Meditation

03/17/2022

“I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the pagan and the idolatrous priests —- those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molech, those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him. Bi silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated those he has invited. On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice I will punish the princes and the king’s sons and all those clad in foreign clothes. On that day I will punish all who avoid stepping on the threshold, who fill the temple of their gods with violence and deceit.” (Exodus 22:20)

Only the one, true God deserves ceremonies honoring anyone or anything else is false. They bring judgment on the worshipers. God announced through Zephaniah a sacrifice service in which He would sacrifice the worshipers of false gods. Immoral and unjust lives also lead to false worship. You cannot serve the one true God and any other god, for it is abhorrent to God, for He requires our complete and total worship of Him alone and He will not share with any other gods.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

Precious Abba, worship is to be intentional and is not to be shared with any other god, period. It is immoral and certainly not something to worship recommended for anyone or any other god. Our belief is to be accountable only to our Creator alone. Only He created this earth the universe and all that is within it, and only He is worthy of our praise. Worshiping a false god would be a slap in the face of our God and reveal a lack of true belief and understanding. Today, we also offer up prayers for those who are suffering in body, mind, and/or spirit, with friends, family, for those we don’t know, especially the people in Ukraine, as they are fighting for their very lives. Amen

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“There is no way to do the right thing, in a wrong way.”

KNOWING GOD:

“Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: ‘Ask all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’ And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’” (Zechariah 7:4-10)

Traditional ceremonies do not constitute worship if they come from false notices. Worship rituals focus on God, not on selfish human desires. Worship is property offered by people who help the needy and provide justice in the nation.

I AM:

“Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not tough! These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value to restraining sensual indulgence.’” (Colossians 2:20-23)

In its essence sin perverts good things. Real and genuine worship can be perverted into false worship. We are always in danger of placing some person or object in the place of supreme worship and belongs only to God. That is precisely why God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham’s obedient response revealed that God was more important to him than even his only son Isaac. In Scripture, worship always had God as the object, and nothing or no one else. The manner and attitude of worship is to be reverential. False worship is worship done in an improper way, with an improper attitude.

2ND THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” (Jude 11:13)

In the opening sentences of this ‘Book of Jude,’ it states: “Dear friends although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” Then in verse 4 it states: “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” In verse 11 it states: “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.”

False worship often centers on self. It leads to eternal punishment. Beloved, we must be willing to welcome all into our churches, and shower them with the love of Christ Jesus. However, there are times when people will enter with a smile and tell you they want to join the church, but ideas they offer up for consideration to change worship makes you feel uncomfortable. This is the Holy Spirit telling you to question why it is they want to make these changes. Quite often, they are not committed Christians and the tenets of the churches beliefs, desiring to change it to make them feel better. Anytime people are not comfortable with church customs, the way services are laid out is challenged, you must be wary of their true reasons. Worship is designed to praise God and thank Him for the blessings of the church and in our lives. He is our Creator, and would not approve of making changes for comfort sake, as it is an indication of selfishness and made lead to disasters in the body of Christ. It may be due to not being familiar of the customs of the church services, but just we wary.