Wisemen Teach Us To Worship

Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his
star in the East, and are come to worship Him. Matthew 2:2

Some of the first people to worship Jesus were the wisemen, and if we follow their example, we can also learn how to worship.

• Search. First we must search for Him. The wisemen had studied the Bible and knew that the star meant something special. They also knew that the baby was the Christ. They knew He was worthy of their worship, and went seeking Him. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 4:29, "if. . . you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." How do we search? We study His word which tells us all we need to know about God.
  


• Bow. We must also bow our hearts to Him. We must give him the honor and remove ourselves from the equation. In order to worship, we must bring Him glory and not ourselves. When we bow, we show reverence and a removal of pride. In almost every verse in the Bible that speaks of worship of the true God, it also speaks of bowing.
  


• Give. The wisemen also gave to Jesus. It was sacrificial giving; it was the best they had to give. Hannah sometimes goes through her toys, at my behest, so that we can make room for more. She always says, "I will give these toys to kids who don’t have any", but she never gives them her best toys, she gives the ones she no longer wants. God wants us to give him the best, not the stuff we have no use for or are broken. He wants our very best.
  


• Change. After worshiping Jesus, the wisemen left and went back a different way. Their eyes were opened, and they realized that Herod was not telling the truth. They were changed by worshiping Jesus. Our worship should change us. We should also have a better understanding of Jesus after worshiping Him.

Mary Said, "Yes"

"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that are highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: belessed art thou among women." Luke 1:29

Although Mary was highly favored of God, she was not given a break. Being highly favored of God usually brings you greater responsibility. I cannot even imagine the pressure Mary was under when she discovered that she was going to have a child. She knew what people would think and who would blame them–we would all think the exact same thing. I am sure the gossip mill was working overtime, and I can hear them saying things like, “good, straight-laced Mary, look at what she’s gotten herself into.” “I would have never thought Mary would do such a thing.” “Joseph says he’s not the father, I can’t believe he’s going to marry her anyway.”

When God sent the angel to give Mary the scoop, he goes through the whole spiel, and Mary does not argue or complain or weep uncontrollably, all the scenarios I imagine myself doing, but she simply says, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said." Matthew 1:38 She didn’t beg him to use someone else like Moses did, she didn’t run away like Jonah, she didn’t come up with a “better” plan like Abraham, she just said, “let it be”. I long for that peace and security that I can say, “God it doesn’t matter what you ask me to do, I’ll do it.” I pray that I will listen to God and hear when he speaks, and when He says go, I hope I will say, “I am the Lord’s servant, let it be.”

Waiting on God

"Just Wait!" Nobody likes to hear those words, but it seems that waiting is what we do more than anything. I want to be doing something all the time. If I am on hold with someone on the phone, I will be typing or doing some other desk work while I wait. Waiting is also necessary. Not everyone can be first; therefore, someone ends up waiting. Waiting is something we learn about in the Bible and there is a way in which God wants us to "wait" on Him.

• Wait Expectantly In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:3 We are supposed to expect God to answer our pleas. We should make our requests known to him first thing when we wake up and then wait. I generally pray and think that God will probably tell me "No", but expectantly speaks of waiting with hope.

• Wait Eagerly But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. Galations 5:5 This seems like a oxymoron, but Hannah waits eagerly for many things. She waits eagerly for all the holidays, vacations, parties, and any other fun outings. One reason it’s hard for me to wait eagerly on God is because I don’t know what He has planned for me. I must realize though that he does have "good plans" for me.

• Wait Patiently Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:7 Although Hannah is good at waiting eagerly, she is definitely not good at being patient-- not that many of us are. Patience means the capacity to tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without becoming angry or upset. We worry and try to help Him out, because we know He meant to take care of our situation long before now. He must have lost track of time. It is so hard to understand that He is in control and has His own time table.

• Wait Quietly It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. Lamentations 3:26. This is probably the hardest one for me. I may wait, but it won’t be quietly. I will have to gripe and complain about how long it’s taking for God to answer me. I won’t understand why He answered the way He did, and I will definitely want to explain His method.

In Numbers 9:8 it says that Moses answered them saying, "Wait until I find out what the LORD commands concerning you." We should not make one move without knowing what God wants. Sometimes He just wants us to stay where He has put us and do the best we can in our present position. According to the Bible, it is wise to wait and find out what He wants us to do before we move forward.

