From the moment I received JESUS as Lord and personal Savior, I have joyfully looked forward to every service I could attend! After being filled with Holy Spirit and finally having a church that actually teaches the uncompromised Word of the Living God, wild horses couldn't drag me away! I have never understood the concept of "I HAVE to go to church". I WANT to go! It has to be something very special for me to miss a Sunday Morning, Wednesday Night or Friday Night service. Special family events, vacations, special invitations or special assignments from JESUS are the only things that I will miss for. Today I read my heart concerning this in our Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan! Psalm 84 speaks of this! Verses 1-2:
1 How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! 2 My soul yearns, yes, even pines and is homesick for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out and sing for joy to the living God.
Yes, for the born again believer, the 'courts of the Lord' are actually within us, but gathering together with other 'temples of the Living God' in a service is much more powerful than just me alone! There is a place, AND a vital need, for both! Look at verses 4-5 & 7:
4 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence; they will be singing Your praises all the day long. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! 5 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 7 They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]; each of them appears before God in Zion.
I sing praises all the time in my own home, but there is just something significantly more powerful in singing and praising the LORD in a room full of like-minded believers! Now look at verses 10-12:
10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather be a doorkeeper and stand at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell [at ease] in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O Lord of hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving]!
There is SUCH a powerful blessing in being involved in a service where other anointed vessels are all praising God and then hearing anointed teaching of the Word with the motive to obey and be DOERS of that Word! The Spirit of God moves mightily in a service such as that! In fact, HE has ordained the local church and anointed Pastors to teach and train believers! Read Ephesians 4 again and see! I will leave you today with THIS admonition from Hebrews 10:25:
25 Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.
I hope that YOU are loving your church as much as I love mine! I hope, also, that YOU are fulfilling your God-given role in that church! Here is Hillsong with an older song called "Blessed" which is taken from Psalm 84!
Shalom in Him!
