If the Holy Spirit should come upon us as in earlier times, visiting church congregations with the sweet but fiery breath of Pentecost, we would be greater Christians and holier souls. Beyond that, we would also be greater poets and greater artists and greater lovers of God and His universe.
Tozer
27 Mar 2014 10 Comments
in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, meditation, Prayer Tags: Pentecost, Tozer
Creation and expression
24 Mar 2014 4 Comments
in c reation, Christian Worship, God, Jesus, Prayer, worship, worship leader, Worship leaders
Is it just me, or is creation an amazing thing? I don’t care if it was made in the Biblical week, or over millions of years. My opinion is that it is wonderful and a miracle however God made it. I don’t get into any arguments about it, because there is no need to spend any time debating the idea. When I get into eternity, He will tell me Himself how He created me, and that is good enough for me.
I love worship that is based around thankfulness, which those around me know already. I love to thank my Father for who He is and what He has done.
Alongside my love of creation, is a love of creativity in how we worship and the creative side of being human coming out in the various forms to praise our Father. This can express itself in many ways including backdrops, media, pictures, new songs, old songs which are new to your congregations and many other ways. I feel that creation itself is so expressive, that we can use it as a praise and worship also. The mighty waves of the sea. The calm of a forest with the sun shining through the trees. The wonder of childbirth and hearing the new babys cry. The beauty of a sunrise or sunset. Many things can and do glorify our God.
If we are just beginning to try to be creative in worship, we all need to be able to be uplifting and encouraging. Bad criticism can knock a young worship leader back for sometimes a long time before they even start trying to be creative again. Then we can get stuck in a rut that doesn’t take us any further forward in our worship. God made us to be creative. He made us expressive. We are not robots singing on a Sunday or during our services. Creativeness should be encouraged and allowed to grow within set boundaries that the leadership of the Church agree with you on. Allow mentors to be there for the people to be able to go to for advice and prayer.
If we can’t be creative within the Church, where else can we be creative? If we can’t worship our God in a creative and expressive way, how can we worship
Worship and the Trinity
20 Mar 2014 2 Comments
in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, Prayer, Worship leaders Tags: angels, holy spirit, Praise, saints, Spirit, worship
I love Jesus and desire to worship Him all the time. He gave all for me, and the very least I can do is to worship Him and give Him my all back.
I love the Father and my desire is to always give Him my praise and worship for who He is. I want to give Him all glory and honour and to make sure He is forever glorified.
The Spirit loves both the Father and the Son. He wants to help us and bring us to a place where we can worship and praise, adore and glorify.
We need to be brought to a place that takes us to the Father. Do the songs we sing bring us to that place? Do we feel like we have broken through the trials and struggles of this world and entered into the presence of the most Holy God with our worship? The angels and saints sing a continuous song of praise to God before His throne. Is this where we long to be?
Is the Trinity made clear in our songs or prayer times? Our worship should be with the Father, Son and Spirit. The Spirit helps us to become God – centered and to sing and worship the Son who saved us and broke all the chains of death and sin, and gave us the key to be with Him and His Father for ever. The Spirit helps us to be convicted of the sins that hold us back from being closer to God Himself. Our baptism is with the Trinity as a whole package.
How can we praise and worship in ways that hold the Trinity as a whole?
Brian Houston: “the Muslim and you, we actually serve the same God”
19 Mar 2014 1 Comment
not sure what to think about this.
Hillsong is famous all around the Christian world for their worship music. But what god does Hillsong worship? What god do they serve? Does your church sing Hillsong music? Do you find the songs generally vague and lacking scriptural substance in contrast to hymns?
Well brace yourself. Brian Houston believes that Christians and Muslims serve the same God. Watch him say it yourself:
Brian Houston says,
“How do you view God? In a desert there’s two types of birds: there’s vultures and there’s hummingbirds. One lives off dead carcasses, rotting meat. The other lives off the beautiful, sweet nectar in a particular flower on a particular desert plant. In the same desert, they both find what they’re looking for.
Do you know – take it all the way back into the Old Testament and the Muslim and you, we actually serve the same God. Allah to a Muslim, to us…
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Nigeria: Muslims Murder More Than 100 Christians and Burn Their Villages
17 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
please pray for the christians in the world who are going through horrific suffering and persecution.
