Worship and Praise 2-3-05

Thursday, February 3, 2005 -- Morning by Morning Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be high and lifted up, enthroned on the praises of a thankful heart. Help me to look and listen, to watch and wait for Your leading. ... "Worship the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God. It is He that made us, and we are His; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name" -- Psalm 100.2-4. You created us for a relationship of love with You, for You are Love and You created us in Your image -- 1 John 4.16. Yet true love requires the freedom to choose to accept Your love or not, to obey Your will or not. Without that freedom, there would really be no love at all; we would just be robots. You have created us for a much more intimate relationship, one of trusting surrender and loving obedience. So You do not override our freedom to choose to love You and obey You, even though out of that same freedom comes the sin and destruction of ourselves, of one another, and of Your creation in our broken, fallen world. Our world is broken and fallen because of the choices we have made in the freedom You have given us -- freedom that is necessary, yet having both the power for good and for evil. Forgive us for the sin of using our freedom for our purposes to satisfy our own desires, rather than choosing to willingly submit our wills to Your will so that Your desires become our desires. This is the sin of pride -- self-centeredness and self-satisfaction and self-glorification. In pride, we exalt ourselves and worship ourselves, bowing down to our own graven image that we have created and worship and want others to worship. In Your mercy, break down our graven images and let our brokenness lead us to repentance, that You may forgive our sin of idolatry and pride. When we worship You and come into Your presence with songs of faith and love to You, our eyes are lifted from ourselves and restored to You. You are high and lifted up, enthroned again in Your place of Lordship in our lives. Our hearts are cleansed and restored as we worship You with thanksgiving in our hearts and praises on our lips. Thank You for the gift and the blessing of worship and praise. You use them as a means of Your grace to restore us into the intimate relationship of love we were created to live with You. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com God bless you!