What does worship sound like to you? We often think of worship as that corporate place where we meet on Sunday morning. We might come needing a touch from heaven as we wait for the worship leader to bring us in. What if they play a song that I may not particularly like. Am I disappointed? What if the worship leader is off that day? Can I still enter in? What if I am off that day. What if I have been off all week? What if for some reason I am unable to get to church that morning? Can I still enter in or am I dependant on the external circumstances around me?
The circumstances surrounding this past year have been difficult for all of us! There are still so many unknowns even as we move forward in 2021. In the midst of my own circumstances over this past year, the Lord drew me deeper into His presence. Sometimes there is simply nowhere else to go. If you are ever in that place don't fret and don't be anxious for that is actually a good place to be. In the place of total reliance on Him, we come to a place where we can no longer rely on externals. Externals can suddenly shift. They are great when everything is going well but what happens when what is familiar changes? Even as I write this blog, I am still in that challenging place of trusting Him for all things. In the midst of the trials and in the middle of everyday life, He longs to lead us away from the outside distractions to draw us closer and deeper to Himself. As believers, we draw from within. Rather than live by what we see with our natural eyes, we live from the inside out. We can do this because He lives in us! He makes our hearts his home. In Him, we live, and move, and have our being! That is a great mystery. He lives in us and we are positioned in Him. Everything in our lives as believers should flow from that place.
Remember the woman at the well in John chapter 4? While doing everyday life she has a divine encounter with Jesus. He offers her living water. "For when you drink the water I give you it becomes a gushing fountain of the Holy Spirit, springing up and flooding you with endless life." TPT. Where does that fountain spring from? It springs up from inside of you! Jesus then tells her about her life and she responds by asking Jesus which mountain is the right mountain to worship on. Jesus responded, “Believe me, dear woman, the time has come when you won’t worship the Father on a mountain nor in Jerusalem, but in your heart. Your people don’t really know the One they worship. We Jews worship out of our experience, for it’s from the Jews that salvation is made available. From here on, worshiping the Father will not be a matter of the right place but with the right heart. For God is a Spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshipers who worship and adore him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.”
We have got to move away from seeing worship as an experience or an event. Worship is more than gathering together and singing, although that is important. Matthew 15:8-9 speaks of those who honor God with words but their hearts are far from Him. They pretend to worship me, but their worship is nothing more than the empty traditions of men. This happens often in a corporate setting when we are waiting to be moved instead of showing up with our hearts already moved toward Him! We can actually "worship" and still have our hearts far from Him.
Please understand that in no way am I diminishing the importance of corporate worship. The bible tells us not to forsake the gathering together with other believers. It broke my heart to leave the place where I was. I was devastated for a season. I felt suddenly orphaned but I knew that was a lie of the enemy. It is very important to gather together in His name, but when we come, we don't come just for ourselves. We each bring something to encourage one another, to lift each other up - When you conduct your meetings, you should always let everything be done to build up the church family. Whether you share a song of praise, a teaching, a divine revelation, or a tongue and interpretation, let each one contribute what strengthens others. - 1 Corinthians 14:16. We come and we each have something of value to contribute so that the entire body can be strengthened. It begins spending time with Him before Sunday comes around. Remember He is in you so we must learn to live from the inside out. Your expression of Jesus is important. Let it flow from your heart. Don't copy or focus on what someone else is doing. What He's doing in them is probably going to be different from what He's doing in you. That's okay.
Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard...Psalm 66:8. It says all peoples. Not just the worship team, not just the pastor or the guest speaker, all peoples! "All peoples" speaks of diversity. It's not about everyone clapping at the exact same time, or raising hands at the same time. Corporate worship is an overflow of the worship already in your heart. You are called to host God's presence. Yes, we need to come together and worship leaders are there to help lead us in but church worship is not your source of worship. You are the temple of the Lord. Staying plugged into Him is where you will find your source. Having your heart positioned in Him is where you will find your source. My focus should be on the Lord rather than what worship is going to do for me. Worship isn't for us but it's all about Him!
Worship is a position of the heart. It's not about what mountain or church you go to or how amazing the worship team is in your church. So often we come and wait to be moved by the worship team and by the songs they sing when God wants to put a song in our hearts. There is no sound more beautiful than a church full of believers who show up already engaged with the Lord, who have themselves become the sound! That is where unity comes. That is where we come in one accord, each one of us, our hearts entwined with His. We are one with Him. There is nothing more beautiful, nothing more life-changing, nothing more earth-shaking and devil-defeating.
Worship doesn't start out there and somehow flows to our hearts. No, worship starts within our hearts and flows out! You've heard the phrase that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I believe worship is in the heart of the worshipper! It is an expression. It is a pouring out of what is within. Worship is not merely an external sound but it is that which flows out from within the heart of the worshipper and it becomes the sound! All of us together in one accord, with our already hearts positioned in Him, that becomes a sound that vibrates with energy and it changes the very atmosphere!
So, I want to challenge you today. Practice His presence. Don't wait to be moved by the worship leader, the pastor, or whatever, and whoever moves you. All of these are wonderful but just think what would happen if we showed up Sunday morning already moved! Imagine what that would look like! Imagine what that would sound like - the sound of worship flowing out from within! Don't let the atmosphere move you. You move the atmosphere by the presence of God within you! Draw from the well that never runs dry - Christ in you the hope of Glory!
- Learning to live authentically!!
Comments