What is worship?
Anything that you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of of worship.
When we come together to worship, we come wanting to please God alone, offering to Him our very best. The biggest distraction in worship is yourself - your interests and your worries over what others think of you.
Heartless praise is not praise at all. It is worthless.
One thing worship costs us is our self-centeredness.
Preperation for worship
1) Be Determined - when we are determined, God meets us in our efforts and enables our spirits to rise up.
2) Be Enthusiastic - God deserves more than the dregs when we worship Him.
3) Be Honest - we need to be honest before God and confess our need and our difficulty in worship.
4) Be Thankful - give thanks in all circumstances
5) Be Consistent - Worship is not just a performance on a sunday morning. It is a way of life
6) Be Clean - We must ask God to forgive us and clean us up in preperation for what is about to take place.
7) Be Thoughtful - Resist the temptation to get involved in thoughtful or thoughtless conversation
8) Be Attentive - We need to listen for God to speak to us as we worship
Michelle Cozins
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Temptation
Temptation starts in our hearts, minds and in our deepest motives and desires. Every christian is faced with some kind of temptation. We give in to temptation because there is tempory pleasure in it.
Temptation comes from satan, seeking to activate his selfish evil character and seek to deny glory to God by missuse of humanity.
Other people may be used to tempt us. Temptation is not sin. It is an enticement to sin. Being tempted is not wrong - it's the decision to do wrong, and the action that follows.
Fighting temptation is combat God allows, because it is won or lost at a spiritual level. He desires that we endure when we are tempted and promises that there is a way out. When you are tempted, God will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
All temptation is an attempt by satan to get us to live our lives independently of God. Temptation is greatest when we are hungry, tired, lonely, or have time on our hands. You will never outgrow temptation.
Temptation is a sign that satan hates you. The closer you grow to God, the more satan will try to tempt you.
The first step for escaping temptation is to capture every thought as it steps into your mind. Once you have halted an incoming thought, the next step is to see if it passes the eight-part test based on Phillipians 4:8 for what we should think about.
1. Does the thought line up with God's truth?
2. Does it suggest that i do something honourable?
3. Is it right?
4. Is it pure?
5. Will the outcome of this thought be lovely?
6. Will the result be something to admire?
7. Will it contribute to excellence in my life?
8. Is it something for which i can prasie God?
To reduce temptation, keep your mind occupied with God's word and other good thoughts. Jesus used the word of God to overcome temptation n the wilderness. We need to be alert, self-controlled, and strong in the faith. We need to perservere, persist and continue to resist temptation.
There is always a way to overcome temptation.
Michelle Cozins
Temptation comes from satan, seeking to activate his selfish evil character and seek to deny glory to God by missuse of humanity.
Other people may be used to tempt us. Temptation is not sin. It is an enticement to sin. Being tempted is not wrong - it's the decision to do wrong, and the action that follows.
Fighting temptation is combat God allows, because it is won or lost at a spiritual level. He desires that we endure when we are tempted and promises that there is a way out. When you are tempted, God will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
All temptation is an attempt by satan to get us to live our lives independently of God. Temptation is greatest when we are hungry, tired, lonely, or have time on our hands. You will never outgrow temptation.
Temptation is a sign that satan hates you. The closer you grow to God, the more satan will try to tempt you.
The first step for escaping temptation is to capture every thought as it steps into your mind. Once you have halted an incoming thought, the next step is to see if it passes the eight-part test based on Phillipians 4:8 for what we should think about.
1. Does the thought line up with God's truth?
2. Does it suggest that i do something honourable?
3. Is it right?
4. Is it pure?
5. Will the outcome of this thought be lovely?
6. Will the result be something to admire?
7. Will it contribute to excellence in my life?
8. Is it something for which i can prasie God?
To reduce temptation, keep your mind occupied with God's word and other good thoughts. Jesus used the word of God to overcome temptation n the wilderness. We need to be alert, self-controlled, and strong in the faith. We need to perservere, persist and continue to resist temptation.
There is always a way to overcome temptation.
Michelle Cozins
Monday, December 6, 2010
Are You Limiting God?
God has called us for a special purpose. God is looking at us to experience the same miracles people in the bible experienced. God has much more for us than we could ever imagine. God has poured out the Holy Spirit over ordinary people.
It is God who makes the impossible possible. It is God who gives us the wisdom and courage we need. We need to believe that we're destined to do great things. If we did all we are capable of doing we would astonish ourselves.
There isn't a person anywhere who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can.
God always gives us enough strength and enough sense for everything he wants us to do.
Can't is just an excuse for us not to try.
Before you can be used in the same way God used David, Elijah, Samuel, and many others, God will form you. This forming will last the rest of your life.
The greatest demonstrations of God's power have come when men and women have felt the weakest.
When we run out of our own natural ability and strength, God's strength is perfected in us.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - For when I am weak, then I am strong.
There's only one thing that limits an elephant from getting where he wants to go - and it's not a two foot stake, it's a thought. In order for each of us to move toward becoming the person God created us to be and fulfill the purpose He created us to fulfill, we must pull some stakes and refuse to let limitations define us.
We have no good reason to wait to do God's will. We need to begin as we are.
Consider having the ability to do something as fundamental as reading, and for fear of making a mistake a person would refuse to read. We all make mistakes when we are learning, but that does not stop us. So why do we treat our christian life differently?
What is impossible with men is possible with God.
What areas in your life are you putting a limit on God because you've put a limit on yourself?
Michelle Cozins
It is God who makes the impossible possible. It is God who gives us the wisdom and courage we need. We need to believe that we're destined to do great things. If we did all we are capable of doing we would astonish ourselves.
There isn't a person anywhere who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can.
God always gives us enough strength and enough sense for everything he wants us to do.
Can't is just an excuse for us not to try.
Before you can be used in the same way God used David, Elijah, Samuel, and many others, God will form you. This forming will last the rest of your life.
The greatest demonstrations of God's power have come when men and women have felt the weakest.
When we run out of our own natural ability and strength, God's strength is perfected in us.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - For when I am weak, then I am strong.
There's only one thing that limits an elephant from getting where he wants to go - and it's not a two foot stake, it's a thought. In order for each of us to move toward becoming the person God created us to be and fulfill the purpose He created us to fulfill, we must pull some stakes and refuse to let limitations define us.
We have no good reason to wait to do God's will. We need to begin as we are.
Consider having the ability to do something as fundamental as reading, and for fear of making a mistake a person would refuse to read. We all make mistakes when we are learning, but that does not stop us. So why do we treat our christian life differently?
What is impossible with men is possible with God.
What areas in your life are you putting a limit on God because you've put a limit on yourself?
Michelle Cozins
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