an appetite for. What are you consuming? That’s what you desire! Whatever you are hungry for (appetite for) that’s what you desire! Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good.

Do you really desire God? The test is in your eyes and in your appetite. Do you have eye that want to see the Lord? Are you hungry for the presence of God? Hungry for His word? Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

God really wants to give you the desires of his heart!

My Top 5 Fav Worship Leaders

These are some of my favorite worship leaders...

Kari Jobe - Worship Leader @ gateway church
if you ever get a chance to go to a night of worship with Kari DO IT!.. its amazing!..



Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff- just simply a powerful leader..



Christy Nockels and chris tomlin they lead the passion confrence




Melissa Greene Worship Leader/Artist - Gracepoint Tennessee -
She's a former member of avalon.. and now worship leader and speaker.. She does everything from hymns,modern worship, and gospel in her sunday morning set let..



Anthony Evans - love his voice...

New Day... New Year....

Lookin' back on yesterday
There are things that I regret
But I put the past behind me
And I never will forget
You have covered my mistakes
And my broken dreams
Now over the horizon
I see the dawn is drawing near
And I realize the sun did rise
Tomorrow's finally here

Today begins a New Day.. A New year... A New Time... A New Journal... A New Decade... A New Chapter..

As this new year starts I have been seeking God the past few weeks, and fasting social media since I'm addicted to social media (facebook, twitter,ect..):-).. I began to pour my heart out to God, and telling him how I dont understand why things have happened the way they have this year and why I had to go through what I did, that thing from the year before were still haunting me, that I felt everytime I turned around that I was under attack, that I would fast and the day I came off the fast, that the very thing I was fasting over would come back and blow up in my face and I just didnt understand why???.. and that I want this next year to be diffrent that I want the past to stay in the past..

As I began just tell God how I felt he began to show me, that 1. I was holding on to the past and wouldnt let go. and give him full control, once agian he showed me the verse

"Isaiah 43:18-19 (GOD'S WORD Translation)Forget what happened in the past, and DO NOT dwell on events from long ago. I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Don't you recognize it? I will clear a way in the desert. I will make rivers on dry land."

.. As i read that verse, I started to realize that God was moving the whole time, in little ways and changing me in the progress and that yes he was moving in the situation but I was still holding on to some of that and not saying ok God this is yours. I belive many times that's what we do we look at a situation that we may have cause or that somone else cause, and we refuse to let it go. that we choose to hold on to the hurt, and we make the trial harder on ourselves. Instead of saying ok God I cant do this on my own and giving it to him. We hold on to it think about and sit there and dwell on what we cant change.
I did that I held on to what I couldnt change, even when I did everything God told me to, everything that lined up with the word, and instead of releasing it after I did all I could do, I didnt STAND. I didnt say ok I did all I could do its yours God, I dwelled.. We cant dwell on the past and think that tomorrow is going to be better the next year is going to me diffrent. if all we do is think what I could have done diffrent, how I wish I could change the past.. at the end of the day.. month.. year.. you cant change the past.. but you can change your future.

I love the song "oh how he loves us".. because there is a line in the song that sticks out to me it says "I dont have time to maintain these regrets..When I think about the way he loves us" I wish I has relazed it eariler that I dont have time to maintain the regrets of the past that I dont have time to "dwell" on them!.. because when I as God for forgiveness he foregave me out of Love,Mercy and Grace.. that all i had to do is leave the regrets behind and look at what he was doing and seeing that through the trails he was changing me that I've learned from the past so I can move on..It's a New Day....

It's a new day
Oh, it's a new time
And there's a new way
I'm gonna live my life
All the old has, passed away
And the new has come
Thank God, It's a brand new day

So in this new year its going to be diffrent because im leaving the past behind because "the old has passed away & the New has Come". I no longer have time to maintain my regrets.. because God's doing somthing New this year in me.. and Im going to follow.. and move forward... 1 Peter 2:9 says "But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you" .. We have been choosen and we have been called. Not to dwell in the past.. but to reach the nations. And show people that even we have messed up and have a past.. but God's changed us and we all have a future in him..

