Feeding a Hungry Soul: praise

Showing posts with label praise. Show all posts

Linger In and Ponder the Melody of His Word

Do you participate in the time set aside in your church service for singing,

or do you arrive late hoping the 'music part' will be over by the time you get there?

Let's pull up a chair to His table today and let God show us

how He uses music to feed our souls in a powerful way.

"Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly"

What a beautiful picture of what we do when we sing God's word together!

Through music, the message of Christ dwells among us

definition of dwell:

to linger over, emphasize,

or ponder in thought, speech, or writing

When we sing corporately:

We linger in the presence of the message of God
We ponder His message as we sing it repeatedly
We emphasize His message as we sing it with more intensity.

I don't know about you, but this gives me reason to pause and consider:

Do I linger in the presence of His Word in song or am I focused on getting on with the rest of the service
Do I ponder the message of His word being sung over me, or am I just reading along and going through the motions?
When scriptural phrases are repeated in choruses, do I sing with more emphasis to magnify the glory of God's word or do I wonder if we are ever going to stop singing this song?

"teach and admonish one another

with all wisdom through

psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit"

LOVE this! God uses this time of singing of His word to teach and admonish our souls.

The teaching and admonishing doesn't just happen from the pulpit.

God's word, whether spoken or sung, does not return void. AMEN!

"singing to God with gratitude in your heart"

We are instructed very specifically here:

Sing TO GOD...not to people. And according to the words before this part of vs 16, God sings back to us with teaching and admonishing. LOVE!!

Sing to God with GRATITUDE IN OUR HEARTS. No qualifying statements of the circumstances of our life before we sing with gratitude; just straight out gratitude. { I'm reminded that if I am singing with a grateful attitude, it's almost impossible not to shine with the joy of Christ.

Prayer:

Lord God, thank You for the gift of song. What a joy it is to be able to linger in the presence of Your word sung as melodies and harmonies with fellow believers. Lord, forgive me for the times I rush through the songs and miss the opportunity to ponder the messages of hope, healing, comfort and instruction. Give me an ear to hear Your voice speaking to me in every psalm, hymn and song of Your Spirit. Make my heart ready to respond with each note You sing over me. May my voice be lifted up with a desire to glorify Your name, emphasizing the Your scriptural promises with repeated intensity. And Father God, when I come with a heavy heart, let me remember the hope found in the blood of Jesus so that I may sing to YOU with a heart full of praise and thanksgiving. I come before You in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our recipe today is for Worship
The ingredients are from Colossians
The directions are Linger in the presence of His Word in song; ponder His Words as you sing them; sing with a heart grateful for the promises of the Cross.

{CLICK HERE for a printable version of today's recipe for the soul. Make notes on it of how God is speaking to you today, and carry it with you to feed your soul as needed.}

Other conversations held at His table that may feed your soul today...
Worship...a Response of the Heart or an Act of Obedience?
The Gospel...to be Believed and Worshipped
Dancing with God

I'd love to have you at the table each time I pull up a chair.
If you don't already, won't you join us?

Subscribe to Feeding a Hungry Soul by Email

Just click the link above, submit your email address and then

be sure to click the 'verify' link when the email is sent to your inbox.

After that, I'll be saving you a chair at the table!

God Bless and Keep You,

For more time at His table, try visiting these blogs

where I like to link up in fellowship with other followers of Christ.

A word of encouragement? A note to say 'hey'?
Just click comments below...it makes my day!

The Gospel...to be Believed and Worshipped

{click here for printable version}

Last post I asked this question at the end:

Worship...is it a response of the heart or an act of obedience?

My take is 'all of the above'. Matthew 26:6-13 is a great visual of what I mean.

Matthew 26 ~

⁶While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, ⁷a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume,

which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹“This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹The poor you will always have with you,but you will not always have me. ¹²When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. ¹³Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

As I meditated on this word, I saw 2 things:

First...A responsive heart acting in obedience to the will of God

[vs 6-7] This woman responded to a longing in her heart to show her love for Jesus by pouring this precious perfume over His head. (response of the heart)
[vs 12-13] Jesus tells the disciples that she did this to prepare Him for burial AND that her response of the heart will be told as part of the gospel message. (act of obedience...we are commanded to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth and God moved her heart to respond in this way as part of His glorious, eternally driven plan)

My heart, when surrendered to the power of the Holy Spirit, is driven to respond in an act of obedience to the leadership and eternal plan of God.

{click here to tweet this}

Second...an example of judgement driven by self focused perspective that plays out between the previous verses...

[vs 8-9] The disciples want to judge her for the way she is showing her adoration and praise for Jesus.
[vs 10] Jesus tells them that this act of worship isn't about them, it's about Him and her.

As I shared in the last post...

The response of my heart to adore and praise God

is driven by the depth of my personal relationship with God.

{click here to tweet this}

I don't know the back story of this woman, but I can only imagine that Jesus touched her in a powerful way at some point.

