ARE YOU COMING?

“O COME, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us COME before his presence with thanksgiving, and make joyful noise unto him with psalms. . . .
O COME, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.”
(Psalm 95: 1, 2, 6).

Did you notice a beautiful word in the above Scripture? It’s the word come. It’s a lovely word, isn’t it? People are blessed when we ask them to come with us or invite them to our home. We feel special when people invite us to their home.

God loves to say Come. It’s one of His favorite words. God is a hospitable God and He wants all to come into His family and experience His love and eternal life forever and ever. He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).

God wants us to COME into His presence, rest in His presence, and joy in His presence throughout each day. We don’t just float into his presence. We COME. We act. The Hebrew word in Psalm 95 is a verb meaning “to walk, go, follow, lead, carry (maybe babies and little ones), pursue, march, and run.”

We come into God’s presence individually and collectively. We make effort to spend time with God personally, but the context of the above Scripture is togetherness. We come collectively before the Lord, first as a family, and then as a body of believers.

Each time it says come, it says, “Let US come.” It’s not only me. It’s all of us together. We make time to come into God’s presence as a family each day. We do this morning and evening in our home. For our morning devotions, I make sure everyone in the home is up at a certain time, breakfast eaten, and we are ready to come into His presence as a family. Each member of the home comes. It’s “let US.” No one sleeps in. No one is left out.

At our evening gathering, we all gather at the table to enjoy our meal together. At the end of the meal my husband reads God’s Word and then we pray and worship. Everyone is expected to be present at the meal table. No exceptions, unless it is for something special. As the mother of the home, I organize my whole schedule to make this happen every day. I want everyone in my home to COME INTO HIS PRESENCE, don’t you? Therefore, we must work to make it happen.

It’s all about COMING, ladies.

And what about our corporate gatherings, whether in small groups or large congregations? We still need to COME! We need to get ready in time, once again organizing our schedule to make sure everyone in the family is ready. We get in our cars. We get to our gathering on time. Not late. We come with eager hearts. I know some families who put the clock forward on Saturday evening to make sure they get to their service on time.

We don’t come to sit like stuffed ducks. We come with eagerness. Psalm 92 1-6 reminds us that we:

• Come to sing unto the Lord.
• Come to make a joyful noise to the Lord. Do you notice two words? Joyful! And noise! God wants us to sing to Him with everything within us—LOUDLY and JOYFULLY.
• Come with thanksgiving.
• Come with psalms--ready to share a testimony or revelation from God’s Word (v. 2).
• Come with a worshipful heart.
• Come ready to bow down in worship.
• Come to kneel before the Lord our Maker.

This sounds like a lot of action! Teach your children to respond with eager and COMING
HEARTS.

“Children, it’s supper time,” and they come running to the table

“Children, it’s time for Family Devotions,” and they come running.

“Children, it’s time to leave for church; we want to be early,” and they come running.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell
www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Thank you, dear Father, that You want us to come into Your presence. Help me to see how much You want us to come. Please put into my heart and the hearts of everyone in my family a greater desire to come into your presence. Give us the same desire to come that You have for us to come. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

My favorite word is COME. Come to my home. Come to my table. Come and enjoy God’s presence with me.

COME TOGETHER TO WORSHIP SCRIPTURES:
Psalm 5:7: “But as for me, I will COME into thy house . . .”
Psalm 34:7: “COME, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.”
Psalm 42:2: “My soul thirsted for God, for the living God: when shall I COME and appear before God?”
Psalm 66:16: “COME and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.”
Psalm 86:9: “All nations whom thou hast made shall COME and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name.”
Psalm 95:1, 2, 6: “O COME, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us COME before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. O COME, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.”
Psalm 96:8: “Bring an offering, and COME into his courts.”
Psalm 100:2: “Serve the Lord with gladness, COME before his presence with singing.”