Worship

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.  (Revelation 22:17 NIV)

We need to have a full understanding of what this covenant as His Bride, as His holy nation, and as His kingdom of priests means to us and to this world. We need to live out of the reality of this position He has given us.

So, I would like to pose a few questions: First, where does the scriptures say that Jesus was seated after His triumph at the cross? Hebrews 1:3 wonderfully states that “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Ephesians 1:20-21 powerfully declares that “He is seated at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given.” Roman 8:34 tells us that Christ Jesus, our King, sat down at the right hand of God and is interceding for us.

Question number two is this: where does scripture say that we are seated after we have been born again of the Spirit of God, by grace? Ephesians 2:6 declares that “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” What is our position as a son or daughter of the Living God? We are seated with Him in the heavenly realms!

And what is Jesus doing as He is seated at the right hand of the Father? He is interceding. What are we doing as we are seated with Him? Are we interceding too? What is this royal position that He has given us? The book of Hebrews paints the picture in detail of Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest. We are His kingdom of priests in service to Him and to God. (1 Peter 2:9)

Jesus says that He will give us the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:19) He has given us the keys to the Kingdom. A very weighty responsibility that He has entrusted us with. In all humility, and with the fear of the Lord, we take these keys in hand to see His Kingdom come on this earth. What an honor to partner with the King of Glory!

“King Jesus, we do not take lightly the position that You have entrusted  to us. We know that the keys You have given us will set the captives free and bring them from the kingdom of darkness into the glorious Kingdom of our God. We humble ourselves before You, Mighty God, and take the keys in hand. We are forever in Your service.”

For the King and the Kingdom!  Tammy

To sum up the last few days of this teaching we have discussed the lifestyle of worship, worshiping in the Spirit and in truth, our unadulterated heart cry to God, and His heart cry to (and through) us.

The intimacy in corporate worship throughout the world has intensified dramatically over this last decade. Remember what I said on the first day of this teaching, there are no shortcuts to living a life that is full of His Presence. We need to come spirit to spirit, or maybe put another way, face to face with our God. Just like in a marriage, we need to nurture our relationship with the Lover of our soul, Jesus Christ. Any deep and meaningful relationship takes time spent with that person.

This intimacy had to (and has to) take place in His church worldwide. This intimacy with our Lord has enabled us to come into partnership with Him. Because of this union with us, He is able to release what needs to be released in this earth through us. (Read Romans 8:18-23 again ) How is this possible? Let’s liken our relationship with King Jesus to a couple who have been married for any length of time. My husband and I have been married for almost 27 years, and I can tell you that we have no problem finishing each others sentences or have trouble knowing what the other likes or dislikes! How much more so this “marriage made in Heaven” between us and our Bridegroom Jesus. (Ephesians 5:25-27) Through this intimate knowledge of our Lord we are able to do what we see Him doing, and say what we hear Him saying. (John 5:19) His love, His Words, and His actions through us change the world around us.

Revelation 22:17 shows the beauty of this partnership with Heaven:

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Look at this scripture in the context it is written. Who are we saying “come” to? The Spirit AND the bride in partnership say, “Come!” to all who are thirsty. We are saying come to the lost and dying of this world; to those who need this free gift of the water of life!

 “Heavenly Father, that Your Kingdom come, and Your will would be done on earth just as it is in Heaven. That we would know and understand the hope to which You have called us to, the glorious inheritance that are in the saints, and the power that is at work in us, for us, and through us who believe. (Ephesians 1:17-19)That we would worship and live from the depth of this knowing, to Your glory my God.”

For the King and the Kingdom!  Tammy

A few days ago I spoke of an encounter I had with the Lord in April of 2009; when He started showing me the depth of understanding concerning our unadulterated heart cry to God, and His heart cry to us (and through us).

A little over one month later, He gave me a “flash” vision of the magnitude of what is being released in the earth because of it. I was standing in my bathroom getting ready for the day, thinking on what Holy Spirit was teaching me about this heart cry. Although what I saw happened in a blink of a moment, it was more intense than I could ever express in mere words.

I saw what appeared to be a huge shaft of light coming down from Heaven, and at the same time saw a huge shaft of light going up from the earth toward Heaven. It seemed as though these two actions were happening simultaneously. As these two shafts of light met in the atmosphere just above the earth, a HUGE explosion took place! It was an atomic-size explosion that reverberated over the entire earth. The picture of this, accompanied with the intensity of its meaning, brought me to my knees.

The sound created by the uniting of our heart cry with God’s heart cry ripples and reverberates over all creation, spreading the light and glory of God over all the earth! This sonic boom shatters the works of the devil and liberates all of creation from bondage; bringing all of creation, people and lands, into the freedom and glory of the Kingdom of God!

As I stood back up on my feet after viewing this event, Romans 8:19-23 immediately came to me, I believe, by the Spirit of God:

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:18-23 NIV)

All of creation is waiting in eager expectation for the sons and daughters of God to rise up, take their place, and partner with King Jesus in bringing them back into the freedom and glory of our Kingdom!

