"All of That, and More"

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:" (Psalms 103:1)
The greatest love that we can ever truly know is the love of God! He keeps on loving us, even when we don't deserve to be loved, even when we are unloving to Him. I don't know about you, but that just blows my mind. Actually, it makes my heart ache for all the stupid things that I do, and how easy it is sometimes to pretend that He does not see me or care about what I do. If God is not big enough to fear, then He can't be big enough to worship, not in our own hearts. Worship is more than just singing songs and lifting up our hands, worshiping God is a way of life. Much like Daniel and his three friends who were taken into the king's court; their stand to not eat the king's meat was actually worshipping God. It was them saying to the world that God was to be feared above all else. We tend to let certain things slide as we try to blend into the world around us, hoping to just get along and trying not to be too different. But we are different! We are called to "Come out from among them, and be separate." Sometimes it is hard to tell who is who; like, how can the ratio of divorce within the church be the same as that of the world? God's love is what needs to motivate our lives. If you are not feeling motivated by the love of God, then it is something that He needs to work in you, and you must ask Him to make it happen. (Speaking to myself!) The message from Sunday was about God taking things out of our lives so that we can see Him more clearly. It dealt with some issues that require us to stop and take a look at what God is trying to say, even though we might not have asked Him to speak into our lives. Pastor Bryan mentioned something several times during his message, that David never asked to be king. It is pretty interesting how God works, because before David actually became king, God made him into a king, without him even knowing what was going on. Why do you think that David's psalms have so many references to God changing him or making him this way or that way, because David knew what it takes, a humble heart. Of all the pain and grief we needlessly suffer through, you would think we could realize when and what it is that takes it all away: Worshipping God...
""Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. For all these forty years your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell.""
(Deuteronomy 8:2-4) NLT