Worship vs. Worry

yep folks this is a pvp world (player vs. player)

at least in my life, these are mutually exclusive

one masters the other

no man can serve two masters...

Matthew 6:24

24 “No one can be loyal to two masters. He is bound to hate one and love the other, or support one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and the power of money at the same time.”

J.B. Phillips New Testament

this passage is focusing on money

for me anyways, the draw of money is the draw of provision and freedom to do what I want

to do what I want
when I want
and how I want

to provide what I need without having to depend on God (delusion!)

to make things the way I think they should be (as if this were even possible!)

Isn't that the crux of it?

my feeble but strong willed attempt to be god
the ruler of my own little universe

to be the center
to order and create things the way I think they should be?

only....

I cannot do it

it never works

It only destroys

myself

and every one else I hold dear

The Way Out of Despair

"Humble yourself

under the mighty hand of God

and in due time,

he will exalt you"

I Peter 5:6 KJV

So, humble yourselves under God’s strong hand,

and in his own good time he will lift you up.

You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties

upon him

, for you are his personal concern.

I Peter 5:6-7 ICB

to face the ultimate reality that you, you alone are God

You are the only God
there is no other God beside you

and to believe you have a personal love and care for me
not because of me at all
but because you are love

The Core

Things will only be right when you are the center
When you have your rightful place

as ruler and Lord in this tiny universe of mine
in my heart
in my mind
in my thoughts
in my priorities and actions
in my relationships

in the sphere of influence you have placed me

Fear

Oh how my fears shriek like the Furies
Give up control?

What will God do to me/
What will he ask of me?
What will happen to me?

fear that cannot be assuaged by logic, argument , reason or any other kind of persuasion

There is only one antidote
powerful enough to counter act the poison seeping through every part of my being

WORSHIP

WHO YOU ARE

WHAT YOU HAVE DONE

Only you transcend all boundaries
of what is possible,
all reasonable expectations

You are not limited in any way

Daniel 4:35New International Reader's Version

35 He considers all the nations on earth
    to be nothing.
He does as he pleases
    with the powers of heaven.
He does what he wants
    with the nations of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand.
    No one can say to him,
    “What have you done?”

You have made the laws and limitations that this universe functions in
and you are able to transcend them at any time

you can completely break through any barrier and problem anytime

While I continually smash into the barrier of my own limitations
You are not limited in any way

While I see only dead ends. impossibilities..... and despair
you are the God of HOPE

While I continually find the limits of my own ability to love
YOU ARE LOVE
that is everlasting
never ending

"Your mercies are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness"
Lamentations 3:23 KJV

Lamentations 3:22-24 NIRV

22 The Lord loves us very much.
    So we haven’t been completely destroyed.
    His loving concern never fails.
23 His great love is new every morning.
    Lord, how faithful you are!
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is everything I will ever need.
    So I will put my hope in him.

How you took Joseph:, forgotten and languishing in prison for something he didn't even do,
Betrayed and abandoned by his own family
Alone in every sense of the word

to becoming second in command in the most powerful empire in the world at that time
IN ONE DAY

and in time reunited and reconciled with his family.

I worship You, LORD.

You can do anything

Jeremiah 32:27New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

27 “I am the Lord. I am the God of all people. Is anything too hard for me?”

BUT will you?
in this particular place of my desires, fears and expectations?
I don't know what you will do.....

it may not be what i want or how I want or when I want

My fears rise up to choke and suffocate once more

Isaiah 30:18New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

18 But the Lord wants to have mercy on you.
So he will rise up to give you his tender love.
The Lord is a God who is always fair.
Blessed are all those who wait for him to act!

not only are you powerful
but you are good
you are kind
you are tender hearted
you are moved with compassion
you are touched with all the feelings of our infirmity

Lamentations 3:22-24New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

1 Peter 5:6-7J.B. Phillips New Testament

6-7 So, humble yourselves under God’s strong hand, and in his own good time he will lift you up. You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern.

This wonderful relationship with you is only possible through Jesus Christ

John 3:16New King James Version (NKJV)

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

it is not so much that we are special but that you are love

Romans 8:32New King James Version (NKJV)

32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

The only thing I know for sure you will give me right now is YOURSELF

YOU
Holy Spirit: filling comforting guiding

you do not guarantee any of the things I want
or necessarily prevention of the things I fear

But you promise me yourself
right here
right now
with me
filling me heart and mind

whether i feel and am aware of it or not

YOU are here

it is enough
you are God You are God
I am yours

I love you because you have first loved me
I love you LORD

Christ's Love To You

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Worship vs. Worry