God Wants the Honest Truth

But you desire honesty from the heart, so you can teach me to be wise in my inmost being. (Ps. 51:6)(NLT)

Are you an honest person? Come on... tell the truth now. Are you a person of integrity--one who's truthful and sincere? That's the kind of person God wants us to be--because He is the Truth (Jn. 14:6), and He is looking for those who will worship Him in truth (Jn. 4:23). God abhors dishonesty and falseness of any kind. He hates lies. Those who are godly hate lies. (Prov. 13:5)(NLT) In fact, God cannot lie. (Titus 1:2) Did you know that Satan is called the father of lies? (Jn. 8:44)He will do whatever he can to steer you away from the truth of Who God is and away from the truth of God's redemptive plan.

There's a movie which many of you may have seen, called "A Few Good Men". The movie starred Tom Cruse and Jack Nicholson among others. At the climax of the movie there's a military trial and Tom Cruse's character, the navy prosecutor, asks Jack's character, a General, some questions trying to get to the bottom of a murder. The prosecutor says to the General--"I want the truth!" The General, yelling, replies--"You can't handle the truth!" Well, you know, the devil can't handle the truth, because God is the personification of truth. But God wants the truth. He wants honesty and sincerity from us in our worship and in our service of Him. He knows when we aren't truthful--when we're being even slightly dishonest. And our lies will eventually be exposed for what they are. Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed. (Prov. 12:19)(NLT)

There are consequences for our dishonesty with God. We can see how serious God is about this in Acts 5:1-11. A married couple by the name of Ananias and Sapphira sold some land and gave the money to the disciples. Sounds pretty good, huh? Well, they lied about how much the land was sold for. Peter found out and spoke to each of them separately. He told them that they had not lied to him and the disciples but to God. And then they each dropped to the ground dead! You can believe that sent the fear of God through the community.

In Ezekiel chapter 13 we find that God despised the false prophets who were proclaiming good news when a warning was in order. These prophets who told lies to comfort the people, were like those who built a weak wall and held it together with whitewash. God told them that their deception would soon end, that their flimsy wall would soon crash down. And God wants us to speak the truth today as well. Sometimes we need to speak up for unpopular things in our society if that means that we are standing for the truth. We must choose to follow the Lord rather than our culture, our peers or our government.

So let's praise God that His Word is truth. Let's praise Him because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Let's pray that the Lord will expose any deception or falsehood in our life, and show us how we can worship Him in spirit and in truth causing us to become more like Jesus.

Singing His Praises,

Joey C.

Clothed in Glory

Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. (Psalm 104:1-2)(NKJV)

For thousands of years people have longed to see God's glory. Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of His greatness like He did for Moses. In Exodus 33:18 Moses asks--"Please, let me see Your glory" (HCSB). God then placed Moses in the crevice of a rock and covered him with His hand until His glory passed by, allowing Moses to see only His back, because as God told him--"You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live." (Ex. 33:20)(HCSB)

Sometimes God gives us visions of His glory like the one recorded in Isaiah chapter 6, where God calls and commissions Isaiah. --In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; His glory fills the whole earth. (Isa. 6:1-3)(HCSB)

Sometimes the Lord uses other things and experiences in our lives to reveal His glory and His greatness. I love the song "How Great is Our God" by Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves and Ed Cash and recorded by Chris Tomlin. The opening lines of the song focus our attention on the glory and awesomeness of our Lord. Look at these lyrics:

The splendor of a King
Clothed in majesty,
Let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice.
He wraps Himself in light
and darkness tries to hide,
It trembles at His voice, trembles at His voice.

Can you imagine? The darkness is driven away from the brightness of God's glory. All the forces of evil tremble at His voice. And we should tremble as well. We should have a proper respect and awe for our Lord, Who is the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty God.

In Matthew 17:1-6, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain where they soon witness a miraculous sight. It has become known as the transfiguration. They were given a glimpse of Jesus' glory that would transform their understanding of who Christ was. They saw Jesus' appearance change into a blazing white light, as if they were looking into the sun. They then saw Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus. Then a bright cloud surrounded them and a powerful voice proclaimed: "This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with Him. Listen to Him." (Matt. 17:5)(NKJV) The disciples were terrified and fell on their faces at the sound of the voice. The voice was of God Himself! But their actions were right on the mark. Their gesture of worship was appropriate. Their reverence can teach us some things.

We need to consider how we respond to revelations of God's glory. We need to--just like Peter, James and John--maintain a humble attitude of worship before God. To realize that we are nothing compared to His glory and greatness. Let's thank God for giving us little glimpses of His glory and power. Let's be careful to worship Him in wonder and reverence asking forgiveness for the times we fail to recognize His true glory. His appearance is so glorious that He can wrap Himself in light. We should strive to surround, clothe ourselves with His glory. Let's do our best to live our lives in such a manner that His glory will be evident to the world around us.

Singing His Praises,
Joey C.

Abraham

Through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed--all because you have obeyed me. (Geness 22:18)(NLT)

The following is a worship profile of Abraham from the Praise and Worship Study Bible published by Tyndale House Publishers-copyright 1997. I highly recommend this study Bible for everyone who wants to learn more about worship.

Costly. Demanding. Life-changing. We don't ordinarily associate these words with worship. Yet to Christians who are filled with the Spirit, worship becomes so vital that it transforms their entire lives. Such devotion to Christ can collide with goals, possessions, and ideals that we hold dear. But as we continually worship God, we will begin to yield them to God. Abraham may have been the first to discover the cost-- and profound reward-- of worship.

Abraham the Worshiper

Abraham marked his places of worship. He remembered the spots where God met him, and he returned there. One of the recurring phrases from his life is "Abram built an altar there to commemorate the Lord's visit" (see Gen. 12:7-8; 13:18; 22:9).

Abraham understood that the first step of worship is responding to what God has done for us. When told that he would have a son, Abraham trusted God's word. In fact, God declared Abraham righteous because of his belief (Gen. 15:6).

Abraham's defining moment of trust came in worship. God asked him to sacrifice his only son (Gen. 22). Before this, building altars had been a joy for the old man. This time, it was a labor of agony. All the while, Isaac kept wondering aloud where the animal for the sacrifice was. Only when the knife was raised and Abraham had demonstrated his willingess to give God his only son did God provide a substitute.

Learning from Abraham

Abraham understood that no one and no thing should receive higher allegiance from him than God. Even a dearly loved child must not rob our affection for God. Abraham worshiped with hands open and available to God, and God treated him with dignity. When Abraham laid Isaac on the altar, he had delivered his promised future into God's hands. As we learn about Abraham, we come to understand how much obedience costs. Worship changed Abraham. It ought to change us as well.

Through Abraham, the Lord revealed himself as the God who asks for everything. Yet in the end God gave Abraham far more than he asked from him. Until he gave everything to God, Abraham could not have imagined what God would do for him. Likewise, for us today worship can open our eyes to God's goodness and mercy to us, such as his gracious gift of redemption through the perfect sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Following the Example

In worship we place ourselves before God. Holding back any part of ourselves from God represents a lack of trust. Worship demands that we give everything to God, trusting that our heavenly Father will provide for our needs and help us grow. Take inventory today of what you are holding back from God, and then pray for help to overcome your lack of trust.

Singing His Praises,

Joey C.