Praise and Worship is an invitation for God to come

There are 2 aspects to praise and worship:  One, we praise and worship God for who He is, and two, we praise and worship Him for what He has done for us.

We, for example, do NOT praise and worship Satan, although some people do(!), and the reason we don’t is because of who he, Satan, is.  We praise and worship God because of His character, and is good and unchanging character, and so, reliable and dependable.  We praise and worship God because of what He stands for (in fact, who He is), holiness.  This is apart from what He has or has NOT done for us, specifically, say, today, this week or this month. 

Because of who He is, we know already, He has done and is doing much in the “backdrops”, and what He did and is doing in such, were and are for our good.  It is absolutely right to say there is no day where God has NOT done good to me.  I woke up this morning, alive, God has sustained me; the sun is still in its place and shining, God has done good to me, even though, this good is also done for others, that the sun is still in its place and shining as before.  God has put the celestial bodies in their place, and that act of God is providing good to me, all the time. 

Many take such for granted, and they would NOT think they ought to be thankful to God, and so, won’t  praise and worship God (re Romans 1:19-21).   Some would NOT even notice it, if they have missed a heartbeat, so to speak; hopefully, something, and to different people, different thing, something/happening will make them sit up to the goodness of God. Some are so hardened of heart, I suppose, even when the sun drops from the sky, so to speak, they still don’t realise how God has been good to us, men, because of who He is.

David recognised the goodness of God towards us, men, can you? David’s psalm 8:3-4 -  “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”

Oh, God, how we take for granted your quiet grace flowing out to us, all the time.

Next, we also give thank-giving praise and worship to God, for what He has specifically done in our lives.  Is it enough to have praised and worshiped Him for who He is or even for what He has done for us, generically (with other people also receiving along with us)?  The answer is no; NOT enough.  I give a simple illustration:

You have good parents, and I hope you have or have had (if you don’t, I pray you can learn to look to the Father God, for He is the perfect father; and He can be that perfect father to you, if you allow Him to).  Good parents being good, they of course, do all the base things, like they will provide you (FOC) good food, clothing and shelter, and if possible, education, and if they are believing parents, teach you and encourage you in the things of the faith.  When you were small, the breakfast was made ready waiting for you to eat; your school uniform ironed and ready for you to wear, before you go to school, and when you come back home, lunch or dinner were also provided for you.  These formed some of the “backdrops” of your life.  Many of us then, did NOT think very much about how good our parents have been.  Some of us might have even considered it natural of them, the parents, to do all of those backdrops, for that was what they were – good parents and good parents do those things-what!

The more appreciative ones amongst us, might have thanked our parents from time to time, for all the goodness they did in the “background things”.  But over and on top of these, there are many other things good parents do for their children, which their children ought to have noted and expressed their appreciation, too.  For example, I did this:

My kids (or even your kids or any school kid) were supposed to take care of this: to bring whatever books, files, homework or project work, etc, to school according to their school timetables.  One of my kids, repeatedly, forgotten to bring this and that, to school, and he would be punished for the oversight.  Some of the times, I would separately bring the stuff to school for him; that was really NOT what I was supposed to do; it was the kid’s reasonable duty to take care of that.  Shouldn’t he, my boy, be thankful for my coming to his aid for the specific problems he got himself into, which reasonably he ought NOT have gotten into?! 

The process of him realising he was NOT doing his part, and then asking for help, and then learning, albeit over multiple occasions, to be appreciative and thankful, did him good.  Especially, the last bit of it, the appreciation and thankfulness bit, when he repeatedly did that (for he repeated his mistakes), it NOT only showed his attitude (that he took NOT, his father for granted, after some time), it tenderised his heart (heart gets hardened when we numb our conscience) as he was before his father, and expressed his appreciation, each time. 

I am NOT God, and so, occasionally, I would tell him I could NOT make it (can be that particular time, the punishment would NOT be too serious for the boy; or it could be I really I had something very important to attend to).  That too, he soon learned to be appreciative.  Do you know that God, sometimes, does the same, although NOT for the reason that He cannot be omni-present (or that He cannot send his angel); only I am limited, God is NOT; but God does want us to appreciate there is such thing as our reasonable duty that we ought to learn to take care.

