Day 12

Day 12:  Church

       It’s Sunday and Sunday is for church that is unless you have Saturday evening service where you worship.  Our church has been going through a series about Immeasurably More, where the Lord urged me to look deeper into Ephesians 3:20.  Our sermons have been based on what God wants to do in and through you all leading to an ask for a commitment to our new building project.  Some people get nervous and offended when there is a push for money in church.  I was that person for many years and found myself leaving a church if there were pushes for more money.

       Our current pastor shared a story with us recently about how a ‘famous’ television pastor’s wife made a controversial comment.  She said, "I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we're not doing it for God—I mean, that's one way to look at it—we're doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we're happy, that's the thing that gives Him the greatest joy…So, I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy," she continued. "When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself, because that's what makes God happy. Amen?"

       Now to make things clear before I get bombarded with negative responses…I DO NOT agree with her statement.  However, don’t we all go to church with our lists of what we are and are not going to tolerate?  Don’t we often go to church with a list of what we like and what we don’t like?  Statements like, ‘I don’t like the worship music.’  ‘I didn’t like the diversity of the church.’  ‘The lady next to me sang to loud while being out of key.’  ‘They let a baby cry during the sermon.’  ‘Somebody sat in my seat.’  ‘They asked for more money.’

       I think the statement the pastor’s wife made is accurate.  We go to church to do good for ourselves, to make ourselves happy, to put a check next to a mental box that we went to church; we are good church going people.  We are missing the point people!!!! 

“Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”

Psalm 115:1

       It’s NOT all about US!!!  We were created by God to glorify Him. 

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” 

Revelation 4:11

       When living under the Love that God has for us as we glorify Him our minds are transformed.  I began to pray to God about what church I was suppose to be in and accepted the church that I felt He was calling me to become a member of to worship Him. 

No matter the subjects discussed or the distractions around us, making it all about Him leads to God being able to do Immeasurably More in and through us.  This is when the blessings flow!  Once I allowed my spirit to worship and glorify Him instead of myself, my entire outlook became Kingdom focused.  He blessed me beyond anything I could ever imagine. God put His glory on display for all to see, giving life to things that are only possible by God.