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freedom to worship

Worshiping Through The Highs And Lows

by GOD TV January 12, 2023

written by GOD TV

Worship is one of my favorite Kingdom weapons that we have. Ever since I was a little girl, it’s been one of the ways that I’ve connected with the Lord the most. Anytime I wanted to feel His nearness or feel His presence tangibly, I could just turn to Him in worship and just turn my heart and affection towards the Lord.

I know Bill Johnson talks about that a lot; about turning our affection to the Lord. And it’s such a quick way to access His love and feel His presence. And worship is something that has helped me through highs and lows, all sorts of different seasons. And it’s something that Jesus is so worthy of. I can just look at the cross. I can look at the breakthroughs in my life. Even today, I was driving around and was just filled with thankfulness to the Lord for the different things that He’s done, and even the little things that I have. Worship is something that is an overflow of our love for Jesus and what He’s done, and the Father and who He is and what He’s done in sending in Jesus to be there and save us and bring us new life, eternal life, to give us a brand new start.

I love that we have the hope of eternity before us. I’ve had a couple friends and loved ones pass away in the past season, and worship has been a way that I’ve been able to process that. And I’m sure there’s many people watching, too, who have experienced loss. Maybe you’ve experienced situations that you didn’t expect. And something that was so beautiful is, I was coming before the Lord. One of my best friends recently passed away during Covid. And it was totally unexpected. I didn’t see it coming and I was just in my room, spending time with God. I didn’t want to go anywhere. And I was finding myself in this place, worshiping Jesus and just going, “God, I know you’re good in this. I don’t understand. We planned, you know, weddings that we were going to be in together and all these things we were going to do for you, God, together.” And she had such destiny on her life and I didn’t fully understand.

And I remember worshiping, just sitting before the Lord and letting Him meet me in that place, letting the Holy Spirit comfort as He does. And I remember all of a sudden as I walked downstairs to finally eat for the day, I had this vision drop, because I’d been spending this time with the Lord. I was just in this place of, “What are you saying, Lord? What are you doing?” And this picture, this vision, dropped in my mind and I saw my friend who had passed away. Well, first I saw my grandmother who’s in heaven. She’s been there for quite some time now. And she looked so beautiful and young and she had her arms out like this. And then I saw my grandpa standing behind her and he looked so young as well. They’d both already gone to heaven. And then in the vision, it panned around and I saw my friend Paula, and she looked so beautiful and she was being welcomed by my grandmother and my grandpa, whom she had met before.

But I just thought it was so beautiful, because in these times of worship, whether we worship through highs or lows, God wants to meet us in that place. It’s in this instant place of connection that we can have with the Lord where He meets us, He talks to us, His presence fills us. But most of all, it’s a two-way encounter. Yes, we’re worshiping the Lord because of everything that He’s done for us. We’re worshiping Him because of who He’s been to us. And we worship Him out of the overflow of our love and our gratitude and just how amazing He is, and what an honor it is to know Him and have Him in our lives.

You know, there’s just so many reasons why we could worship God, but what’s so beautiful is that it’s a two-way encounter and you can never out-give God. And as you pour out your love and affection to Him for everything He’s done and redeemed us of; the cross, and then thereafter, it’s so beautiful because He’s constantly pouring out, and He’s wanting that connection, and He’s reaching out to us, and we love Him because He first loved us.

And so, I want to encourage you today, if there’s anything that you’ve been going through that maybe was hard and you haven’t known how to process it, or maybe something happened that you couldn’t quite understand why that happened. I want encourage you to come before the Lord in worship and to get in His presence, because it’s a weapon of warfare to be able to have perspective, to see what God says about your situation. That’s the truth. If you can find a word from the Lord about what you went through, no matter how hard it was, if you can just find what God says over that, the way that God can redeem that, it’ll change everything. It’ll give you that fresh hope to move forward.

After I had that encounter with the Lord and I saw my best friend up there in heaven, I knew it was the Lord, because I wasn’t even thinking about my grandma or my grandpa, or anything. And it was right after I’d come out of this time of worship with the Lord and just to see her being welcomed into heaven, it was beautiful to see the Lord say, “I’ve got this, I’ve redeemed this, she’s safe with me.”