Thanking God, praising Him and worshiping Him for it, the “He gone out of His way to help you, specifically”, is important.  First, we need to understand that thanking, praising and worshiping, they are NOT blind, meaning you cannot say you express thanks when you thank nobody, you cannot say you praised and worshipped when you praised and worshipped nobody.  Who do you express thanks, praise and worship to?  If you are sincere, God will be right there, to receive your thanks, praise or worship. 

When our child wants to express thanks to us, parents, do you tell your child, “My boy, when you express your thanks, just face any tree you can find, and say it to the tree, or if you cannot find a tree, just say to the grass!”?  No; the same is with God, when you thank Him, praise Him and worship Him, it is NOT you are here, in this church hall, and God is light years away, in some corner of the universe, can’t see or hear you!  When your heart is right, He is right there in the room with you, to give ear to your expression. 

Nowadays, on the internet many interpretations are written for various verses in the Bible, and NOT surprising, Ps 22:3 is NOT spared.  But I will still say Ps 22:3 fits right in here.  And the version that fits it in, is the KJV: “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

Some people, being legalistic, they would say, “If God has to inhabit the praises of God’s people, then we are bigger than God!” or “If God lives on the praises of His people, then God is here when we praise, AND God is NOT here when we do all of the other stuff, like praying, etc”.  Some even suggested that mutual exclusivity of verses implied this cannot be translation, that God inhabits the praises of people, arguing that Scripture has this verse of, when 2 or 3 are gathered in His name, God will be in their midst, with no praise mentioned in this “gathering” verse!  Or another said, “If God inhabits the praises of the people, we could manipulate God!”

To me, what David was trying to express was that despite, he then, NOT seeing the hand of God for him (Ps 22:1-2) (NOT yet), God was righteous (I use a lesser word to holy, just to make it easier to understand), and God was always being praised (or thankfully praised) (by the Israelites, the people of God).  Was David saying God was present, “evidenced” by the praises of the people?  Yes.  The Tabernacle and the Temple with presence of God in the Tabernacle or Temple, it primed people to have that understanding, and David was with that understanding, and David came up with the Tabernacle of Praise.  What do you think motivated David to set up the Tabernacle of Praise; I say, it is because he understood God inhabits the praises of the people.  And where God is truly enthroned, there is bound to be praises as an element of His glory (I explain this a little further down this article).

Now if I eat plain bread always (like for every meal), it is either I love plain bread, like it so much, that when you say there is plain bread, I would come to devour it, or I really don’t like it, but it is about the cheapest stuff I can afford, so, I eat it so very often!  Now, God is NOT me, the latter (reason) cannot be the case for God; if He doesn’t like, He does NOT need to eat it, does He?!  Of course, NOT.  It (His inhabiting the praises) is because God loves it, the praises.  If He does NOT like it, He can, NOT eat it, silly; He is God! 

We just had Palm Sunday (and Easter is coming).  In the first Palm Sunday (Luke 19:37-40), when Jesus was entering Jerusalem, and when multitudes and Jesus’ disciples praised God, some Pharisees told Jesus to stop His disciples.  Jesus answered, “"I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

Jesus said the very stones would praise God.  In other words, God wants the praises; if there was no praise, God would make the stones praise Him. 

True praises speak of who God is.  This scene was an “enthroning” scene.  Where God is truly enthroned, who He is, just necessarily “occupies” or “fills” the place or atmosphere.  The same was shown us of the throne in Heaven.  But before we look there, I remind that when Jesus first came, was born, there was praise; Luke 2:13 – “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,”

In the Book of Revelation, God was shown enthroned, and praise was in the air – the 4 heavenly creatures (although NOT stones) were praising God, 24/7 (day and night).  Praises and worship of Him show who God is; where He is truly enthroned, there you will find praise and worship.  It is so wrong to insinuate we, men, are bigger, because God “needs” us to praise Him, or that we could manipulate God!  So very silly, God “needs” you to share the Gospel or do the Great Commission, you are bigger than God; you can manipulate God?

