Category: New Era

 

1Corinthians 11:11-12 (NIV) ¹¹ Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. ¹² For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman.  But everything comes from God.

Ephesians 5:21 (NIV) Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

“Men and women are interdependent as they live and work “in the Lord” … Just as the woman came originally from man, now all men come through women (in the sense of being born of women).  There is mutual dependence here regarding their existence … Paul’s conclusion that “all things are from God” … reminds the Corinthians that in the end God is the source of all things and all glory must find its final focus in him.  The statement is broad, indicating that all creation, not just those “in the Lord,” have come from the creator God.” [Paul Gardner, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 494-495].

What Paul is saying in 1Corinthians 11 is that we’re not meant to be alone or to do our own thing, but rather we’re meant for relationship.  It starts with worship “in the Lord” since he is the source of all things.  Let proper worship of God impact all of your horizontal relationships in the church.  We are interdependent as we live and work “in the Lord”.  May mutual love and submission come out of our worship and reverence for Christ.

Today, take time to pray about your relationship(s) before the Lord.  Ask God to be glorified in the relationship(s) and pray for unity in the church with Galatians 3:26-28, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

-JH

1Corinthians 11:4-5a (NIV) ⁴ Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. ⁵ But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.

Whatever certain members of the church of Corinth were doing with respect to their heads being covered, it was inappropriate for their setting.  They were putting themselves above God and the church by making it about how they wanted to appear.  It was dishonoring to the Lord, to the congregation and to their own shame.

When we’re submitted to God’s order of worship within the church, we honor our Lord and church family.  Submitting to God as we worship together means more of his authority in our praying and prophesying (i.e., not just speaking about the future but speaking God’s message and truth to those around us).  While submitting is often thought of as an act of following, it can also mean stepping into how God wants to use you for the building up of his church.

Ask for more of his authority to pray and prophesy as we worship together, whether in our small groups, large groups, church worship celebrations.  As you worship to ‘History Maker’ by Delirious? (click here) , let us submit and receive God’s authority to minister to his church like never before.

-JH

1Corinthians 11:3 (NIV) But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

Do you believe God has an established order, and how much of your life is in this order?

The order in 11:3 is not about a hierarchy with different rankings or positions.  It’s not about inferiority but relationship.  We relate to God by submitting to his authority over all things.  This was exemplified by Christ: “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” [John 6:38]

Submission to God is beautiful.  It is not what our culture thinks in that it makes you ‘less’ of a person.  Actually, it’s quite the opposite in that you become ‘more’.  We were once dead and at our lowest because of sin, but God lifted us up through Christ’s victory on the cross and resurrection.  When we submit to Christ, we become more – clothed in the new, lifted up in his victory, renewed in our identity to love God and to love others.

God’s authority is actually the answer for our lives – it brings us into his established order where our relationship with him and our relationship with others are restored.  Today, take time to submit to the Lord a particular area as you worship to ‘Believe’ (click here) by Hillsong.

-JH

 

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Our consumer-driven society wants to pick and choose what one thinks is good or looks good.  Often the appeal to external appearance gets in the way of what truly matters on the inside.  True and proper worship is about giving one’s whole life in response to how God in his mercy picks and chooses us.  We no longer clothe our lives with what we think it should be or look like, rather it’s in worship that God clothes us with the best and changes us into who we are meant to be in his eyes.

Here is a video testimony (click here) from Chris Tomlin.

Today, let’s choose to be clothed in worship of Christ.  Pray and sing to ‘At the Cross’ (click here) by Chris Tomlin.  Receive and be renewed in God’s choosing of you and how he desires to clothe your life with his purpose.

-JH

 

 

Isaiah 41:16-21 (NIV)

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
¹⁷ who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
²⁰ The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
²¹  the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.

“The fundamental principles of the divine activity are changeless, but the outward shape of that activity alters with the changing needs of God’s people. We are meant to reflect on the past with gratitude and stimulated faith but not to allow it to stereotype our expectations from God. Here God affirms—in detail and with emphasis on the deadly efficiency of his deeds—that he was the God of the Exodus (vv.16-17), but he also asserts the wonderful freshness of his new act in prospect (vv.18-19).” [Geoffrey Grogan, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah]

Let’s pray for a new era in our individual lives and church to receive ‘the wonderful freshness’ of God’s gospel and his new acts among us.  Ask God to stoke a greater flame in your heart for his praise as you worship to the song ‘Ready for You’ (click here) by Worship Central.

-JH