I recently spoke with the worship team about the focus we are beginning in this season. The focus is that we no longer try to seek an Old Testament temple experience in the attempt to "bait" God into our worship, but instead worship known he is already with us. I hope it made sense because I seem to speak better in front of large groups of people than smaller ones (I have to get past this and God is using this small team to do it I think lol).
I am deeply inspired by conversations I have had recently that confirmed my internal fire about God's presence and our awareness of Him. Corban Robbe likes to say, "We have to understand that in worship we don't need to play a minor key to signify that we are entering the Holy of Holies.....we are the carrier of that experience through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us!" (paraphrase)
I have for sometime been confused why we call God down when scripture clearly shows He already has come in Jesus and now is with us in every moment. I wonder sometimes if we do this not out of ignorance because we do know this truth, but out of a void of daily relationship with our creator. It's easy to see why I would feel the need to call on Him if I am not aware of Him in an eternal way. The questions I have had to answer are: Is the temple form of worship and life changed in Jesus and how do we become aware of that change daily?
Scripture says in the times of Solomon that experience was this.
2 Chronicles 7:1-3
Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Jehovah filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of Jehovah, because the glory of Jehovah filled Jehovah's house. And all the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the glory of Jehovah was upon the house; and they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and gave thanks unto Jehovah, saying, For he is good; for his lovingkindness endureth for ever.
We look at this and desire it because it was a powerful act of God to the point where people were so in awe of God's presence on the temple they could not even enter, but why were they unable to enter? Was it because it was so powerful it was just impossible, or could it be because with out a Savior that washes away the sin of this world, they were unable to walking into the glory of God's sinless and righteous presence? Did this moment expose what Hebrews says about the sin condition in the people of Israel and what Jesus has done to make a way and in seeking this shadow of the Promise, do we feel let down when we don't experience this in our worship?
Hebrews 8:7-13
The New Covenant is Better Than the Old
For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one. But God found something wrong with his people when he said,
"Look! The days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors at the time
when I took them by the hand
and brought them out of the land of Egypt.
Because they did not remain loyal to my covenant,
I ignored them, declares the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
Never again will everyone teach his neighbor
or his brother by saying, 'Know the Lord,'
because all of them will know me,
from the least important to the most important.
For I will be merciful regarding their wrong deeds,
and I will never again remember their sins."
In speaking of a "new" covenant, he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
Jesus is a mediator of a new covenant where we no longer seek Him in ignorance of His righteousness, holiness, and power, but that we would carry His law of life internally written on our hearts and minds! We become a living temple and a carrier of His presence in the now.
So how do we become aware of this in our daily lives? It may seem over simplified, but i believe it is just this simple. Prayer, study of scripture, repentance, and living a life that brings Heaven to earth for those ignorant to the love of Jesus and what he has done for them.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
You know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, don't you? You do not belong to yourselves, because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord's Spirit is, there is freedom. As all of us reflect the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, we are becoming more like him with ever-increasing glory by the Lord's Spirit.
If we are to become more aware of Him, we need to immerse ourselves in Him through His word that speaks of Him and speak with him and listen to him to better know His voice of instruction. We must recognize he is not seeking to inhabit a buildings as in the Old Testament shadow, but inhabit us that we would be aware of Him and His plan moment by moment. In that, we would become more and more like His Son with EVER-INCREASING GLORY by His Spirit!
- Posted in the moment
Location:Coffee shop
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