Assembly of Praise! I Release You!

Yesterday morning, was a powerful time in God's presence at The Assembly of Praise. As I think over all that God did during our Sunday morning service, I recall how this awesome move of the Spirit started when I released the people to "abandon the pew" and come to the front to praise and worship God as they felt led.

I felt as though some of us felt like we needed to be "released" to do that; released to come to the altar. Forgive me for using a worldly analogy. But it's kind of like a middle school dance... Everyone stands around awkwardly because no one quite knows "the rules" or if they are "released" to swarm the dance floor and get their groove on. Then that one person steps out and next thing you know the dance floor is flooded and everyone has a great time and no one wants to leave.

Corny analogy I know, sorry. But that's kind of what it felt like yesterday.

We just needed to be released to leave the pew, stand at the front, kneel at the front, dance at the front, march around the sanctuary, etc. And as soon as we were "released" to do that, what happened...? The Spirit broke out in a mighty way. Praise God! God wants us to do the same thing this Sunday.

So, Assembly of Praise, I release you! Not only do I release you to leave your pew and worship or just praise God right where you are at during the music, I release you even before service! Read that last sentence again! Why wait until the Praise and Worship team takes the platform? Have you ever got to church and thought, "I can't wait until church starts so I can just worship and spend time in His presence!"?

You can! Feel free, feel released to approach the front, to come to the altar to pray and worship before the music starts, before the welcome video starts playing, even before the Praise and Worship team starts praying. You are released to step into His presence and begin worshiping as soon as you walk through the door! Don't wait for me, don't wait for us. Just enter in! Don't let the worship team lead you into worship this Sunday, let us join you as you already are in His presence

The Scars Remain for a Reason

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!   -John 21:27

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event that changed history forever. The Son of God not only bore the full brunt of God's wrath for our sin, He also triumphed over death thus giving forgiveness and new life to all who believe. The interesting thing about the resurrection is that all though Jesus was fully resurrected with a healthy body, He still retained the scars from His crucifixion.

Why is that? I mean, if God was going to bring Jesus back to life, why not make His body completely whole? Why leave holes in His hands and feet, and a gash in His side? Jesus kept the scars of His crucifixion so He could show the world that He truly had come back from the dead. He wanted the world to know that He was not ghost or a resurrected Spirit of some kind. He didn't want people to think that He had turned into an angelic being of some sort.

He wanted people to know that He had faced trials, hardship, and even death, but came back victorious with the battle scars to prove it. As Christians, we claim that we have been born again. That we have been raised with Christ as a new creature. Even after Christ makes into a new creature, He sometimes allows the scars of what He brought us through remain. The world wants to see the proof of our resurrection just like Thomas did. They say to us, "You claim you have been through something and have come back victorious, let me see your scars."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
You may have scars from your past. Don't be ashamed of them, for they are evidence that you TRULY have come back from the dead.