Time for a Blog: Worship and the Cries of the Heart

It has been quite a while since I have pinned a blog. These were meant to be written daily, but, due to such a busy end of the semester, things kind of got put on hold. Nevertheless, I have recently finished reading Cries of the Heart by Ravi Zacharias.

I will pin a few quotes, and then write some ending thoughts:

"The Bible addresses pleasure possibly far more than it does the issue of pain, because the truth is that ultimately meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain, but meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure."

"Any pleasure that refreshes you without diminishing you, distracting you, or sidetracking you from the ultimate goal is a legitimate pleasure."

Susannah Wesley once said: "Whatever weakens your reasoning, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God or takes away your relish for spiritual things; in short, if anything increases the authority and the power of the flesh over the spirit, that to you becomes sin, however good it is in itself."

A few questions I would like to ponder each day, and I encourage you to do like so:

"Do we give Him the best of our time?

Do we give Him the best of our energies?

Do we give Him the best of our thinking?

Do we give Him the best of our wealth?

Do we give Him the best of dreams and plans?

Or does the world get our best while God merely gets the leftovers?"

One more quote by Archbishop William temple:

"Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness, nourishment of mind by His truth, purifying of imagination by His beauty, opening of the heart to His love, and submission of will to His purpose. All this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of all expressions we are capable of."

And now my thoughts:

So many cries lay at the heart of each individual: from the cry of guilt to that of loneliness. Our culture has told us that "all you need is love," but love is NOT enough. Love only goes so deep and so far. Rather than love, it is in worship where the deepest cries of the soul are met by the hand of God. Think today how you have worshiped God or not. Maybe there is a cry in your heart now. Let God heal your broken heart as you worship Him today.

We must never forget that it is in worship that our full needs are met!

Lack of Awareness

So often I think that I can do things for God, but, rather, it is God that does things for God (and by his loving nature takes care of me). My words should not be to boast in myself, but rather should only boast in the cross. So often I think that God is all love (which He is), but I forget that God is all Holy. So often I think that people need my help (and that I need them), but we all need God alone.

These are the things that I tend to forget on a daily method.

Lord, I cannot do anything for You. You don't need me, but have chosen me because of Your grace. Let my words boast only in the cross and not in myself. For words are powerful in both creating and destructing. Let them destroy my pride and glory and bring Glory to You. Let me have a respect and awareness of Your holiness and not just Your love. For You are a Holy God, and you cannot look upon that which is unholy. Lastly, let me find my complete satisfaction in You and not in helping others or being encouraged by others.
Amen