The Father Seeketh Such

The Father Seeks Such...

Very few people understand the Father heart of God including me. As I grow older I am beginning to catch a small glimpse of just how deep Our Father's love for us truly goes. The Father's heart is seeking those who are lost in the far country of sin and He is seeking WORSHIPPERS who will step out in total abandonment and worship and adore Him in Spirit and in Truth. He's not grading our performance on earth - He already knows our flaws. He's always seeking us - whether we're lost or whether He just wants us to lavish Him with our worship. He is seeking "SUCH."

By Chris McDonald

TEXT: Luke 15:7;20 - I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents; more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance 20 - And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. [22] But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: [23] And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: [24] For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry

John 4:18-24 - [23] But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. [24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Without question one of the most powerful stories of God's love for humanity is found in the story of the prodigal son and the witness Jesus gave to the woman at Samaria. We are planning two future journals on each of these stories but in this journal we want to look at one of the things we see God the Father doing - SEEKING a son who was lost and a worshipper.

Most people do not view God as a seeking God. They view Him as a God who keeps score of their performance as a Christian on earth. When they do well He is pleased they think, when they fail, they feel He is disappointed and pull back from Him. When we sin, our view of God usually dictates the time between the time of our sin and the time of our confession and repentance. But as we approach Father's Day this year (2001) if we can but catch a glimpse of what God the Father is doing we will liberated into a glorious LOVE relationship with the Father. As a result, we will not see a God keeping score, we will see a God SEEKING us out wanting fellowship and communion with His creation.

God's Been Seeking Man Since The Beginning

Genesis 3:6-13 - And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. [7] And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. [8] And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. [9] And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? [10] And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

From the very beginning, man has been hiding from His creator. When Adam and Eve were created, they were created perfect in the image of God. God fellowshipped with Adam and Eve often in the garden He had placed the two in to keep and till as part of the Adamic Covenant. God has always sought this fellowship with man. That is why we were created - to worship God in unbroken fellowship and communion. Adam was the first worshipper. All of his communication before his sin was with God. I'm sure Adam spoke openly with God during their talks. He more than likely knelt before the Creator and had wonderful sweet communion with his Creator.

That all came to an abrupt in when sin entered into the world through Adam's disobedience. We know from Scripture that as a result of Adam's sin - DEATH entered into the human race. As in Adam ALL DIE, so in Christ we are made alive.

1 Cor 15:22 - For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (NIV)

The first act of Adam after he sinned was to HIDE from God and break this chain of unbroken communion and worship between humanity and its Creator. Even though Adam hid, GOD STILL SOUGHT HIM OUT! God came walking in the cool of the day and spoke "ADAM, where art thou?" And He's been asking fallen humanity that question for over 6,000 years. Adam spoke when He heard God calling and said, "I heard your voice, I was afraid, I was naked, and I hid." That is a picture of the sinner today - Guilty, condemned, naked, fearful and HIDING. And the same thing that God did in Eden, He is also doing today for fallen humanity - HE IS SEEKING HIS PRECIOUS CREATION - MAN!

You see salvation is of the LORD! It's not our church, it's not our doctrine, it's not our creed, it's not our holiness, it's not our great sermon technique, it's not our huge cathedrals, SALVATION IS OF THE LORD! When man sinned, nothing man could do could bring himself out of the bondage and darkness Adam's act of disobedience caused the human race. But GOD, who was RICH IN MERCY, LOVED man and SOUGHT man, and said "You may have messed up Adam, but step right over here - I'm going to work this entire mess out for you." God should and could have killed Adam and his wife Eve on the spot and been justified in doing so- they had broken a direct commandment He had given them. But to destroy man was to destroy the one thing God loved the most! On the other hand, to allow sin to remain unpunished would be contrary to God's nature which is so deeply Holy and JUST and PURE that even the angels and cherubim's have to walk around day and night and just cry, "HOLY, HOLY HOLY," Lord God Almighty." So HOLY. So Righteous. So Magnificent. So Majestic. SO WONDERFUL. So Gracious. That's our GOD. That's our Heavenly Father. That's our Gracious Creator. So MERCIFUL. Not one sin can be tolerated in His presence. He's THAT HOLY!

