SO IF YOU DO....WHAT's YOUR RESPONSE (to what you see)

Isaiah 6:1& 3 says ¹IN THE year that King Uzziah died, [in a vision] I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the skirts of His train filled the [most holy part of the] temple.  

    ³And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!

Pictured is a depiction of the Elders bowing before the LORD GOD and taking off their crowns and humbly worshipping Him!  The verse today, reveal what God allowed the prophet Isaiah to see and the response was them crying one to another proclaiming the Holiness of GOD!   What about you?  Does worship only occur between the hours of 9am and 12 pm or 2pm?  What's your response to the Holiness of GOD on Monday?  Or on Wednesday when you are half way through the work/school week?  WORSHIP is not JUST about a song, it's about a lifestyle...a proper response to the person of GOD!  Our basement flooded (no damage,just a little contained clean up needed) and it was easy to begin to become overwhelemed with the lack of finances due to other emergencies that came up that depleted our funds, but you know how we responded......we worshipped GOD through prayer.  We slept through the night...knowing that GOD KNOWS, He Cares...and HE will respond in His timing, and HE DID!

What is it....that has kept you from a week of Worship, in response to WHO GOD IS in your life?  I dare you to close you eyes, and envision WHO HE IS in comparison to what it is that has kept you from full on Worshipping Him...and lose yourself in doing just that.....worshipping HIM! Cause if you truly SEE THE LORD.....you can't help but WORSHIP HIM!  LGLP

IF YOU DO....Then You'd Pray FOR

Numbers 14:¹⁷And now, I pray You, let the power of my Lord be great, as You have promised, saying, ¹⁸The Lord is long-suffering and slow to anger, and abundant in mercy and loving-kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and fourth generation. ¹⁹Pardon, I pray You, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your mercy and loving-kindness, just as You have forgiven [them] from Egypt until now. ²⁰And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word. ²¹But truly as I live and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,

 

So the song says...and the :"WHOLE EARTH IS FILLED WITH HIS GLOR_ORYYYY".  But what does that look like?  The picture above is of the sun piercing through some clouds and if you look ...you see the outline of a being....  Moses had see the glory of the Lord through his backside only.  but I am certain he not only had a healthy perspective of GOD, but also......had an even greater understanding of needing GOD's forgiveness for  daily living.  The question is DO YOU?  GOD's GLORY, His presence filling the whole Earth will afford some the opportunity of ETERNITY with Him, while others an alternate eternity without Him.....but as I blogged yesterday WE HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BUILDING EACH OTHER UP, by praying for___________________ ( you fill in the blank).   Do you spend more time praying for the exit of a difficult co-worker, neighbor in your neighborhood, or the president than you do PRAYING for their success?  I wonder does your prayers call for the GLORY of THE LORD to be present in those people's lives?  Do your prayers even mirror those of CHRIST?  Moses's prayers called for GOD's faithfulness to His Word and His People, and GOD heard, answered and pardoned........

 

MY CHALLENGE and QUESTION TO YOU IS.....DOES YOUR PRAYERS GLORIFY & HONOR GOD...while BUILDING UP those whom you are praying for?  OR do your prayers TRY TO HONOR GOD, while exacting YOUR WILL & YOUR DESIRES that may tear people down?  ONE FILLS THE EARTH with HIS GLORY, and the other attempts to strip it.

When I Pray in the Spirit...DO YOU?

Jude 1:20-21 says ²⁰ But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,^{[a] 21} and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.

When was the last time, you sat down to pray, and you allowed the Spirit of God to come upon you and empower you to pray for things that weren't even on YOUR LIST of things to pray for?  Surely we all have or at least we do from time to time come to GOD with a list of these that either we want, need or we are interceding for someone else.

But I'm talking about when you find yourself praying for the unseen, and unknown needs of others.   See pictured up top, is a worker in Malawi on the African Bible College campus (ABC) putting on stalks of grass to build a roof for what will later be a cafeteria/multi-purpose area.   And pictured left are some brothers of mine Mark Mehlig and Brian Taylor stopping to lend a hand to some people in the Tslitza Village who are building their home.   Jude challenge each of us to take or make time in our prayers to BUILD UP each other in our faith by praying for each other in the power of the Holy Spirit!  We've had some challenging news in the last few weeks, and instead of praying your will...have you even sought to build up those affected by the changes?  Have you really spent time, YES YOU, spent more time praying than you have talking to others about how you feel...or thought this should've been handled?  One way GLORIFIES GOD, BUILDS UP OTHERS, and KEEPS YOU IN GOD'S LOVE.....the other way......well.....do you feel BUILT UP (ENCOURAGED)...or in rubble like the lose straw or fragmentend bricks in the pictures.  

My prayer is that we all do as Jude ENCOURAGES, starting TODAY....that we'd 1) BUILD EACH OTHER UP, BY 2) PRAYING IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT & 3) AWAIT GOD's MERCY regarding whatever is on our hearts and LEARN TO REJOICE in HIS WILL!  LGLP

Engulfed In His Glory

Ezekiel 43:4-7a   ⁴And the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east.

    ⁵Then the Spirit caught me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. ⁶And I heard One speaking to me out of the temple, and a Man stood by me.  ⁷And He [the Lord] said to me, Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever;

 

So You are awaken to a brand new day!  PRAISE BE TO GOD!  You take a couple of minutes to gather your thoughts and you pause long enough to THANK HIM, and as you lose yourself in gratitude for  His lovingkindness....you feel His presence enwrap or engulfs you.  The song says...."fills the temple with glory" what would that feel like...to be in the God's courts where He resides and be overtaken by His Glorius presence?   I am pretty certain one could only be comforted to be wrapped up in his presence.   Think of a baby that really can't do much for themselves but resting safely in the arms of the mother/father.   Have you ever allowed your frustrations and anxieties to be transformed into rest...because you were in God's presence during your prayer time, or is your prayer time so rushed....that you don't ever get to really lay your burdens down?

 

Your challenge today....take your cares to HE who cares for you...and allow yourself...to relax in His glorious presence.  May your intimate time with GOD, refresh your soul!  LGLP

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Revelation 4:1-3a says  ¹AFTER THIS I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice which I had heard addressing me like [the calling of] a war trumpet said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place in the future. ²At once I came under the [Holy] Spirit's power, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with One seated on the throne! ³And He Who sat there appeared like....

So here we have John's account of being taken before GOD Himself and being shown the future.   But my emphasis is this week will be on what do you see when you pray, because depending on what you allow yourself to visualize could greatly impact what you say, and how you even approach the ALMIGHTY, ALL KNOWING, ALL POWERFUL GOD!   Look at this picture....do you ever envision yourself kneeling before His thrown?  Literally being engulfed by His marvelous light, being literally overwhelmed by being in his very presence and knowing you are where (at that moment) where He wants you to be? 

The song's lyric I See The Lord...goes on to say "seated on the throne, exalted....." meaning above all else....When you close or click off of this blog, take a moment to pray.  Close your eyes, and allow the HOLY SPIRIT's POWER to carry you to that secret place....and I'd love to hear about what it felt like, and you don't have to share the privacy of your prayers (unless you want) but I know based on what you see & feel that will change what you say.   I pray you begin to pray with vision!  GOD BLESS YOU.....LGLP