“Father, as it says in Esther 4:14, we have come to this royal position as Your sons and daughters for such a time as this. All of creation is groaning to be liberated from bondage. That we would come into such unity with Your heart, that people and lands would be restored to You. That freedom and life would come to those around us as our heart cry becomes one with Yours. Eternal destinies hang in the balance. To Your joy, O God, let it be.”

For the King and the Kingdom!  Tammy

In April of 2009, I had a very powerful encounter with the Presence of Jesus as the deepest part of me was crying out to Him. There have been many amazing encounters over the years with the keys, strategies, and revelation of His heart that He so wonderfully gives. The main understanding that He gave me out of this particular time spent with Him was on the “unadulterated heart cry”. This unadulterated worship is a lifestyle that we live everyday before our King. “Search me, O God, and know my heart…”(Psalm 139:23-24) Every word and every action reflecting the love and the goodness of our God. This pure worship can also be released as we come together and worship Him with undiluted praise.(2 Chronicles 5:13) In either setting, it is all to the honor and the glory of our Beautiful Lord and Mighty God!

Listen to the description of the word unadulterated out of the Webster’s Dictionary: Not diluted or made impure by adulterating; pure=absolute, perfect, plain, sheer, simple, undiluted, unmixed, organic, immaculate.

Our worship, as a lifestyle as individuals and in a gathering, is pure when it has not been mixed with contaminants (i.e. pride, selfish ambition, wrong heart motives, etc.). Our worship becomes diluted when we are more worried about what man thinks than wanting to please His heart. Our worship to Him should be plain and simply coming to Him as we are–no pretense. Our worship is organic when it is “home-grown” in our own hearts. The worship we offer up to the Lord of Glory is perfect and immaculate when He is the absolute Center and Affection of our worship.

It is our unadulterated heart cry of worship that opens the Heavens and brings the Spirit of the Living God on the scene. We have the humbling and amazing privilege of ushering in and facilitating this atmosphere of Heaven on earth as worshipers of God Most High! The music, songs, words, and sounds of Heaven, when released by the Spirit of God through us, are a creative force for the Kingdom of God–and a destructive force against the kingdom of darkness. (2 Chronicles 20:1-24)

The glory of God’s Presence rides on the sound waves of our worship, and brings the atmosphere of Heaven. (He inhabits our praises–He dwells in our praises!) It is this atmosphere that pushes back and dispels the darkness. It is in this atmosphere that we hear the Voice of God and KNOW His heart. It is in this atmosphere that hearts are recreated and creative miracles take place. It is in this creative atmosphere of Heaven that Jesus is lifted up. He is exalted and all men are drawn to Him! It is in this atmosphere that destinies are changed and re-routed for eternity! (Acts 16:25-31)

“Father God, we pray that our hearts will always be turned to You. That with full assurance and sincerity, as Your children, we cry, ‘Abba, Father’. (Romans 8:15) That our Lord Jesus will always be exalted as we release pure and undiluted praise through our song and through our lives. That our worship and our lives would reflect your glory, and all men would be drawn to You!”

For the King and the Kingdom!  Tammy

In Psalm 42:1-2 the psalmist writes, “1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the Living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Then in verse 7 he continues, “Deep calls to deep…”

Why do we have such a longing; such an insatiable thirst in us that can only be satisfied by God? Where does the heart cry to know our Creator come from? Trying to satisfy the hunger that is at the core of who we are, humans have looked for this love “in all the wrong places”. People have tried to find this fulfillment (that only God can bring) through relationships, education, work, addictions of various forms, status, wealth, recreation, man-made religions, and even in ministries or helping others. It is only in Him that we are made complete.

We were created out of the Father-heart of God. In other words, God is love and we were born out of that love. We were created to love Him and be loved by Him. We were created to walk in the cool of the day with Him, share our thoughts with Him, co-create with Him, and delight ourselves in His Presence–and He in ours. we were created to be in intimate fellowship with our Father. We carry his DNA!

We come to Him as we were created to come to Him–in spirit and truth. We were created in His image. (Genesis 1:27) He is spirit and we are spirit. Jesus, through His Blood, has restored our fellowship with our Heavenly Father to the original design; walking with God in the cool of the day, partnering with Him in His creation, being fully clothed in His glory! We are in our most natural element when we worship and fellowship with Him super-naturally. It is our spirit connecting with His Spirit. It is our heart crying out to His heart. (Romans 8:15) It is deep calling to deep. We start to see and understand the deep things of God by His Spirit. We come close enough to look into His eyes, to lay our head on His chest and hear His heartbeat. We begin to see through the eyes of Heaven. Our hearts begin to understand who we were created to be and what he wants to release on the earth, through us.

In John 4:21-24 Jesus speaks very clearly of this abandonment to worship God in the Spirit and truth.   21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (NIV)

“Father, Your Word says that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. I pray that we would be ever-longing and hungry for more of You. The more of You we find, the more of You we’ve got to have. Nothing in this world can compare with Your matchless beauty and Your endless love! That You would be our heart’s desire and the Eternal Flame that burns within us.”

For the King and the Kingdom!  Tammy