Article 8

Posted on 12/02/2013 by Jason Ministries

On My Knees, by CCM artist Jaci Velasquez, was just one of about eight singles released from her major label debut album called Heavenly Place. The song is about prayer, and how God can grow us and make us into the faithful, peaceful believers He has called each of us to be.

Verse one reveals how life exposes all of us to good and bad times, but because of our connection to God, through prayer, we can endure the “ebbs and flows” of life. We can even be content, at peace, and surprisingly joyful.

The chorus is simple, and reveals that we may never understand the power that prayer connects us to, but that doesn’t change the fact that God’s power does flow from Himself and into our lives through prayer. Prayer is essential to our daily walk with God, just as much so as reading God’s Word is.

Praying is so simple, and requires nothing more than a humble spirit, an openness towards Almighty God, and a willingness to hear His voice and obey His commands. There is no special ritual or religious rite that must be adhered to. Just simply speak, listen, trust and be faithful to obey (2 Chronicles 7:14-15).

We can pray about anything that concerns us, interests us, or preoccupies our day-to-day lives. No subject or situation is beyond God’s ability to understand, and you certainly will not be bothering God, or disturbing Him from some other task or duty. God wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to tell Him about the things that are on our minds. No one thing is too small, or too petty, for God to draw near and listen to us speak about it. He loves each of us that much.

If you are one of the many who claim that God never answers your prayers, then consider the reasons why He may not have done so. It could be you lacked true belief that God would answer your prayer (Matthew 21:22; Hebrews 11:6; James 1:6-8). Another reason is that you may have asked for something out of selfish reasons, or you may have asked for something that would not benefit you (James 4:3). Or maybe, just maybe mind you, you asked for something that went against God’s will for your life (John 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15). Sin in our lives can also be a factor (Proverbs 15:29; Isaiah 59:1-2; Ezekiel 14:3). Maybe we ignored people around us who needed our help (Proverbs 21:13). Whatever the case may be, humble yourself before God and ask that He reveal to you the reason, and ask that He make you open to hearing His voice and to obeying His will for you.

Maybe you’re one who thinks he/she hasn’t had their prayers answered, but God actually did and you simply managed to miss His divine response. That does happen, and more often than you would think. God always answers our prayers based on His will for each of us, and does so in His own time; in His own way (Ecclesiastes 3:11; Isaiah 55:8). It could be that God chose to answer you, but He has delayed His divine reply so that He can receive the glory more fully (John 11:1-44). It could be that God sent His answer, but Satan or one of his many demons has blocked the angel dispatched to deliver it (Daniel 10:12-13). But more than likely, God has already answered and you have not realized it because the response came about in a different manner than expected.

There are those who want to pray, but feel as though they don’t know how, or don’t know what to say. If this is you, pray anyway. God’s Holy Spirit mediates for us, and interprets our prayers to our Creator (Romans 8:26-27). God is going to always know what our concerns, desires, needs and wants are. Vocalizing our requests through prayer is not for His benefit — it’s for ours. We must be faithful to spend time with God in prayer (Psalms 5:2-3; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). This allows a special intimacy to exist between us and our Creator.

As verse two, from the song On My Knees, indicates we can be in a crowd or alone — it doesn’t matter — God is there and will hear our prayer. There is no place too exposed, or too hidden, that God is not already there waiting and watching for us; ready to listen and speak to us. That’s just what our loving, heavenly Father does. He longs to hear our voices speak to Him, and we should long to hear His voice, too. Spending time talking to God, and listening to Him, is what will grow us into the true worshipers that He has called each of us to be.

So let me encourage you to get on your knees, daily. Sit before the Lord, God Almighty, and let His love change you. You’ll never really know how, but you can still experience the power of God, in your life, when you get on your knees and pray (James 4:10).

Living Your True Purpose by J. Scott Harden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at jasonmin.wordpress.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.jsnmin.org.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

If your church or organization would like to talk with J. Scott Harden about a speaking engagement, or a writing project, please get in touch with Mr. Harden through Jason Ministries‘ Twitter account or Facebook page.

Article I

Posted on 03/05/2012 by Jason Ministries

Contemporary Christian music (a.k.a. CCM), which stems from the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s, has introduced many talented performers/singers over its 40+ year history. And like any of the other industry genres, there are only a few artists whose music has stood the test of time. Carman is one of those artists. Though he’s now primarily seen and heard on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (a.k.a. TBN), Carman’s music is still known for its varied styles and strong Gospel message.

When he was touring, Carman (full name: Carman Domenic Licciardello) was a charismatic sight to behold. His concerts were incredible experiences; more like a rock-n-roll, Billy Graham Crusade than a church event. After each concert, hundreds of people would work their way down to the counseling area to accept Christ; often as many as 5,000 in an evening. Amazingly, admission to a Carman concert was usually free and an offering generally was taken.

Carman could fill the largest of stadiums, too, and did. In fact, Carman holds the record for the largest Christian music concert ever. It took place in Dallas, Texas, at the famed Texas Stadium (former home of the Dallas Cowboys). But more than that, if you take the mega stadium acts that played the famed landmark (Pink Floyd, U2, Madonna, The Jackson Five, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, Metallica, et al.) you’ll see that, as the newspapers noted, the one act that drew the highest attendance in Texas Stadium’s history was Carman, with 71,132 in attendance.

