The Joy of Worship
It’s November! This resplendent and colorful eleventh month is filled to overflowing with the bounty of the year.
It is a month that is set aside for the giving of thanks and for exhibiting a heart of genuine gratitude.
What are you thankful for this month?
This month, in my blog, we have been focusing on the genuine and vital components of a thankful heart.
Sincere thanksgiving always includes generous giving to the world around us and to the Kingdom of Christ is one of the lessons that we have learned.
True thanksgiving also includes the forgiveness of those in our lives who have offended or mistreated us is another meaningful approach to this month of November.
Giving + forgiving = thanksgiving.
And then, finally, there is indeed a powerful role that worship, or the giving of thanks to God the Father, plays in the dynamic display of a thankful heart.
If there is no one to thank, then worship loses its focus. Our greatest praise … our highest worship … our most vibrant thanksgiving … should be aimed at God our Creator!
Music is mere notes upon a line and contains only foreign lyrics unless it is sung to the One Who created you and made you in His very image!
“Without worship we go about miserable.” – Tozer
Worship always involves sacrifice. Always. You may not “feel” like worshipping … but worship anyway!
You may not “feel” like singing … but choose to sing louder!
You may not “feel” like remembering your blessings … but make a list anyway!
“God is to be praised with the voice and the heart should go wherewith in holy exultation.” – Spurgeon
David was a man who often did not “feel” like worshipping but he commanded his soul to sing in spite of his feelings. He spoke directly to his soul, which is the birthplace of one’s emotions, affections and desires, and commanded his depressed, stubborn soul to sing a praise of God to his King!
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits.” – Psalm 103:1 & 2
David was unable to deny the power of praise and worship in an ordinary person’s life.
If you want to be healed of human pain – then worship the God who never changes.
If you want to rise above your circumstances – then place your eyes on the One who is able to move mountains!
If you want to be strengthened in the deepest part of you – then you will bring a sacrifice of praise to the One Who made you.
“Worship is an it-is-well-with-my-soul experience.” – Webber
If you want to engage in a life-changing experience that will literally revolutionize the very core of your emotional weaknesses – then you will put your hands in the air and delight in Who your Father is!
“Who pardons all your iniquities …
Who heals all your diseases …
Who redeems your life from the pit …
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion …
Who satisfies your years with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.” – Psalm 103:3-5
When David was at his very lowest, he made a list of the incredible things that God had done for him! You might want to do the same this week …
“The most valuable thing the Psalms do for me is to express the same delight in God which made David dance.” – C. S. Lewis
Worship will inevitably take your eyes off of “you” and deservedly place them on the God Who cares.
Worship will always remove the focus off from your impossibility and will bring into focus the wonder of the God to Whom nothing is impossible!
Worship will always decrease self and will wonderfully increase a holy and divine awareness of Him and all that He is.
“Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?” – Chan
I don’t know what you are going through this crisp and bountiful month of November, but I’d like to gently remind you that there is nothing that concerns you that does not have the capacity to be healed with a heart filled with worship.
As you gather with those you love around the feast and that table that is known as “Thanksgiving”, make sure that you give credit to Whom credit is due. Encourage everyone at your Thanksgiving table to make a list of the things for which he or she is thankful.
Let your heart burst with gratitude and allow your eyes to spill over with praise.
Even if it has been a meager and disappointing year, you serve an abundant God who works all things together for God! Focus not on what you don’t have but allow the eyes of your soul to rest on Him Who is more than enough!
“You have crowned the year with Your bounty, and Your paths drip with fatness.
The pastures of the wilderness drip, and the hills gird themselves with rejoicing.
The meadows are clothed with flocks and the valleys are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, yes, they sing!” – Psalm 65:11 – 13
I can tell you this – no pasture is going to “out-rejoice” me this month of November!
No meadow is going to be more beautiful than my heart of praise is to God my Father!
No valley is going to sing louder than this girl does!
Every day of this month, I will worship and I will rejoice as I give glorious and deserved thanks to my Creator, my Redeemer and my dearest Friend.
Thanks for listening to my heart this week. As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me. And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!