An acceptable way of viewing praise and worship is that it is part of or an element of His manifold glory.  Scripture speaks about us to ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name.  How do we do that?  Ps 29:2 gives us one important way – “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”  It is part of God’s glory, if you don’t give it, He may make the creatures or even the stones, to cry out the praise and worship.  So, it is right and proper for us, and we should do it, to ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name, whenever there has been a specific works God done for us, and the way we do that includes giving thanksgiving praise.

What we are to go away with, on this (this revelation on “God inhabits the praises and worship”), is: Where God is enthroned, praises and worship will most likely to be present, as a manifest of His glory; and when there are praises and worship done in spirit and in truth, God is most likely to come there.  We don’t manipulate Him (and don’t do that, please); we invite Him to come to take the seat of highest honor in the house, so to speak, with our praise and worship, and He will come.

Bro Anthony, can you give us a precise example from Scripture where praise and worship was employed to usher the coming of God, and God came and acted in favour? Yes, I can:

There was a time when Judah, under King Jehoshaphat, was about to be invaded by a vast army made up of men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir; and the King was at a loss of how they could defeat the enemy.  The King and the Israelites went before God, and a prophet received the assurance that God would be on their side and that they should NOT be afraid to face the enemy, the next day. 2 Chronicles 20:21-22 reads,

“21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.” 22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.”

Have you heard it said, praise and worship is for our good? Why praise and worship is for our good!  One angle to look at this, is: Because He is invited, and when He comes, who He is, is here.  One manifest of who He is, we have talked about, is praise and worship is present when He is present (praise and worship itself can be spirit-lifting for those present; that too, is a reason why I praise and worship God like there is no tomorrow, in church services; blessing to the body); other elements of who He is, are likely to manifest, too, and it will be good and goodness to us. 

If you cannot picture it (how it can only be good to us), picture the horrible Satan gate-crashes your party; what would happen.  Now, think about God is here, in your party. 

Now, if you still cannot get the picture, think of yourselves as children having family time with our parents; what would the loving parents do? Their love manifest forth.  The mother will go to the kitchen and see if she could come up with some food and drinks.  Dad may say, “Son, I remembered you wanted this nice backpack that you could use to go mountain-climbing.  Here, I did get it for you.  I thought I will give it to you sometime, but well, you can have it now!” When God is here, who He is manifests; His glory manifests, His holiness manifests, His love manifests, His goodness manifest, His grace and mercy manifests.  How can you be in all of these, brought on, because God is here, because you have invited Him by your praise and worship, when the sweet aroma of it reaches Him, but will NOT be touched by God, if you allow Him to; and that (allowing) must include allowing God to “do to us” what He considers best for us.  The good parents, when they know how certain food is NOT good for you, they would bring out, none, to you, for they stock none of it, in the fridge!  Only good can come to you when you truly praise and worship Him, the good God, because He comes.

You want God to come; you invite Him, by praising and worshiping Him.  You don’t manipulate Him; rather you give Him the seat of highest honor.  And you wait upon Him, and you can petition consistent to His will.

Anthony Chia, high.expression - Lord, I learn, even as I pen this article.  Thank you, Lord. Amen.

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Be careful of pride

Preamble:  This entry stems from my pondering and commenting on two consecutive blog entries on pride, of Ps Prentis, writing on his blog of “Created to give God Glory”, which I follow most regularly.   

Below are the links to the 2 articles:

1.          Bowing at the Altar of Self

2.   Standing on the backs of others won’tmake you taller (I also encourage you to read my comment on this article; the points are NOT reflected in this article)

Article verse

Hab 2:4 - "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright-- but the righteous will live by his faith.

It started with Satan

Satan’s fall from Heaven was due to pride.  Isaiah 14:12-14 gave us the picture:

12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!  13 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.  14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." 

