Moments of worship. You know the moments I'm talking about; those moments when it's just you, your heart, and Jesus. That feeling of peace and calm washes over you, but there's also a little bit of excitement as you sing and pour out your heart to God. It's a thrilling experience, but sadly it's one that seems to be rare in my life at the moment.
I pointed this out the other day to a friend. Yeah, I love to sing and listen to my Christian music, but most of the time I'm so busy that my mind is distracted with other things. Turns out I'm not the only one who felt this way.
After taking a few moments to talk about it we both realized that our crazy lifestyle often gets in the way of our worshiping the Lord. I get up in the morning, rush through devotions, work through school, head out to whatever other events are planned for the day: piano lessons, riding the horses, writing and working on my books, babysitting, helping around the house, not to mention going to work. It wears me out so by the time its time for bed I'm ready to crash...except usually I stay up into the late hours of night working more on my books. My friends schedule is very much the same and even though we both spend a lot of time at church we admitted that our personal relationships with Jesus were suffering.
Now, where is this all going you ask. I promise I'm getting there...I just tend to ramble. Anyhow after my friend and I had this talk something was said about worship. I admitted that in church I often have a hard time focusing on worship. I help teach classes, greet the older people, play piano, and try to keep all the little kiddies in line. By the time it's time to worship my mind is so bogged down that my lips move without my heart.
That was when my friend pointed out the mistake we were repeating over and over again. We were equating worship with church. Although church should be a place of worship, our daily lives should first and foremost be a form of worship.
Think about it. Our bodies are the temple of God. Our lives are supposed to mirror the examples Christ set for us, but how often do we allow our simple daily life to come between us and those precious chances to honor, praise, and glorify our Savior. How often are we simply so caught up in things that we over look something that could have been a praise to the Father? How often do we simply over look a silent moment that could be spent in prayer because our own thoughts are so loud? How often do we fall asleep at night before realizing we've not spend anytime meditating in the Word?
The discussion with my friend took another turn. Didn't Christ say that whoever came unto Him would find rest or something another that line? We were obviously both already very tired because we couldn't even remember the reference to the verse. But with or without the support of scriptures we knew that worship was a form of rest, mentally, spiritually, and even at times physically.
By this time we had pointed out that we could be worshiping at that very moment. It's a bad habit, getting caught up in our own lives. So then came the idea, hey let's worship together. We put together a playlist of songs that focused on Jesus, his love, and his power and then hit play. The deal was that we would turn off everything except that music. No phones. No facebook. Nothing that could prove to be a distraction.
Before I knew it I was kneeling on the floor in front of my bed praying the lyrics to the songs and pouring my entire heart out to Jesus. Literally, hours passed by without me even knowing it. Setting aside the distractions, pointing my heart and mind toward Him, and actually making myself slow down physically opened up the floodgates of worship. I hadn't prayed that much at one time in years, I hadn't felt that close to my Savior since I could remember. It was literally hours of sitting there praying to and praising the Lord.
It didn't only feel amazing, but it also became a time of conviction and confession. It was the first time in months that I had felt the hand of God guiding me with such force. I found myself placing all my burdens into Jesus's hands, admitting to Him that I'd been struggling to fix them myself, but that I was giving it all over to him.
By the time I stood it was waaaaay past midnight, my knees were stiff and sore, my voice was hoarse from talking, but you know what? I felt refreshed and renewed. My body didn't feel burdened and my soul felt on fire with a passion to serve God.
My friend and I agreed we had just experienced the truth of "draw near to God and he will draw near to you." and we also realized the power of true worship. We had just experienced one of those 'moments' of pure worship between a child of the King and their Father.
With that we each promised we would help remind each other to spend at least half and hour in personal worship. On top of that I've spent the week looking for new ways to worship Christ in every aspect of my life: from taking a moment to ponder the sunrise to meditating on a Bible verse while washing the dishes.
Okay...so what's the point?
The point is that God created the world by simply speaking it into existence. Jesus shed his blood so that if you would be able to accept His gift of salvation. Yet we go through life without giving a second thought to the magnificent creation; we forget the importance of our salvation. Worship counter acts those flaws of human nature. It is a commandment, it is a way to draw closer to your Father and strengthen your relationship with Him. It reminds you of the wonders, the love, the sacrifice that were displayed for us.
I know this was long, but I felt lead to share this personal testimony with the prayer that you will be inspired to spend more time in those special moments of worship and be challenged to find ways to praise God in every aspect of your life.
