Identity: Bondservant

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10


“But if he (the slave) says to you (the master), ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you & your household, since he is well-off with you, then you shall take an awl, & put it through his ear into the door, & he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.” Deuteronomy 15:16-18

At the end of a seven-year period, any master who owned slaves was required to set them free. Occasionally there were slaves who would refuse to leave their master because they loved their master so much. The master would then stand the man next to a door & pierce his ear by driving an awl (long pointed tool used for piercing small holes) through it into the door. The slave would then stay with his master forever as a bondservant.

A slave serves his master because he has to; a bondservant serves his master because he loves his master. Legalism serves God by trying to do well enough or be good enough, seeking somehow to earn the Lord's approval. Those under Grace serve God out of love.

In his sermon series “Beyond”, Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church defines worship as “love expressed”. Pastor Zach Neese, a worship leader at Gateway, expounds on that definition in his book “How to Worship A King” saying that worship is “love expressed God’s way”, meaning that we have varying ways of expressing ourselves, but unless we express our love in the way that is worthy of the Lord we are not expressing true love & devotion. If my husband never told me that he loves me, never kissed me, or never expressed his love for me in the way that I need for him to express his love, then I would mistaken his love because it was not expressed in a way that I can relate to. God’s boldest expression of love for us was the death of Jesus on the cross; in response I should extravagantly express my love for Him.

As a bondservant for Jesus Christ I have the gift of grace which is "the power of God to help me overcome sin" (Pastor Sion Alford). Does this mean that I am perfect? Absolutely not! I have fallen far faaaaaaar from the mark every day of my life. But I strive to serve the Lord because of my love for my Saviour. ("If you love me, you will keep my commandments." John 14:15)

“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” Romans 6:15-18

Being a bondservant requires a self-understanding of why we serve the Lord. Do I serve God because I feel required to under religious law? No, if I did then I would not be truly serving Him because I would long internally to serve my own will & desires. Do I serve God because I am afraid of the eternal option if I choose not to? No, because that service would be motivated out of fear not love. Do I serve God because He loves me & I long to devote every ounce of my being to celebrating & declaring who He is to the world around me? Yes, I strive to serve the Lord this way. I respond to His love by expressing my own love & gratitude for Him. My expression of love for God shows the world just how valuable my God is, therefore I desire to extravagantly express my love for Him to declare that He is & will always be above all. I do not need to please man or subvert my thinking to the ways of humanity, because I am a bondservant of the Most High God & my life will be lived as a living sacrifice to Him.

Whom do you serve?

Are you a bondservant?

Priests! Rise up!

One thing that I have learned about the Bible, is that it, to me, is like a giant "connect-the-dots". Everything is interwoven, & as I come to understand the meaning behind one "dot" it brings the whole picture into focus more than it had been before.

"In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." Hebrews 8:13

Today we, as Christians, live under the covering of a new covenant with God--a covenant that was promised throughout the Old Testament, one that restores us to our First Love. This covenant of Grace removes from us the pressure to be good enough before God, because no one, other than Jesus Christ can ever earn salvation. The book of Acts marks the beginning of a new covenant with the Lord, but we are able still able to perceive God's heart for His people & His pure character throughout the entirety of the Bible. I love studying the Old Testament because it provides pictures of His Grace & a promise of what Jesus Christ would bring for all of us who are in Him.

In Exodus 32, the Israelites made for themselves a golden calf & worshiped it. Moses called for those who were on the Lord's side; all the sons of Levi gathered & wiped out 3000 who were worshiping the golden calf. On that day the Levites were ordained for the Lord's service as Priests. In Deuteronomy we see the duties of a Priest--to carry the Ark of the Covenant (the presence of the Lord), to minister to God, & to bless the people. (For a deeper understanding of a Priests duties read Identity: Priests). The New Testament shows us that through Christ we are now all Priests before God (1 Peter 2:5, 9). As Priests it is important for us to understand & to carry out our duties.

Now that I have established a solid background, let's take a look at what the Lord told the nation of Israel though the prophet Malachi.