God didn't kill disobedient man when he sinned. Instead, God set forth a plan that would kill what he hated - SIN - without KILLING what he LOVED the most - MAN. ONLY GOD COULD AND CAN DO THAT! And when man sinned God did not hide from man - GOD SOUGHT MAN! And neighbor, God is seeking us today! He is seeking ME. He is seeking YOU. He is seeking all the world. He is seeking "WHOSOEVER WILL." The first time its recorded the Father sought out man, He made Adam admit where he was. When Adam admitted his sin, God made a provision!

The Slain Animal - A Type Of Christ

The Bible doesn't tell us exactly what type animal God slew in the Garden after Adam finally confessed, but we can surmise that more than likely it was a small lamb or maybe a goat. The lamb and the goat would be two symbols in Israel's coming history of worship and sacrifice that would represent God's covering for their sin until the perfect sacrifice would come - JESUS CHRIST, THE lamb of God.

The lesson to Adam and Eve was simple. When you sin - blood must be shed. But fellowship and communion had been broken because of their disobedience which resulted in God expelling them from His presence and sending them away from Eden. His nature and holiness could not and can not look at sin. God was saying to them "I'm a holy God, you cannot sin and stay in my presence." God's fellowship and communion and intimacy with Adam had been broken and as a result - no man who came through the loins or lineage of Adam would or could ever experience that type communion again - until NOW.

More than 4,000 years of human existence would pass before God could once again have the fellowship He desired with Adam. When Israel would institute the worship and offerings of the Tabernacles of Moses and David, all the sacrifices would only push sin back - it would not remove them from man's spirit or soul - the place where God dwells and the source of man's worship. No, it would take more than the blood of animals, it would take supernatural blood by a being of the same stock as Adam and Abraham - a MAN who was perfect and sinless who would make it possible for God to once again dwell among His people. That person came to the world in the person of the LORD JESUS CHRIST! That's the gospel message today! Jesus has come and restored man's fellowship and communion with a Heavenly Father and Creator who burns with passion towards us.

Heb 2:14-16 - Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil-- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. (NIV)

God wept when Adam sinned. Yes, He was angry, but more than being angry, God was hurt because He could no longer commune with His most treasured possession. That's where we misunderstand the depths of His love for us at times. Yes, His anger burns at our sin, but in the recesses of God's heart He weeps over fallen humanity. There is no joy in heaven over the death of the wicked. There are no shouts of rejoicing when lost humanity slips off into eternity without God. EVERY SOUL IS PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. No exceptions! The Charles Mansons of this world, the Hitlers, the Hamans, the Ted Bundys, were all created by GOD. No, God didn't cause them to do their deranged acts but He loved them just as He loves the greatest saint in the universe. When these men did these horrendous acts heaven wept not only for their victims but for the perpetrators too - because God didn't see "Hitler" or "Hussein" or "Manson" - He saw a SOUL. He saw a created being that had been ravaged and stolen by the enemy and used by Satan to destroy others. And heaven weeps for those who are in the same condition today. Heaven is not counting the minutes or the seconds of the days when it can bring retribution to evil society. Yes, there will be a day of retribution, but GOD who is RICH IN MERCY is holding back the tide of judgment as long as He possibly can. WHY? Because the Father is seeking SUCH - the LOST, the DERANGED, the LUNATIC, the DRUG ADDICT, the HOMOSEXUAL, the LIAR, the THIEF, the IMMORAL, to redeem, to set free, to save out of hell and darkness and restore what sin and Satan as stolen from them.

Ephes. 2:2-9 - Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: [3] Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. [4] But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, [5] Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) [6] And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: [7] That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: [9] Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Before we smugly say "thank God I'm not like that," we better pause and remember that without God's mercy and grace on our lives - WE WOULD BE! "SUCH" were some of us anyway. We were drunkards, addicts, sex offenders, liars, cheats, idolaters, and the list could go on and on. BUT THE LORD WHO IS RICH IN MERCY reached down His hand and SOUGHT US OUT and put our feet on a higher plain! In return we as the CHURCH need to be out seeking the same - THE LOST! That is what we face in the final hour before retribution and judgment! We are instruments of light today through whom the light of the Lord Jesus needs to shine through to a world sitting in darkness. Jesus Christ would be God's tool to seek out those, who like Adam, had come short of the glory of God and sinned. Sin's penalty had to be paid - DEATH. No exceptions were made to this rule. Sin brings DEATH and DESTRUCTION and MISERY. But God is seeking SUCH!

