Casting Crowns - I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day Live

Arms Wide Open

Dove's Eyes - Misty Edwards

The Simplicity of Worship

"I am afraid", Paul says that someone may come and corrupt your minds, from the simplicity that is in Christ."  2 Corinthians 11:3. 

It seems that we are still fighting that same battle today. We have worship conferences and worship leaders' training. There are worship seminars and a growing commercialism surrounding the entire concept of Christian worship. Can you imagine Jesus offering to hold a worship summit? He was at every moment so overwhelmed with the needs of the people, that the Bible tells us that He and the disciples did not even have a chance to eat.
How was it in the press and under the weight of constant ministry that Jesus and the disciples found any time to worship?

It was because their concept of worship was so blended together with the storms, the daily meeting of needs, the teachings and the constant dangers,that they merely fell down to the ground to worship when God worked. Jesus calmed the storm, and they worshiped. Jesus healed ten lepers and one ran back to worship. Jesus simply showed up for dinner at a Pharisee's house and a woman came in, poured perfume on His feet, wet them with her tears and dried them with her hair. Worship was everywhere that Jesus went. There is only one occasion that we know of that they sang a song, yet they were always worshiping. How unlike us today. We are always singing songs, but only rarely are we worshiping. We have to have the church just so and it must be at just a certain hushed moment, then it quickly slips away. Is this all that God really has planned for us? Why are our hearts so often cold and hard? The world says that hurts and difficulties make us hard. But Jesus said that sin and unbelief give us hard hearts. When we walk in Jesus steps then instead of running away from struggles let us see it as an opportunity to worship Jesus in the middle of it all. Suffering will not make our hearts hard, but will simplify and soften our hearts. Then we will see how much we need to worship Him!

Thank you - Hillsong New 2010 (lyrics) (Worship with tears 6)

Catherine Mullins-You Won't Relent - Lakeland Outpouring

Gateway Worship - We cry out - Kari Jobe

Thankful for our Freedom to Worship

With Thanksgiving 2012 approaching, I looked back and remembered so many things we can be thankful for this year. Last year our brother Pastor Youcef from Iran was granted his freedom (This year we are praying for the release of his lawyer). God's church in developing nations is continuing to grow and reach out even through difficult times of persecution. I am also thankful as I stop to remember God's blessings on America. While believers are jailed in Iran, brothers are killed in Nigeria and churches are burned in Pakistan; we here in the United States enjoy the freedom to worship as we choose. The greatest thing we have in America is not our money, our powerful military or even the amazing size and beauty of our land. Our greatest blessing is a simple idea. "...That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 

If we in America lost all the world counts of value, yet could hold on to this single idea, this single hope, this single dream, we would still possess our greatest treasure. Governments and leaders come and then fade away but God's truth remains. Political leaders promise to give us rights but only God can give us rights. The greatest nations simply understand and recognize those rights that God has given. How wonderfully blessed we are and what a responsibility we have to use the freedom we have to share the message of Christ with the world and to pass our that heritage on to our children and our grandchildren! So this Thanksgiving let's be thankful to God and remember all that He has done!

Complete Trust in the whispers of God

1 Kings 19: After the earthquake came a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.  Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here Elijah?" 

 Complete trust is the sudden and  astonishing understanding that God has been in control all along! Just like Elijah we struggle and battle because it seems that our prayers and longings are being denied or forgotten. Then God opens heaven's window for us to see Him. He touches us gently with His word and lets us know that He still has plans! We had decided before that only our hopes matter and that no other path will do. We have struggled and wept and prayed and yet all along God has been in control. He has come and taken the wheel and begun to steer our lives in His direction. Just because God's plan and destination are not what we have had in mind does not mean we have lost the way. How good God  is to quietly draw us closer to Him in our moment of deepest despair. He comes and whispers in our silence, "What are you doing here Elijah?"

Jake Hamilton - Hallelujah

Everyday Miracles by Sara Groves.wmv

It Might Be Hope - Sara Groves

William McDowell - My Desire

Broken For Love's Sake - Tricia Brock

Here for You by Chris Tomlin

Deluge - Worshiping You

Broken Girl by Matthew West

Worship is a Choice

In the wilderness the devil came to Jesus and gave him this offer, ...and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world, and he said to Him, " I will give you all their authority and splendor...If you worship me it will all be yours." Jesus had to make a choice.
The temptations and the dark places of our lives are the places where we  choose who we will worship. It is not when we are surrounded by friends, or the comforts of life, but rather in the hard places that God gives us our greatest opportunity to worship. Here in the desert of our soul there is a high price on our decision. Our choice here has nothing to do with our emotions or with immediate rewards. Here we choose based on what God's word has promised. Our worship comes down to who we will trust and whose word we will treasure. Will our choice be based on what we see and where we can profit or, will our worship flow out from a deep trust in God's truth and our complete dependence on Him? When we choose Jesus and walk in His steps, our reward is sure and its value will be seen in the light of eternity
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Jesus answered, "It is written, "Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only."  Luke 4:8 

Tricia Brock (of Superchick) - The Altar (The Road Album) New Pop 2011

Choose by Christy Nockels

Who do we worship?

The word worship means to bow down, just as Satan demanded that Jesus do. (Matt 4) ."if you bow down and worship, all this will be yours..." Our bowing down is a choice, but it is a choice that is a response to something or someone. If we really are worshiping Jesus then when Jesus comes we will bow down. When Jesus speaks, we will sit at His feet. When Jesus heals we run to fall at His feet and give thanks. When Jesus reveals himself we fall with our faces to the ground until He himself comes and lifts us up.
Who we worship, and not how we worship, is what  determines the direction and destiny of our lives. When we are put in the fire and tested who we worship will be seen. (Daniel 3) Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego told the king that no matter what the consequences, they would not worship His golden image. They would not respond like everyone else. They would not obey his command. They reserved worship for only one, and that was for God. The king found out who they worshiped and he became a worshiper too!

For us to worship Jesus as He wants, we also need to reserve ourselves for Him. No one and nothing else in heaven or earth should have our worship. Worship is for Jesus alone. No matter the cost, no matter the loss, no matter the demands, our bowing down in worship is for him alone. When we are only for Him then He will come and walk with us in our fiery furnaces. He will be seen through our worship. When Jesus is really seen, then someone else will have the chance to worship Him too!