DAY 8: Planned for God’s pleasure

PURPOSE #1 –

“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified.”       Isaiah 61:3

“Thou art worthy, Oh Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou has created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelations 4:11)

“For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.”

(Psalm 149:4)

I was planned for God’s pleasure, from the moment I was born into this world: God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at my birth. He wanted me alive, and my arrival gave Him great pleasure. God did not NEED me, but He CHOSE to CREATE me for His own enjoyment. I exist for Hid benefit, glory, purpose and delight.

Living for God’s pleasure is the first purpose of my life. Once I fully understand this truth, I will never have a problem with feeling insignificant. It proves my worth. If I am that important to God, and He considers me valuable enough to keep with Him for eternity, what greater significance could I have? I am a child of God the Most High, and I bring pleasure to God like nothing else He has ever created.

“Because of His live God has already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us His children-this was his pleasure and purpose”

One of God’s greatest gifts to me is the ability to enjoy pleasure through my five senses.  The reason I am able to enjoy pleasure is that God made me in His image. However, we often forget that God has emotions too. He feels things very deeply. God grieves, God gets jealous and angry, He feels compassion, pity, sorrow, sympathy, happiness, gladness and satisfaction. God loves, delights, has pleasure, rejoices, enjoys and even laughs. Bringing pleasure to God is called “worship”

“The LORD is pleased only with those who worship Him and trust His love”

Anything that you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship.  You may think that church service with singing, praying, listening to a sermon, or ceremonies, candles and communion; or healing, miracles and ecstatic experiences are acts of worship. These elements can be included but worship is far more than these expressions. Worship is a lifestyle.

Worship is far more than music. Many people associate worship with music, they say “We have the worship part first, and then the sermon.” This is a common misunderstanding. EVERY part of the church service is an act of worship: praying, Scripture reading, singing, confession, silence, being still, listening to the sermon, taking notes, music, giving an offering, baptism, communion, signing a commitment card and even greeting other worshipers.

The word worship predates music. Adam worshiped in the Garden of Eden, but music isn’t mentioned until Genesis 4:21 with the birth of Jubal. If worship were just music, then all who are non-musical could never worship. Worship is far more than music. Often a song that is fast or loud or uses brass music is considered “praise” and a slower tune accompanied by guitar is “worship”. But the truth is: worship has nothing to do with the style or volume or speed of a song. God loves it all, because He made it all; fast, slow, loud, soft, new and old. You probably don’t like it, but God does! If it is offered in spirit and in truth, it is an act of worship.

Christians often disagree over the styles of music used in worship, passionately defending their preferred style as the “most biblical” or “God-honouring”. But there is not biblical style! There are no musical notes in the Bible; we don’t even have the instruments they used in Bible times.

Anything you do that

Brings pleasure to God is

An act of worship

Frankly, the music style you like best says more about you-your background and personality- than it does about God. one ethnic group’s music can sound like noise to another. But God likes all variety and enjoys it all.

There is no such thing as “Christian music”; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune. There are no spiritual tunes. If I played a song for you without the words, you’d have to way of knowing if it were a “Christian’ song.

Worship is not for your benefit.  We worship for God’s benefit. When we worship, our goal is to bring pleasure to God, not ourselves. If you have ever said, “I didn’t get anything out of worship today,” you have worshiped for the wrong reason. Worship isn’t for you. It’s for God. Our motive is to bring glory and pleasure to our Creator.

In Isaiah 29 God speaks of half-hearted worship and hypocrisy. The people were offering God stale prayers, insincere praise, empty words, and man-made rituals without even thinking about the meaning. God’s heart is not touched by tradition in worship, but by passion and commitment.

“These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men”

Worship is not part of your life; it IS your life. Worship is not just after Sunday services. We are to worship God continually and to praise Him from sunrise to sunset. In the Bible people praised God at work, at home, in battle, in jail and even in bed! Praise should be the first activity when you open your eyes in the morning and the last activity when you close them at night. Every activity cant be transformed into an act of worship when you do it for the praise, glory and pleasure of God.

“A dairymaid can milk cows to the glory of God.” Martin Luther

How is it possible to do everything to the glory of God? by doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus and by carrying on a continual conversation with him while you do it. This is the secret to a lifestyle of worship-doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus.

“Take your everyday, ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering.

Work becomes worship when you dedicate it to God and person it with an awareness of His presence. Real worship is about falling in love with God, by constantly communing with Him, praising Him and thanking Him.

Point to ponder: I was planned for God’s pleasure.

Verse:

 “For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.”

(Psalm 149:4)

Question to consider: What common task could I start doing as if I were doing it directly for Jesus?