And so whatever it may be that has been something that’s been hard for you to process in your life, I encourage you to get before the Lord, get in worship, get in His presence, seek His face, and let Him speak over that. Let Him comfort your heart and speak truth over what it is that happened and how He’s redeemed that for you.

We are so blessed by our partners around the world who faithfully give to GOD TV. It humbles us when we receive donations from around the world, from people who’ve been blessed by the ministry of GOD TV. You know, we are called to preach the Gospel to all the nations of the earth, and we cannot do this without you. So I want to invite you today to give generously to GOD TV, so that we can continue airing the Gospel of Jesus to the nations of the earth.

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Step Into The Wake

by GOD TV November 13, 2022

written by GOD TV

If you’ve ever been to a lake or seen people waterskiing or tubing, there’s an interesting thing that happens if you watch. As people are pulled behind the boat, if they’re in the wake, they’re being pulled by the power of the wake that’s being created by the boat, and the ride is much more smooth than if you get out of the wake. If you get out of that wake, it is choppy, it is crazy, you might be falling off the tube or falling off your skis. It’s just not a fun time. And I want to use this as a way to encourage you in worship to today.

Sometimes in worship, we can be our own worst enemy. We can get discouraged, we can think we’re missing God. But God has given us a key for breakthrough in worship, and it’s this: the body of Christ; your brothers and sisters on your right and on your left. One of my favorite things to do in worship if I’m just not feeling connected to God is this: I will look around the room until I see somebody who is completely lost in adoration for Jesus. And I will either just watch them, love on God until my heart’s moved, or I might even go and position myself next to them and just receive from what God’s doing on their life. Another thing I might do is I might listen for someone in the room who’s completely just adoring God and just singing their own song to Jesus, and listen to them until my heart is moved.

Or even most recently, I was at summer camp with my youth group and I saw a young man next to me who was lost in God’s presence. And I just went over to him and I put his hand on top of my head and just said, “Pray for me, man.” And this is one of the keys to being fruitful in the body of Christ, is that we actually learn to glean from our brothers and sisters on our right and on our left. And that you can actually step into the wake of what is being created by your brothers and sisters that you see having breakthrough in their walk with Christ.

And so I just wanna pray for you to have freedom to do that today, and that it would be a benefit to your walk and to you knowing Jesus. So Jesus, I just thank you for anyone that’s watching, and I just give them freedom and permission to get behind those brothers and sisters that are around them, and to ride their wake until they can create the wake for another. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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California Lifts COVID Restrictions In Indoor Worship

by Christa April 16, 2021

written by Christa

California has finally lifted its COVID restrictions inside the houses of worship. On Monday, the state released its new policies following multiple Supreme Court rulings against it.

COVID Restrictions

On the state’s official website, they no longer imposed mandatory limitations but “strongly recommended” them.

“‘In response to recent judicial rulings, effective immediately, location and capacity limits on places of worship are not mandatory,” they stated. “But are strongly recommended.”

The Center for American Liberty commended the state’s response. The group has been the most active in opposing California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, on behalf of the churches.

Harmeet K. Dhillon, the center’s founder, said, “Governor Newsom should have done this a long time ago. For over a year, the state of California has targeted the faith community for discriminatory treatment depriving them of their fundamental right to worship.”

It can be remembered that many churches and faith leaders unite to come against California’s ban on indoor worship. One of which is Sean Feucht. His “Let Us Worship” movement started as a peaceful protest against the state‘s “discriminatory orders.”

Meanwhile, the Liberty Counsel is determined to pursue its case in the Ninth Circuit so that abuse against religious freedom will not happen again.

Liberty Counsel head, Mat Staver, said, “After five reprimands from the U.S. Supreme Court, Governor Gavin Newsom has finally dropped his draconian restrictions on churches.”

“While we are happy that all churches and houses of worship no longer have any restrictions, Liberty Counsel will continue our case in the Ninth Circuit in order to make sure this tyranny and abuse never happen again.”