He Came To Seek And To Save That Which Was Lost

Luke 19:10 - For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (NIV)

Luke 15:7;20 - I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents; more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance 20 - And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. [22] But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: [23] And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: [24] For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry

The story of the prodigal son is a beautiful picture of the type person the Father is seeking and HOW He is going about seeking them. Most reading this know the story. The son demands his inheritance - the Father gives it to Him. In rebellion the son goes into a far country and wastes his substance on riotous living. As a result the son becomes destitute and winds up performing the lowest of the lowest tasks of a Jewish individual - shoveling pig slop. Friend, this is picture of where sin will take us- SINNER OR CHRISTIAN! We tend to divide people into categories these days - but SIN HAS THE SAME EFFECT ON BOTH! If we name the name of Jesus and sin - we're going to pay a price for that sin. Sin will take us farther than we want to go. It will make us pay more than we want to pay. It will take us to the lowest depths of depravity we could ever imagine.

When He Was A Great Way Off...His Father Saw Him

I remember back in 1996 when I backslid on the Lord and took off to a far place away from my family, my friends, my ministry - EVERYTHING. I thought I was running to solve a bad marriage but what I wound up doing was losing what I was seeking and finding myself homeless, friendless, without any ounce of morality and bitter and angry at God and the world. Those three years from 1996-1999 I never wanted to darken the door of the church. I attended a church in Kentucky with my ex-wife but I was going there to keep her instead of going to find God. I remember during that time in my life doing things that would cause me to think "I never dreamed I'd reach this point in my life." When we confess our faults we are healed and I'm going to confess to you - I wound up in sexual immorality to the depths I had never known in my entire LIFE! Before 1996 I had only been with TWO women in my 33 years of existence on this planet. Without getting too explicit or personal I will tell you that between 1996 and 1999 I think Satan himself may have been blushing at some of the things I did - especially during 1998 when my attempt at reconciliation with my ex-wife failed and she left and remarried.

I look back on those years and remember feeling so hurt and lost. I didn't think ANYBODY, including God, cared. I felt the only thing worth doing was proving I was not a bad person so I looked for acceptance and approval in the arms of numerous women and affairs. There were moments when God would send people to me to remind me He was still there - SEEKING me - JUST AS THE FATHER IN THIS STORY was out looking for the son every day when he was in the pig pit. I remember in 1997 in the middle of the backwoods of Kentucky on a Frito Lay truck a woman walked into the store I was working, laid her hand on my shoulder and out of the blue said, "You used to be in the ministry didn't you?" I was ashamed to say yes at the time because I had not been in church in over a year and was living worse than hell itself. She just smiled and said, "you don't have to answer, the Lord told me to tell you He hasn't forgotten the call on your life." As I went back to the truck she was waiting outside for me and and said, "I just wanted to tell you, God loves you and has not forgotten you!"

Friend, when you reach the pig pit - you will truly come to yourself. I came to that pit in late 1998 after my ex-wife had left and I found myself in Lexington, KY not knowing anyone, hurt, scared, broke, out of work and needing a friend. When you've lost every ounce of self-respect you will realize that HOME is where you belong. My dear brother allowed me to live with him in Dayton, Ohio the last three months of the year where I finally came to myself and realized that it was time to go home! I didn't realize how God was seeking me even in the days I was backslidden. I never saw His love until after I came back and He began to show me the people He had placed along my path to just remind me I had a Heavenly Father who was out looking for me daily to see if my heart had turned back to Him. You see even when the son was GREAT WAY OFF, the Father saw him indicating the Father had been out day and night looking for the one who was lost. I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost on that. The Father was not at the house telling his servants - "well he got what he deserved," "let him die in that pig pit," "I hope he rots out there with that money." Nor was the Father gossiping about his son's faults and how much his son had let him down to those around the house. NO!!! The Father so loved the son he was out day and night SEEKING HIM, WATCHING FOR HIM, YEARNING FOR HIM, LOVING HIM, and I'm sure PRAYING FOR HIM. And if you're at that point in your life today and reading this - take heart - YOUR FATHER IS SEEKING YOU! He's not forgotten about you!

