Where we hear praises HE HEARS FAITH!
Psalm 57:7-10 (NLT) My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises! Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Where we hear praise, He hears faith.
Psalm 150 "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."
The very first thing we have to acknowledge is that; worship was given to us by God as a spiritual avenue to connect on a more authentic level with His presence.
It's really not so much about style and preference. It should never be about what kind of mood we're in, or what we think we might need from Him.
When we worship in those times when we don't feel like it, it's even more treasured - AW Tozer
You see, it's in those times that we take a step of faith and offer our sacrifice of praise. When we hear praise, He hears faith.
It's about us using our voices to exalt our God through a song. It's a place where we get to honor God with our words and our heart. Worship is one of the most spiritual things a Christian can take part in.
John 4:24 (NLT)“For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Make no mistake about it, although we are not to rely on emotion, worship will absolutely impact us emotionally. After all, we're emotional people. When your spirit connects on a spiritual level with your Creator, there's no avoiding emotion.
Throughout the scriptures we see that God's people are emotional people when it comes to worship. They would worship so loud that surrounding cities would not only hear them, they would feel it.
Psalm 67 Let the peoples praise You, O God; LET ALL THE PEOPLE PRAISE YOU. Then the earth shall yield her increase and the Almighty shall bless us.
And just in case you think it’s not for you, or maybe you struggle engaging in a deeper level of worship, why don't you ask God to help you in your worship. At the end of the day, we’re simply bringing something to God from our hearts, connecting with His presence.
Awake my soul! Be exalted O God above to heavens.
Psalm 100 Come into His presence with singing. Know He made us and we are His people. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
One of the wonderful privileges of gathering for worship is the awesome opportunity to create such an atmosphere that when new people show up they actually feel His presence when they walk into the room.
“There’s a sound I love to hear, it’s the sound of the Savior’s robe as He walks into the room.” Hillsong Worship - Awake My Soul
Revelation 4:11 (NLT)“You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”
This is why worship was given to us by God as a spiritual avenue to connect on a more authentic level with His presence.
So often it’s our sacrifice of praise that’s the on ramp to our breakthrough.
I pray our talk inspires a more authentic, intentional heart of worship in all of us. Awake our souls, O God! So that it not only impacts our personal life, but that it becomes so contagious that it changes impacts who we are as a church. Truth is, at the end of the day, worship is a heart thing.
1 Samuel 16 For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
This may take a minute to sink in, but the reality is, the way we are with people is the way we are with God.
So for those of us that have some understanding of worship, when we come together for worship, let’s be aware that we’re helping others by setting the best example we possibly can. But because today's society has become so spectator driven, it easy for us to attend worship service on Sunday's like we're attending a concert.
A big part of worshipping together is being aware that any Sunday could be someone's first real experience in authentic worship with their Heavenly Father.
I can tell you from experience, the more I practice worship in my private life, the more comfortable I am in public worship. Just like with anything else in life, the more we do something, the better we are at it.
The more worship is a lifestyle for us, not only will our public worship be more influential, but more enjoyable.
Don’t kid yourself, if you’re not enjoying your own worship, what makes you think He is.
Romans 12 (MSG) So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.
As we put into practice Paul’s instructions here, our worship goes from just an activity we do on Sunday's to a lifestyle we embrace.
The danger is, when we refuse to make room in our lives for worship, we automatically fill that space with something else.
This is one of David’s points in Ps. 57, Awake my soul, my praise wakes up the morning. I cannot overstate the importance of starting our day with the Lord. Taking those little moments throughout the day to inwardly acknowledge Him.
Psalm 113 Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.