Worship Blog 101

Worship is the thing we do.
Worship defines who we are.
Worship depicts the place (of our heart) - where we are.

Bottom line: Worship is a posture of the heart. A decision made. A choice to exalt & lift His name on high.


Okay, let's get into is a little bit; we worship because we were made to worship. God, who created the heavens & the earth did make us in His image which is great, but along with that He gave us one powerful & yet amazing weapon. The ability to worship.

The key here is that we begin to look like what we worship. Which is why, when believers worship Him. Then we begin to be like him. NOT be Him, be like Him. The temptation is - sometimes, even though we don't realize it, to want to be worshiped. Just like it happened to the devil. The problem with the devil was that he was a murderer from the get go. So essentially, his future was shot from the start.

And see, the beautiful part of our story is that our future is NOT shot. Our future is bright! God, making us in His image. He has given us the ability to choose. We choose to worship Him. No matter what. That's a choice that no one, not even the evil can take away. We may lose our houses or our health, we may lose those nearest to us; but somehow we cannot ever lose the ability to choose to worship our creator.

Two main ways of how real worship is done.

One: In Spirit.
Two: In Truth.

One main reason for our inspiration.

A heart of thankfulness. Recognizing what He has done. Salvation He fills us with Power, He gives us His Grace, His Faith. He fills us with His Spirit. He gives us all that we need. Therefore we bow & lift our hearts in song & worship Him. When we begin to get to know Him more, a desire to worship Him will grow. You cannot worship what you don't know. Get to know Him. 

For me, I am most free, when I worship Him. I can get lost in a couple of words that describe Him over & over - because He is good. Really, He commands our love & devotion because He is very passionate about us. He loves us. And desires that we go ahead & experience His Joy, His Life. His Power, His Love!

So, when we choose to worship Him, things not explained begin to happen in the spiritual realm. Beautiful things really. Crazy things like: Freedom, Joy, Peace, Hope that fills our hearts, & the list goes on & on. Things that are counter opposite of the world. Instead of control, fear & manipulation. We get all these things that represent the essence of who He is. So it's quite an amazing thing overall. We worship Him, we become like Him. Look like Him, talk like Him, love like Him. We then sacrifice like Him. And see, I deeply believe a supernatural key for us to enter into His presence personally but also as a body of believers is to apply Romans 12:1 in our lives.

1And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

In Spirit & in truth. This is how to worship Him. This is the way to worship Him. Let's do just that!!!

Prayer:

Father, thank You for all that You have done. We do bow our hearts & present our bodies a living sacrifice that is pleasing to You. We honor You & worship You. And receive the calling you have given us, to worship the one & only true God. And let your light shine through how we worship You always!! In Jesus' name. Amen.

As We Worship!

Listening to... Spontaneous Worship w/ Amanda Cook Bethel Church

As we worship...and as we come to Jesus. There is a freedom that takes place. Freedom like no other, b/c of the finished work of the cross. Now, although it may feel sometimes like hope seems dim in certain times of our lives, but in reality we have all the HOPE we need.

He has given us, "faith, hope, & love." Meaning He gives generously. Jesus has given enough hope to last a lifetime. What happens sometimes is we lose perspective on what is real. Jesus. His love. His acceptance. His victory over sin & death & the grave! He has overcome. Trials & tribulations are but for a moment. It is important to hear & obey on James' admonishment to count it all joy when we encounter such various trials & tribulations. The first gift we must abide in is faith, because it leads to hope, which then leads to love. And since God is merciful, He gifts us with opportunities to let our faith be refined in order to get to hope, which then leads to love as I've said. The true mark of us being His disciples will be shown to the world by the love we have & demonstrate towards each other. It initially begins with us counting it all joy. So the faith refinement can happen.

What a concept. To worship Him. Something so intimate to do, because He made a way through His blood shed. Making us righteous before our heavenly Father. This process of being refined in our faith encourages us to count it all joy when we encounter all kinds of various trials & tribulations is key & essential in our daily worship. The act, the posture of worship is one that begins in our hearts through the Spirit & His Word.

As we come in by His Spirit to the moment of encountering His presence, through His Truth - we begin to ascribe value to Him. To put worth where worth is due. Now He is worthy altogether. He has not need of us, but delights in us. So when we worship. We find Him anew. Everytime. Without fail. He reveals a new portion of who He is. Wonder sets in. Mystery takes place. As we worship, the name above all names. The Risen Son. The Christ. Jesus.

Psalm 95:6

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker

He is the Shepherd. We are the sheep of His pasture. He takes care of us. I think part of the freedom that I initially mentioned at the beginning of this blog comes with knowing that in that freedom there is safety. There is security. There is comfort. There is stillness. Green pastures. The promise of NEW LIFE! As we worship, we magnify Him. And all of a sudden our 'trial' - our 'tribulation' then begins to take a backseat & is no longer the deciding factor that plays a major role in our daily lives. But Jesus is.


