OK, so I'm at church last night. It hasn't yet sterted and a few of us were just chillin and talking. As Jered steps up to the mic and starts opening up the service the guy sitting next to me looks over and says, "Worship the true way BJ." Then he leaves and goes further up front. The comment was so random I'm thinking he meant to say something like ,"It's time to worship." Or something. It was so random it struck home deep and hard.
So I'm a pretty expressive person when it comes to worship. At least worship that is lifting our voices in praise. The "adoration" type of worship. (Many of you have probably heard me share on the two ways the Bible uses worship so I won't repeat it here) As I was saying, I'm expressive, but I don't think that was what God was saying through him. Neither is it the fact that he went right up front to the altar for the worship time.
Worship in the true way. I was still chewing on those words when Jered started leading us in the first song. "Open the eyes of my heart Lord, open the eyes of my heart. I want to see You..." As we were singing this, I realized that this is truly how worship begins. Before we can begin to worship God, we need to have a revelation of who He is. How can we worship what we do not know. Matt Redman puts it this way: "This is a time for seeing and singing. This is a time for breathing You in and breathing out Your praise. Our hearts repsond to Your revelation. All you are showing, all we have seen commands a life of praise. No one can sing of things they have not seen. God, open our eyes towards a greater glimpse... Worship starts with seeing You... Our hearts respond to Your revelation."
From there we moved into the song, "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever." I was thinking of how those who have the greatest vision, of who God is, the 4 and the 24 who are continually are in his presence (Rev4) NEVER stop praising God. The more we come to a true understanding of who God is, the more we, also do not want to stop praising Him. His love for me causes me to worship Him.
But His love goes beyond me. As the next song we did says, "Your love oh Lord, reaches to the heavens. Your faithfulness stretches to the sky. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountain. Your justice flows like the ocean's tide" The song is rich, it is full of imagery that is so far beyond us. When I understand not just the greatness of God. But the greatness of His goodness, I cannot help but lift my hands to worship Him.
But also, as I see God for who He is, I begin to understand more of who I am. When Isaiah saw a revelation of God his immediate response was, "Woe is me for I am unclean." My response is the same. How cannot I not look at my sin in disgust when the radiance of God's glory is so evident before me? Just as Isaiah was cleansed by the coal from the fire, like David I cry out, "Create in me a clean heart oh God. And renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence oh Lord, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation and renew a right spirit within me."
As the worship songs progressed, I was on a journey of my own. This was true worship. Knowing how I have so often mismanaged my heart in the past, I knew that this newly forgiven heart was not safe in my own hands. As we sung, "I Give You My Heart" and then "Lord You Have My Heart" I was again giving Him my heart. True worship is surrender. We recognize that we can no longer maintain control and we give it over to Him. What is so often translated "heart" in the bible would more accurately be "bowels". I think it is one of the few times the KJV is more accurate when it poetically says, "Innermost being". Lord, I'm giving you my innermost being. I am not just giving you a blood vessel, not just my emotions (as we often understand heart today). I am giving to You the very core of who I am. The very "I am" that I understand as me exists no longer. I am completely and totally surrendered to You.
When this happens, something very powerful takes place. In James it says, "humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up." But the thing is, if we truly have lost ourselves in Him then His lifting us up "His exalting us" is really Him being exalted through us. The song that was the climax of that worship service is also the product of what happens when we do "worship in the true way."
He is exalted the King is exalted on high
And I will praise Him.
He is exalted the King is exalted and I will praise His Name.
For He is the Lord, forever His truth shall reign.
this is really good and covers so much. Lately God has been speaking to me about this particular subject/s. It's so great to truly worship God in everything song, prayer, our lives! For who He is "in him there is no darkness," and sooo much more. I went to a church last sunday night and singing the words of the song took me on a thought track reflecting on God's greatness and the worship flowed out naturally cos God is so worthy of our praise. Everything in this blog and reinforced what God has been teaching me the last few days. that's pretty cool! Thankyou. God bless.
I heard Mike Pilivachi talk about worship in a whole new way. He said "Worship is a lifestyle that gives meaning to the songs that we sing." On another note, I enjoy your blogs so darn much! A lot of what you say hits me in my heart, because it always seems to be something that God is alreay speaking to me. So, again, thanks for the awesome words!
