Happy Dance

It has been a long time since I have attended a church regularly, for various reasons. I did go to a local church a few weeks ago, in response to an invite given to me by a friend to share in fellowship and worship with other brothers and sisters.

I belong to a home group and there are about 10 of us that meet every Wednesday evening for study, prayer, and fellowship.. We also share communion each week.

So I do have good Christian fellowship and sharing ... But I also love worshipping with other brothers and sisters in Christ as well, and that is the part I really miss about not going to a church.

I was thinking on this today...

Why do we go to church?
Is it out of a need to somehow be connected with other believers?  If it is, then I guess that is ok, but, if we are not careful, that can sometimes lead to being ‘us’ centred instead of ‘Him’ centred.  And that is not how our worship is intended to be.

I guess it means,  who is this all about?   Is it about Me and what I want or can get out of going,  or is it about HIM and what I want to give to Him?   It should be always HIM first.

Before I came to Christ, life was all about me and my life and my family etc, and my wants. Now that I am a believer in Messiah, if I don’t dethrone my self, then I will end up using God in the same way, to provide and fulfil my wants, whether it be praising, or praying or giving or anything else at all.

Ever heard anyone talk about going to church to ‘get something’ or coming out of church and saying I did not get anything there today?

I am reminded in Scripture of what God asked of Abraham. (Gen 15:10 One day God appeared to Abraham and said, “I am your shield, your very great reward “

And this is how Abraham responded to God; (Gen 15:2) “what can you give me?” Abraham missed the whole point, much like we all do at times, much like I do at times!

God was saying to Abraham “When you have me, you have everything you need.”

When God tested Abraham a second time (Gen 22:2) He said “Take now, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him for a burnt offering... this time Abraham passed with flying colours, Why? Because now, Abraham understood something really important, that if we do not value something, and we then offer it to God, we will then find out that God is not interested, He just does not want that which has no value to us.

If what we offer to God does not mean anything to us, then it wont mean anything to Him either. Whether that be our time, our love, our selves, our families no matter what, we need to give to God those things or feelings that are precious and highly valued to us.

Does that mean we do not get anything out of worship?
No, we benefit the most from our worship to Him, but HE must always be the object and reason of it...

(Rev 5:13) Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto HIM

When I can take all those things that are precious to me and pass them on to Him, then I am learning to become a real worshipper, no matter where I am.

Worship is all about God, it is about Him and to Him, He is worthy and I can do that 24/7, whether I am in church or wherever I may be.