Month: November 2019

The Sacrifice of Praise includes a Contrite and Broken Heart

 

Thesis #26: “The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small

11/10/19 

We offer sacrifices of praise, like the Hebrews, while we ignore sacrifices of contrition and brokenness – of sin and trespass.

The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding. The fear of the Lord  is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.

Proverbs 15:31-33 – NKJV

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.  (Psalm 51:17 – NKJV)

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

(Psalm 51:17 – NLT)

Prayer:  “Lord, the sacrifice you desire from us is not living a perfect life, but, being a worshipper who lives to bring praise and honor to Your Name.  One of the ways we worship you is by being repentant and living our repentance every day.  Only You could fix the “brokenness” in us caused by sinful disobedience.  We humbly confess the great need sin caused in us!  We pray Your forgiveness continues to work toward us because we continue to need it!  We ask that You forgive us and receive us as Your needy children.  With a contrite heart, we repent before You and trust that You will receive us and use us for Your glory here in the earth today.  In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior we pray, Amen!

 

Reverence God in Prayer

Thesis #25: “The New Apostolic Epoch”  By: P. Douglas Small 

Rather than persistently, intentionally, reverently invoking God’s Presence and inviting Him into the experience of worship, we assume His Presence.  He is, at His own house, in a worship event in His Name and for His honor, in many – perhaps most – Evangelical-Pentecostal worship events, rumored to be present and taken for granted.  His Omnipresence (God is everywhere) is substituted for the welcomed, quickened, and dynamic sense of His presence.  There is no invocation, no coming before His holiness in a conscious and reverential sense.

1 Kings 8:1,5-10,14 – NKJV:

  • Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion.
  • Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.
  • Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim.
  • For the cherubim spread their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.
  • The poles extended so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.
  • Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
  • And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord,

14) Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

1 Kings 8:1,5-10,14 – NKJV

Prayer:  Lord, we count it the highest honor and privilege that You would honor us with Your Presence anytime.  The fact that You are “omnipresent” – with us all the time – should give rise to a commanding consciousness, to always revere and worship Your Holy Presence!

We repent before You this day, asking Your forgiveness for our failure in never ceasing to remember You with our praises, adoration and thanksgiving!  You are our God, this day we declare Your name before any who hear and all who listen!  May we never forget the love you extended to us when we were hopelessly trapped in sin, bound for hell, lost without YOU!

May each one of us who value our relationship with You, seek to recognize the markers of Your Presence, both within us and in our surroundings.  May we live in such a way that others can see You through the lives we live before them.

In the Name of Your Son and our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, we pray!  Amen!