Carman’s ability to cover any style of music, from Gospel/R&B to Rock-a-Billy, from ballads to Hip-Hop, made him appealing to all walks-of-life. The name “Carman” assured listeners that his albums would take its listeners on a journey that wasn’t just an all-American cultural trip through popular musical styles, but was also a deep walk into all things theological. Take the song Yahweh, as an example. It’s from Carman’s 1983 album Sunday’s On The Way:

Verse 1:
Call thy walls salvation,
Call thy gates praised.
There’ll be no moon to light the nights,
No sun to light the days.
For God shall be thy glory,
An everlasting light.
The Lord shall reign forever,
In power and in might.

Chorus:
His name is Yahweh.
The Lord is one. (repeat)
Alpha and Omega,
Beginning and The End.
The Word, Who reigns forever.
Yahweh. Redeemer. Friend.

Verse 2:
His people shall be righteous,
They shall possess this land.
The branches of His plantings,
And the works of His hands.
For from a small beginning,
A mighty nation grows.
And in the fullness of His time,
The whole wide world will know (repeat chorus).

There, in simple melody, is a lyric so full of the truth of who our Creator is — Yahweh! Hear this song and you’ll have these words embedded in your mind. Meditate on them and you’ll grow in this lyric’s basic truth; Yahweh, is everything humanity needs and so much more. Let’s look deeper into the meaning of the name “Yahweh,” one of the three primary names of God (Elohim/Deity).

First, before we can understand the names of God, we must understand the nature of Hebrew names. Hebrew names are not meant to be just formal titles used to identify one person from another, as they are in our western culture. No, they are actually sentences within themselves. It’s very similar, in fact, to how Native-Americans named their children. You know, names like “Crazy Horse,” “Sitting Bull,” “Black Hawk,” etc. which weren’t exactly complete sentences, like the Hebrew names were, but descriptions of the individual’s perceived character traits. Our Creator’s name, Yahweh, is a full sentence and it’s the shortest sentence in any language. So, what is this short sentence? What does the name “Yahweh” mean, in English? The answer is, stated simply — “I AM.”

Let’s look back into the Old Testament book of Exodus when the Almighty first declared His name to be Yahweh — I AM. In Exodus chapter 3, Moses is seen on the mountain of God talking to the angel of the Lord, who is speaking from a bush that appears to be burning, but it’s not being consumed. It’s here that God tells Moses that He has chosen him to return to Egypt and command Pharaoh to let the Israelites go free. To which Moses immediately begins his argument with God that he can’t go for various reasons, one of which is Moses doesn’t know God’s name. We pick up in verse 13-14:

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His Name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM Who I AM [Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh]. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM [Yahweh] has sent me to you.’”

Many scholars believe that Yahweh, actually spelled YHWH in the Hebrew language, is the third person singular form of the ancient Hebrew verb “haya,” which means in English “to be.” The basic driving force of this verb describes a state of existence. As the third person form of haya, the name “Yahweh” literally means “He [God] is,” or “He [Elohim] exists.” It’s a description of who God Almighty, is. He is “The Self-Existing One.” Ponder that thought for a moment (selah/pause). He is “The Self-Existing One.” How’s that for a name!? God is “The Self-Existing One.” It blows the mind a bit, doesn’t it? God reveals to us in His name, the name “Yahweh,” that He always has been and always will be. God (Elohim/Deity) was not created or birthed, but exists. Allow me to reiterate this truth — God (Elohim) has always existed, and will always exist. Truly awesome!

Every name of God revealed to the Hebrews, as you will see throughout this study, was to reveal some portion of Himself and His nature to mankind. And in doing so, our Lord, Yahweh, calls us to be in awe of Him, of Who He is — to worship Him.

If you will recall from our study on worship, known as The Joshua Project, we learned that God has laid out a formula for calling His own into worshiping Him. The formula is simply this: if we will come to know the attributes of God, and also acknowledge those attributes in our lives, then God will produce the actions in us that equal true worship.

(Knowing the attributes of God + acknowledging and applying the attributes of God in us = true worship)

The same becomes true of knowing and understanding the meaning of God’s various other names. God (Elohim) is the Lord, Yahweh — “I AM.” The Self-Existing One. This name of God describes who He is, and discovering who the Almighty is will call us — even move us — to worship Him!

(Knowing God’s names + learning and understanding the meanings of God’s names = true worship)

When God revealed His name to mankind, it was not merely so we could know what to call Him (i.e. give Him a formal title), but it was to reveal to us all something about Himself, His nature, and His attributes and thus call His creation to worship Him, The Self-Existing One.

Once more, everybody — selah!

His Name Is . . . by J. Scott Harden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://jasonmin.wordpress.com/.

If you want to use these lyrics, please contact the authors, artists or labs.

Jason Ministries ®

Teaching the Church its Purpose – True Worship

Category Archives: answer

Article 8

Article I