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Worship And The Four Living Creatures
What the 4 Living Creatures Around God's Throne Can Teach
Us About Prophetic Worship
Rick
Joyner
We continue our study
with Revelation 4:9-11:
"When
the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the
throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down
before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him, who lives forever and ever.
“Then
they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'You are worthy, O Lord, to
receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will
they exist and were created.'"
Here, we see that
even the highest authorities in heaven, the 24 elders, cast their crowns before
the Lord.
Who could presume
glory or authority in His presence?
The
four living beings and the highest elders all worship Him, giving Him glory and
honor because all things exist by His will: "In Him we live and
move and have our being" (Acts 17:28a).
Even those who do not
acknowledge Him cannot draw a breath without Him.
Because we were
created for His pleasure, there is nothing more fulfilling or exhilarating than
worshipping Him.
Before His throne and
glory, it is impossible not to worship Him. This is meaningful to Him, but it
can be even more meaningful when we go through this life against the opposition
of the hordes of hell.
We only see Him by
faith, but we still worship Him. Therefore, our worship here in this life can
touch Him more than it can in heaven where we cannot help but bow before Him.
So do not waste your
trials, but rather worship, constantly offering the thanksgiving and praise
that He so deserves.
When we do this while
facing all that we do here, it becomes a witness, even to principalities and
powers over which the Lamb prevailed.
We are called to not
only see His throne as we obey the voice to "come up here,"
but we are also called to sit with Him on this throne (see Ephesians 2:6
and Revelation 3:21).
This begins with
seeing His throne by the Spirit, but how do we go from seeing to occupying?
Seeing the Lord — who
He is and where He sits — can bring about the greatest single change in our
life.
However, this is not
supposed to be a one-time experience. We are called to "sit" with Him
there — to abide in His authority.
This must be real and
practical, like all biblical truths that have become life to us.
Psalm 78 is an
overview of Israel's history with God, how they experienced His goodness and
yet turned away from Him over and over.
In
verses 41-42 (NKJV) we are told: "Again and again they tempted God, and
limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power: the day when
He redeemed them from the enemy."
Consider that they "limited
God." How could anyone do that?
We do it all the
time. We do it the same way Israel did, by not remembering His power.
The Lord is the
Almighty and all-powerful. As far as power is concerned, He can do whatever He
pleases.
He has purposely
limited Himself in some ways, requiring that we have faith in Him before He
will move on our behalf.
It was said of Jesus
that He could not do many works in His hometown because of their unbelief.
So we limit God when
we do not believe in His power, and we release Him to use His power on our
behalf when we believe in His power.
So we should
continually seek to see Him — who He is and where He sits — on His throne that
is above all other powers or authorities.
We do this by seeking
to see Him in everything that we're doing, and including Him in all parts of
our life.
When
the Lord was asked His name, He said that it is "I Am." His
name was not "I Was" or "I Will Be," but "I
Am."
It is a good thing to
know the history of the Lord's dealings with men and how He came as Jesus of
Nazareth.
But He is no longer
Jesus of Nazareth — He is the Lord of glory, who sits on a throne of authority
above all others.
It is a good thing to
see Him as the coming King, but the way we must see Him today is who He is
today.
That's
why we are exhorted by the Scriptures, "Today if you hear His
voice" (Psalm
95:7, MEV)
and "now is the accepted time; look, now is the day of
salvation" (2
Corinthians 6:2).
How would our lives be
changed if we remembered the Lord's power when facing every challenge that
comes to us, and prayed with faith for His intervention?
What would happen if
we stopped limiting God by not remembering His power, and started releasing Him
and His power into the earth by always seeing Him as He is now, where He sits
now, and even began to sit there with Him?
We would begin to
live one of the most extraordinary and powerful lives ever. That is our
calling.
Rick
Joyner is
the founder and executive director of MorningStar Ministries and Heritage
International Ministries and is the senior pastor of MorningStar Fellowship
Church. He is the author of more than 40 books, including The Final Quest, A
Prophetic History, and Church History. He is also the president of The OAK
Initiative, an interdenominational movement that is mobilizing thousands of
Christians to be engaged in the great issues of our times, being the salt and
light that they are called to be.
This
article originally appeared at morningstarministries.org.
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