abandoned to Christ.

I know some of you are thinking "Worship in the presence of our enemies? What a strange thing to say!" I suppose it does sound a bit strange. After all, is it not written in Scripture that we ought to worship in the presence of our LORD God? (1 Chronicles 16:29, Ezekiel 46:3, Psalm 95:6) Good point! Yes, it's true, God calls His children into an intimate relationship with Him and invites us to enter His presence to worship Him "in the splendor of His holiness".

But God doesn't call us to worship Him whenever or wherever it's most comfortable, convenient or in a situation that "makes sense" to us. No, instead, God calls His children to worship Him anywhere and everywhere and ALL THE TIME! Our Father God expects us to even be able to worship Him before the presence of our enemies so that they will know that we do not fear those that can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. No, instead we fear [revere] the One [God] who can destroy both soul and body in Hell. (Matthew 10:28)

Listen to what King Jehoshaphat says to the Lord God Almighty in 2 Chronicles 20:6-9 & 12 when he is faced with the armies of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir who joined forces to overtake and destroy the Israelites:

"O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in Heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can withstand You. O our God, did You not drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for Your Name, saying, 'If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in Your presence before this temple that bears Your Name and will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear us and save us....O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us.
We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You."

The best part is what happens in verse 21:

"After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise Him for the splendor of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

'Give thanks to the LORD, for His love endures forever.' "

Here is King Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, surrounded by his enemies, marching out to battle and instructing the people to "sing to the LORD and to praise Him"! WOW!!! Now that's some serious, focused, wholehearted worship!

But wait, King Jehoshaphat isn't the only one who did this! Queen Esther also worshiped in the presence of her enemy in (Esther 4:8-16, 5:1-8, 7:1-4,) when she was faced with the threat of the annihilation of her people, the Jews. Queen Esther worshiped God by trusting in Him for the deliverance of her people, even if it meant that she might die in the process of trying. She had resolved to worship God and trust Him over the fear of man and her dire circumstances. To top it off, she even invited her peoples' enemy, Haman so he could witness how a lover of Jesus Christ worships the King of Kings. And how the King of Kings responds to the adoration and worship of His lover, His Bride - the Body of Christ.

In Psalm 23:5, King David declares:

"You [God] prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."

King Jehoshaphat, Queen Esther, and King David are not the only people who learned the art of worshiping our great and awesome God in the presence of their enemies. There are many, many others who learned to do the same, but too many to note here in this post. :-) What a great problem to have! If you're interested in finding out more about how to do this and who else in the Bible has exampled great and powerful worship, I encourage you to search God's word and discover them for yourselves.

And if you'd like to bless me, please write to me and share with me what you found or how God has helped you worship in the presence of your enemies.

Spirituality has always been popular. But spirituality and Christianity are two VERY different things. Do you know why spirituality is so popular? Because it requires nothing of a person. To be spiritual, all you need is to do is just say you believe in a "higher being", "higher authority" or "higher power", trust you're going to Heaven based on your "good" deeds (i.e., attend a local church, give to charity, read the Bible, feed the hungry, help the poor, etc.) and just overall, feel good about yourself. But Christianity (that is to follow, resemble, and have the same character of Christ) requires everything...your very life. Why is this? Because Jesus Christ suffered and died to give us His righteousness and took on our unrighteousness, our sins, and our filth (2 Corinthians 5:21). Basically, by Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection, God has offered us a "trade"...Christ's righteousness for our unrighteousness. And as all trades go, a person must give up one thing entirely in order to gain the the other. In other words, you can't say you want Jesus and still desire the things of this world. You must choose - Christ or your sinful life in this sinful world. Don't just believe me, trust what Jesus Himself said in Mark 8:34-37:

"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the Gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"

The word "Christian" means: Christ - "the anointed" and -ian - is a suffix that means, "with the same meaning and properties, resembling".

Therefore, a Christian is not someone who merely says they're a Christian, but is someone who has the same nature, character (meaning & properties) and resembles Christ. So how can you tell if someone is truly a Christian or just someone who is spiritual? Jesus says you can tell the difference by the "fruit" they bear. Essentially, the evidence in their lives that proves they are not of this world, just like Jesus is not of this world.

Jesus said in Luke 6:43-45

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

So, who is the "good" person Jesus is talking about? He explains the definition of good in Mark 10:18, " 'Why do you call me good? No one is good - except God alone.' " Then Jesus goes on to explain to this man what he must do to gain eternal life in Mark 10:19-21.