...And He Had Compassion

Compassion is a powerful word. It really comes from a ghastly activity in Bible days when a human sacrifice would be gutted and the victim's bowels would be held up before a heathen diety as a sacrifice. The bowels were known as "passion," from where we get "compassion." Compassion means we YEARN AND CARE from our "inner most being" for someone. In Heaven's Kingdom - that means our enemies as well! We must understand that God's INWARD parts HURT for us when we sin. We must understand that we have a HEAVENLY FATHER who has such deep compassion for us that He will go to any lengths or depths necessary to redeem us and save us from hell. There is a passage in Judges where it says "His soul was GRIEVED for misery in Israel." God's SOUL is grieved for our misery. That's why He turned His back on His only Son some 2,000 years ago on a hill called Calvary and allowed our SINS to put placed on HIM. He was so GRIEVED for man's condition, He had no choice but to expound all of heaven's most precious resources - including HIS ONLY SON - to redeem fallen humanity.

James 5:11 - As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. (NIV)

That's what makes our human efforts of compassion as substitute for repentance and faith in Christ so sick to God. All of man's good will NEVER SAVE HIM FROM THE EVIL WITHIN HIM! Jesus had compassion on the multitudes who were hungry and in need of something more than physical bread. He saw them as "sheep without a shepherd." There are scores of people today who without a shepherd. They wander this earth seeking fulfillment in drugs, sex, alcohol, money, success, fame, fortune, glamour, etc. ALL OF THESE THINGS will NEVER satisfy the "BOWELS" of man. When David wrote "deep calling to deep," he was writing about the compassion and mercies of God. God is calling man from His inner most being. The Father saw the lost son and had DEEP COMPASSION for him. He hurt for the condition he saw the son in. He hurt for the son who had lost all of his inheritance to sin. He was MOVED with COMPASSION.

John wrote in his epistle that if we say we love God and we don't have compassion to our fellow brothers and sisters - we are liars. Many want to boast of their spiritual standing with God and yet wouldn't lift a finger to help anyone in need. THAT'S NOT CHRISTIANITY - That's RELIGION!

1 John 4:10-19 - Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. [12] No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us. [13] Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. [14] And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. [15] Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God. [16] And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. [17] Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. [18] There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear hath torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love. [19] We love him, because he first loved us.

I Jn 3:14-18 - know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (NIV)

The Father RAN......

Not only was the Father seeking the son who was lost and had compassion for him - when He saw him - HE RAN TOWARD HIM. Get this picture in your mind. We may be lost and without a friend in this world, but when we come to ourself and repent and admit we are a sinner, THERE IS A HEAVENLY FATHER WHO IS RUNNING TOWARDS US WITH OPEN ARMS! PRAISE GOD. PRAISE GOD. PRAISE GOD. PRAISE GOD. PRAISE GOD. If we have backslidden and we've wound up in the pig slop and wake up one morning and say, "it's time to come home to God," with those words, we have the FATHER RUNNING AFTER US! You see we are humans are not seeking GOD - He's SEEKING US! And He's seeking SUCH as this prodigal son - those who are lost and find themselves in the pig pits of life! He's not after the righteous or those who think they are perfect and without any fault. He's after the worst of the worst. He's after the crooked of the crooked. He's after the worse Satan and society can give Him. Because the Father knows as He is running toward the lost - He's running toward a future WORSHIPPER! Glory to God. (I'm having church right now in Lawton, Oklahoma where I'm writing this from) God is RUNNING to us today! He's going to take us like we are and change us into a beautiful vessel and treasure that will be fit for service and WORSHIP in His Kingdom! No psychologist can do that!