Ezekiel 28:12-18 is conflated with Satan.  Satan was most beautiful and perfect until Iniquity was found in Him.  Iniquity birthed from pride.  Satan wanted to be like God, be seated at the High Throne, and be worshipped by all.  He probably was below One, and above all others, possibly, was the one who orchestrated worship in Heaven; yet he wanted to equal God, if NOT above God.

Pride reaches its high level when, it matters NOT, to you, what others (including God) think of you; and what matters to you is what you think of yourself.  When it is like that, it is you are placing yourself above everyone else. 

In this regard, the author of Romans, in Romans 12:3, captured it well, warning us NOT to think more highly than we ought, but rather think of ourselves with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of us. 

Think about it, that was what happened to Satan; he stopped bothering with what God thought of him, rather he thought he ought be the one be worshipped by all (equaled God, or even instead of God being worshipped).  When we say we are NOT bothered with what others think of us, it is WRONG (pride), if that “others” included God.  We must have, and have, the highest regard for what God thinks of us. Micah 6:8 said of what is required of us; one of it, is we are to walk humbly before our God.

Replication into Man

Iniquity birthed in Satan from pride; to me, the same was replicated into men, in the Fall.  The snare was the same; Gen 3:4-6 –

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.  5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

See, Satan was hinting to Eve, “You could do without God”.

Fellowship consideration

“Well, in that case, can I be ‘NOT bothered’ with what others think; I just give regards to what God thinks?”  If the others are in alignment with God, you cannot just ignore them either.  Remember, (1 John 1) if we are in the light, we have fellowship with God and with other believers in the light.  The yardstick of measurement has to be God’s words, will and desires, though.  Believers’ expectations of us, which are out of line with the yardstick, we can put aside, after we have weighed against the yardstick, but it is only after exercising sober judgment.

Romans 12 gives a good take of how we are to live it out in a community.  The point is still we are NOT called into isolation, but to live in fellowship in the light.  Life is NOT easy in such context, for where there are people, there is politics, and that is another thorny issue, and wisdom is required. We don’t bow to men, but to God; but it is NOT we bow NOT, to men and we bow NOT to anyone, NOT even God.  We submit to authority placed over us, by God.  Unhappy with leaders, and there is no higher authority?  Take your case to God.

Agreement with God

The straightforward and “easy thing to say” is to “Just do what God wills/desires you, to do; submit, obey, and follow His prescription for you”; in other words, be in agreement with God.  It is the right thing, but it is NOT necessarily easy to practise. 

Hab 2:4 ends with “but the righteous shall live by faith”, but how is it contrary to prideful behavior or living?  I often say, the simple definition of being righteous is being in agreement with God, and so, the righteous are the ones supposedly in agreement with God.  The “in agreement” is about what God wants done, and the timing thereof, too; and it is NOT mental assent, it got to be lived out. 

Why the righteous shall live by faith; it is because we proceed and we are to proceed (to live), from a “right belief”; NOT any belief, but a belief in the words, will and desires of God. It is the norm that it is NOT “robotic”, in that it is NOT all pre-programmed in every single step that we are to take, and it is NOT executed entirely from facts.  And we do NOT have the full mind of Christ, like our mind has been hollowed out and replaced by Christ’s mind!  If you have such a mind, let me know! To be righteous in living, it is by faith. 

I like this, that Ps Prentis said (in his blog entry - “Bowing at the Altar of Self”):

“Listening to God and doing what He desires takes away all pride and all self-worship. It creates a person who loses himself in his work. His work is his worship because God has called him to it. He doesn’t worship the work but worships by working.”

Really, worship is more than we singing songs and praising Him; we worship Him in doing willingly and lovingly the works (including worship of Him) He has us do.  But sad, too often, works has been erroneously treated like leprosy, to stay away from (no thanks to overly grace preachers), with a 10 feet pole, so to speak. 

How is in agreement with God (being righteous), listening to Him and doing from that, by faith, takes away all pride and self-worship? It is because we know we are NOT the source of the whatever that people can be prideful about, God is; we merely follow His lead.

