The Shining

Psalm 118:27 (NLT) "The LORD is God, shining upon us. Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar."

The first half of that is awesome – the 2nd half... not so much.

We sing the song "Made To Worship", but did you to know that you have a calling, a purpose in life... that God loves you in such an awesome way? He has such affection for us... and here is the reason why...

Ezekiel 28:1-10 is talking about a man, a "Prince" of Tyre. We know this because in verse 1 it says "Because your heart is lifted up, And you say, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas,' Yet you are a man, and not a god...".

But in the middle of the chapter, a comparison begins to be made of the human prince, to Satan himself. Starting in verse 12... "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.

The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you;
You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.

16 By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God..."

Now, we know it was Satan that is now being referred to, so here are 3 points:

1. God prepared musical instruments for Satan in Heaven and anointed him as worship leader in heaven.
2. His job was to reflect God's glory to the rest of His creation. Why else would he be clothed in that outrageous outfit!?
3. He was eternally fired from that job.

Then here is what happened: Mankind was designed to take his place.

Genesis 1:26
 "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...'"

So God created us – to be a reflection of Himself, to show (as in a mirror image) His glory to all creation. But then it happened AGAIN. The very ones He hired to take the place of satan, sinned. When they did, they lost the covering of God's glory, and became naked...

In Genesis chapter 3, Adam said he hid from God, and God said "Who told you, you were naked?" Adam, had lost the covering of the glory of God.

Sin robs us of our true life's purpose.

Satan hates the fact though, that God did not leave it that way, the same way he left it with him. Satan was banished for eternity, we were given a second chance...

2 Cor 3:7 "But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?...

16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

You were redeemed to be a reflection through worship of God's light to the world. When you get into God's glory through worship, you become a giant intense mirror. You begin to operate in your purpose.

You are not a loser, you are not a nobody, you are not fatherless, you are not worthless, stop believing the lie of the devil that says you have no purpose and you should stay calm during worship – you have a reason to jump and shout!

Why?

1 Peter 2:9
 "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light!"

When you worship, you fulfill your purpose in life. To be a reflection of God to the world. When you worship with all your heart, guess what... you look just like your Daddy.

God loves it when we worship. And when we sing, we are singing songs back to him. Notice I said back to Him...

The other day, when I was praying about this message, my friend Nathan Gifford's song "Great Is Your Faithfulness" was something flowing through my spirit. As I was singing and praying, the Lord spoke to me. I heard Him say "Do you know why He wrote that song"? (it was during prayer at the Tuesday 12 noon prayer hour at church) I said, no, Lord, why... He said "It was because I was singing a song over him, that I would always be faithful to him. He over heard me, and began singing it on earth".

I thought to myself, wow, God is singing songs over us? Then the Lord led me to this scripture...

Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJV) "The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

So what gets in the way of the rejoicing, what gets in the way of the song... what keeps us from hearing the song He has for us?

The same problem satan had... pride.

Remember the first scripture we started with had 2 parts:

Psalm 118:27 (NLT) "The LORD is God, shining upon us. Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar."

The altar had 4 horns in the Old Testament. The lamb, or animal would not sit still, it had to be strapped down, to finally be sacrificed and die.

Pride will not sit still. Pride will not stay on the altar and die willingly. It has to be tied down.

With every lifted hand, another cord comes down; with every shout , another cord is strapped around; with every dance, each cord is fastened. When the sacrifice has been fully secured, it's life can be taken.

Lord, I pray that you would take my life life as I lay it on the altar of sacrifice, ready to praise your name, and binding my pride to the altar with chords of joy, chords of dancing, and chords of shouting your name.

Let my light shine before men, to the Glory of God, reflecting His glory over all the earth.