Words of Encouragement

We can stand in any area of our lives and have the opportunity to reverence God.  Have you lowered yourself today and glorified God.

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so. - Joshua 5:13-15

Reverence for God. In His Presence. One of the meanings for reverence was the outward manifestation of this feeling.  This is the action, active response that calls for God's people to do something.  How can we say we reverence God, but it does not show in any of our actions in our lives?

Joshua was preparing to go to battle at Jericho and as he was standing there, he saw a man standing by.  He asked him who he was.  He wanted to know was he for his side or for the enemy's side.  The response was neither, I'm on the Lord's side.

When Joshua received the response that he was in the presence of a messenger of God, he immediately went into action.  He did not stand and look at him or continue to ask questions, he immediately went into a position of humbling when he fell on his face.  He did not ask another thing until he reverence the fact that he was in the presence of God.

When Joshua asked the next question to find what was the reason for the visit, he was met not right away with an answer but with another command.  Take off your shoes, you are on Holy ground.  This was the same command given to Moses when he saw the burning bush.

Joshua was in awe at the fact that he was allowed to be in the presence of the Lord. When Joshua was willing to lower himself (humbling) he was able to find out what God had for him. He was not able to "hear" from God's messenger until he removed his shoes and acknowledged he was in the presence of God. We must strip off all that would stand in the way of our worshipping God so that we can commune with him.

Lord, today help us to lower ourselves so that we can reverence you your way.  Help us so that we will not miss being in your presence.

Words of Encouragement

When we come into the sanctuary (church), we should come with an attitude of honoring the Lord for he is worthy to be praised.  Have you praised him today?

" 'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.  " 'Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. - Leviticus 19:30-31

Reverence for God. In his Sanctuary. Let's start today with what does it mean to reverence? One meaning is, a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration. Another meaning (uses as a verb) is to regard or treat with reverence; venerate, as in the reverance God. This is also an active word, "the outward manifestation of this feeling". So when we say we reverence God what we are stating is we have an attitude of deep respect as well as respect and awe.  This reverence is directed toward God.

Now that we have this understanding, let us look at the scripture for today.  God is telling his children some important things for them to observe. God is telling his children to honor the sabbath and to have reverence for his sanctuary.  The sanctuary of then is not the same as the church of today, but it serves the same purpose, it is the place where God's people are to come and worship.  On that note, the sanctuary and the church have the same purpose.  So we can stand to believe that what God commanded for the sanctuary is the same for us in the church.

God says that he does not what his children going after lesser things (mediums, and false doctrine, wrong behavior, wrong worship attitude, etc.). What God is calling for from his children is to come into his house with a sense of awe.  To be as excited (or more) as if you were invited into the most famous persons home or someone you greatly admired.  After you stopped pinching yourself, you would be in a state of awe because you could not believe what you did to warrant this invite.

You would not go into the person's house and destroy it, or rearrange things to suit your comfort.  You would find out from the owner of the home what is proper and acceptable behavior and that is what you would do.

Well you have been invited into the home of someone of greatness.  For there is no one greater than He.  He has invited you to come and you should be in awe as to what warranted the invitation.  It was not anything you did, but what his Son did on the cross.  And then when you go into the house you should go in and not try to arrange things to fit what you are comfortable with, but to ask the owner of the house, what do you want us to do in your house?

We pray Sunday after Sunday for God's Spirit to have control of the house, yet we oftentimes take the control and try to do things our own way.  So instead when we pray and ask God to take control we should let go and simply have reverance for his greatness.  So today I pray for us that we would begin to understand how to reverance God in an entirely new way, His way.