“Listening to God and doing what He desires” is NOT necessarily easy!  But who says, when it is hard, we are NOT to do!  If there is no hardness, from where would come faithfulness and perseverance; and where would come character building. 

The one who is NOT operating from “the righteous shall live by faith”, Habakkuk said, his soul is lifted up, or he is being proud.  And he who is proud, “uprightness” is NOT in him. To live by faith, one listens to God and does what He desires (both listening and doing, call for faith); when we are NOT doing that, we are saying we know better (than God); and this is being proud, is it NOT?!

My check of the Lexicon leads me to believe the right meaning to be assigned (there are several meanings) to the “uprightness” {H3474} is, that which is pleasing, agreeable; and obviously, pleasing and agreeability are from the perspective of God.  So, he who is proud does NOT have that which is pleasing or agreeable to God, or he is NOT pleasing or agreeable to God. 

In other words, Hab 2:4 could read as “Behold, he who is being proud (or prideful) is NOT pleasing or agreeable to God; whereas, the righteous lives by faith or in agreement with God”.

If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that

There is, of course, time and season (Eccl 3); and so, while we must remain faithful in our works for God, it is never we are indispensable (that is pride), or that God cannot retire us off, or rotate us to any other thing or nothing (for a season)!  He is the Potter, we are the clay; He will re-make or re-shape as he wishes (Jer 18:4-5; Rom 9:21).

The Apostle James left us these words (James 4:13-16):

13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."  14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."  16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 

Anthony Chia, high.expressions

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Reserve glory and worship for God, practise honor, and grow in favor with God

This is article is not meant to be an exhaustive study of glory, worship, honor and favor. I have tended to write on topics I felt led to write. I was really on another topic, but somehow felt led to dwell on this, so this became an article by its own.

Glory and worship
A simple definition of glory -
Glory of something/someone – great brightness, splendor, magnificence, majesty, beauty, renown of the something/someone
To give one glory – to give him very great praise (incl. adoring praise or worshipful thanksgiving)
To glory in something/someone – rejoice proudly, rejoice triumphantly, exult with triumph

Glory and worship are big words and intertwined. Worship is reserved for God alone (Ex 20:5, 34:14, Rev 22:8-9). Particularly, I wish to point out that even angels are careful not to take any of the worship away from God. We read this in Rev 22:8-9 -

8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things [things in Revelation]. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"

Likewise, glory should be confined to God. In Isaiah 42:8 we read this:

I am the LORD;
that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.

I know the Apostle Paul talked about sharing God’s glory in the Bible but I believe he was referring to the future glory. This future glory is only relevant to us after we pass on -

17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:17-18)

[In this respect, we should imitate Jesus' attitude:
I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge (John 8:50). ..."If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me" (John 8:54). Jesus, too was looking at his future glory at that point in time (before crucifixion). The glorification came when He died and was resurrected; meanwhile He only wanted to glorify the Father. -inserted on 24/11/09]

The kind of glory that is ascribed to God must not be appropriated, even partially, by anyone, i.e. you cannot take any of such glory for yourself.

For example, a person prayed for a crippled man to be healed, and God answered the prayer and the crippled man is instantly healed; God performed a miracle. The glory to be given as a result, must be ascribed to God, the person who prayed for the healing cannot take any of it.

While I fully subscribed to the fact that we, as Christians, are princes and princesses, co-heirs with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God, and God is our Father, we are not god (H426). You and I are not Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Only members of the Triune God share each other’s glory. I know there are many mighty servants of God now doing great supernatural works for God after gaining insight of their kingdom identities – royal priesthood, princes and princesses. While I am sure many of them understood such requirements as practicing repentance and holiness, and humility before God and are themselves observing these requirements, there are those, because of their eagerness to share the insights that God had shown them, had in their over-emphasis in their identity-power teachings, and extreme under-emphasis in the fundamental aspects such as the requirements of repentance, holiness and humility, (some even, suggest repentance and holiness as not being required for such things as return of backslidden Christians/prodigal sons and high worships, respectively) caused lopsidedness in spiritual diet of saints. I have an uneasiness over this development, feeling that if it is unchecked or not balanced out, it may stumble other saints. Some of these great servants are also not very careful with the concept of pre-destination (especially general pre-destination of personal salvation). While signs and wonders and miracles do empower the Gospel, inappropriate word droppings of pre-destination can stumble people.