"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, 'How have we despised your name?' By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, 'How have we polluted you?' By saying that the LORD's table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts. Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. But you say, 'What a weariness this is,' and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.
Malachi 1:6-14

The Lord is speaking directly to the Priests of Israel. The sacrifices that the Priests had instructed the people to bring to God were the lame, mutilated, & diseased animals within their flocks. God points out that if they were to bring that to their government, it would not be accepted, so why would they offer such a poor offering to the Lord.

The sacrifices that we bring to God are a way that we express our love for Him. He is worthy of our best because of who He is! Under the covenant of Grace we do not have to offer animal sacrifices to the Lord anymore. (Thankfully. I get a bit queasy at the sight of blood.) However we are still to bring an offering to God. The reason it is called a sacrifice is because it was a sacrifice to give it. When we offer our finances to God, but do not make a sacrifice in it we are offering a "polluted sacrifice".

For example, in Mark 12 when Jesus went into the temple to watch how people gave money, He was not looking for the person who gave the greatest gift to God, but the person who made a sacrifice from the heart. To the Lord, the widow who gave two small copper coins gave far & above what any other had given.

Please don't misunderstand me. I am certainly not speaking from a position of perfection in this area. I have continually given the Lord far less than He deserves far too many times over the course of my life. I have worshiped my finances as I feared the outcome of the month instead of submitting my finances to the Lord & offering Him a sacrifice from my heart first. Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church said "We worship what we fear the most". Israel feared hunger in the desert & worshiped a golden calf. We worship money when we hoard it instead of submitting our finances to God. We as Priests need to model how to give with a heart filled with love for our Saviour. Worship is love expressed & we are to express our love by sacrificing the best we have to God.

Another piece to note from the text is that the Priests grew weary of offering sacrifices to God. In other words, they viewed worship as a chore instead of a privilege. God has always been more concerned about the attitude behind the act. We cannot enter into His presence if we view it as an obligation. We are blessed to have access into God's presence! When we worship God from our hearts, He shows up & meets with us! In Hebrew it is the word mishkan, which means Tabernacle or a dwelling place with God! And when the Lord shows up He meets His peoples needs. Praise the Lord!!

"And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction."
Malachi 2:1-9

In the beginning of chapter 2, the Lord actually tells the Priests that if they do not have a heart change & honour the Lord with their offerings, He will spread dung on their faces. Poop. But not just any poop, the poop of the animals they are sacrificing! He is going to spread poop on their faces, poop on their offerings, & they will be taken away with the poop. When they sacrificed an animal they would take the skin, head, legs, entrails, & dung outside to be burned. (Leviticus 4:11-12) I believe that this is symbolic of Hell...as harsh as that may seem.

Then the text brightens up a bit & the Lord recalls His covenant of peace with Levi. The house of Levi feared the Lord & gave reverence to His great Name. They had a responsibility to instruct the people of Israel & to teach them how to follow the ways of the Lord. Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest! (Hebrews 4:14-16) He instructs us in the ways of a Priest & we are to follow His leading.

I strongly believe that the reason our society is in such a deteriorated state is because the people of God have not risen up & withheld their Priestly duties. We are to be set apart from the world & we are to engage Heaven's culture here on earth, but instead we are following the world's example. The culture of the United States continues to become more & more corrupt & people are shaking their fists at God saying that we know better than He does. The Priests of God need to rise up & reclaim our duty to teach the world how to honour the Lord! They do not know how because they have not seen an example of it!

Malachi goes on to discuss marriage in 2:10-16. The Lord expresses His favour over marriage between a man & the wife of his youth--that is a man's first wife. "Did He not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?" The Holy Spirit resides in God's plan for marriage! God's plan for marriage is a man & a woman together until death parts them. Maybe the reason our culture is choosing to dishonour marriage by aggressively pushing same-sex-marriage is because they have not seen the Priests of the Lord honouring marriage from a Biblical stance.

Let us reclaim our responsibilities as Priests of the Most High God & begin to instruct the world around us in His ways. Let us restore the culture of Heaven to Earth & put the Lord first in ALL that we do. Let us give praise, honour, adoration, & true worship to the only One deserving. Let us express our love for God in such a way that the world cannot help but be mesmerized by our outpouring. Let us seek His Face & ignite this world with an excitement & see the presence of God manifested upon the face of the earth unlike any other generation has seen before! Let us carry the freedom of God's grace to all peoples.

