“LORD you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago” (Isaiah 25:1).

There is not a single time in the Bible where God is not the object and the purpose of worship. There is not a single instance in the Bible where God worships something or someone. God is always the one being worshiped.

That makes sense, right? Of course that’s right. God is God after all.

I am glad we all agree on that.

Think about the last several times you went to worship at your home church. Think about your attitude and posture regarding God.

• Did we show up to worship doing our best to be found pleasing to God? Or did we show up thinking, “Ok, God. I’m giving you an hour. Impress me.”
• Did we prepare ourselves with our heart, soul, and mind to be ready to worship God and honor him in our worship? Or did we show up thinking, “I wonder if the sermon and the music will be any good?”

Who’s worshiping whom?

I think we all get that God is the one to be worshiped. But we have skewed and perverted the practice of worship because of our consumeristic attitudes.

It’s not that sermons and music shouldn’t be good. But that’s not why we gather to worship. The staff and I work hard to do our part to make sure that the sermons and the music is indeed good. We do everything we can to rid distractions from worship. But, ultimately, the reason why we gather to worship is simply because God is God and God is worthy of our worship. Because God is God, we show up so that we can be found pleasing to God.

Friends, God is God. God is the one to be worshiped. In every single instance in the Bible, God is always the object, the subject, the recipient of worship. We are to be found pleasing to God in worship.

So, here are some practical take aways:

• Show up in time. You wouldn’t make the President of the United States wait for you. Show proper respect. Show up in time.
• Show up with an expectant heart. After all, God is going to be present. And God wants to bless you and love you.
• Show and be present. Don’t be looking at your phone. Don’t check the scores. You are in worship service for one reason and one reason only: to worship God. So, do that. Be fully present. Worship God!

“God is not human that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19).

God ALWAYS answers prayer. There is never a prayer God does not answer. God always does what he promises.

But, if God always answers prayer, how come not all prayers are answered in the way we want them?

Great question.

Here’s the thing. The faulty thinking in the above statement is that we think the only legitimate answer God must give to our prayer is “yes.”

But that is ludicrous. If God were to answer all our prayers with a yes, God is not God. We are God. And God is merely our servant. Not only that, can you imagine how even more messed up our world would be if God answered everyone’s prayer in the way we want them answered? Yikes!!!

God always wants what is best for us. Because God loves us, God answers our prayers in the following manner:

1. God says “No” when our request is wrong. It would be ludicrous for God to give us something that is dangerous just because we asked for it. If a young child asks for a gun, no parent in their right mind would get a gun for their child. When the request is wrong the answer must be “No!”
2. God says “Wait” when the timing is wrong. When a child asks if they can drive, the answer isn’t a “No”, but “No for now.” When the child grows older and passes the driver’s license test, the answer changes.
3. God says, “Grow” when we are wrong. When a child asks that we should favor them over their siblings, a loving parent can’t answer that request with a “yes.” When we are wrong, the loving answer to such requests is to say, “Grow up, son. Grow up, daughter.”
4. When the request is right, the timing is right, God says, “Yes!” Go for it!!!

These are all legitimate answers to prayer.

God is faithful to answer ALL prayers. God loves you. God wants what is best for you. Trust in God’s answer to your prayers.

“God is love” (1 John 4:16).

God is love. This is one of the most fundamental concepts of God. Even those who are not Christians know and understand that God is a God of love.

What is confusing, though, is we mean something totally different with God than how we understand love in every other relationship.

When people say that God is love, people mean that God is always for us, never against us. That’s true. People mean God is always for everything that we are for, that God would never hurt us, that God would never offend us, that God would never do anything that would challenge us.

Basically, when we say that God is love, what we really mean is that God is for everything we are for.

But we never mean that when we talk about love in every other human relationship.

Parents love their kids. And because moms and dads love their kids, when the kids do harmful and dangerous things, loving parents correct and discipline their children. In fact, if parents did not correct and discipline children who were acting out in ways that are damaging, it would be the opposite of love.

Because moms and dads love their kids, they have to correct, rebuke, chastise, and discipline those whom they love.

What is surprising is that when people realize that God corrects, rebukes, chastises, and disciplines us because he loves, they get all hurt and bent out of shape. We get hurt because our god would never do that.

Why is it that when we know love must include correction, rebuke, and discipline, that we get so hurt and offended when God does what love requires?

God is love. Absolutely.

And because God is love, the God of scripture corrects, rebukes, chastises, and disciplines those whom he loves so that his children can experience God’s shalom. The reason why God corrects, rebukes, chastises, and disciplines those whom he loves is because he refuses to accept anything less than the fullness of life for his children.

It is not enough that God’s children live. God wants his children to live the abundant life. This is what Jesus says in John 10:10 – “I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly.” Jesus tells us the reason why he came was so that we might live the abundant life.

God loves you. Absolutely. And he loves you so much he cannot leave us in our sins. Because God is a God of love, he will correct, rebuke, chastise, and disciplines us when we sin so that we might live into the fullness of life that God desires for us.

God is love.

Got it?