 | | Rev. John Crane, Senior Pastor, is a third generation pastor of The Evangelistic Center Church in Kansas City, MO.
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It is hard to believe but the year 2006 is here. I believe that God has so much in store for His church and we are right in line for blessings. The word that God has spoken to us for this year is “Worship”. The very foundation word that came to this house in its inception in 1950’s was “teach my people to worship me in spirit and in truth.” God has done great things in the past, but He is doing awesome things right now, for those who are hungry and thirsty for more of Him. In the story of the woman at the well in the fourth chapter of John, they were talking about thirst and Jesus let her know that whoever drinks of Him, something incredible was going to break out on the inside of them a fountain coming up. You see whenever we get a fresh word from the Lord it will break something free on the inside of you, for it is a creative word. As they talked the conversation ended up on worship and Jesus revealed to her what the Father was seeking. John 4:23-24 says the following
A true worshipper is what the father is seeking, those who will embrace the Holy Spirits moving and who will come in full agreement with His heart. To truly worship the Lord you must get hungry for truth, you must get hungry for the word of God and the moving of the Holy Spirit who is called the Spirit of Truth. If you are not hungry for truth that reveals that you have allowed the deception of the age and the lies of the enemy to become your source. And according to Psalms 115:8 you become like what you worship. Your life becomes dark and misdirected. Your priorities shift to the temporary things rather than the things of the Kingdom of God. You become hard-hearted, dull of hearing, lose of vision, and insensitivity begins to fill your emotions. But when you come to God and see Him in His greatness and you begin to worship you will see a transformation take place in you. You will begin to gain your vision back, you will begin to hear again and compassion will be birthed in you. This comes as a result of your focus upon God for you are becoming like that which you worship. We must become spirited about the Lord that is, we must get involved in the truth that we have received. It is amazing to me that we can be so free until we get in church and somehow we think that we are being emotional.
The other day the Lord spoke to me that I was more spirited about my anger than about His word. We will communicate extreme body language when we are trying to get our point across in a heated discussion. But when it come to the truth of who God is to us we go numb. I believe God is raising up a people who are not ashamed to express their worship and praise to God. David danced before the Lord with all of his might. He held nothing back, I believe he was spirited in his worship to his Lord. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to consume our spirit so that we come to the place where we don’t care what anybody thinks, all we care is that we give the Lord all of our worship and praise without reservation. The greater our worship to the Lord the greater our lives are going to be transformed and changed. You show me a person who is truly worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth and I will show you a person who is on fire for God and is taking great ground in their walk with Him.
Begin to pray and ask the Lord to give you a fresh revelation of worship and praise, and then position yourself to do it. Whether you are in the car or at home or in the church services, let go and let God move in you. Position yourself to be filled with the Spirit on a daily basis. The greater your revelation of God the higher your worship and praise will ascend. God is calling his worshippers to a new level and we must arise and shine for this is the year of great things in God. Seize the day of blessing and take hold of all that God is doing in His church! Our desire is to be a church that worships the father in spirit and in truth, holding nothing back, but pressing into his heart without shame or reservation giving glory and honor to his wonderful name, JESUS!
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