Did He heal her or a child of hers?
Did He release her from shackles of shame and guilt with His forgiveness and redeeming words of grace?
Did He meet her where she was on a road of sinful disobedience and welcome her into His arms, showing her a better life road to follow?

My acts of worship, (adoration and praise of God), are a direct response to how God has shown up and been there for me.

{click here to tweet this}

Jesus reprimanded the disciples for judging this woman's act of adoration and praise because they judged in ignorance. Just as the 'back story' of what led this woman to feel a need to worship Jesus in this way was not shared with us, the disciples weren't told either. All they were told was 'this isn't about what you think should be done...this is about her and Me'.

At some point, she was a broken woman

and Jesus spilled out all of His grace and power in her life

to put her back together.

Her response of adoration and praise reflects

His glory that was poured out into her life.

Our choir has been rehearsing a song (Broken and Spilled Out) based on this scripture, and it was our discussions about the message of this song that originally drove me to meditate more on this particular word of God.

A good portion of the song is about how Jesus was broken and spilled out for us through the sacrificial act of love on the cross. This is why I'm able to have a personal relationship with God that leads me to worship Him.

But there is also the message of spilled out adoration and praise in this song. Let me share the chorus with you:

Broken and spilled out

Just for love of you Jesus

My most precious treasure

Lavished on Thee

Broken and spilled out

And poured at Your feet

In sweet abandon

Let me be spilled out

And used up for Thee

~ words by Gloria Gaither~

I've highlighted the words that spoke so powerfully to my heart. There was a time in my christian walk that I was like the disciples, judging acts of worship based on what I thought was right and proper. And then there came a time in my life that all that I held together with wires and tape to present myself as the 'good and upright' christian was broken and I was spilled out before God.

That was when I moved

from believing God

to worshiping God.

I released the grip I had on that wire and tape and found freedom in letting Him hold me together instead. It was then I found freedom to worship Him with sweet abandon, holding nothing back.

And how that worship spills out of us with sweet abandon is personal...between God and ourselves. We are just called to respond to it as an act of obedience.

I'm so glad God chose to include these 8 simple verses in His big book of scriptures. This simple act of worship could have been easily left out, but I would have missed this intimate moment with Him, deepening my heartfelt responses of adoration and praise.

It's just as Jesus foretold..."Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told..."

God desires His gospel to not just be believed,

it is to be responded to with worship

(acts of adoration and praise)!

{click here to tweet this}

Prayer:

Lord God,as I bow before you today, I am moved to ask myself;

Have I allowed myself to be broken and spilled out before You, or am I using all of my strength to hold it together and not appear broken to the world?
Do I recognized all that You have spilled out into my life?
Am I ready to spill out my adoration and praise for You with sweet abandon?

Lord, show me what I cling to for self preservation or worldly validation so that I may be further broken and spilled out before You. Give me eyes to see You in every aspect of my life...to see Your glory and not my circumstances. Let the response of my heart be driven by my recognition of all that You have poured out for Me. ......I come to worship You in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our recipe today is for Worshipping with Sweet Abandon
The ingredients are from Matthew 26:6-13
The directions are to allow ourselves to be broken and spilled out before God

{CLICK HERE for a printable version of today's recipe for the soul. Make notes on it of how God is speaking to you today, and carry it with you to feed your soul as needed.}

Other conversations held at His table that may feed your soul today...
Limp or Rigid?
Ready to Run

I'd love to have you at the table each time I pull up a chair.
If you don't already, won't you join us?

Subscribe to Feeding a Hungry Soul by Email

Just click the link above, submit your email address and then

be sure to click the 'verify' link when the email is sent to your inbox.

After that, I'll be saving you a chair at the table!

God Bless and Keep You,

For more time at His table, try visiting these blogs

where I like to link up in fellowship with other followers of Christ.

A word of encouragement? A note to say 'hey'?
Just click comments below...it makes my day!

Worship...a Response of the Heart or an Act of Obedience?

My last entry on this blog was spurred by the challenge given by our church pastor to approach Monday - Saturday as days to prepared ourselves to worship at church on Sunday. Motivated by the excitement of how this challenge changed the way I mentally approached each day, I think that post got a little long winded!

So before I dive into more thoughts on that topic using other scripture God has laid before me, let me summarize that prattling post in a few bulleted thoughts:

John 12:16 ~ The disciples didn't understand that God was fulfilling prophesy until Jesus was glorified. Even though scriptures of old laid it out, they still needed to be enlightened to understand.

I too need God to reveal to me His glory every single day. Left on my own, my view becomes self centered, prideful, critical, bitter or full of self pity. And how does God reveal His glory to me? When I take time to read His word, meditate on His thoughts and listen to His voice.