Jesus is a worshipper
17 Mar 2014 3 Comments
in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, meditation, Prayer, sanctuary Tags: gospels, saviour, temple, worship
Jesus worships the Lord and is seen as a worshipper throughout the 4 Gospels. He is our model and pattern of how we are to live on our walk. He was Jewish as well, and as a Jewish man, was taught to worship at a very young age. We can read in the Gospels that Jesus went to the synagogue from a young age on Sabbaths and for some of Gods feast times. (Luke 2:41-42, John 6:59)
Jesus talks about the Temple as being His Fathers house and was concerned for the purity of the Temple. He lived in submission and obedience to His Father and taught us all how to pray to Him. All this is worship and adoration to his Lord God.
This is not religion, but learning from Jesus how to love and live in obedience and worship. Jesus is the way to worship God and as part of the sacrifice Jesus made, we are able to come before our Father God cleansed and as the Bride. We can come and worship before God, in the very throne room, clean and pure and as children of the Living God.
Remember who God is, who we are worshipping. Do not take it lightly or something to do out of duty. We worship because we love God and are thankful children. We are also His Children. He made the biggest sacrifice that could ever be made to have us near Him again. He gave His only Son to make us His children. Praise your Father and worship the Saviour.
Pastor Saeed Abedini Pinned Down, Shackled in Iranian Hospital; Refused Surgery
13 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in God, Jesus, Prayer Tags: pastor, suffering
please can we all pray for safe release and also pray for healing for any conditions or pain he has from being in the prison.
We can all be a pastor
13 Mar 2014 3 Comments
in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, Prayer, Worship leaders Tags: holy spirit, hospitality, pastor, seeking, teaching
My husband is worship leader of our church in the North East of England. He is the first to say he is not a “people person”, but I tell him that he is still a pastor. Anyone can have a good heart for worship, teaching, leading, hospitality or leading the cleaners who tidy your house of God each week for you. Every one of them has incredible gifts and amazing ways of doing the jobs they feel called to do. They have also to have a heart for each and every one of the people who walk through those doors each week. We all need to be able to bring a freshness for seeking God in worship or in our teaching, but in a gentle way so that all the congregation will feel able to come along with us. Its good that new songs of worship and praise are invented, or old words with new music can be the freshness needed, but we all need to be going forward at the same speed. Gods speed. The speed the Holy Spirit is taking us and not the speed we would want to seek change and new waves to wash over us and our fellow members.
He knows
08 Mar 2014 9 Comments
in God, Jesus, Prayer, Worship leaders Tags: addictions, creation, death, earth, faith, fear, freedom, Worry
It can be easy to forget that Jesus was human, that He was made mortal for a time. He had a plan to complete. One that was started many years before He came to earth. He knows how it feels to be down, to feel away from God. He knows how it is to feel your calling is too much for you. In the garden, he begged for the calling to be taken from him, but only by Gods own will.
Jesus completed the call by dying on the cross and defeating death by being raised from the dead. He defeated the fear of death, so we know we can be with him forever. Why then, do we still live in the shadow of the Fall? Why do we still live as if Jesus didn’t deliver us?
He knows what it is to be human and to have the thoughts and doubts that we are not worthy. All He asks us to do, is to take hold of what He fought for. He wants us to be with Him, and to live a life of victory, because the most precious blood in the whole of Earths creation was spilled for us. The blood of the King of kings.
Addictions, fears, worries, sins and blackness exist. We cant live and lead our services convincing ourselves that if we do not mention them, they will go away. There are far too many wonderful christian people who are living in the dark and not in victory because they are scared to say where they really are in their faith and in life. We need to acknowledge that sin is very real. Addictions are very real. Doubts are very real. Confusion, fear, worry are all real. They need bringing in the light so they can be dealt with, without judgement, without critical eyes.
Open up to the new life that has been given free of charge. Open your eyes to the pain and suffering all around us, not in our workplaces or streets alone, but in our churches themselves.
He knows what it is to suffer, but He also gave freedom.
Oceans of Grace by Husband
05 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, Worship leaders Tags: grace, healing, king, restoring, soul
Oceans of grace
Flow from your throne above
Healing, restoring my soul
Oceans of grace
An expression of your love
Lifts me up
And makes me whole
How can it be
That your love can set me free
And I can see you
For who you really are?
Its your oceans of grace
Now I see you face to face
I worship you
My King of Kings.
© Steve Redstone 2008
The Minstrel's Wife 
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