I Believe

Luke 10:27
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind."

Hearty words for a slippery world, wouldn't you say?
That the basis for all relationship with God begins with the simple idea of love.
Something the world craves, but only desires to have it when it's on the world's terms.
Love is a choice, not an emotion.
There are emotions that come from choosing to love, but it still remains a choice.
The funny part is over the years, I have found the value in loving God and allowing Him to work in me, rather than try and run the ship myself.

God has given me a home- The Vineyard.
God has placed inside me a type of spiritual "DNA" that is evidenced by practices and belief's that I find to be very comfortable to walk in. To live out daily.
Some would say that these are our "belief's", and I would not argue with that.
So here is one of my belief's:

Worship is my highest priority. By worship, I mean living a life that is subservient to the purposes and person of God. Living in such a way as to bring glory to God. This is seen my daily life---the way I deal with other people, who ever they may be. 

Worship is seen in the way that I handle my money.
Worship is seen in the way I behave sexually. Am I faithful to my wife, living under the covering and grace that God places in marriages which honor Him.
How I treat my wife and my children. Worship is occupying the role as husband and father in the way God intended it to be occupied.
How I do my job, and the language that comes out of my mouth.

I worship when I pray. When I meditate on God's word. When I pray for someone else or receive pray from others. When I pray for healing for someone, or break off demonic oppression, I am worshiping. When I am helping to feed the poor, or care for those society has no use for, I am worshiping.

Worship in the Vineyard Church has always been about taking the eternal truths of God and giving them a culture current sound. When we gather, as a group, to worship on Saturday night (or at other times) we have one thought: We want to sing to God. We want to pour ourselves out in our worship, holding nothing back. We want to express our love and gratitude for who He is and what He is doing in us. To join together, as one, and lift our voices in song. Worship is not a performance or "special music"...it does not draw attention to the ones who are leading the worship. There is a dynamic that comes when we worship corporately. The Scripture says that God inhabits the praises of His people. If you look at the translation it gives the impression of God coming down and putting on the praises like a coat. He surrounds himself with it. How cool is that?

I guess you could say that my life is one of gratitude.
I know all to well what could have happened to me had I not found Jesus. Or rather, had Jesus not called me to salvation.
I know what a mess I am capable of making when I try to run my own life and the lives of those around me.
I have found the value....
the wisdom....
and the truth of what it means to turn will and life over to the care of God.
He is so much better at guiding me than I am at leading myself.

The Message Bible kind of puts into words what I am trying to convey this morning. Here is Romans 12:1 -
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

God on you.....
mb