THE PRACTICE OF WORSHIP

THE PRACTICE OF WORSHIP

                Thursday evenings are our designated time of practice for the worship team. Our session begins fifteen minutes before the designated time when we arrive to walk around the sanctuary asking the Lord to anoint us for worship and to give Him praise from truly thankful hearts. Then we gather together for prayer for the needs of our worship team and for members of the church who need prayer.  This is vitally important because we are not just learning and performing worship songs. We are ministers of worship who are called to draw people into the presence of God.

                Worship, especially as in music is designed by God to prepare the hearts of the people to receive His Word. God’s Word is seed and a seed will not germinate unless it has life in it and that life will not come forth unless it is planted in warm and fertile soil that is also moistened by the rain of the Holy Spirit.

                So we need something more than talent. We need to have hearts for God. We need worshipping hearts and lives. We must understand that we are called, just as the preachers and the teachers are called and we cannot take this lightly.

                So it was that at the end of our rehearsal, Pastor Alice, our music director and Pastor’s wife broke into spontaneous worship as we sang one song of worship after another pouring out our hearts and souls and energies in worship for an audience of One.

                There is something so special about those spontaneous times of worship, when wrapped in the quiet cocoon on the sanctuary we find the Lord inviting us into the secret place of the Most High, to sit at His feet in reverence and awe.

                As a song writer, I have found that there is nothing on this earth that evokes more passion from me than the worship of My Lord and King. It is like joining in with heaven’s reverberating chorus as the “Four living creatures, each one of them having six wings that are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty who was and who is and who is to come.” And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne and will worship Him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things and because of Thy will they existed and were created.” Rev. 4:8-11.

                And I saw as it were a sea of glass mixed with fire and those who had come off victorious from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name standing on the sea of glass holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses the bond-servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying:

                “Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy; for all the nations will come and worship before Thee, for Thy righteous acts have been revealed.” Rev. 15:2, 3.

                While caught up in heavenly places in worship, I can’t help but notice certain things. For instance in Revelation chapter 4 shortly after God invites John to “Come up here” he sees the Sea of glass but there is no mention of anyone being on it, but in Revelation 15, just after the sickle harvest of Revelation 14:14-16, we see the redeemed saints who have come off victorious from the Beast singing praises to God for His mighty acts. Should this not give us pause?

                I love the worship in the book of Revelation because it is situated within the great apocalypse of earth’s final days, but is not really about the earth. It is instead a revelation of Jesus as He moves from His 2000 year role as our High Priest, to His role as our coming King and judge.

                Here we see His final ministry of the Holy Spirit and fire. For to righteousness He is a Holy Spirit, but to sin He is a fire. To wheat he is a Holy Spirit, but to chaff He is a fire. To saints He is a Holy Spirit, but to sinners He is a fire.

                To those who love Him He is a place of refuge, but to those who hate Him he is a burning flame. But in a very real sense it is not He that determines whether He will be to us the Holy Spirit or the fire. It is we who determine it, for the same flame that melts wax, hardens clay.

                So as you worship the Lord today, let Him melt your heart with the heat of His passionate desire for you. Let Him soften you and mold you into His image.

                “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” Heb. 13:15

                “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:6, 7.

                “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Phil. 3:20, 21.

                Have a wonderful day!