John Dickson - Worship as It Is in Heaven: Worship That Engages Every Believer and Establishes Gods Kingdom on Earth

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2010 John Dickson and Chuck D. Pierce

Published by Chosen Books
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
chosenbooks.com

Chosen Books is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com

Chosen edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-6808-2

Previously published by Regal Books

Ebook edition originally created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
All rights reserved.

Other versions used are:

AMP Scripture taken from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE, Old Testament copyright 1965, 1987 by the Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament copyright 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

KJVKing James Version. Authorized King James Version.

NASB Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

NIV Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

NLT Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation , copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Chuck D. Pierce

The Lord has used me in many ways throughout my 30 years of ministry. I have served as a building and operations superintendent, a business administrator, a pastor of mercy and benevolence, an executive director and financial officer, a vice president, an apostle, a senior pastor, a prophet, a president and CEO, a prayer leader, an intercessor and Harvest Watchman. Through all of my assignments and missions, the one key identity that I have maintained is that of a worshiper. A worshiper is one who bows down and prostrates himself or herself before God in order to serve and sacrifice with a reverential attitude of mind and body. This act includes adoration and obedience. The word for worship in the New Testament is proskuneo, or to kiss. This is such an intimate expression of two meeting together intimately.

Worship is not only an act. A worshiper is one who has relationship with the one worshiped. One of my favorite meetings in the Bible is the account of the Samaritan woman and Jesus at Jacobs Well. Jesus needed to go to this place in Samaria to bring heavens plan into the earth. Here, a woman who was making her daily routine visit to the well to get water was confronted by Jesus. He told her everything about her life. Most importantly, He began to reveal to her who He really was. He did this in the context of worship.

Jesus replied, Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is comingindeed its here nowwhen true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

The woman said, I know the Messiah is comingthe one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

Then Jesus told her, I AM the Messiah! (John 4:21-26, NLT).

The Samaritan woman changed instantly. She shifted her faith to the one who was the Messiah. Worship must have an object, and faith must be expressed to that object. Immediately, the woman was lifted out of her last identity and the will of heaven was displayed in the earth to a Samaritan woman with a bad past.

This was a major shift! No longer would worship be limited to the Jewish temple. True worship would now be able to lift anyone out of his or her past or present identity and reveal heavens greater plan. In just one moment, this woman went from being a harlot to being an evangelist. Instead of being a woman with a bad reputation, she started speaking from her new identity and led all of the men in her city to be transformed. The knowledge and revelation that she received by worshiping in Spirit and truth covered her city. The glory she experienced infected an entire culture. She had ascended. She had moved from a routine dark existence into a new dimension of reality. Living water was now flowing in the core of her being. Not only was she drinking, but others were also drinking from her. She was experiencing heaven on earth in Samaria.

When I was young, one of our family traditions was to watch the Wizard of Oz each year. This event fascinated me. I always loved when the movie turned from black and white to Technicolor. When the color came, I knew that we had made our way over the rainbow. Once there, I loved the strange Munchkins, the flying monkeys, the false wizard and, most of all, the melting of the witch. I knew that Oz was not real, but I did enjoy thinking about what was real over the rainbow.

This movie always seemed to set some things in motion in my life. I would spend days looking into the heavens and imagining what really existed out there. I would spend much time talking to God (who I had been taught was in heaven) about what He had to give, the power He had and wondering what sort of evil existed. I knew there was a place beyond. I knew the place was not Oz, but out there became my place of escape and seeking.

Not until I was 18 did someone introduce me to the Holy Spirit. The Third Person of the Godhead began to open my eyes to a world that was out there. He could teach me and help me see what was out there now. The Person of Christ came alive. The Word came alive. The spiritual realm came alive. Faith came alive. Bible stories became relevant. My eternal place came alive. The heavens were no longer fiction like a place called Oz. The out there became a place I could go boldly and access the best my Father had for me. This was not a place of escape, but a place where I could commune and worship. This became the place I could go boldly in time of need to obtain help.

That place is what we want to connect you to as you seek what you are looking for in life. May this book help you understand the reality of worship and the power of ascending beyond the world that encircles you. In John 14:1-3, Jesus says:

DO NOT let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me. In My Fathers house there are many dwelling places (homes). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a place for you. And when (if) I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also (