For the healing example above, we should not go round suggesting/insinuating that the person used by God to pray for the crippled man was not doing the right thing in ascribing all the glory to God, or that he was not right to always quickly ascribe every credit/praise back to God.

One may glory in the things that God has done (say a miraculous healing), if to glory is to rejoice proudly or triumphantly. Yes, we rejoice when people are ministered to/healed/blessed, but we do not take any of the glory for ourselves. When we see people got healed/ministered to, we rejoice with them and give glory to God by thanking God, praising Him with adoring praise or give worshipful thanksgiving to Him. When we rejoice, it means we share the joy of another (in this case, the healed man). It can even include the sharing of God’s joy (if you are like me, believe God is joyous, on healing a man) – this I can accept. This is the correct attitude of heart followed by our manifestation thereof.

Honor is different from glory
Honor, on the other hand, I believe is different from glory. The Bible does talk about God honoring man, and it is right for man to honor man. [Added: 03/01/2011 - I am aware that KJV and NKJV translations used "honor" in place of "glory" {used by NIV and many other translations} for such verses as in John 8:54; however, present day use of "honor" is more in line with Greek word, "timaō" (G5091) as in John 12:26 (below). "Doxa" (G1391), the Greek word in John 8:54, should be rendered as "glory" and not "honor" to avoid confusion with "timaō". Honor is also used for timē (G5092), as in say, 1 Tim 5:17 {which we will touch on later in the article}.]

Jesus before his going to His death on the cross, said these words, “26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” (John 12:26).

For he[Jesus] received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice …..(2 Pet 1:17-18a)

Jesus went before us, He is the firstfruit. He is the model, He is the pattern. He received honor while serving the Father God on earth [One may think that Jesus hadn’t even started His Ministry at the time of his water baptism. That may be correct but He started serving the Father on the earth the moment He was born on earth.]. The same could be ours, the honor in serving on earth. That is why Jesus said those words, “My Father will honor the one who serves me.” in John 12:26 above.

Ah, you may say, 2 Pet 1:17 says, “he received honor and glory”. The glory here is referring to the manifested presence of God – in the light which shone around Jesus. This glory, manifested presence, is different from the glory we are talking about above, and is not uncommon even today, and it can take various forms.

Where is the honor in 2 Pet 1:17-18a, you may ask. The honor is in the words, the declaration itself, given in the presence of multitude. Often overlooked, I believe manifested presence also can be an act of honoring. This is especially so if the manifested presence takes forms that do not “serve any purpose except drawing awe” from the multitude. Let me explain,

For example, it is not uncommon that we hear of certain minister or preacher having glisters or gold dust forming on him or around him when he was before the multitude doing the work of God. Apart from indicating His presence, I believe God was honoring such servants of his. The glisters or gold dust does not serve any practical purpose but it does draw awe from the multitude. Miracles on the other hand, are different, they serve certain purposes, for example, to heal, to deliver or to meet a need or minister to someone.

I also believe that His doing of the very thing you ask of Him when you are ministering to people can also be an act of God honoring you. Of course, God can do a thing for any number of reasons.

In the light of what has been said above, I believe there is nothing wrong with asking God to honor us as we honor God (e.g. by doing a piece of work of God, by obeying a difficult command in a given circumstance, etc). I prayed that way often.

[added: 03/01/2011 - In connection to the last 2 paragraphs above, particularly in relation to our prayering for another in person, despite, preference by some, saying that we should not "tell God what to do", we should not hesitate to ask God to act on our requests, if indeed our requests are in line with Who He is. We should not tell God what to do, only to the extent that we must understand that our requests must be in alignment with Who God is; we must not hold God out to be our genie in a bottle, to do as we request (we, indeed do not tell God what to do, it is God who tells us what to do); and we do not try to "limit" God with our request (eg. suggesting that God should only act in a particular fashion).]

