Tears of Intercession

By Soli Deo Gloria

I've never been a person to ask anyone to pray for me, I've always felt if a Christian's faith is truly rooted deep into the soil of scripture, prayer, meditation and fasting that when the burning sun of life's trials and tribulation come up against the believer he will not be moved.

In the last four years I can say without doubt that I have not had 2 days whereby life's situation and circumstances has weighed me down so much that I had to ask someone to pray for me. I can say this because my faith is firmly rooted and my knowledge and understanding of God's Grace and Mercy toward me is able to sustain me. Now this does not mean I don't want others to pray for me, it means I am confident that my prayers are sufficient to move God for my deliverance. 

With all this said you can imagine how surprised I was to have my pastor pray for me last Sunday, not that he does pray for others, its that when he asks "Does anyone need prayer?" I never come for prayer. But last Sunday was different, my mother who is a member of another church decided to visit our church and she witnessed my pastor praying for me.

"When Tony (my pastor and cousin ) prayed for you Sunday" My mother began, "I could tell he really meant what he was praying, it was as if he was begging God if you would only do this for me God" she continued. "I thought of Tony as a mother eagle wrapping her wing around her chicks to protect them from the pouring rain. I could feel it in his voice, I could see it in his eyes, and I know God heard his prayers also"

When my mother said this I thought of a post I wrote about 2 years ago called "Praying to the Point of Tears" This post highlighted the relationship between tears, and truly contrite and fervent prayer. My thought was if praying for yourself to the point of tears was good, how much greater is the intercessor that could pray to the point of tears for someone else? How profound was this prayer for me?

Below is an excerpt of the post "Praying to the Point of Tears" dated November 16, 2007. I hope you enjoy this post and I hope this advice given will elevate your prayers to the next level. Follow this link (here) to read the original post.

Not until God sees the hopelessness in our life, and we experience the realization our personal situation is solely dependent on God, It's not until we realize we can do nothing but break down in tears crying out to God, in hopeless, that we can be sure that God hears our prayers. Therefore if we want God to hear our prayers then when we pray, we need to pray in a state of desperation.

Hebrews 5:5-7 (KJV)
So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

OK,  I'm going to say it. Sometimes prayer is ineffectual just because there are no tears. This does not mean that tears make a prayer effectual. However if your prayer can not move you to sorrow, and you are doing the praying, how much less is it moving God to want to see that prayer fulfilled? Hebrews 5:7-8 tells us that even Jesus Christ prayed to the point of tears, and when he did the bible tells us that God heard him. But not until we read psalms 56:8 do we get any idea as to why.

Psalms 56:8 (TNIV)
Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll are they not in your record? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me

Every one of ancient times cried out in prayer to the Lord. I would go as far as to say that it appears to be those that cried the hardest are the ones that did the greatest works in God. Issac cried unto God in prayer, King Hezekiah cried unto God in prayer, King David cried unto God in prayer, Even our Savior cried unto God in prayer, and their prayers were contrite, and their prayers were sorrowful and God heard them.

We must ask ourselves, can we afford to not pray with the same fervor?

First in the series ;   Praying to the Point of Tears     Return To Home Page;     Back to Series Page




Your Brother in Christ

Soli Deo Gloria

Worshipping in Spirit and Truth?

Worshipping in Truth
(Part 3 of 3)
 

I'm Sorry as I began to write the second part of the two part series on worhippping, I realized that I had not covered the most important part. What is worship and how do we do it? Today we will cover worshipping in Truth which is actually part 3 of the series even though I wrote it first. please bear with me. Part 2 ( Worshipping in Spirit) and Part 1 How should we Worship are coming soon.

I have had a lot of difficulty comprehending what it meant to worship in Spirit and Truth. Whenever I asked someone they either had no real idea or they gave me rehearsed scriptural propaganda, having no clue themselves. This is especially problematic when you consider I go to a Church called “Spirit and Truth” As you may have guessed I had a passion to know what it mean to worship in spirit and truth.

What I’m writing right now is God revelation to me concerning worshipping in Truth I think before I go any further it’s important to understand that I separate Worship in Truth from Worship in Spirit. I’ve been to too many website whereas the author intertwined the two to such a level that the reader did not know where one started and the other ended. To avoid that I have made very distinct lines that separate the two. If an important factor is not addressed in truth I very well may be in spirit.

Romans 7:7 (KJV)
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Second thing I define worshiping in truth as almost entirely intellectual and worshiping in Spirit as fully spiritual.

Worshipping in Truth is worship which is founded in the word of God (bible) the New Testament is especially true for Christians. Because Worshipping in Truth is intellectual it is done in a conscious effort, a physical expression of an intellectual knowledge that is obtained through the reading of the bible. John 17:17 says “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” a physical expression (to sanctify) by way of Truth (knowledge of God’s Word.) Psalms 119:160 says “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”

To worship God in Truth we must understand who He is, and what He has done, and the only place He has fully revealed Himself is in the Bible. Worship in Truth is a conscience intellectual effort to express our gratitude toward God who is understood through His Word. If we do not have the truth of the Bible, we do not know God and we cannot Worship Him in Truth.