Pride and Humility

“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Pride is a tricky thing. It is difficult to recognize within yourself, yet we are quick to see it in other people. When we are behaving under the influence of pride we tend to look at others as if they are just not as talented or intelligent as we are. Pride seeks to draw a focus to ourselves in the hope that people will praise us. Pride can also be the refusal to recognize where we are wrong. 

As embarrassing as it is for me to admit, I have struggled with the issue of pride a lot throughout my life. I realize that the embarrassment I feel is also rooted in pride, in that I do not want to spoil how others perceive me. It became a means for me to internally pass judgement upon other people. Many times as I led worship I would be so focused on how my voice sounded that I was unable to minister to God. I was also overlooking my duty to host a meeting place between God & His people. Thankfully God still showed up because He loves His people & He wants to be with them. 


About a month ago God spoke to me & revealed to me my pride. Not only did He reveal my pride to me, but He affirmed His grace over me. Since that moment, the Lord has been revealing a lot to me--things He was unable to reveal to me while I was steeped in pride. Sin is rooted in pride, or to paint a picture "Pride is the soil that sin grows in" (Sion Alford, Gateway Church). I am going to go out on a limb & say that we are never more like Satan than when our hearts are filled with pride. That may sound harsh, but take a look at why Satan was cast out of heaven: 

Thus says the Lord GOD: "You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you." Ezekiel 28:12-17

Satan became proud of his beauty & the gifts God had given to him. Isaiah 14 speaks of how he tried to elevate himself above God. He abandoned his role as a worshiper of the Most High God & attempted to become a consumer of worship & without any fight God cast him down. Not because God was threatened or jealous, but because God is the only One who is deserving of worship. 

Pride is an attempt to elevate ourselves. When I sin I have the option to either react in pride & refuse to recognize my sin or I can repent & turn my life around. When I refused to recognize my sin as sin I was still covered under the Grace of God, ("but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." Romans 5:20b), but due to my lack of repentance He was unable to use me in the ways He has purposed for my life.

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." 1 John 1:8-10

We live in a world that increasingly refuses to recognize sin as sin. The world has even twisted & misinterpreted Scripture in order to support their case. I myself have sought to justify my sin instead of repenting & turning away from it enabling me to embrace the freedom that can only be found in His Grace! I choose to submit myself to & seek after the culture of heaven instead of trying to subject heaven's culture to the world around me. The Bible is true for yesterday, today, & tomorrow. It needs no correction, it is not subject to changes in science--God wrote science & all of creation points to His divine detail.

We no longer have a set of rules to follow because the Lord has written it upon our hearts! (Jeremiah 31:33) We obey Him not out of obligation, but because we love Him so much! I do not need a list of rules in order to be faithful to my husband, I am faithful to him because I love & cherish him--I want to keep a large distance from anything that would cause his heart to be grieved or broken. I desire the same relationship between myself & my Lord! I want everything I do in life to display my love for God.
A picture of our Lord that is continually painted throughout the entire Bible is that He loves us so much that His deepest desire is to dwell among us & to be our God. From the Garden of Eden through to Revelation He wants to dwell among us. "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:3-4 (See also Exodus 29:45; Leviticus 26:12; Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 27:9; 1 Samuel 12:22; 2 Samuel 7:24; 1 Chronicles 17:22; Isaiah 43:21; Jeremiah 24:7; 30:22; 31:1, 33; 32:38; Ezekiel 11:20; 14:11; 36:22-28; 37: 23, 27; Zechariah 8:8; 2 Corinthians 6:16-18; 1 Peter 2:10) He wants to dwell with His people! Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross was to cover our sin & make us pure in God's sight so that we can dwell with Him as He intended for us!
I desire to humble myself under His mighty hand & exalt Him as the Lord of all who is worthy of my praise, thanksgiving, adoration, & worship. I desire to dwell with my God who spared no cost when He freed me from death. I forever want to draw nearer to my Lord, the God who wants to dwell with me. 




Lord, I desire to be close to You. Please keep my heart free from the soil of pride that can so easily take a hold. I submit my life to You & I pray that You would use me to spread the message of Your Grace to a world that is hurting & so desperately needs You. Thank You for softening my heart & creating in me an awareness of my sin. Help me to always use my gifts & abilities to bring Glory to Your great Name! I want to be used by You, Father! I love You!