SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2024 8:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Worship”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
28:17-18a
Message of the verse: “And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying,”
I just posted on my other blog a SD that came from
July of 2011 from the book of Ezra, and what went on in the ninth chapter of
Ezra is the opposite of worship, as seen in this section of Matthew. It is part of three great prayers that is
found in the Old Testament, prayers that have to do with repentance. Repentance is what our country needs at this
very fragile time in its history, repentance for all of the terrible things that
are going on in our country, repentance as seen in the three prayers from Ezra,
Nehemiah, and Daniel are what we as a people need in our country now. Look at Ezra chapter nine, Nehemiah 1:4-11,
and Daniel chapter nine. I have to say
that I am most familiar with Daniel chapter nine as that chapter has one of
the, if not the greatest prophecies in all of the Bible in it, so if one reads
over these three prayers of repentance and applies them to what is going on in
not just the United States but all over the world then perhaps the Lord will
hear our prayers and bring mercy instead of judgment on us.
I am coming to the end of my study in the book of
Matthew, and it is my belief that the Lord desires for me to begin to study 2
Timothy, which is the very last letter that the Apostle Paul wrote and he wrote
it from prison where very soon afterwards they would take him out of the awful
place where he was and cut off his head, and then immediately he would be taken
to heaven to be with his Lord and Savior.
I believe that this will be a very profitable study for me and for those
who will read my Spiritual Diaries on that book which will be posted on my
blog. Please pray for me as I end this
study in Matthew, and then begin the study on 2 Timothy.
Now the subject today is worship and I want to look at
that word’s meaning from my online Bible dictionary:
4352 προσκυνέω proskuneo pros-koo-neh’-o
from 4314 and a probable derivative of 2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s
hand); v; TDNT-6:758,948; { See TDNT
670 }
AV-worship 60; 60
1) to kiss the hand to (towards)
one, in token of reverence
2) among
the Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an
expression of profound reverence
3) in
the NT by kneeling or
prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to
express respect or to make supplication
3a) used
of homage shown to men and beings of superior rank
3a1) to
the Jewish high priests
3a2) to
God
3a3) to
Christ
3a4) to
heavenly beings
3a5) to
demons
Now that we have a meaning of this word, which is used
107 times in the Bible and it is interesting to me that the first time that we
see this word is in the following verse from Genesis 22:5 “Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the
donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship
and return to you.’” Allow me to talk
about this verse for a moment. This is
the story of Abraham taking his son, his only son to place him on an altar and
sacrifice him to the Lord. Now I believe
that the Lord was testing Abraham, and when He saw that he would obey Him the
Lord stopped him and sacrificed a ram caught in the thicket that the Lord
provided. Abraham knew that if he was to
sacrifice his son, his only son that God would bring him back to life because
it was through him and his family that the Lord would bring the promised
Messiah into the world. Now the place
where Abraham was is called Mt. Moriah which is where Solomon would build the
temple of the Lord. There is more to
this story as one fast forwards towards the end of King David’s life we see
that the text says that David sinned greatly as he numbered the people. David’s two major sins found in the Word of
God was to kill one of his mighty men in order to steal his wife after David
got her pregnant. And in that case we
see that the Lord said that David sinned, but in the case of numbering the
people God said that David sinned greatly.
The place where the killing of the children of Israel stopped was the
same place where Abraham was about to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to the
Lord. I have to think about Romans 8:28 for a moment “And we know that God
causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose.” God used both sins in David’s life in a special
way, and I am not saying that a person should knowingly sin in order for God to
do something special, but the truth is that sinners are all that God has to
work with for “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” God used the sins of David to bring about a
son to him and Bathsheba, Solomon who would build the temple of God on the
exact spot where Abraham was about to offer Isaac, and on that spot where God
stopped the killing of the children of Israel because of David’s sin as David
would buy that piece of property and offer a sacrifice in order to stop the
killing.
Ok I did not get too far in writing
about our verse and a half in the gospel of Matthew, but sometimes I have to
follow what I believe the Lord is prompting me to write about even if it is not
about the verses I sought out to comment on.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: To
worship the Lord is a privilege that I have because of what the Lord Jesus
Christ did for me in dying in my place on the cross. It is my desire to worship the Lord in a way
that would be pleasing to Him as I owe Him everything.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: To worship
the Lord in a way that is pleasing to Him, and then to trust Him to use the
Spiritual Diaries that I write for His glory.
10/29/2024 9:36
AM
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