Are You Consumed By God, Or Are You A Consumer of God?

Are you consumed by God in your worship, or are you a consumer of worship?

This is really the question one has to ask when they examine their walk with God.





Corporate worship has an awesome after effect of that experience of a corporate and personal connection to God, connection to the "Body of Christ" (the church), and that connection to the purpose of the local church to come together and worship our God, encourage one another to keep moving forward in their walk with Christ, and see others be changed by Him. That after effect is that sense of refreshing or that feeling of "that felt good", that keeps us coming back for more. But, if that is the only thing that happens, that you feel good, you feel "fed", or you have a good experience and you move on with your week, then we have ALL missed it.

We live in a consumer society...a society that has convinced itself that everything is a product and that all "sickness" or "stuff" of any nature can be fixed with just consuming a product. Its really the marketing ploy of "make people feel like they are missing something, show them they are missing your product, and if they just had your product, all their problems would go away and they would be content". This obviously isnt true, but it sure does explain why we all have iPods, big screen TV's, the clapper, the shamwow towels, and a host of other "you gotta have it" products. What's funny is everytime I have ever bought something that I was sure was the "cure for my ills...this is it, I won't need anything else"...I am ALWAYS let down, it wasn't the answer, the answer does not lie in a product.

So how does this relate to worship?

Sometimes I see people with the best of intentions, and a great love for God, approach worship, and even church as a product. "Let me sprinkle some God on it, and then I can go back to my life as I want it". Worship becomes the latest "diet" fad or self improvement approach to having a better life. But if we approach God, worship, even our church as a product to use for a "better life" we have missed the whole point of Jesus dying for us. He is not "A" source, He is "THE" source. Our worship should not be us consuming some of God's presence to empower us to keep going, our worship should be us laying our life on the altar before God as a sacrifice to be "CONSUMED". We are not to consume, but BE consumed. When we do this, God can burn away all the "stuff" in our life to get to the pure part of how He has made us, and then we find His purpose, His goals, His reason for creating us and we can begin to walk in that.

Our attitude about worship is soooooo important to God. He wants us to come not to get, but to give. Not to "get you some goodies", but to give your love and adoration to God, and also to figuretively speaking lay yourself on the alter as a LIVING SACRIFICE. In effect after we have given Him praise, we then say ..."Here I am send me, I will go for You Lord".

This post is meant to encourage you to look at your reasons for coming to church to corporately worship our King. Ask a couple key questions of yourself, and really examine your motives:

1. Am I coming into worship to give, or to get?
2. Am I fully submitted and embracing of God's will for my life?
3. Am I being obedient when God says "go"?

These questions help me see if I am being consumed by Him, or just being a consumer of Him. It is all about Jesus, and a funny thing happens when we allow ourselves to be consumed by Him...He gives us what we need to not just make it, but to flourish. You see God wants to bless you, He just wants your motives and worship to be of pure motive....as Pastor Clif Cox always tells me, "God is only interested in bringing glory to Himself", so if our motives are to bring glory to Him, to come for Him, and to be used by Him, don't be surprised that God starts meeting not just your needs, but also the desires of your hearts.

Be CONSUMED!!!

For His Glory,

Ken

What Road Are You On?

1 John 1:7 (NLT)
⁷ But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.









What Road Are You On?

Many times I hear people say, I feel so down, and I don't really know why?!

Which is usually followed up with..."I feel like I am stuck in a rut"...or maybe, "I keep coming back to the same issue over and over again and I can't get past it". Many times this is because we have things in our lives that are distracting us whether it be unconfessed sin, a feeling of shame, or a bad image of who they are or how God made them. These are all deep rooted, and very complex things that may take some time to "unpack", or even some help in doing so as we aren't always the best objective critics of our situation. If this is you, have faith, God is a merciful God, He loves you, and wants the best for you. Submit to His ways and His direction and repent of doing things your own way and trust He will make a way.

But this kind of deep rooted "STUCKNESS" (if that is even a word) isn't what I want to talk about. It's the simple decisions we make thinking it may be a minor decision, which then spirals into major issues, that I want to discuss.

Worship, as we have covered in past posts, is the response to what God has already done for us. Many times on the road of life we want to stop and take a break...we think, maybe I should take a different route to where I am going because this one is too hard or requires more navigation than other routes I could take. And we maybe take an easier path to where we are going. So, we compromise the path we were on, and take another path. Only this path is more of a back road, has very little signs, but seems to be a little easier to drive on because there seems to be more room for my leisure and decisions on how to navigate the road. But somewhere along this road you begin to realize that you can't really see where you are going and aren't sure its even the right way because there are no signs, nothing is well lit, and there seems to be know one around to ask. In fact there doesn't even seem to be a gas station, or a restaurant for me to stop and ask. The further I get from the highway, the darker it seems to get, and more confused I get on whether I am going the right way.

So...where am I going with this illustration?

I think a lot of times we think we can take shortcuts in life. We think we can get on a different road or path from the one God has layed out for us, and that we can take the easier path and get to the same place, or at least hope to get close enough. The scripture above lays it out...we need to stay on the path that leads to the light...the light that is Jesus Christ and His way. On THAT path we find the "food" and the things we "need", but many times its a more difficult road to the human eye. We see that sometimes we have to do things that maybe feel harder than what we are up for, maybe seem over the top initially, or maybe we just plain don't want to do the things needed to travel that road.

1 John 1:7 which is quoted above, really sizes it up. If you travel the road God has prepared for you, which is one of living in the light, that light is Christ...if we live in Him, follow Him, then we will have fellowship and encouragement from other believers along that road, God will send those He has appointed to get you out of your ditch when you fall over the edge. But, if you decide to take the easier path, don't be shocked when you run out of gas, or get lost, that its harder to find help because you have separated yourself from the "herd" (God's people).

Corporate Worship is a time of coming together and seeing God's work in others lives, it is also a time of ministering to those who need encouraged or guided along the road God has prepared. I ask you a simple question today.

What Road Are You On?

Are you on the road that is headed towards Christ, and is guiding your path towards His people, and His ways of living an overcomers life? Or have you maybe tried another path that might seem easier, or maybe close enough to God's path that we think its OK, and maybe more satisfying to your own mind and reasoning? If you have left the path God has made for you, its simple, just do a U turn, and go back to the road that leads to the light. You will be surprised that when you begin to submit yourself back to the Lord, get back into His word, make time for Him to speak to you, that your rut will look small, and how you will quickly find yourself going back down the road God has for you. Be encouraged, God loves you, He has His best ahead for You, all you need to do is get on that road that leads to the light, that leads to the way Jesus Christ has prepared for you. Make the choice to do this every day, and God will blow your mind with how He will "make your paths straight", and will "bring hope to the hopeless". It's easy, make that U turn, get back on the road God has prepared for you, and see what God can do!

For His glory,

Ken Ferguson