Why doesn't the church get this picture? Instead of running to sinners we run away from them. Instead of inviting the lost to our church we SHUN those who have fallen and sinned. We ostracize them and make them feel hopeless. If they don't find comfort in our churches and understand we have a hope - where will they find it? At the local bar? At the local strip joint? At the local Shrine's club? At the local Masonic Lodge? We make our churches so Pharisaical and hypocritical and cold and legalistic that the sinner man shuns us at all costs. Oh, we brag in our pulpits the sinner is welcome but the first time someone comes in with torn blue jeans or long hair or don't smell too hot we have our ushers quietly escort them out into the street explaining to them that our church as a "code" of behavior it allows and don't allow.

I remember a church I attended briefly where the favorite catch phrase was "hurting people are welcome here." That was true until one of those hurting people offended or made the pastor mad and then all below broke loose. FOLKS, the LORD IS SEEKING SUCH!! The Lord is seeking the drug addicts, the Lord is seeking the immoral, the Lord is seeking the ones involved in the occult. HE IS RUNNING TOWARDS THEM, not away from THEM. He's not shunning the sinner - He's taking the plan of salvation right into the sinner's backyard. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was LOST! Jesus said that heaven breaks out in rejoicing over just ONE sinner who truly repents and come home.

He Fell On His Neck And Kissed Him

To top it off - the Father runs to the son and instead of condemning him - He starts KISSING HIM. And I don't mean a peck, I mean a series of passionate kisses on the neck. The Greek word for kiss here means, "he continued to kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss the son!" Do you know that is what God does when we come to him sinner friend? We won't find further judgment when we repent. We will find a FATHER who is going to fall on our necks and KISS US! He's been looking for us! He's been seeking us! Oh I feel this.

Many don't approach God for long periods of time when they sin because in our minds we think He's going to hit us over the head with a big stick. NO! I think we believe God is shocked at how ugly and wicked we can become. He's NOT! He knows what we are made of and the fallen nature inside of us! Chastisement comes to those who are disobedient and unrepentant to Him. That's part of His love. But we are His precious creation and when one of us is lost and out in sin and comes back - the Father's HEART BURNS with such love for us the only thing He is interested in doing to us is KISSING US. Don't you feel that? I mean, talk about a love story? Talk about a romance between heaven and earth? This is something better than anything those Harlequin people can put together.

A sinner who is lost comes home and finds His Father looking for him, running to him, having compassion for him and KISSING HIM without stopping. That's the gospel story. That's the message of the Gospel. It's not a dress code. It's not a set of dos and don'ts. Honey, when we love God with all our heart and soul and strength believe me - where won't go places we feel will hurt Him. We won't do things we know that will hurt Him. We won't say things or do things to hurt others because we know our Father and Saviour in heaven will be hurt. It's a LOVE STORY between God and man. AND THE FATHER IS SEEKING SUCH! The Father is seeking such. I don't care if we've backslidden on God a hundred times - He's still seeking us. Maybe we've never met the Father and we've lived a life of sin and hatred and bitterness. THE FATHER IS SEEKING US! He wants to lavish His kisses on us!

I will tell you this though. The person the Father does not lavish His kisses on - is the proud, the arrogant, the self-righteous and those who never admit they are in the pig slop. It's food for another journal, but the older brother is not seen in this story receiving ANYTHING of this nature from the FATHER - it's the wayward and lost son!

The Father Seeketh Such to WORSHIP Him

John 4:18-24 - [23] But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. [24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The reason God is seeking sinners is He's looking for WORSHIPPERS. Jesus told the woman at Samaria that the hour was coming and NOW IS that the Father would have to worshipped in SPIRIT and IN TRUTH. Sinners make great worshippers. Have you ever noticed in the gospels the type people Jesus was allowed to heal and touch? It was sinners! It was people who were the outcasts of society. Believe me, this Samaritan woman would NOT have received a ministerial certificate from ANY denomination- not just SOME, ANY! With five husbands and a live-in- uh, I believe we can safely say that this would have made for great fodder among the boards of many churches. BUT JESUS CHOSE TO REVEAL TO HER THE REVELATION OF WORSHIP for eternity! And as a result of this revelation, she became the world's first woman evangelist!

