I spent a lot of time trying to find a new topic
for my next blog, and after a lot of talking with God, He told me to focus on
worship. During these last couple of months since I have begun the Journal
Challenge and this blog I have had an unquenchable desire to worship Him. I
love spending time with Him early in the morning, preparing my heart for the
day. Before I always heard people talking about the power of worship and I just
nodded like I understood. Now, I have made it a point to worship the Lord.
I’m not sure what type of church you attend, but my
Bishop is constantly encouraging us to worship God. There are plenty of songs
that talk about the presence of God and how powerful it is, and how refreshing
it is...but you never really know what all the presence of God can do until you
experience it for yourself. When I was younger I didn’t really understand what
all worship encompassed; I saw people crying and lifting their hands, heard
some speak in tongues, but it was hard for me to see myself doing any of those
things. Even now I’m continuing to see that a lot goes into our worship. First,
we must make a choice (a conscience decision) to worship. Worship is defined
as, “showing reverence and adoration
for (a deity).” It isn’t about the
songs that we sing during the opening of service on Sunday morning or about
lifting our hands upon the command of the worship leader, but it goes beyond
that to include our lifestyle. We can reverence God simply by the way we live. We must ensure that our worship is authentic.
One thing that I love about worship is that it is
something that we cannot fake. It must be genuine and come from our spirit. John 4:24 says, "For God is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth" (NLT). So be honest with yourself...before you enter into worship make sure that you have asked forgiveness for any sins that you have committed knowingly & unknowingly. We can't allow ourselves to think that it's okay to go before God unclean because it definitely isn't.
Every time I pray lately I have made it a point to
ask God to clean my up, so that when I offer up praise & worship to him
that I do so with a clean heart. And then I ask Him to accept my worship. It is
getting to the point where all I want to do is worship. Instead of allowing my
circumstances to dictate how I feel, I begin to go before the Lord.
Even in trying times you can go before God. I feel so at peace when I enter into God's presence. Take advantage of the opportunities that you have to worship. If you're one of those people that refuses to lift your hands during praise & worship begin to lift them. Begin to open your mouth and declare the goodness of the Lord. Once you begin showering Him with praise and you push past how you feel, you will find yourself leaving changed. I am so thankful that I finally understand how important worship is. I pray that you will too.
Be Encouraged,
God's Servant
P.S. Take a listen to this song...it's really powerful! And let's you know just some of what worship can do.
