{"id":18076,"date":"2014-02-25T00:05:16","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T05:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=18076"},"modified":"2014-02-24T23:30:29","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T04:30:29","slug":"christlife-thirtytwo-bride-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/25\/christlife-thirtytwo-bride-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTLife — ThirtyTwo: Bride, Friend, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cl<\/a><\/p>\n

Yesterday we read in our study of CHRISTLife: Embracing Your True and Deepest Identity<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/em>that we are ACCEPTED by God through all that Christ accomplished for us. \u00a0It is \u201cin Christ\u201d that we are accepted by God Almighty. \u00a0God knows every bit of you\u2014every thought, every action, every single thing that makes you you\u2014and He accepts you because you have been made new. \u00a0You are righteous, you are justified, you are sanctified, you are purified, you are His child. \u00a0He has brought you into a relationship with Him that is like no other! \u00a0And you belong to Him!<\/p>\n

In today’s reading, Mrs. Myers continues to encourage us by communicating more and more proper images to hold in our thoughts of who we really are. \u00a0She writes about God being our Husband (Isaiah 54:5) and that we collectively are the Bride of Christ (Romans 7:4). \u00a0She reminds us that Jesus calls us ‘friend’ (John 15:14-15), and that we are now citizens of God’s heavenly Kingdom (Hebrews 13:14). \u00a0And that we are God’s servant, just as Jesus Himself gave us His example (Philippians 2:7).<\/p>\n

And, as she writes (page 136), “Our belongingness also means that God accepts us as His true worshippers…made possible by our spiritual oneness with Christ.” \u00a0 To worship is to acknowledge Who and What God is\u2014and God has made Himself known to us through His Word. Through the Scriptures, we find the knowledge of Him.<\/p>\n

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
\nHis divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
\nthrough the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence,
\n2 Peter 1:2 and 3<\/p>\n

We never have to worry or be concerned that we might be worshipping the Almighty God in a wrong or disrespectful way. We have been given the Truth\u2014God\u2019s Word is Truth.<\/p>\n

During Jesus\u2019 prayer just before He was taken captive in the Garden of Gesthemene, He prayed to His Father for those who were with Him, and also for us (\u201cI do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word…\u201d verse 20). He prayed,<\/p>\n

Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy]
\nby the Truth; Your Word is Truth.
\nJohn 17:17<\/p>\n

And for their sake I consecrate Myself, that they also may be sanctified in Truth.
\nVerse 19<\/p>\n

We not only have<\/strong> the Truth but, by God\u2019s grace, we have been sanctified<\/strong> by the Truth. \u00a0Being sanctified <purified, consecrated, separated out, made holy> we are able to truly worship God in holiness. \u00a0As such we can come before Him, holy and acceptable, worshipping Him as we will do throughout eternity. \u00a0Oh, what glory that will be! \u00a0But no need to wait…remember we are accepted through Jesus\u2019 accomplishments…we can worship Him now! \u00a0We can bring Him honor and glory and worship, all due to His mercy and grace.<\/p>\n

For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
\n1 Corinthians 6:20<\/p>\n

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
\nto present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
\nwhich is your spiritual worship.
\nRomans 12:1<\/p>\n

We have the privilege to worship Him…just as the angels and the saints around His throne are doing right now! \u00a0But not everyone, at this time, can truly worship our God—only those who are His.<\/p>\n

Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well,
\nBut the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.<\/p>\n

John 4:23 and 24<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For we are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus,
\nPhilippians 3:3<\/p>\n

For it is written, \u2018You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.
\nMatthew 4:10<\/p>\n

God is the object\u2014the sole object\u2014of our worship. \u00a0Not wonderful people, not saints, not angels. \u00a0As John was warned by the angel sent by Jesus to give him the prophecy in the Book of Revelations:<\/p>\n

Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me,
\n\u201cYou must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you
\nand your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus.
\nWorship God.
\nRevelation 19:10<\/p>\n

Worship belongs to Almighty God, the Great I AM. \u00a0King David knew this. \u00a0David worshipped God alone.<\/p>\n

O come, let us worship and bow down,
\nlet us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
\nFor He is our God,
\nand we are the people of His pasture,
\nand the sheep of His hand.
\nPsalms 95:6-7<\/p>\n

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
\nascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
\nAscribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
\nbring an offering, and come into His courts!
\nWorship the Lord in holy array;
\ntremble before Him, all the earth!
\nPsalms 96:7-9<\/p>\n

I will extol You, my God and King, and bless Your name forever and ever.
\nEvery day I will bless You and praise Your name forever and ever.
\nGreat is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
\nPsalms 145:1-3<\/p>\n

It is our joy and our privilege to worship our God! \u00a0We have been accepted and made holy, like He is, and given the right to come before Him to worship Him in spirit and truth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday we read in our study of CHRISTLife: Embracing Your True and Deepest Identity\u00a0that we are ACCEPTED by God through all that Christ accomplished for us. \u00a0It is \u201cin Christ\u201d that we are accepted by God Almighty. \u00a0God knows every bit of you\u2014every thought, every action, every single thing that makes you you\u2014and He accepts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":18081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5040],"tags":[5044,235,1287,425,5620,5294,5068,5619,1141,5618],"class_list":["post-18076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christlife-bible-study","tag-christlife","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god-alone-is-to-be-worshipped","tag-gods-word-is-truth","tag-ruth-myers","tag-true-worshippers","tag-womens-online-bible-study","tag-worship-in-spirit-and-in-truth","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/cl-bride-friend-and-more.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4Hy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18076"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18078,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18076\/revisions\/18078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}