God's Patterns

God gave us many patterns to follow.  Not rules...but patterns.  And I've been learning there are many.  For instance, the tabernacle.

The tabernacle is a pattern of many things, I'm sure, but it's a pattern for worship.  We enter God's outer court with thanksgiving and praise. 

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!"  

Psalm 100:4  

We don't even enter the gates without thanksgiving and His outer court without praise.  I think this is why the enemy has made praise music such a huge issue in the church!!   Praise is the pattern to enter His presence....in worship and prayer.

Another pattern is the wine and bread in communion.

There's been a huge trend in the modern church to present any kind of bread for communion.  The pattern is unleavened bread.  Why is that so important?  Because it represents Christ.  And leavening represents sin.  If you present yeast bread, you're saying in effect that Christ had sin.  It's a misrepresentation of who Christ is.  We need to give a true representation of Christ when we have communion.  I love the matzah bread because it has stripes and is pierced--like Christ's body was when he was sacrificed as a pure offering for our sin.

I'm sure there are many more patterns.  Patterns are given so we can model ourselves after God's way of doing things.