What is Worship

The definition of worship: "respectful devotion—loving, honoring, and obeying someone who deserves our highest regard"

We do this every time we speak of Christ as we honor him through obedience to Him.

The born again believer worships in "Spirit and in Truth", no outward rituals are required for this mindset of worship.

The only rituals God gives us in our worship is the Lord's supper which Christ commanded us to do in remembrance of Him. And, the ritual of baptism to declare to others our new life in Christ as well as the head covering for the woman and lack of head covering for the man in the gathering as a representation of the woman as the church and the man as Christ.

There are no other outward rituals God commands for the believer. We need no buildings built to meet in, no vestments for men to wear, no special prayers devised by men, no knee bowing at the pew or any other outward sign. Our devotion to Christ is not in ritual but in heart loyalty to Christ and all His commands and principles. We add no human ideas to His, we do not take away from His commands to make them palatable to our culture.

What a freedom and peace we enjoy when we just follow Christ alone.

Peace With Christ in All Situations

As we walk away from those who are contentious and they walk away from us because we are sold out to Christ, there will be a sense of new freedom and peace because of their absence.

 
Being alone is preferable to being stuck in the continual drama about nothing important. But we are never alone because Christ lives in us and He is everything we need.

 
We don't worry about the future because we know Christ will give us what we need when we need it, our faith in this sustains us.

 
Philippians 4:19 "But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus".

 
When things get rough and our "feelings" run amuk we can ignore them because we know rationally that God knows about it and what comes next. He will never leave us alone to flounder in fear and unsure about the future. We walk by faith in Christ, not by sight in what we see with our eyes.

 
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 "6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—
8 but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad."

Still Looking Up!!!!!

Rejection of the World but Blessings from Christ

Why do born-again believers have so much rejection in this world and find themselves alone with Christ often? Here is the reason:

 
John 3:19-21 …19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”

Ephesians 5:11-13
"Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. / For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. / But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself."

Romans 13:12
"The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."

1 John 1:6-7
"If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. / But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

1 John 2:9-11
"If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness. / Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him. / But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."

Isaiah 29:15
"Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”

Isaiah 30:1
“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin."

Praising God for His wisdom and that He gives it freely to those who ask for it.

 
James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
Hallelujah!!!!

Love is not Competitive

When we are obeying the Scripture, the very Word of God we have no place for competition with one another, gossip or any other divisive mentality that brings chaos and the devil's glee.

 
Ephesians 2:20-22
"20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy [a]temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."

1 Thessalonians 5:10-11 "…10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing."

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Praise the Lord for all those who live according to God's principles. Having set aside worldly wisdom and man-made rules that oppress others they seek Christ for His truth and principles. They pursue love as the first fruit of the Spirit. This love of Christ dominates everything and everything flows from it.

 
Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
When there is Christ-like love all the other character traits follow. Every born-again believer has this fruit and love to live them out, it brings joy and peace to all who want to live according to God's Word.

The Phenomenon of Accusing Others

This phenomenon of accusing others of drama the narcissist is creating is growing in these last days.

 
Satan manipulated Eve to eat the fruit and then accused her of eating it. He goes before God daily accusing the brethren of what he entices them to do.

 
Have you ever had a friend encourage you to do something you knew was wrong but doing that thing would relieve the pain momentarily, so you did what you were encouraged to do that appealed to our emotions, but dishonored God?

 
Then once you did the thing your friend encouraged you to do and felt intense guilt over it, you confessed it to God and were cleansed, but the friend held it over your head for the rest of your life as though you never repented?

 
This is how the devil works all the time not just in the big stuff but in the smaller things that are not devastating but dishonor God. The devil loves to cause guilt and shame in those who have trusted Christ so he creates unnecessary drama around things that happened years ago and are no longer happening.

 
The devil works in the hearts of jealous angry people to create drama, guilt and shame over something that is not worthy of those feelings.

 
Have you been judged for the food you eat, the innocent and lovely places you have gone and the kind friends you have? Satan is able to take an innocent matter and make it look foolish when what you did was a good and kind thing. He attempts to generate fights and arguments everywhere he goes through jealousy and envy.

 
Jealousy is when we want what others have and envy is when we don't want them to have it. These emotions produce chaos and frustration in relationships destroying those relationships, the devil loves when a relationship blows up over nothing important.

 
If we do not give in to the devil and say no while putting up boundaries we are treated disrespectfully for having the boundaries and not doing what they want us to do. Our reaction to sin against us is food for the devil's minions. It is best to get to the point where we feel nothing about the attacks and never respond to them.
How is it possible not to respond? It gets easier when we know we are not the problem, that the person doing these wicked things is responsible for himself, we are not responsible for their bad behavior.

 
Then, once we realize what we are dealing with, eventually we lose the desire entirely to explain or defend ourselves. Defending ourselves to a narcissist shows that we still care too much about what they think of us, it feeds their pride and brings greater pressure to bear on us.

 
When we realize that a narcissist is not interested in self-reflection to resolve a matter, but actually enjoys the competition to win over others, we know it is a hopeless endeavor to try with them. This is when we politely excuse ourselves and leave them entirely to God. We are not responsible to remain friends with those who have no interest in saving a relationship.

Proverbs 26:4 says, "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself".

 
A narcissist is a fool, they have no interest in righteousness. They only care about provoking us to become like them so they can feel justified in their rudeness.

