Sunday, August 17, 2014

Worshiping the Great 'I Am'


“Worship is to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission.”
"Webster's Dictionary," 1828

“Worship is more than a song; it’s a life responding to the extravagant love of God in extravagant ways. Not big ways or small ways - extravagant ways; and extravagance to God is simply using our lives and God-breathed gifts to bring Him glory. Every unique way you respond to God’s love, pour out your love to him, or his love to others – is worship.”
“In John 4:23, Jesus says, ‘The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.’ This verse tells me that God wants our love and our worship toward Him to be pure. 

Pure and love are not two words that we often put together. Maybe it’s because most of the love we experience is anything but pure. As flawed people, we rarely love without somewhat tainted motives. We all have probably ‘loved’ someone because we wanted something from them, and I’m sure we’ve all been ‘loved’ because someone only wanted something out of or from us.

We often feel we have to earn someone’s love by training ourselves to give him or her what he or she wants. Unfortunately, this kind of love isn’t ‘pure’ at all, and it doesn’t come close to reflecting God’s true heart. But we’re so used to performing and trying to impress the people we want to love us that we treat God the same way. We go around and around in circles trying to make Him happy without ever stopping to consider that maybe His love is really, truly, pure—without any selfish or deceptive motive. Maybe God doesn’t want anything from us except us.”

“Worship ‘is an exercise of the human spirit that is directed primarily to God; it is an enterprise undertaken not simply to satisfy our need or to make us feel better or to minister to our aesthetic taste or social well-being, but to express the worthiness of God Himself. To worship God is to ascribe to Him supreme worth, for He is uniquely worthy to be honored in this way.... True worship then is worship from the inside out.’

---------- A Personal Note ----------

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I injured my back and spent a good part of Saturday morning worshiping God through Christian music presentations I came across on YouTube. A worship song I encountered that was composed by Jared Anderson especially touched me. He’s an extremely gifted local Colorado Springs worship leader at New Life Church. 

I was so moved by the Phillips, Craig and Dean version of “Great I Am” that I decided to make it into a Meditational Worship song. For the background I found an incredible, ten-month in the making, timescape video of Yosemite National Park made by Colin Delahanty and Sheldon Neill. If you find this song and presentation to be inspirational in your walk with God, please share the Great “I Am” with your friends and family.

As you view, listen, and sing along with this Meditational Worship presentation may God be pleased to cause your human spirit to respond to Him with extravagant love and humble submission leading to worshiping the Great “I Am” in both Spirit and Truth. Amen. 

"GREAT 'I AM'" MEDITATIONAL WORSHIP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3AXayM0nEo

2 comments:

  1. What a wonderful way to start the week, worshipping our great "I AM". Just shared this worship video on my FB page. Thanks Rusty!!!

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  2. Thanks LAB for your worship of Him and for passing it on.

    May all those who seek You be happy and rejoice in You! May those who love to experience Your deliverance say continually, “May God be praised!” (Psa 70:4)

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