BILL’S BLOG ENTRY #52

From “Discipleship and Discipline” by William H. Hicks copyright March, 2005:

“Ecclesiastes 5: 1 – 7 and Habakkuk 2: 20 provide insight into the approach disciples take towards corporate worship. The Preacher in Ecclesiastes says that we should guard our
steps AS WE GO to the House of the Lord. This implies that worship really starts BEFORE we arrive at the sanctuary. If this is so, then it follows that there is no time in which a disciple is not in worship. Our hearts and minds should be focused on communicating with God, preparing to receive a Word from the Lord long before we get to church. “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the House of the Lord.” I Corinthians 3: 16 – 17 identifies each disciple as a “temple of God” in which the Spirit of God dwells and that the temple is “holy”. God wants His disciples to approach ourselves as the temples in which He dwells. Thus, we should strive to cleanse the temple of all evil thoughts, malicious
intentions and anything and everything that is anathema to and incompatible with the indwelling Spirit of God. Moreover, we should be prepared to manifest the presence of God as soon as our eyes open in the morning until we close them in repose in the
evening. Remember that He blesses His beloved even when we are sleeping! (Psalm 127: 2)””

About THE DISCIPLE

William H. “Bill” Hicks is a graduate of Wesleyan University, BA, Religion, 1971 who also holds a Masters in Public Health Degree (MPH) from the University of Oklahoma Hudson College of Public Health (1973). Bill also has studied at the Dallas Theological Seminary. He grew up in Harlem, New York City, USA during the 1950s and 1960s, graduating from high school before attending Mount Hermon Preparatory School and undergraduate school in Connecticut. He has spent most of his professional life in the public health arena, while being constantly in ministry. He received his license to preach the Gospel at Oklahoma City, OK in 1971. He has written extensively on Christian topics. He enjoys life in Chattanooga, TN with former District Public Defender Ardena Garth Hicks, his wife of 30 years. They have two daughters, Rachel (BA, University of Memphis magna cum laude, 2014) and Sarah (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, Global Scholar, University of Tulsa, 2017).

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