Laced With Grace

“You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord. “But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’  “You have said, ‘What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins?  From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.’”

Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name. “They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”  Malachi 3:13-18 NLT

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the expression, “What’s in it for me?”  I have heard parents ask their children to do something and the child will barter with them before they do what they have been asked to do.

Sometimes I feel that our nation has become a selfish society.  Many have the attitude that unless it benefits them in some particular way they will not do ‘it’.

Unfortunately, this attitude has been brought into the church as well.  Serving and Worshipping God has become more about the worshipper and not the One whom we are to Worship.  Church attendance is not a priority in many Christian lives.  Parents wonder why their grown children no longer attend church.  Maybe those same parents need to think back to when their children were in their home.  Did they, as parents, show their children that God is the number one priority in their home as well in their life?  When a child’s ball game was scheduled at the same time as church did these parents choose worshipping God instead of going to the game?  I believe that if enough Christian parents stand up for what is right there will not be ball games on Sunday mornings.

As Christians we should not go to church or serve the Lord only when it is convenient or we don’t have anything better to do.  When we do we are saying, “What’s in it for me?”  We should worship and serve our Lord because He is worthy of all praise, glory and service.  For He is God!

God will remember those who have been faithful to Him; for those who are faithful will be called His very own special treasure.

So my questions for you today, “Why do you Worship God?”  Do you have the attitude as some, “What’s in it for me?” or “I Worship and serve my risen Savior because He is God and worthy of all honor and praise.”?

Today’s post is written by Niccol Kording from Set Apart & Set Free. We are blessed to have Niccol join the LWG team starting in the 4th quarter of 2011. God is good!!!

I love worship! My hands in the air. The voices around me. My eyes closed to the world and open only to what God chooses to show me. The beautiful sounds all around me. You see, I am blessed with a church of amazing voices – it seems almost everyone can bring the music to life!

Everyone, that is, except me.

I can’t sing. And I don’t mean that in an I can be “pitchy,” a little off tune or flat sort of way. I mean it in the paint peels, dogs howl, people stop singing and turn to see who has been hurt sort of way. If you don’t believe me or are one of those “everyone can sing” people, I will come and sing to your children. But when their faces melt somewhat like the bad guys in the first Raiders of the Lost Ark movie, you will have no one to blame but yourself.

Just because I can’t sing doesn’t mean I don’t worship. I believe what Ephesians 5:19 says,

addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
-Ephesians 5:19 (ESV)

But what does it look like to address one another in spiritual songs and psalms outside the confines of the big building with a cross on it?

For me, it doesn’t look like singing “This Little Light of Mine” to the neighborhood children.

What if it looked like something as simple as not yelling at the guy who takes your parking space, helping the elderly man put his groceries in his car, dropping off a note of encouragement – unsigned or giving more than you think “you” can afford because God can.

And what if making a melody to the Lord looked like praise in every breath you take? Can you imagine the revival if every breath we took was an act of worship?

Because it is – every breath, every thought, every action is an opportunity to worship our God – to praise Him for all He is with all you are. So does it mean I’m at the grocery store and thinking,

“We should have corn for dinner.
Thank you Lord that we can afford corn.”

Why not? Take a look around you – it’s no longer that there are starving people in India. It’s everywhere. Jobs are scarce. People are losing their homes. And maybe that’s not you… but it could be and that’s even more reason to praise the Lord. So, I leave you with this. What does it look like to:

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
-Psalm 150:6 (ESV)

In His Grace – Niccol

Like much of the country today, West Texas is blanketed by snow and shivering under single-digit temperatures. The tail-end of the massive storm that is sweeping the U.S. dipped down to touch even this desert we call home. Roads, airports, and schools are shut down from the Deep South through the mid-west and into the northeast. I heard on the news yesterday that FEMA went to the White House to meet with the President. Some say this could be the worst storm in decades.

As I glanced out across my white back yard this morning I thought about just how weak and powerless humanity really is. We can put a man on the moon, but we cannot establish its orbit. We can bounce signals off of satellites, but we cannot read the thoughts and intents of another. We can even clone a sheep and name her “Dolly,” but we cannot create life out of nothing.

We are “very busy” here on earth. We have important things to do and important people to see. Our lives move at breakneck speed and rarely do we slow to acknowledge the only One who truly deserves our attention. Only on occasion do we stop and pay homage to Him who sustains everything by His powerful word (Hebrews 1:3). But this storm of 2011 testifies to the power and greatness of our Creator. And in its act of testimony mankind is forced to stop.

God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor. Job 37:5-7

This monstrous storm has “stopped all people from their labor.” But will we allow our thoughts to turn to the Maker of the Storm? The One who measures the waters of the earth in the hollow of his hand and weighs the mountains on a scale deserves our worship. Will we give it?

Will you join me today in praising the Almighty Snow Maker?

Kathy Howard