Praise and Worship…

I’m not talking about the praise and worship done on a Sunday morning that usually includes singing, although I do thoroughly enjoy that type. 

The other day some circumstances arose that caused me to be frustrated and so I was saying to God ‘well what do we do now?’  And I did not find myself any less frustrated for doing so. 

I had read an article by Walter Beuttler called A Holy Solemnity not long before so decided that instead of complaining to God, I would begin to praise him and forget all about the circumstances.  After only a few minutes I felt so much better and being able to let go of all the stuff I know God has control over anyways, gave me a much clearer vision of things ahead.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above… Colossians 3:1.

I really don’t spend nearly enough time praising and worshiping – a few minutes every now and then is about tops and so I’ve been challenging myself to be at it throughout the day.  Instead of picking up a book to read or watching t.v. or getting on the internet, I give that time to God who deserves it.  I’m not saying I’m perfect at it, but boy does it feel good when I take the time to really set my heart on things above.

In fact, while I was spending some time in worship I was thanking God for his Holy Spirit because –well – it’s pretty awesome.  The H.S. gives us the ability to know God in a way that we could never know another person whether friend or lover.

For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.  1 Corinthians 2:11,12

It has made me wonder if, perhaps, that is why the world is constantly seeking the spiritual, because we were made to have a spiritual relationship with God.  He is the only one who can give us what we crave because he is the only one who can give the Holy Spirit.  We can’t find it from another person and we certainly can’t find it from any other gods whether they be nature or otherwise…

Faith

I was reading 1 Samuel last night…still on the Old Testament…it’s really fascinating. 

If you haven’t read, recently or otherwise, 1 Samuel 14, have  a look.  The Israelites are basically surrounded by Philistines and grossly outnumbered.  The army is freaking out and running away, but Jonathan (King Saul’s son) decides to have a go.  So he leaves camp with his armour bearer and says ‘let’s go show ourselves to that group of Philistines and if they ask us to come up to them then we know the Lord has handed them over to us’ (I’m paraphrasing). 

So that is what happens and Jonathan and his armour bearer climb up to the group of Philistines and kill them all (about 20).  Following that, the Philistines get scared and start killing each other and in the end the Israelites win the battle.

What I found so incredible about this passage is that first of all, Jonathan stepped out in faith into a situation where any normal person would expect to be…well…killed.  He had confidence that God would hand that group over to him and so he climbed up and took them out – 2 men against 20.  A big step of faith, that, when looking at the ridiculously large number of the Philistine army, doesn’t really even make a mark…20 men killed among ‘soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore’ and Saul with about 600 men.  If I were Jonathan I don’t know that I would have bothered…such a huge risk for so little result?  It created barely a dent in the Philistine army…and yet, because of Jonathans faith, God gave the whole army into the hands of the Israelites.

I’ll let you make your own comparison in your own life.  All I will say is that when Jonathan stepped out on a limb for God…even though his initial impact was small, the world was changed.