John 4:23-24 (KJV)
²³ But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. ²⁴ Godis a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

“They that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth!” For every Christian this is his/her goal to correctly worship God and the above verses give us a hint of what it is that God requires from us, simply, that we be True Worshippers, and that as True Worshippers we worship God is Spirit and Truth.

What is Worshipping in Truth?

Romans 12:1-2 (KJV)
¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12 gives us and understanding of what worshipping in truth is. Because of space I won’t add it here, I would suggest that you take the time to read it and understand it and assimilate it into your spirit.

Ok now lets try to get some truth out of this, in verse 1 chapter 12 of Romans it says “by the Mercies of God” this is our reason for worshipping. Because God has given us all that we have, it is because of His Grace and Mercy that we are alive today, it is because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his blood spilled for the remission of our sins that we worship God, It is because of God Mercies toward us that we are motivated to worship.

• So by right, I am not worthy of any good thing that God has given to me (none of us are) and it is this Truth of my unworthiness and my contrite state of gratitude toward God for what He has given me that moves me to worship God.
• It is all of God’s daily blessings and eternal life, that unction me to praise and worship God.
• It is the Truth that without the Father I am nothing.
• It is this Truth that gives me confidence in saying that anyone that is not moved with passion to praise God, is not overwhelmed with desire to give testimony of God, is not bursting at their bellies like new wineskins to sing unto the Father, anyone that is not compelled by the Holy Spirit to Worship God; is not saved.

Now also in the first verse is a requirement to how we should worship God. “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” This is much more than just a requirement to take care of our bodies. To present our bodies means, to give of ourselves completely, whole, withholding nothing from God, it is to give our minds, body, souls, attitudes, opinions, thoughts, and even hopes over to God. When we present our bodies a living sacrifice to God, we are saying that Jesus is Lord over all our life, We are saying that the wisdom of this world shall not have dominion over my life, that only Godly wisdom which comes from renewing our mind daily can have dominion over me.

Renewing of Our Mind

The renewing of our mind is that thing that happens when we have knowledge of what God expects from us, and then having this knowledge we submit ourselves to those expectations of God. We renew our minds when we release the behaviors, the thoughts, pride and expectation, and wisdom of the world. And replace it with God’s wisdom. This is so much more than saying we love God passionately, that we would die for Christ, our faith or our religion. Renewing our mind is not an emotional change, not a spiritual change, it is a conscious and intellectual effort to accept God’s written Word (the bible) weather we like it or not.

There are many religions that have an emotional zeal for their faith. Extremist that strap bombs to their back, murder innocent women and children, some which even believe that by killing or dying they have an inside track to salvation and eternity. However even in this passion for what they think is God’s desires they are unable to worship. They have not come to the realization that God does not want you to die for your faith (in Christ), death would be the easy way out. No, the renewing of the mind is the realization that God requires us to live for Christ. God requires us to live for Christ no matter what the world has thrown at you.

It is impossible to worship God in Truth without reading our bible, because through our bible we find out what is the Truth of God’s will weather we like it or not. It is impossible to worship God in Truth without a renewed mind because the carnal mind is enmity against God. We can not know God with the wisdom and knowledge of this world. Philippians 2:5 (KJV) tells us“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” because our worldly mind will lead us only to worldly destruction. It is impossible to worship God with the mind of this world.

Finally to Worship God in Truth is continual, not limited to a place (like only church) or initiated by external stimuli (like a favorite Gospel song) or motivated by a received blessing in the time of distress. Worshiping God in Truth is God-Centered, it’s not about you in any way; TrueWorship is not for the cause of a healing, a blessing, or anything in return, True Worshipping is not a bargaining chip in which we barter with God for something in return, but the realization that God alone is worthy to be worship, no saint, angel, prophet, not even Mary the mother of our Lord is worthy to be worshiped. Oh if God would but hold his breath that every one of us that walk upon this earth would die; it; it is the revelation of the power of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which causes you to live in a continual state of gratitude toward God. True worship is about glorifying God in all things, true worship is showing our loyalty, our admiration, our aw of His Awesome Terribleness, this is true worship, this is worshipping God in Truth

I spent the entire blog teaching the physical part of worshipping in truth and now I’m going to tell you that how you physical express your worshipping in truth is unimportant. This is not a contradiction but an understanding that, by the knowledge of God through the reading of His word you will express God in the way that you have been led by the Truth. There is no rule regarding whether we should sit, stand, fall down, be quiet, or sing praises loudly while in personal or corporate worship. The most important thing is that we worship God in Truth of the knowledge of him and that knowledge is obtained through the reading of the bible

If I have written something that is antagonistic to what you know about God tell me I’ve lost my mind, require of me to show you scriptural where I got that thought. But if you simply read and do nothing than I can be wrong and go to hell and if you’ve accepted what I’ve written you are going to hell with me. Ask yourself how important is your life?

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