We were created for worship! When we come to church, we need to be coming to worship GOD! God help us, a poor drug addict gets saved and delivered and we never see them ashamed of lifting their hands or praising God or being happy about Jesus. NO! It's us old mossy-back dyed in the wool Pharisees who think we did heaven a favor by accepting God's grace for our lives. It's those who think heaven is keeping a scorecard of all their great deeds on earth. FRIEND that isn't worship! WORSHIP IS DONE IN SPIRIT and in TRUTH. The Spirit speaks of the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit Is A Worshipper

When we are born-again the Holy Spirit lives inside us. After one is baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues their entire worship experience takes on an even deeper meaning.

Our worship exercises in our churches border on hysterical. To see some churches try to put on a worship service you'd think Hollywood itself had set up shop. It's not in the mechanics. God isn't' moved with our programs - He's moved with our hearts and spirits! When a soul who has been lost lifts his hands to heaven and thanks God for the grace and love the Father has bestowed upon him - THAT MOVES GOD! When a soul who was bound in sin recognizes the depravity of his life before God changed Him and he lifts his hands weeping and praising God with not only his heart but his mouth - THAT MOVES GOD. It's not in the amount of noise either. Worship sometimes takes on its most powerful form when we just stand before God silently and allow His Spirit to flow over us and touch us and anoint us like a bottle of oil. I can remember in 1993 during a time I was seeing the holy laughter break out in the Body of Christ that some of the greatest moments during the services I attended was not the moments when everyone was running aisles - it was when we got so quiet and just allowed the Holy Spirit and move on us that messages in tongues would come - miracles would happen, prophecies would be given and so on.

Worship is an individual act. We cannot hang onto the coattails of worship of an ancestors. Many people today don't worship God in the Spirit because their relatives would be offended at that. Friend, LET THEM BE OFFENDED! Worship GOD! Worship the Lord. Praise the Lord. There are many elements to worship. My brother Todd has been given great revelation on these different levels and I encourage you to read up on his intercessory worship study at our family site- Threemacs.org. It will change you. But when we are saved, we are saved to WORSHIP! We're not saved to sit on our seat of do-nothing and criticize and act like Polar bears on Sunday! We're saved and created to WORSHIP GOD!

In Truth

The other way we must worship the Lord is IN TRUTH. There has been a lot of interpretation on what this means. I believe it speaks of our union WITH THE TRUTH - CHRIST, not so much our knowledge of the truth. Many people have a great amount of knowledge but don't know how to worship. Remember this. We can't worship someone in TRUTH we don't know! Many lift their hands to a God they don't pray to. Many sing songs in church about a Christ they have really never met personally. Believe me - when we know the Lord we will NOT be ashamed to lift our hands to Him. What makes some people uncomfortable with lifting their hands and praising God is the fact they don't KNOW HIM! Another aspect of this deals with unconfessed sin. When we worship with a clean heart it is MUCH easier to lift our hands! A person can clap their hands and go through a ritual or routine of worship but something powerful happens when we lift our hands in surrender to the Lord. By lifting our hands we are saying "search my heart and cleanse me." Usually when we are harboring sin or sins, it becomes much harder to do that!

We MUST worship in SPIRIT and IN TRUTH! Why? Because the FATHER SEEKETH SUCH.

Fallen and Hurting People Are The Such God Is Seeking

The Father is seeking SUCH to worship Him! Who are the such? It's those of us who are not ashamed of our Father and have embraced His love for us and our lives. God's love and judgment are intertwined. Even in His judgment, He is always showing His love. Love without chastisement is not love. God will delay chastisement for as long as He can on a child of His. His first avenue to draw us to repentance is His GOODNESS. Paul said in Romans HIS GOODNESS leads us to Repentance. When we refuse His goodness then He must deal us with chastisement. But even in His chastisement - His purposes are higher than revenge and retribution. He's wanting us to become VESSELS OF HONOR! Sometimes that process can take on some painful turns. Sometimes it can put us in places where we start doubting the Lord's love for us even. Satan is a master deceiver and accuser. He is always busy accusing God to us and making us feel the Lord has somehow abandoned us and the things we are experiencing are things God is happy to be doing to us. That's A LIE!

