Hosanna Restoration Church

As I was reading in Deuteronomy the “You must, you must not, and you may,” just jumped out at me. For those who do not know God, they see it as a bunch rules to steal their lives rather than as God intended it; a way to form habits that transform and keep our lives close to Him.

What a blessing it is when those things that God desires become things that we must do because it is our desire. Recently as I prepared for a mid week service I had this thought of, “Why do I do this?” It seemed that God and I answered the question simultaneously. As I said, “I do it for you.” He said, “You do it for Me.” Yes! To be with God!

Yes, I know we can be with God anywhere, but can I please God as much if I am not where He wants me to be? More importantly, can I rob God of the worship, love, and adoration that He so desires. No. I must honor Him in every part of my life. Help Lord!

Please know; we cannot limit this to fellowship or church services; we need to make this a lifestyle. Truly, I can sit in my chair with my guitar and worship my way into the throne room, or sit at the piano and sing psalms to God, but I cannot replace God’s desire for His people to worship Him together. I must gather with others, to praise and worship the Lord. It is His desire. We must do things for Him. This shows Him that we believe Him; that we trust Him; and that we need Him. God is not needy and yet He needs us. He did not fill His word with “You musts,” just for Himself. Truly it does us more good. That is why He requires it. He is all about us. We need to be all about Him.

We sing a chorus declaring that the air we breathe is His Holy Spirit dwelling in us and our daily bread is His word spoken to us. I do not know about you, but I must breathe and eat. The Holy Spirit dwelling in me says I must stay near God. It is more important than breathing. Near God my spirit lives. My desire is that I would worship God with every breath and that it would be as natural as breathing. We do not even have to think about breathing until of course there is no air. In a sense, we often find ourselves feeling like we have no air when we neglect to stay near to God.

Just to clarify, the “I must” we are talking about here must come from deep desire on our part to honor and please God and not from a reluctant obedience. Also understand that this is not just about attending meetings; it applies to our whole relationship with God. I must, simply because I need to honor God and please Him in every way, every day. Paul kept pressing for this mark and so should we. Jesus said “I must do my Fathers’ will.”

Make no mistake, this greatly benefits us, but that should not be the focus. The focus is God. Joyful, joyful, we adore You. Oh how sweet it is to worship God together.