Let's pray...

Jesus. Shine your light on us. Lift up the light of your countenance upon your people. Let Hope come in & have its way! Let Hope fill our hearts & permeate thoroughly. Let us be drenched with Love. And as our Faith is refined. Let us continue to run this race of faith with endurance. Not wavering, but letting the promise of the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with an added measure of joy. Let joy fill us so we can count it all joy for You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

The New Year...After a Run

So it seems to take me about a year to write a blog, ha. Hopefully, that will change from this point on!

So I just got back from a run, and well got a chance to think freely and meditate on some words a friend wrote on facebook, it went something like this:

All successes and failures in life are temporary. Don’t think of every failure as a loss. If we succeeded in everything we pursued, how would we ever grow to be something greater? You must look a little deeper to realize what you’ve gained when you feel you’ve lost it all. It is in the times of desperation and despair that we find ourselves again and realize our dire need of Him. Denise Carter

When I read this it put something in me. I mean, a seed that will not go with out bearing fruit. The point that I am wanting to share and make is this, that as I've been going and going about life. I have come to one conclusion- We need God!

That's really all there is to say about that. God is so so merciful that He would allow us to go through trials and tribulations, run into walls, etc. For us to realize that we need Him. With out Him, we are nothing. What I mean when I say that we need Him, is to be in love with Him, not only because He commands it, but because He knows - loving Him- wholeheartedly is the very best thing we could do in all of life. Loving God, is different from just knowing Him, because when you love Him, then you can actually be known by Him. That's a different story.

That in the end. He says, "Well done good and faithful servant." And we enter into His eternal rest and joy!!

Tonight, as I was running. I saw two things about my heart- the first is, the weakness of it, in my desire for Him. As the great writer of old, C.S. Lewis puts it, "Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak." And two- how if I'm not careful, if we're not careful, with our desires in our hearts, we can go astray so that our focus is not on Him, as our first love. But in His mercy -- He draws us and He woos us in, back to Himself.

The most important thing we need to do is - to love Him with all we have - heart, mind, soul & strength. Not just get through life - and be moral, be a good servant/good Christian, but to be empowered to truly love Him and to truly be loved by Him. That is what marked David's life, and one of the reason's why he was called, "A man after God's own heart." God will always be there to carry us through, by faith in His Son and by the Grace that has already been given to those that believe in Christ and Him crucified. We ought to have this mindset, that my life is no longer my own, but Christ's.

Really-- what are my light afflictions compared to the very weight of glory that awaits us!?

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” 2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV

Yeah, I also learned another thing that may be old knowledge per say- but truly what we think on or what we let our thoughts be, on a constant basis is what we will end up living out in the end. If thoughts of self piety, and defeat or even the "I am the victim" type of thought pattern- then that is what we will live out. Instead, we ought to have thoughts of victory and of a blessed mindset. This way, as a child of God and of His Kingdom- we will see that, God is in control - He holds it all together and will certainly perfect His work in us. Faith will again fill our hearts, so that they would not be troubled anymore - but be full of peace and we would enjoy Him forever!!

Grace and peace to ya!

Daniel Castaneda

http://twitpic.com/3nq188

Write Everyday Down - Birthday Blog

I'm happy to tell you that God is still the same yesterday, today, and forever! He has never changed-- and never will. Part of me wanting to write this down is to simply put my heart in here.

As I was cleaning up after a nice festive evening with family and friends. The melody for this song came to my head- "Write Everyday Down" by Jason Upton. Its a special song-- in many ways, but especially because it causes a reminder to live everyday for what it is-- today, one day at a time. :) Work was great today, but coming home to see people who got together and took some time-- to write a little piece of their time- into mine. Thank God.

My heart always seems to be stirred a lot particularly every September on the fourth day! I always have a very close and personal reflection with God-- and always seem to get a bit more perspective and insight from the LORD at this time every year. I don't know why, but it seems like my heart looks back at the years-- and I always have a spirit of gratitude that begins to stir.

What I am truly excited about is, His love. It never fails nor does it faint. And as I do get older every year--thankfully, I realize more so that He is truly God. His sovereignty is absolute.

Psalm 135:6

"The LORD does whatever pleases him,

in the heavens and on the earth,

in the seas and all their depths."

So I thank God for all that He has done--and all that He will do. It also feels great to have little reminders of how His love continues to reach to me-- daily. That being said, I am glad and grateful for all those who reached out to say Happy Birthday today! Thank you. Whether many people do or not, the point is that it counts every bit. Even earlier--as I read some of the facebook posts. I was in awe and felt blessed.:)

And I'm also happy to tell ya, I did have a nice cup of coffee and cake ealrier!! Sweetness baby!!!

Much Love people,

Write Every Day Down.

Blessings,

Daniel C.

AKA "Black Hawk" at work. Ha.