Now when I wake up thinkin'
'Bout the things I've done before
Memories I could not escape
Well they can't haunt me anymore
Now I can hold my head up high
'Cause I am not the same
You've changed my whole perspective
And with new eyes I see
I've become a new creation
'Cause of what You've done for me

Here's My Life

The End of Twenty Ten

As I sit her typing this blog, I keep thinking about the past decade. How there are something I wish that I could just go back and change, the regrets that I have that I go "if I could just chage that moment" or "that circumstance" "just change that choice". I think iff I could go back and change thing, that things would be different yes.. but because of those moments, yah even the bad choices and the pain I have felt and the things I had to deal with because of those choices. At the end of the day I wouldnt change them.. because they changed me... some may say "but Lisa somethings you did you hurt other and you wouldnt want to change that?". Yah I would want to change the hurt that I cause people, I dont want people to hurt because of my stupidity. But you see through all that God changed me.

I think alot of times we think, just that the "what if's" and the things we regret and wish we could change, and we dont see that somtimes God uses things like our stupid choices and he takes out nasty mess and changes it into somthing beatiful. That he begans to mold us and change us, because its in those moment we realize we messed up that we become broken before God, and I believe it's though our brokeness that he begans to change us. (Psalm 34:18 ESV The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit)

It's never easy knowing your past, and things you did wrong, but its amazing to know that God it's finished with you yet. That he is willing to clean you up heal you and change you into the person he created you to be? SO dont look to the past with regret, because the next decade will look diffrent, people will see changes in you as along as you dont look at the what if's in life, and look to the one what has a plan for your life no matter your mistakes.

I cant live a day without you.....

this is so true, as I listened to this song this morning, I began to think how lost I would be without him, it because of Jesus that im alive, that I can wake up in the morning and know that whatever I face that day, that i'm not facing it alone, because I stand on his promise that he gave in Hebrews 13:5 when he tells me that "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you," (message version)

Do you Remember?.....

Today I was thinking about a song I heard Mia Fields sing.. and it had me thinking how so many times we go from being on fire for God to being comfortable to almost forgetting who he really is.. so as I read these lyrics agian today I began to think how would I feel if God said this to me?..

"do you remember when dancing was undignified and just my name could make you cry? when grace was still amazing because it was more than just a song.. Do you remember? Do you remember at all?... Remember, how we use to talk and you would call me ABBA GOD?.. and knowing i love you was the of greatest reward? When worship wasn't well rehearsed? and Buildings didn't mean the church? And to be with me a hour didn't seem like a such chore?.. Do you remember? Do you remember at all?..."

these words are so true, so many times we go to church because its just what we do, but what do we do. It just becomes a routine. Today my prayer is that we begin to have that fire agian, where we dont care who is around us, or what people think about us, or where we are looking at our cell phones and watches in church wondering when is the over?.. but we began to have church that isnt set by time limit that we cant get enough of his prence that we have a hunger and thirst that only he can quench that even we go home, that we gaurd our time with hime so wedont go backto being in the place of forgetting who God is, and what he has done.. that when people see us they want what we have..

Integrity

"May integrity...protect me."
Ps 25:21 NIV

Though repeatedly tempted by Potiphar's wife, Joseph said no. Faced with similar circumstances, David said yes. But the story doesn't end there. David married Bathsheba; when their son Solomon grew up he took seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away from God (See 1Ki 11:3). Integrity may not seem like a big deal now, but your lack of it will have far-reaching consequences. Integrity means keeping commitments, even though the circumstances in which you made them have changed. One leader points out that when integrity is the referee, your lips and your life will be in agreement. Your beliefs will be mirrored by your behavior. There'll be no discrepancy between what you appear to be and what you are, whether in good times or bad. Integrity is not only the referee between opposing value systems, it's the decision maker between being at peace and being fragmented within. It frees you to become a whole person no matter what comes your way. There's a story about a job applicant who was asked why he was discharged from his last position. He replied, "Because I wanted to take work home with me." When asked who he worked for, he replied, "The First National Bank." We smile, but in a recent survey of employees, 55% said they didn't trust their top management. Are you trustworthy? Will Rogers said: "People's minds are changed through observation, not argument. People do what people see. What they hear, they understand; what they see, they believe and follow." That's why a corrected and contrite Psalmist prayed, "Guard my life...let me not be put to shame...May integrity...protect me" (Ps 25:20-21 NIV).