Moment Made for Worshipping

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. John 4:23

I have to be honest with you…there are times when I just don’t feel like “worshipping”. Sometimes I stay out or up too late on Saturday night, and when the alarm goes off on Sunday morning, I feel like rolling over and going back to sleep. Sometimes I have a lot on my mind and I just can’t concentrate. Then, there are the times when I want to concentrate on how smooth the service runs and eliminate as many distractions as possible. Then, after getting home from church (and after taking a nap), there is much to do and it would be much easier if I didn’t have to go back to “worship service”. But, honestly, those are the times when I most need to fall prostrate to the ground and recognize the awesome power, wisdom, grace and love of my Father in heaven.

Each day, I need to be reminded that “worship” is not something I do on Sundays, Wednesdays, the occasional Saturday and at lectureships and enrichment series. Worship is the recognition and acknowledgment of the power and supremacy of God and our response and submission to His love and His will. Although we meet regularly to come before our Father as a corporate body, worship is individual and can manifest itself in many different ways. We may sing or shout. We may raise our hands and voices to God in praises or we may fall to our knees in humility. We may sob as we realize that we are unworthy to be in the presence of the all mighty God or earnestly beseech Him for forgiveness or strength or wisdom or courage. We may lament our sinful condition and plead for mercy, or we may seek His blessing on our lives or for our loved ones. David even danced before the Lord wearing only a linen ephod (2 Samuel 6:14).

One thing is for sure, that each and every moment we are alive is a moment and an opportunity to honor our Father God with the worship He deserves. So from the time we rise up in the morning until the time we lay our heads to rest, we should continually praise God and praise Him for the love and compassion and mercy and grace we receive each day.

Moment Made For Worshipping
By Steven Curtis Chapman
From the Album All About Love

6:30 Monday morning
I'm here hiding in my bed
A song plays on my alarm clock
As I cover up my head
And somewhere in the distance
I remember yesterday
Singing "Hallelujah"
Full of wonder awe and praise
But now I'm just wondering why I don't feel anything at all

This is a moment made for worshipping
'Cause this is a moment I'm alive
This is a moment I was made to sing
A song of living sacrifice
For every moment that I live and breathe
This is a moment made for worshipping

When I'm praying with my children
As they're running off to school
When I kiss my wife good morning
Just to say I still love you
When I'm feeling loved and happy
When I'm feeling all alone
When I'm failing to remember
All the love that I've been show
Every beat of my heart is another new place to start to know

Every single beat of my heart
is another new place to start…right now

From the rising of the sun
To the setting of the sun
The name of the Lord is worthy to be praised.

Sacrifice

Sacrifice – We all do it every day. We give up of something valuable or important for somebody or something else considered by us to be of more value or importance. Regular soda instead of diet. Dollar menu instead of quarter-pounders. WalMart instead of Dillards. We bypass tickets to the big game so that we can watch our children play instead. We give up soda and drink water because we feel our health is more important. We give up buying the latest CD or DVD to save for the more valuable MP3 player. We give up our seat on the bus because the young lady’s comfort is more important than our own. We give up buying that new car, because we think it is more important for our kids to have braces. Often we sacrifice now in hopes that we might gain more value in the future (for example, the stock market, retirement savings and life insurance, putting in our time now to make the climb up the ladder of success easier and quicker).

Some “sacrifices” we make are easy – no big deal; some are necessary; and others are real struggles. But all sacrifices have one thing in common…they must be made willingly!

From the beginning of time, we have wanted to offer sacrifices to our Creator. Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock and the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son simply because God asked. By faith Noah sacrificed years of his life to build an ark that would save his family…and all mankind. Moses sacrificed the comfort of his father-in-laws fields and flocks to wander 40 years in the wilderness so that God’s power would be shown in Egypt and throughout the nation of Israel. The apostles sacrificed their careers to follow Jesus. Jesus willingly sacrificed His own life because of His love for us…And all He asks in return is for us to sacrifice our lives because of our love for Him.

The question then, is whether we are willing to give up our own pleasures and our own desires and our own selfishness for One who is more deserving, more valuable, and more important than us? If we say “yes, Lord,” we will gain a future reward that is out of this world!

Then Jesus said to all the people: If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me. If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will save it. Luke 9:23-24 (CEV)

Focus

Well, it has been exactly one year today that I posted my very first blog. Thank you, David, for showing me a new way to express my thoughts and feelings. It is really great to have an outlet to codify some of my thoughts and experiences that help me to see God at work in my everyday life. Too often I get distracted by the daily grind and the activities that clutter my work day and my home life. When there is so much going on, I can tend to focus on the next task, or how we are going to get the family from one place to another and how to fit it all into the limited time we have. Then, when there is some down time, I have time to blog, but sometimes my attentions turn elsewhere. This is when I become weak and when Satan creeps in to try and convince me that I need to do something for myself – after all I deserve it, right? Distraction is one of Satan’s greatest tools.

Having the opportunity to sit down occasionally and put pen to paper (or mostly fingers to keyboard) and remind myself how I encountered God throughout the days events helps me to focus more on God and helps me to recognize opportunities to serve Him. The more I take the time to blog, or to prepare for a class or sermon, or participate in some other church related activity, the more my mind and thoughts focus on what’s truly important. Paul got it right when he said,

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3)

It is all a matter of focus, which seems to be harder and harder to accomplish as we live our lives and as more and more things compete for our time and attention. So I constantly ask myself what I can do to become more focused...to keep things that are holy and pure and spiritual at the forefront of my mind. So I do things like listen to Christian music, post scriptures on my computer desktop, keep a Bible in my desk, call Christian brothers to discuss spiritual matters, agree to teach Bible classes and do other work for the Church, download Christian songs on my cell phone to be reminded every time someone calls, read other blogs from other Christians who I respect, and even review some of my own previous blog posts (after all, some may be pretty good)...Even this reminds me of where I have been and points me to where I need to go.

Yet, sometimes I still have trouble maintaining my focus. I would be interested in hearing from some of you as to how you maintain focus on our Creator, Protector, Savior, Shepherd, Father.

“Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity... And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:12-14, 17)