The Well
The Well |
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Connecting Hope to the Hurting | |
Wednesday
February 27, 2008
Then the Lord instructed Moses: "Come up here to me, and bring along Aaron,
Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel's leaders. All of them must worship at a
distance. You alone, Moses, are allowed to come near to the Lord. The others
must not come too close. And remember, none of the other people are allowed to
climb on the mountain at all."…
Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy
of the leaders of Israel went up the mountain. There they saw the God of Israel.
Under his feet there seemed to be a pavement of brilliant sapphire, as clear as
the heavens. And though Israel's leaders saw God, he did not destroy them. In
fact, they shared a meal together in God's presence!
Exodus 24:1-2,
9-11
God initiated this meeting. He called the people to come and worship Him. He does this daily. However, to the Christian, Sundays are special. We recognize that God is calling us to come together to worship Him. We place our own agendas aside and enter into worship that takes us outside ourselves and into the realm of hope.
God wants us to expect great things from Him. All through His Word the underlying message is that we have not because we ask not. Well, maybe we ask, but James says that far too often we ask amiss. We ask for the wrong reasons.
When a group from my church ventured to The Rock Christian Fellowship we went expecting to enter into the glory of God ¾ we were not disappointed. God showed up in amazing ways. One of my sisters in Christ from the church just happens to be the sister of the Senior Pastor at The Rock. Because of this we were granted second row seats and were, in a sense, granted favor.
When Pastor Bob Shattles entered into the worship center at The Rock, he entered as any other God seeker ¾ humble and hungry. As the praise and worship began to woo the power of God into the room the glory began to manifest on Pastor Shattles. This is a man with the touch of God almighty.
When he shares how God allowed him to see the heavenly realm, with Jesus sitting on his white horse, and that horse kicking in anticipation of coming here to get the Bride of Christ, we were caught up with him. As he described the hooves of this horse beating against the streets of gold and the gold dust falling, the gold dust on Pastor Shattles glistened. We worshiped God with a holy hush. Lives were changed.
I entered into a sense of repentance unlike any I have ever experienced before, even when I was saved. I recognized my righteousness as filthy rags and the moment I did, I felt His loving embrace. Jesus was high and lifted up and I was again ¾ changed. Another layer of my selfishness was cast into the darkness and more room for God was gained.
God doesn't need our worship. We need to worship Him. When we worship Him, really worship Him, His glory will fall. His glory will be made manifest to those hungry enough to lay aside all preconceived ideas of who He is and how He shows up. Get ready folks, God wants to dust you.
Holy Father, I am even more in awe of You than ever before. Let us dine together, feasting on your love wherever Believers gather!
