Blog In Audio:
Greetings;
Today I am posting this blog a day late. I normally post on Monday, but I have been hunting in the woods and I wasn’t able to post yesterday. Still looking for some hunting success but had a good day in God’s presence. It was very cold with a bit of snow, but I put several layers of clothes on to manage the day.
For the past several months I have been addressing the topic of friendship with God. I have finished a new book: Friendship With God – The Empowerment of Honor and Grace. It should be available on Amazon by the close of the year. Today I am posting a segment from the chapter of the Honor in Worship. God is our friend, and He wants us to know Him as our friend and what it means to be a friend to Him and to one another.
We are not limited by the inherited iniquities of our fathers, because God is able to come into our midst and He is a jealous God. He wants to give to us the life-giving, life-transforming substance of who He is. When we recognize that He is the giver we say to Him, “Here we are. We live for you! We worship You! We like being ourselves. We have a great life. Look at what You have done! You created us in your likeness and image. We sing songs to you! We live out loud as an expression of the life of You. We don’t worship to get anything from You! We worship You because we love You!”
When we love God like this in spirit and truth, God in His jealousy says, “Wow! I love being Myself with you. I like it when I can be Myself! I love being able to walk into the room and not be resisted in My giving. I love environments where the things coming off of Me are not being thrown back at Me. I love being able to walk into a room where My gifts are not being rejected. I love walking into the room where your cheeks are not turning to avoid My kisses. I love walking into My family where your arms are open to receive My hugs and when I hug you the aroma of My perfume sticks on you. The marks of My kisses remain upon you. The gifts that I give become packages to be opened in your midst and heavenly things become discovered in your earthly territory. That is what happens in this worship environment upon the earth. I am not lacking! I don’t lack anything. I am not formless, void, and dark. I have no emptiness in Me. You can’t give me anything that fills some place in My life. There is nothing missing in Me. You can’t give Me anything that will fill something missing in Me. There is nothing missing in Me! Would you get a revelation? There is nothing missing in you! I like you! I am your friend! Would you look to see what I see, and freely give of yourself from security, not from insecurity? Would you be my friends? Worship is about security. It is not about a need. It is a matter of abundance. You lack nothing!”
In worship our hearts become open to God. The fullness of our hearts and minds testify that we don’t lack approval. We don’t lack identity. Here we are! We have been carved in the likeness and image of God. “We worship You God! We give all we are to You! We feel good about ourselves, but we feel better about You! You make us feel so good! You move our hearts!”
Worship is not coming to God from a place of lack; it is coming to God from abundance so God can come to us in the abundance of who He is. What happens when a family becomes a family of abundance and begins to live in a value of who they are for the sake of who He is? We are a family that should value who we are and realize we don’t come to God because we need anything from Him. We are not in this family because we need anything. We are in this family because we have been born into this community, and we have come to give of who we are in the testimony of who we all are for the glory of God!
When this happens, God the Father says, “Wow! Yes! Let me walk among you. Let Me be the giver, the jealous One, the One who has treasures, rivers, and light streaming from Me. Let me walk in your midst and let me take what you think is good and make it amazing! Let Me take what you think is wonderful and make it phenomenal!”
I hope you have enjoyed this excerpt from my new book, Friendship With God. May you find your week filled with God’s presence and life. Blessings to you for this Christmas holiday and my you experience Christ in Christmas. Worship Him from His love for you!
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
IN Process – Available on Amazon before the close of the year
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
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