Do Not Neglect Reading The Bible

“Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.” Deuteronomy 6:10-13 NASB

An interesting thing about the Christian journey is that we believe not only in things that are concrete and visible to our eyes but also in things that are supernatural and invisible.  We believe the Bible, we believe that God spoke creation into existence with His breath. We believe that He spoke through bushes of fire and through thunderbolts and whispers. 

His presence in the Old Testament took the form of things like clouds and fire. Holy Spirit gave life and power to the Church and brings life and power to us now. These invisible kingdom realities may Occasionally be unimaginable, but our faith in Jesus reminds us that these things are just as real as anything we see on the kitchen counter.

And praise God that He is always reminding us that His unseen Kingdom is a reality.  We can spend our time thinking about the visible world, but 2 Corinthians 4:18 calls us to fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. If we want to follow Him, there will be an otherworldliness to our lives, because we are fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ.    

Sometimes we don’t contemplate this other kingdom not only because it is invisible, but also because it feels far in the future.  the truth is that the kingdom of God is not just for the future but exists in the present. 

Get comfortable dealing with the truth of God, what would it look like to start paying attention to the Spirit of God? What would it look like to remember the words Jesus spoke to the woman at the well?  How do we worship with joyful noise?

We will not know the Triune God we worship without His living Word. Do not neglect being deeply rooted in the Bible. God Jesus Christ Holy Spirit will bring things to light when we continually pray for Him to illuminate His word and bring it to our minds, to convict us, correct us and redirect us.   

We can’t separate our worship of God into truth and then Spirit. God calls us to worship Him with both.

Psalm 100 further teaches us to enter God's presence with thanksgiving and praise. Gratitude opens the door to a deeper experience of worship. It shifts our focus from our circumstances to the goodness of God, allowing us to see His hand at work in our lives. In worship, we declare His worthiness and magnify His name.

Psalms 100:1-4 NASB “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.”

Worship is not limited to formal settings; it is a lifestyle. By cultivating a response of gratitude and engaging in heartfelt worship, we experience a deeper connection with God and find rest in His presence.

As I look back on my life before I was a Christian, I realize that the weeds of the world were choking out the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  I had no peace. I loved the things of the world. God's word was unknown to me and I was not about to give anyone a chance to share the Gospel with me.   But the faith planted by Holy Spirit in the ground of my soul throughout my life began to grow and eventually the worries and concerns of this world were outweighed by the importance of knowing God and serving His kingdom, eternal and here on His created earth. God didn't leave me in the dark; He rescued me. And every time I stumble, fail, yet repent I am refreshed by His grace. Jesus Christ is the reason there is song in my heart, Jesus is the reason we worship Him with quiet reverence and hearts abandoned.