God has a master plan for the human race. And for those who come to Him through Jesus Christ become His children. If He didn't deal with us about our sins and failures, He wouldn't love us. If He never chastised us as children then as His word says - we are probably NOT HIS CHILDREN - WE'RE BASTARDS! Strong language there but it's what Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If we never feel conviction when we do wrong - we're LOST! It's when we feel the Lord dealing with us about our lives that we know we are the SUCH He is seeking!

God Is Not Seeking The Proud

The only exception to this which I'm writing is the proud. God RESISTS the proud but He gives grace to the HUMBLE. Self-righteousness blinds us to the purposes of God. It also causes us to exalt ourselves higher than others and judge others' lives by the standard of our own - INSTEAD OF THE ONLY TRUE STANDARD - JESUS CHRIST. One may say, well, that's a HIGHER STANDARD! Yes it is, but the truth is NO ONE CAN MEET THAT STANDARD! That's why we must be cognizance of the fact that without God's GRACE on our own lives we won't meet that standard either. For that reason, we should NEVER judge anyone else in relations to their own failures and problems.

Mercy always triumphs over judgment. They who live by the law DIE by the LAW! They who live by the SWORD DIE BY THE SWORD! When things happen to us in life the enemy wants us to pick up a sword - the Lord wants us to WORSHIP! He is seeking SUCH! He will not seek us out if we think we are "good." He will not seek us out if we think we have arrived spiritually and we don't need Him or His instruction through His word and Spirit. He will not seek us if we are self-righteous and proud and feel we have no faults or sins in our life. He will not seek us out if we have hardened our heart and are no longer sensitive to His Spirit. He's seeking those who recognize they are LOST and need HIM! He's seeking those who want to WORSHIP HIM in Spirit and in TRUTH!

The church hurts people instead of helping them. So many of the "SUCH" the Father looks far never make it into a normal church family because they feel so condemned by their past mistakes and many in the church make sure they don't EVER forget those mistakes! But the WORST SINNERS usually make the BEST WORSHIPPERS! Why? Because they who have been forgiven the most - usually wind up LOVING and FORGIVING MUCH! That's the type of people the Father is out seeking! LOVERS and WORSHIPPERS! People who love Jesus with all their heart and soul and people who love others without an ounce of judgment and condemnation. The Father is seeking SUCH! The Father is seeking SUCH!

In Closing

We have all been in the pig slop at one time or another in our lives. Some of us more than once! No matter how many times we find ourselves there know our Father is seeking to save that which is lost! When we get saved, we must also know the Lord has saved and called us to worship HIM! He doesn't like sharing our worship with the idols of our heart. He wants us to ADORE HIM and HIM ONLY! And that's the type person the Father is seeking - those who are lost and those who are willing WORSHIP! What a concept. What a MIGHTY GOD! What a wonderful Saviour!

Neighbor, it's getting late. If you're out in the pig pen today know our Heavenly Father is out looking for you! He's sending the Holy Spirit right now to remind you of His love for you through this journal. He's letting you know through this writing that He's not forgotten! And when you come home - there is a great feast waiting - a robe, a ring, the fatted calf, but above all - a FATHER who wants to lavish you with KISSES! When heaven kisses us - we are changed from glory to glory and set free by the power of His love!

He brought me to His banqueting table, His banner over me is Love. He brought me to His banqueting table, His banner over me is love. He brought me to His banqueting table, His banner over me is Love. His banner, over me, is Love!

Heavenly Father, we thank you in Jesus name for the revelation today that You are seeking us. Many of us Lord, actually all of us today have fallen Lord and need your Forgiveness and Grace to keep us on the path of life. We need Your love to keep us pure and holy. Forgive us Jesus for offending You by our unbelief and doubt. Cleanse us from the idols of our heart. Let NOTHING be between us, our LOVE and YOU! Forgive us for loving the world more than you. Forgive us for loving possessions more than you. Forgive us for not SEEKING the Kingdom as you are SEEKING US! We praise You Lord in Jesus name, Amen!

If you are a sinner and want to know about getting saved, We'd love to hear that one who was lost is now home again! We love you. God Bless.

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