You see, just like many of us, this man thought he could gain eternal life, acceptance of a holy, good, perfect and just God by performing "good deeds". Although it's impossible for this man or any of us to keep even one of the commandments in God's perfect law on our own, Jesus doesn't argue with him. Instead, Jesus reveals what is truly in the man's heart by bringing out the first commandment ("You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 20:3) when Jesus said, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me.”(Mark 10:21) This man's god was not the LORD, it was money, it was the things of this world that money could buy (Matthew 6:24). He wasn't seeking God, he was seeking to gain everything just for his own benefit, everything of this world, and everything in Heaven....just like Satan. The nature of Satan is the desire to gain everything for himself and to exalt himself for his pleasure alone, regardless of whether or not it hurts others or condemns them to Hell. And that is the nature of spirituality, it is the nature of Satan, not the nature of God.

However, the nature of Christ is of sacrificial love. Jesus loves us with a pure, holy love - agape love. Love that never considers self-benefit, but only that which benefits the object of His love. And the good news is that the object of God's love is us...all those whom He has called to Himself. You see, God doesn't "need" us. We don't increase the goodness of God and we don't make Heaven a better place. God is God. He is sovereign (He has total control and power), God is all good and He's already perfect and holy. God already has everything. It isn't His privilege for us to serve and trust our lives to Him. It's our privilege to be truly saved and live our lives trusting Jesus alone. By doing this, we have the privilege of living with purpose, a holy purpose - we have the opportunity to live beyond ourselves! WOW!!! Who wouldn't love a God like that?! And who wouldn't want to know Him and enjoy Him forever?!

So don't settle for mere spirituality that only makes you feel good for a time, yet provides no hope and no way to true eternal life. Instead trust in Jesus Christ and live above your own means. For only in Christ is there hope and eternal life - because Jesus alone is The Way (John 14:6).

Proverbs 27:5-6
"Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."

One of the greatest things Jesus said will cause the world to know that we are His...His followers...His friends....His Bride....one family of God, united in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit is this - our love for one another (John 14:34-35).

And how do we Christians love one another as Christ has loved us? We do what Jesus did.

We love with:

No concern for what we might gain or lose from loving the other person (Matthew 16:25-26, Galatians 1:10, 1 Peter 3:13-14).
The best interest of the other person, not according to our opinion of what is best, but according to what God says is best (1 Corinthians 10:23-24, Ephesians 4:29, Philippians 2:3-5 & 1 Peter 4:11).
Sacrificial love - for if we serve & give to one another only when it's convenient for us, we are no longer "living sacrifices", but conveniently living (Proverbs 3:28, Romans 12:1-2, Ephesians 5:1-2)
Truth (Psalm 40:10, Zechariah 8:16-17, Ephesians 4:15-16 & 25), grace (Colossians 4:6, Ephesians 5:4), compassion (Colossians 3:12), and in one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4-6 & 11-14). We do not run away from confrontation, we do not gloss over sins, we do not arrogantly accuse (Romans 12:3, Galatians 6:1-2,), we do not argue and we do not allow personal offenses to separate the bond of peace with God and one another, of which Christ died to give us (Philippians 2:1-2 & 14-15, Ephesians 4:2-3, 2 Timothy 2:24-26)
Honor - coming to one another's defense, remembering if one part of the body suffers, we all suffer, if one part of the body rejoices, we all rejoice (John 17:12a, Proverbs 17:17, Ecclesiastes 4:12, 1 Corinthians 12:26, Galatians 6:2)
Forgiveness - not "getting over" but working through conflicts, disagreements or sins committed against one another. For jumping over "hurdles" may seem easier and may appear like an accomplishment, but when you come back to that part of the track again, you'll find it's still there. We must work through the "hurdles" with one another and flatten it - when we come around that way again, we'll see the evidence of it, but it will no longer slow us down, trip us up, nor stress us out, but instead it will be a blessed reminder of a trial we've overcome in Christ and have our relationships strengthened because of it (Colossians 3:12-14, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11)
Humility and in community with other believers, not considering or claiming anything to belong to ourselves, but sharing all our possessions, resources, talents and gifts God has given us with one another so that everyone in the Body of Christ may be built up & be given as they need (Titus 3:2, 1 Peter 5:5, 1 Corinthians 12:22-25, Acts 2:44-47, Hebrews 10:24-25

We love one another enough to tell each other the truth with the love, compassion and humility of Christ our Lord. True love doesn't flatter and tell you just what you want to hear, as flattery is just another form of a lie (Proverbs 26:28), and lying is showing hatred towards a person not love.

Romans 5:8
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

1 Peter 2:23-24
"When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed."

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