{"id":2263,"date":"2019-03-10T18:11:21","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T01:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=2263"},"modified":"2019-03-10T18:11:25","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T01:11:25","slug":"1kings_8_54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1kings_8_54\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Worship God"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Kings 8:54-66Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 8:54-66.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Kings 8:54 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n54\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 54:\u00a0 Solomon began his prayer standing (v22), but he ends his prayer kneeling with his hands spread out to God.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 It’s because as Solomon continued to pray, he realized more and more how much he and his people needed God.\u00a0 His humility and his desperation for God grew the more he prayed.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0The more you pray, the more you realize your need for God.<\/strong>\u00a0 The more you realize your need for God and cry out to Him, the more you experience His power.\u00a0 More prayer, more desperation, more crying out, more power.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0When you’re praying, try getting on your knees.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0When you’re worshiping, try lifting your hands.\u00a0<\/strong>I find that\u00a0the right physical posture can often kick-start your spirit into worship<\/strong>.\u00a0 By kneeling and\/or lifting my hands, I’m humbling myself, being reminded of how much I need God in my life and giving room for the Holy Spirit to move in my life.<\/p>\n

1 Kings\u00a08:55\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n55\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 55-61:\u00a0 After Solomon got on his knees and prayed, he was able to stand to his feet and bless.\u00a0 In these verses he speaks a powerful blessing over his people.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When you spend quality time in prayer, you’re then able to be a more powerful blessing to the people around you.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Do you want to be a more powerful blessing to the people in your home, church, workplace, school or city?\u00a0 Spend time in prayer.\u00a0 Much prayer, much power.\u00a0 Little prayer, little power.\u00a0 No prayer, no power.<\/p>\n

On verses 62-64:\u00a0 Solomon gave what was quite possibly the most expensive offering recorded in Israel’s history — so many offerings that the altar could not contain it (v64).\u00a0 So Solomon consecrates the middle courtyard in front of the temple and turns it into a place for giving worship and offerings.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0Don’t give God worship that is convenient, but costly.<\/strong>\u00a0 As David famously said, “I will not sacrifice to my God offerings that cost me nothing.”\u00a0 Give your best to God.<\/p>\n

– The kind of worship God calls from us is not confined to a certain place.\u00a0 God wants our worship at church to spill over into the other areas of our lives.\u00a0\u00a0When your heart is truly set on worshiping God, you will turn even the ordinary, not-so-spiritual parts of your life into opportunities to worship.<\/strong>\u00a0 May your worship of God spill over today into an area where you don’t normally worship.<\/p>\n

1 Kings 8:65-66 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n65\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him–a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all.
\n66\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 65-66:\u00a0 After receiving the king’s blessing, the people blessed the king and went home joyful and glad (v66).\u00a0 What can we learn from this:<\/p>\n

– A joyful and healthy relationship is built on reciprocity: not always one side blessing the other, but both sides blessing each other.\u00a0\u00a0Don’t just be a taker, but bless those who go out of your way to bless you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0Make it your priority to worship God together with your church family and give your best to Him.\u00a0 Joy and gladness of heart will result.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for teaching me in Your Word about how to worship You: to do so on my knees and with hands lifted in humility and desperation; to give You not a convenient offering but a costly offering; to not confine my worship to just Sundays or “at church” but to let it spill into the other areas of my life; and to remember to bless those who go out of their way to bless me.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 8:54-66.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Kings 8:54 (NIV)\u00a0
\n54\u00a0When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verse 54:\u00a0 Solomon began his prayer standing (v22), but he ends his prayer kneeling with his hands spread out to God.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 It’s because as Solomon continued to pray, he realized more and more how much he and his people needed God.\u00a0 His humility and his desperation for God grew the more he prayed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2264,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263\/revisions\/2264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}