Recently, I heard this simple, simple song… and it totally touched my heart, prompting me to write this post.
Recognition
Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me.”
Wow! That is powerful in its simplicity. We call — He delivers – We glorify Him. There is a connection between our need and our praise, if only we can recognise it and live it, rather than wait for calamity and rescue before we worship fully!
Freedom in Worship
We can live without any religion in our worship, knowing how the Father delights in us when we worship…. as a child walks and his father is delighted, so is our Father, when we live, worship, breathe holy lives. A child does not try to delight his father, he’s just trying to walk. So may our worship be free, knowing it delights the LORD.
Heart of our Worship
Worship really is “all about You!” (re Heart of Worship, Matt Redman) but when the music fades…. it is still about Him.
Who is GOD that we might worship Him?
Let’s go right back to the beginning….
“In the beginning…” Genesis – creativity is a delight for GOD. And then He made man in His image… and then it was not good that man was alone (just as GOD was without man, He didn’t want man to be alone. Such a compassionate, selfless GOD.)
How many times does scripture discuss all the creation that the LORD has done? Too many times to count. Let us not take any of it for granted: not our lives, not this earth, not His creation. If we let ourselves contemplate His awesome power and incredible love just for an instant, we might find deeper expression in our worship.
Stilted or Abandoned Worship?
In my experience, Believers tend not to give their all in their worship. I seldom do. What holds us back — is that keeping GOD from His pure and total delight in us?
Are we holding back? What are we thinking about as we worship? Do we have concerns about letting GOD down? Does an infant have concerns about whether his father is delighted? Or does he just try to walk?
Transform our Worship
Let’s bless Him rather than consider that He is blessing us.
Let’s abandon the rules, and have no formula. In order to draw close to Him let us simply engage, express, enjoy!
In fact, let us run to Him through our worship.
Ps 107 starts, “O give thanks to the LORD…” He is good. He does marvellous things. Some don’t get it, but we do. Let’s express it wholeheartedly, to bring delight to Him.
Whatever our circumstances
We always a choice as to how we respond to any situation. I have a tip that is not so very original: we need to keep our eyes on Jesus not the storm, no matter what the storm is, no matter how rough the situation seems to be. In fact, the tougher our situation, the better it is to ignore it and to put our trust and our focus on the Lord Jesus.
And when the storm ends: then His purpose is fulfilled, and we will come forth and shine like gold. (Job 23:10)
“It’s all about You, Jesus…”
As the song says, “And all this is for You, for Your glory and Your fame… it’s not about me!”
Worship is not about the music or the singers, the instruments or the amplification. It is not about whether we like the songs or the singer. Not at all. It is not about any stuff and it is not about us. Worship is only and totally about Him, and when we live that, there is such a difference in our worship. It is not even about how lovely we are experiencing worship, but rather about how GOD is so good and so wonderful and what an excellent and exciting privilege it is to worship Him.
In Psalm 100 the psalmist encourages us to “enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts w praise.” And do we?
When we do, when we all do, with energy and commitment and purpose and conviction, what do you suppose will happen?
There is so much warfare in worship! There is a battle for this earth and as we elevate the LORD in worship, we take the earth!
Oh let us live in victory
Let us hold back no longer. Let us focus completely on Our Lord and King.
The HEART OF WORSHIP DELIGHTS THE LORD. And so let us allow ourselves to delight in Him.