Coffee With The Lord

It’s Sunday morning and I’ve been reading and reflecting on the topic of authentic, God-pleasing worship… Here’s the issue: Can I approach God any old way I want to, or do I need to prepare my heart and life in order for my worship to please Him? Will he accept and honor the haphazard – whatever seems appropriate and available at the moment, or does He expect me to enter His presence worshipfully on His terms, with a prepared heart and life? This is important to me today, because it’s Sunday – “the Lord’s Day” – and before long I am going to be gathering with fellow Christians for… You’ve got it – WORSHIP!

I think my Bible reading this morning helps provide an answer to that question…

David, with sincerity of heart I think, after a long time decided it was time to return the exiled Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. So in his mind, the most natural and practical way was to get an ox cart, put the ark on it, and make the journey from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem. Somewhere along that journey, the oxen stumbled and the Ark teetered and almost came off the cart. A man by the name of Uzzah, reached out to steady it, and the Bible says, “The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.” (1 Chronicles 13:10) The problem? Although their worship was sincere, they were not doing things God’s way! (Check out Exodus 25:10-16 and Numbers 4:15)

David learned a painful lesson… We cannot approach the Living God any old way that seems practical and convenient… Worship must be done God’s way!… So David, a little later tried God’s way…

“Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry the Ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the Ark of the Lord and to minister to Him forever… And he said to them, ‘Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. Because you did not carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule.’ So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord… So all Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres!” (From 1 Chronicles 15)

So this Sunday morning as I approach the time when I will worship with fellow Christians, I want to take some time to prepare my heart for worship! …Some time for cleansing my heart of any sin, some time for reflection on what Christ did for me on the cross to make access into God’s presence possible, some time for thanksgiving, some time taken to become aware of the great privilege I have!

“Therefore, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water!” (Hebrews 10:19-22 ESV)

Here’s a brief comment about a graphic proverb I read in the Bible this morning…

The proverb…

“Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous person who gives way before the wicked.” (Proverbs 25:25)

Bartel’s paraphrase…

“Be a principled, courageous, person who lives by his/her convictions regardless of the pressure they feel to compromise or cave in to the wicked!”

There’s a popular saying in leadership circles… “People are drawn to an attractive, worthwhile vision!” That’s true! But from a perspective of Spiritual leadership (and I mean Holy Spirit empowered, gifted and guided leadership) I’ve seen another phenomena and reality… People are attracted to evident “anointing!” (and by that I mean the evident calling, empowering, gifting, and character formation that the Holy Spirit works within a leader’s life)! I’ve seen this powerful reality at work over the years over and over again! Church history is filled with countless examples (very ordinary people from humble background that God gifted and used powerfully)! But the Bible is also filled with examples… There is no substitute for “the anointing!” I encountered a powerful case study in my Bible reading this morning (not the only one in the Bible by any means, but the one I read about today…
“Now these are the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he could not move about freely because of Saul the son of Kish. And they were among the mighty men who helped him in war. They were bowmen and could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand; they were Benjaminites, Saul’s kinsmen… From the Gadites there went over to David at the stronghold in the wilderness mighty and experienced warriors, expert with shield and spear… These Gadites were officers of the army; the least was a match for a hundred men and the greatest for a a thousand… And some of the men of Benjamin and Judah came to the stronghold to David… Then the Spirit clothed Amasai, chief of the thirty, and he said, ‘We are yours, O David, and with you, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers! For your God helps you!’ … Some of the men of Manasseh deserted to David… For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army, like the army of God!
“These are the number of the divisions of the armed troops who came to David to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him, according to the word of the Lord! … Of the Benjaminites, the kinsmen of Saul, 3000, of whom the majority had to that point kept their allegiance to the house of Saul… Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do… Of Zebulun, seasoned troops, equipped for battle, to help David with singleness of purpose… All these, men of war, arrayed in battle order, came to Hebron with full intent to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel were of a single mind to make David king.” (from 1 Chronicles 12 ESV)
Gotta tell you… I “covet” (in a good way, I hope) the “anointing!” I want to be empowered and used in a powerful and attractive way to cause people to want to follow Christ! After all, isn’t that what Spiritual leadership is all about? … “follow me as I follow Christ!” (1 Corinthians 11:1)