The Word of God exhorts us to honor one another. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10). Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:7). The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. (1 Timothy 5:17).

While we say the person God used (say, for praying for the sick) must be quick to ascribe all glory back to God, there is nothing wrong for us to affirm the person, give him a pat on the back, thank him for taking the time and making sacrifices to minister to the sick. This is part of honoring a servant of God. And do not be taken aback or feel offended if he said something like, “Oh, it is God, not me.” I am sure he did not mean you were a busybody or that you did not know better – that it was God who did the work. I bet you he appreciated your gesture and it would spur him on.

What about favor of God?
Serve God well, serve him rightly, and grow in his favor is the way to go.

Deu 10:12 -
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Romans 14:17-18 –
17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

The Bible records that Jesus, over time, grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men –

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (Luke 2:52).

It is understandable that Jesus would grow in wisdom and stature but it says Jesus also grew in favor with God and men. If Jesus needed to grow in favor with God and men, how much more do we also need to grow in favor with God and men. I believe when we have the favor (or continuing favor) of God, we would be able to do great exploits. The Bible recorded that, among others, the following people have found favor in the eyes of God:


Joseph
Gen 39:4 - Joseph found favor in his [Potiphar] eyes and became his attendant [after Potiphar bought him from the slave market. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers]. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. [Potiphar is one of Pharaoh’s official]

Gen 39:21 - God showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. [Joseph was thrown into prison when falsely accused of having an affair with his master (Potiphar)’s wife.]

Joseph went on to interpret Pharaoh’s dream of 7 years of abundance followed by 7 years of famine; made 2nd most powerful man in Egypt, next only to Pharaoh; given the wisdom to store up food for the 7 years of drought, saving not only Egyptians and Canaanites but also his original family – his father, Israel (aka Jacob) and all his brothers. Joseph and his brothers are the fathers of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Joseph was instrumental for the continuity of the 12 Tribes of Israel, even as they were started off.

Moses
Ex 33:12-14 - 12 Moses said to the LORD After the Golden Calf incident and the LORD’s instruction to march on to the promised land. Because of the Calf incident the LORD had declined to accompany the Israelites on the journey. This was Moses’ plea, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." 14 The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

Ex 34:9 - Moses repeated his plea before the LORD on Mt Sinai. The LORD had instructed Moses to chisel out another 2 stone tablets for the LORD to rewrite the Ten Commandments on, and to go up to the Mount again] 9 "O LORD, if I have found favor in your eyes," he said, "then let the LORD go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance."

Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, from the hands of Pharaoh, to the edge of the Promised Land, with great signs and wonders and miracles, including the parting and crossing of the Red Sea) – you can read Moses’ exploits in the Old Testament. Exodus is one of the books you can read.

Esther
She prevented the annihilation of all the Jews in the kingdom of King Xerxes, which stretched from India to Cush [Upper Nile region](127 provinces). There was no mention of her favor with the LORD (but surely she was not without great favor from the LORD, she could have died for entering the inner court without being summoned by the King, but did not – Es 4:10-16. For the full story, read the Book of Esther, a short book) but there were ample recordings of her favor with everyone. She won the favor of Hegai who was in charge of the harem (Es 2:9a), She won the favor of everyone who saw her before she went before the King for the first time (Es 2:15), She won the favor and approval of the King, King Xerxes and was made Queen (Es 2:17))

Lastly, not forgetting our Lord, Jesus
Luke 2:52 - And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. The exploits of Jesus for Father God, of course, cannot be adequately dwelt with, here.


Anthony Chia – Lord, let not pride be found in me. Lord, I worship you alone. Help me not to take any of your glory but be quick to ascribe them all to you. Lord, teach me your ways that I may continue to find favor in your eyes. Above all, help me to be holy as you are holy.

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