 
Proverbs 26:4-5
"4 Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness,
Or you will also be like him.
5 Answer a fool as his foolishness deserves,
So that he will not be wise in his own eyes."

Fools think they are smart when they can cause irritation or blow-up in their target. Their goal is just like that of Satan, to cause a good person to fall so they can accuse them of sin.

 
We know if a narcissist is accusing us of something it is something they are doing but we are not, they expose themselves by their accusations. This is a favored tactic of the devil and is growing exponentially in our day as we approach the end of the church age.

 
Families are being destroyed because of arrogance and pride that pit family members against one another for no good reason except everyone is competing for superiority over everyone else.

 
My suggestion is to not play the game. Do not answer a fool when they attempt to cause trouble, do not be intimidated by their accusations or threats and feel free and even blessed to remove them from your lives.

 
We find nothing in Scripture that tells us never to remove ourselves from a friend or relative, just the opposite. God wants to protect our walk with Him so that our witness for Him is not ruined by nonsense.

 
Romans 16:17
"17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites."

God told us to "keep away from them", we can't do anything about their gossip against us and we should not try we must leave all that mess to God. This means we will also need to keep away from those who align themselves with the gossiping narcissist. Those who listen to the narcissists will never listen to us, but God can expose them in due time while we walk uprightly without the drama they all bring.

 
2 Corinthians 6:17-18
"17 Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
“And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will welcome you.
18 And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty."

See that!!!!! God will be everything we need even if we think we have no one else. Remember there are many people who are experiencing this lack of love and kindness because the world is raging toward darkness and selfishness abounds everywhere. This only means we are going home soon, so we have great hope in the midst of this chaos and confusion.

 
The world is confused but we are not, the world loves drama and hate but we possess the love of Christ with great joy even through our tears.
Keep Looking Up, our home going is soon!

The Devil and His Schemes

This phenomenon is growing in these last days. Satan manipulated Eve to eat the fruit and then accused her of eating it. He goes before God every day accusing the brethren of what he entices them to do.

If we do not give in to the devil and say no while putting up boundaries we are treated disrespectfully for having the boundaries and not doing what they want us to do.

The best thing to do is remove ourselves from those who devise manipulations to cause a reaction in us so they have something to hate us over.

Praise God that He gave us in His Word the tactics of the devil so that we can defend ourselves against him.

Ephesians 6:11 "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes". 

Active

Karen Puff Rosenkrantz said: "I've got people holding grudges against me for things they did to me."

The Fruit Produced by Christ

Matthew 7:15-20
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

What is the fruit of the Spirit of God Who lives in us? The fruit is the character qualities of Christ that dominate our souls when we walk with Christ.

 
Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
The first fruit of the character of Christ is LOVE, this is what dominates all the other fruit to act properly toward others.

 
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. / It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. / Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth."

John 15:4-5
"4 Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."

Those who have the Spirit of Christ living in them DO remain in Him and He in them. The fruit is easily seen by fellow believers. It is also seen by unbelievers but they are offended by it because it shines a light on their own evil.

 
John 3:19-21 "…19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”

1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.…"

Those who are lost and rebellious are intimidated and angered at those who walk with Christ. They work to discredit those who hold to the standards and commands of Christ.

 
When we encounter "Christians" who fight against the Word of God, who violate more of Scripture than they obey and teach it to others in their own ways, are not born again, they are pretenders sent by the devil to cause division and distress in the relationships of believers.

 
Those who love their religion but despise God's people will work to ruin relationships that glorify God. These people isolate themselves from others who love God and attempt to isolate those who love God from others who love Him.

Let's remember born again believers do not practice religion with rituals and human wisdom mixed with a little of God's Word. Those who have been changed into a new creation by Christ have a relationship with Him that is beyond ritual observances and ceremonies, special dress and cultural expectations. Our faith in Christ is based entirely on His Word His Way, nothing added and nothing removed from the Bible.

 
Romans 16:16-18
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send you greetings. 17 Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them. 18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive.…
18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive."

Here is another example God gives us of those we should avoid. Those who do not walk according to God's Word but use God's Word in a twisted way to invalidate the principles of God and cause us to question our dedication to Christ.

It is possible to regress in our walk with Christ when we associate regularly with those who are predisposed to religion instead of relationships. Those who are invested in "religion" with God will also not develop a relationship with people either, their goal is outward appearances instead of inward heart devotion.

 
Our relationship with Christ will be reflected in our relationship with one another through openness, honesty, self-reflection and the Christlike love that emanates from our soul. In a relationship like this we have no fear of expressing ourselves, we know we will be accepted even in disagreements. Love overrides everything in a loving relationship. 

 
One man told me once that to do the right things we must force ourselves and make a habit of those things. I corrected him and said that we need to stop forcing ourselves and ask God to change us so that we won't have to try real hard to be right, what is right will come as naturally as breathing because it is Christ who changed us and not ourselves.

 
Those who grew up in ritualistic religions focus on outward actions, but those who are born again focus on Christ working in them to change their hearts.

 
Ezekiel 36:26: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh"

 
Psalm 51:10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me"

 
2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come"

 
God desires for all His children to become like Christ!!! Did Christ have to try to be good? No, He didn't have to try to do something that was His very nature.
Stop trying and begin trusting that Christ will change your heart if that's what you want. He will not change the heart of anyone who does not want to be changed by Him. Those who are trying are focused on how they look to others rather than desiring a clean heart. 

 
God will not change the heart of those who think they can change themselves, they remain broken until they confess their sin of pride and submit to Christ.