For years now, I have gone to my church camp. If you follow my blog, last week I wrote one entitled, "How You Know You're A Mahaffey Camper."

For me, there were years when I was younger that I did not fully appreciate Mahaffey Camp. I didn't like the idea of coming to camp. You were always wet, either from being hot and sweaty, or from it being damp and rainy outside. There was pretty much no in between. It felt long, and I didn't feel like there was a lot to do.

It wasn't until recent years that I started to understand the importance of Mahaffey Camp. As I have grown in my spiritual walk with God, I see that it is so important to set apart a time where you can get back to simplicity and listen to speakers challenge you in your walk, as well as worship alongside fellow believers.

I felt a call into ministry when I was 13, and it was here at Mahaffey Camp. As I got older, my faith felt stale. I never walked away from God, but I was certainly doubting His call for Mahaffey. Two years ago, in the same place where I first felt the call, God reconfirmed that He was not kidding, and since then, I have felt my faith grow stronger and stronger. This year, I was eagerly awaiting to see what God wanted me to learn this week.

During the morning services, I've been over in the youth tab, and in the evening services, I've been in the adult main tab. For me, there's been one verse that has stood out:

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,' who was, and is, and is to come." Revelation 4:8.

For the four days of camp, in both services, I've heard numerous speakers mention this in their sermons. I felt like this was something that God wanted me to see at least.

As camp is wrapping up, this is what I have gathered:

It's almost like a back to the basics when it comes to church. If you know me, you know that worship is an important part of the service to me. I have been challenged this week to rethink worship though.

I've always thought that worship was somewhat optional during the service. I mean, it's one of the first things to get cut back when you have a packed service planned. One speaker this week has stated that worship is actually a crucial part of the service. It's something that God commands us to do. It's a time where you can actually feel the presence of God.

However, it's also just as important to make sure that our worship is filled with praise. As humans, we are wired to worship. If we are not in church worshipping God, then we will worship something else. Our passions can suddenly become idols if we are not putting our worship of God first. One speakers said this: If we do not worship, God is not belittled. We ourselves our belittled. What we put out shows what we put in. If we put in garbage and worship something that is not God, then it will show. It gets back to the idea of bearing good fruit.

With worship being so important, there's something else we have to realize, and it's something that has challenged myself. Worship time itself can we become an idol. It is a crucial part of the service, but it is not the focus. The focus is God. When we begin to worry about the style of the music, and worry about making it spectacular, then we draw the focus away from God. The worship also goes hand in hand with the sermon. You need both. I have caught myself sometimes caring more about how things are presented and more about the worship itself than the actual point of the service: to feed yourself with a time to worship God and also to learn about who he is and listen to what he wants you to learn about him.

There are two concepts of God that we have. One is the intimate relationship we have with him. The other is a respectful, fearing aspect of God; that he is awe-inspiring. It's easy to focus on the intimate aspect, but this week I have been challenged to improve my relationship with him; to think of him as the Lord of lords, the almighty God, the one who created the universe. It's something that I have trouble wrapping my head around sometimes. But when we worship, we begin to learn more about who he is.

The fact is, Jesus gave His life for us. He suffered terrible pain all for something that he didn't do; for our sins. He deserves our worship. While worship can be sometimes repetitive, think of the creatures in Heaven, who day and night say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,' who was, and is, and is to come."

God bless!