Marshall Mabry - Undignified Worshiper of Jesus Christ

“You are only as close to God as you want to be.” (Pastor Nathan Blackwell) We do our very best — it’s ‘everything’ our Father deserves from us. Perfectionism is something we passionately pursue, but will not attain this side of God’s glory. We must always understand that we are broken by ourselves and only in Christ can we find true righteousness. Remain in Him and He will remain in you. It’s all you need.

(from personal devotion April 17, 2006)

Galatians 5:22-26
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit. We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

We are created to worship Him alone.

God is looking for worshippers to worship Him in spirit and truth. In ours Christian lives, anger, frustration, and impatience should be foreign emotions. Our actions, gifting and talents must demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. I can not write or perform His anointed music if it does not give evidence to the fruit of the Spirit. If we are to be His instruments in this world, our lives sing with the Holy Spirit. We must reflect His holiness and righteousness. We cannot do it alone, but His Holy Spirit will do it for us.

Love covers a large gamut of emotions, Joy is passionate, powerful and uplifting, Peace is quiet, still and intimate, Patience is never hurried or stressed, it is tolerant and waits for God’s wisdom and strength, Kindness and Gentleness are soft and nonabrasive, Faith believes with strong confidence and has an assuredness that does not need to witness miraculous signs for strengthening, Goodness is eager to help and fulfill the needs, it is readily accepted, and Self-Control is disciplined and prepared, it compliments Joy.

King David worshipped by dancing with “Holy Spirit passion.” He was bringing God’s Word in the physical representation of the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem and God’s chosen people — Israel. It was a cause for celebration that overjoyed David’s heart, mind and soul. One might think that David was out of control or undisciplined. Even his wife, Michal, was disgusted at the sight of the King’s undignified dance.

Undignified carries two designations here; one of Michal’s unrighteous judgment and one of holy worship. Michal believed it was beneath the King of Israel to present himself publicly in such undignified manner. On the other hand, David oblivious to all earthly surroundings, sought after God’s approval and blessing. He was lost in worship. He was so caught up in giving worship to God that every temporal possession, every earthly crown, every prestigious trophy coveted by man — meant nothing in light of being in God’s awesome presence.

Father, You teach us love.
As children, we are Your gift conceived from the holy union of love between husband and wife
You breathe a life excited to receive and give love
Through You our capacity to love is limitless
Through You our potential and power is matchless
We live receiving love through Your generosity in others
We live giving love away through Your charity in us
From the beginning it defines us
Throughout our lives it transforms us
In the end it will conform us to look like Your Son, Jesus.

It seems many self-called Christians are ashame to speak the name of Jesus Christ out loud in public. Fear of rejection, fear of persecution, fear of offense, fear of failure or a myriad of other reasons may be to blame for their silence. Nonetheless, it is an action that demonstrates a lack of faith. One that could cost your eternal soul.

32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 10:32-33

Jesus said this just after he warns his disciple of the troubles they would face when he sends them out to preach the Gospel. He encourages them to not fear man, but God!

We will have difficulties in our ministries. They are hurdles to increase our endurance, to strengthen us, to grow us more into His likeness. We can not strategize away “the Name above all names” for fear it is too “churchy” or that it might offend someone. Christians! Lost people need to hear the Gospel – whether they like it or not!

(Taken from 10/28/2005 devotion)
In Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick affirms that we are created to worship God. It is a basic truth that I know as well. True worshippers are givers. We recognize that God has provided every good and perfect thing. Thus, we are gradually being transformed into the image of Christ – who gave His life as the ultimate act of obedience and worship. He is the only perfect gift.

There are times when a brother or sister backslides in their walk with the Lord. We are instructed to help them by tenderly showing the error of their way. But, what happens when an entire church, a culture, an emerging generation falls into error?

If you consider the worship service an offering, then it should be about giving. If everyone entered into the service with thoughts of how they can bless our Lord and with actions that demonstrate their faith, He is faithful to take us to another level of worship. As Matt Redman wrote in his song, Heart of Worship – “longing just to bring something that’s of worth, that will bless Your heart.” Wow! I want to be there! – I want to bless Your heart , my Lord!

I am persuaded that our culture is steadily losing its fear of the Lord. The reverence that is due the Lord is missing in most of our Church’s worship services. He is holy! We are not. There is a huge distance, a gap between the great I Am and who we are. I believe the fear of God is more about realizing our worthlessness and recognizing His infinite worth. We are nothing without Him. Without Him we are doomed to an eternity in hell. That should give you a pretty good definition of His worth.

Many of us are overly concerned about what we get out of the service, not what our Heavenly Father is receiving from us. Many times after a service we hear comments like: “The pastor just wasn’t there today.” “The music was off.” “The video didn’t work for me.”

We are gradually replacing our “awesome” God with a God of love and comfort. “Awesome” by definition, means to “fear terribly!” We need to be careful how we use words that try to describe our God. Awesome is a good descriptive word – but know and adhere to its true definition when you use it to describe “the indescribable.” We should not superficially use words reserved to illustrate our God. If in one sentence we use it to describe our adoration and respect for our Lord, then in the next we use it to exaggerate the merits of a song. “We need to put away the things we did as a child.”

I believe our Lord wants us to have comfort and joy. He prospers His righteous people. But, in the sanctuary of His church during a worship service we are not meant to receive, but to give. We need our focus to be about Him. To give Him our love, praise, adoration, reverence, our worship. Afterwards, we should take from our worship services the attitude of giving. How can I help? How can I be a blessing to someone? How can God use me? What gifts do I have that can be shared with others?

Prayer meetings, fellowship and accountability gatherings are better places to make requests of Him. Granted, we need to pray all the time. I constantly seek His strength and guidance and I feel I am always connected to Him. Unfortunately, I get distracted regularly by the world, Satan, and my flesh. Eventually, I repeatedly find myself in repentance and prayer.

He gives us everything; I don’t believe it is too much to ask to give back to Him during our Sunday worship services.

In His sanctuary, our attitude should always be one of giving.

The Lord is the only audience necessary. He is the VIP, the sole guest of honor.

The service is an offering of our first fruits to the Lord. I gift of gratitude, a blessing from our menial estate to the Creator of everything and owner of all things present, past and future. It is not just the worship team, pastors, deacons, or church leaders that need to give on Sunday — it needs to be everyone’s attitude.

Finally, our everyday walk needs to reflect this strength – our joy of the Lord. The integrity of He whom we emulate must be witnessed by those in this world and the great cloud of witnesses we do not see with temporal eyes.