The state’s Department of Public Health advised that places of worship with the lowest tier of concern, or under the category “yellow” or “minimal”, should cater 50% of its capacity. However, places with “widespread” or “purple” have the strictest recommendation, allowing only 25% of its capacity.

Reference: Christian Post

April 16, 2021 0 comment

Articles

What Happens When Christians Get Soft And Dull?

by Brian Taylor December 17, 2018

written by Brian Taylor

Several years ago, I was taken aback by the words of a pastor who said, before his congregation, that Christianity is not a man’s religion. It wasn’t because I ever believed that it was, but because I had not, until that time, ever heard anyone lend voice to that notion. You have to believe that Jesus is a far cry from anything that might be considered weak or wimpy. Soft just does not fit the description of someone who is known as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

When you see Jesus confronting the people of His day, He is seen overturning tables in the Temple Square as money changers attempt to take advantage of people. He constantly shows His displeasure when His own followers exhibit a lack of faith or the religious leaders of the day display their hypocrisy. So how is it that in present day America, so many have perceived Christians as being dull or soft?

Paul could upset a city by setting a single possessed woman free of the spirit that allowed her to make men a lot of money. Peter and the other apostles were constantly being thrown into prison for the liberating words that changed the cities they entered. This hardly seems soft or dull either.

Some believe Christians in America have not faced the truest sense of persecution that has afflicted Christians in other parts of the world. In America, Christians have so much freedom. There hardly seems to be any real threat of shaping or upsetting the culture, as is felt in other nations where other religions are dominant.

When you look at the revelation that was given to the Apostle John, he relays a message of a church that had become lukewarm. Today, we might think of that as being soft or dull. He tells John to tell this church that it would be better if they were hot or cold because at least if they were hot or cold, they would display a certainty of where they stand. He tells John that a lukewarm church is unpalatable to God. It is interesting to note that the description of the Church that is described in Revelation chapter 3 is of a people which had become, “rich, increased with goods, having need of nothing.” It goes on to say that they were unaware of their wretched state and how miserable, poor, blind and naked they had become.

When Paul wrote to Timothy, he made him aware that a time was coming where there would be difficult days ahead. That day was seen as a time when people would be “self-pleasing, money lovers, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy”, and much more. What sticks out to anyone who reads 2 Timothy 3 is the fifth verse that states that there would be people who would hold on to a form of godliness, but deny its power. This, more accurately, sounds like a people who have become soft and dull.

A church that has become soft and dull obviously cannot move in effectiveness to change or impact culture as it was birthed to do. A church that is dull or soft cannot stand out as a difference maker or point to something that is to be desired or attractive. When Christians get soft and dull, they become a dim light that cannot point to a glorious Father that loves and wants to redeem or restore the world to the perfected state that God envisioned when He spoke it into existence.

Let 2019 be the year of the greater works

A church that desires to have any impact in the world must become revolutionary and a true reformer of the culture. It cannot run in fear of reprisal of falling out of popularity with the world systems. The Church is to be bold in its ability to stand out. The Church is a living nation of prophets, priests, and kings. The Church is comprised of peculiar people. This difference is threatening to the world because it appears as folly and misunderstood. Yet, when the Church presents the power and glory of God properly, it offers love, hope, and healing that draws.

The American Church must become sharpened by the Word of God and by the encouragement that can be found in other Christians around the world whom have sacrificed all for the sake of Christ. The Church in America must not take for granted the freedoms that enable it to worship in the open, but embrace that freedom as a grace bestowed upon her to fulfill the Great Commission; whether that is healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the diseased, or driving out the demonic, the Church has much more to accomplish than adding souls to church rosters.

The Church has to affect change on a grander scale. So that the revealing of the greater works can be made manifest now. Let this new year be the year that the Church becomes emboldened to do those greater works. Let 2019 be the year that the Church in America is seen as sharp and established as a solid and firm stance against principalities and powers that come against the Kingdom of our God.

December 17, 2018 0 comment