Hugs from Heaven

And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. Ezekiel 34:26

I attended the Arkansas ABA Women’s Retreat this weekend along with Missy Smead and Sharon Rosenbaum. We heard some good music on Friday night presented by Beth Hambrick of New Testament Missionary Baptist Church in Lonoke, Arkansas. Martha Owens, from Landmark Missionary Baptist Church in Mt. Enterprise, Texas, spoke to us on Saturday.

Sis. Owens spoke of how God will give us showers of blessings, and then asked, "What do you want?" She answered the question by saying most everyone just wants to matter to someone. We want to feel like we are important to our family or church. The problem arises when we expect to be validated completely by humans. Our husbands, wives, children, pastor, or teachers will not be able to give us a feeling of significance all the time. When they don’t, we then feel like a failure. Our significance must come from God. He is the only one who can sufficiently give us self-worth.

Another way in which the devil tries to steal our blessings is by causing us to worry. Sis. Owens commented that "we worry about time and money more than anything else, and they both mean nothing to God." She also stated that we can be a "warrior or a worrier," but we cannot be both. We have to learn that God will take care of us, and there are times when we get hurt in the battle because we have simply failed to wear our armour.

Bible Study

I have spoken before about Bible Study Fellowship--the bible study that I attend on Monday nights. We have started up again, and Hannah is able to go this year. I've been excited and a little nervous wondering how she would fit in. She was excited and I think she was expecting fun games, of which there were none. Although she said it was boring and they did "a lot of talking", she wanted to read her Bible before she went to bed that first night, and has reminded me that we need to do her Bible Study. She is also excited about being able to answer the questions. I am hoping that she will soon be reading well enough to read and write the answers to the questions herself and do the Bible reading herself, because right now I am having to help with hers and do my own.

We are studying the book of Matthew and we had to read the entire book this week. That has been a little challenging for us since there are 28 chapters. I have to admit I haven't been able to get Hannah to sit still for 8 chapters at a time. I have read her enough to answer her questions, and called it quits. I am looking foward to what God will do with the knowledge she gains. I am also excited about studying Matthew, because its concepts speak to our daily living. Romans had some difficult concepts to grasp, and Matthew, although it may not be "fun" learning is at least easily understood. So far my favorite passage is Matthew 6: 25-34

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Ignorance: Is it really bliss?

The other day I heard myself say to a lady "I guess ignorance is bliss, until you get caught." This was because she had "thought" she had sufficiently dealt with a matter, despite the many warning signs to the contrary. Then she got caught, literally, and hauled to jail. I find myself listening to people's problems and thinking the only real good answer we can give them is, "you should have come to us years ago." By nature, I think we tend to procrastinate. We put off those things we don't want to think about until we just have to think about them. We (my husband and I) execute more Wills in the hospital than we do in our office. It's amazing how many people end up in the hospital, and realize that they might die, and need to prepare. Dealing with God is probably one thing that people put off the most. I guess it's because nobody has failed to deal with the problem, been introduced to the consequences, and lived to tell about it.

It says in Mark 13:32 that no man knoweth the day or the hour when Christ shall return. The fact of the matter is that we do not know when we will exit this life. Whether Jesus comes back in our lifetime or not, we will enter eternity at some point. I read the obituaries everyday, and they range in age from infant to teens, to 20s to 90s. I pray that you have taken care of those important matters in your life, and don't wait until there is no more time. It doesn't really matter that you did not know the exact time. Don't get caught unprepared for your eternity.

He Lifts Me Up

I am a devoted fan of Dottie Rambo. I have not heard a song she wrote that I did not immediately feel a connection to. I always think, "that is exactly how I would have written that song--if I'd have thought of it first." The other night, while feeling a little melancholy, I watched a DVD of Dottie being heralded by Bill Gaither. They sang one of the songs she had written, entitled "When I Life Up My Head". The next morning, the preacher spoke on the subject of "Looking to God". It never fails that when I give my fears and worries to God, that he doesn't somehow help me bear the burden. I want to share the words of this song with you--since I can't share the song.

When I'm down, when I'm down now, when my heart is filled with fear and doubt, when I lift up my head, then he lifts up my heart and my troubles just all roll away.

I can't see the sun with my head to the ground, tears in my vision that weight my heart down. But I found a secret, when I kneel to pray: When I lift up my head, then he lifts up my heart and my troubles just all roll away.

Roll away Lord, Roll all away Lord
When I lift up my head, then he lifts up my heart and my troubles just all roll away.