If I am not prepared on Sunday to worship God for all of His revealed glory, I walk blindly into a sanctuary full of people, words, and music but no realization of what it's all about. Sure, I have the 'big picture'...this is God's day, this is something I'm supposed to do on my check list of things 'good Christians' do...but I am not prepared to worship.

Worship by definition is an act of adoration and praise. Spending time daily to see the glory of God in my life and in His word gives me new reasons to adore and praise Him. Worship means I come to church needing to adore and praise God as an overflowing response of my heart, not as a dedicated act of obedience. {click to tweet this}

John 24:23-24 ~ God is seeking 'true worshipers' ~ those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. A truthful response to the moving of His Spirit.

If I worship only as a dedicated act of obedience, I am not a 'true worshiper' as defined by the scripture. I come. (to the church service) I do. (the steps of the service / pray, sing, give, listen). I leave. (unchanged but feeling good about my act of obedience to go to church)
However, if I have prepared myself throughout the week by seeking God's revealed glory in my daily life, I am overflowing with a desire to praise and adore:

My God.
My Creator.
My Savior.
My Comforter.
My Shelter.
My Rock.
My Healer.
My...... (whoever God revealed Himself to be for you personally that week as you prepared yourself to see His revealed glory in your life)

Bottom line...

It's personal.

Preparing myself for worship

is driven by how personal my relationship is with God.

The more I see Him in my life; the more I correspond with Him in prayer and scripture; the more I seek Him with a surrendered heart ready to follow His lead...

the more PERSONAL my relationship with God becomes.

And as the intimacy in my relationship with God grows,

my need to respond grows too.

Providentially, our need to respond with adoration and praise

also fulfills our need to obey God's word:

{click here for printable version}

{simplified and paraphrased...Go to church and praise / adore Him!}

To sum it up...

I need to spend time with God daily, asking Him to reveal more of His glory in my life so I am more and more aware of who His.
The more I learn of how He is working in my life, the more intimate my relationship with God becomes.
Intimacy breeds adoration, which goes beyond respect and acknowledgement of God as God.
Because worship is a natural outpouring of adoration and praise and not simply an act of obedience, my time at church becomes less about attendance and more about worship. (I attend because God tells me to - Hebrews 10:24-25 - I worship because I desire to)

I entitled this post:

Worship...a Response of the Heart or an Act of Obedience? {click to tweet this}

I think the correct answer is: 'all of the above'.

You?

Prayer:

Lord God, I come to praise Your name and offer up my words of adoration as a response to Your revealed glory in my life. You provide for my every need, You catch every tear and become my comforter, You protect me from more than I am even aware of, You are more faithful than I can even fathom and I am able to call You Lord and Savior because of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. You are the grace I need to move forward, free from shackles of shame and guilt. You are my healer, allowing me to move beyond my brokenness and into all You created me to be. As my Creator, I am amazed at the intricacies of Your design. And each day brings me new word of Your faithfulness, love, grace, comfort, healing, provisions.... Oh Lord the list is longer than I can bring to mind, but I am mindful of all Your word says You are to me and the countless times You prove Yourself to me even when I come with doubt in my heart. Father...You prove Yourself to me over and over not because You are required to but because I require it. Your love for me is comprehensible. You never give up on me as I continue to need reassuring, reminding, refining, and redeeming. I am overwhelmed at the thought of how much I am loved by You, unconditionally. I worship You with praise and adoration as an outpouring of response to Your faithfulness and love. I come and praise You in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our recipe today is for Worship

The ingredients are from Psalm 100:4

The directions are to deepen your intimate relationship with God and surrender to the response of your spirit to give unreserved adoration and praise to Him.

{CLICK HERE for a printable version of today's recipe for the soul.

Make notes on it of how God is speaking to you today,

and carry it with you to feed your soul as needed.}

Other conversations held at His table that may feed your soul today...
Holy Holy Holy...Lord God Almighty
Heartfelt Praise and Worship

I'd love to have you at the table each time I pull up a chair.
If you don't already, won't you join us?

Subscribe to Feeding a Hungry Soul by Email

Just click the link above, submit your email address and then

be sure to click the 'verify' link when the email is sent to your inbox.

After that, I'll be saving you a chair at the table!

God Bless and Keep You,

For more time at His table, try visiting these blogs

where I like to link up in fellowship with other followers of Christ.

A word of encouragement? A note to say 'hey'?
Just click comments below...it makes my day!

Are We Prepping for the Most Important Thing?

I'm a 'prepper'. Are you?

No, not that kind of 'prepper' that has become the focus of popular reality shows, stocking shelves and learning survival skills in preparation for catastrophic events.

I'm talking about general life preparation steps.

I believe we are ALL preppers to some degree.

I suppose my addiction to organizing things may put me in the 'extreme prepper' category when it comes to being ready for daily life and tasks, but I'm inclined to think I'm not alone.

Most probably fall into the 'average prepper' category...making sure things are ready for what is coming up in the next week or days.

You may be a prepper if you:

Pull together some notes for a meeting or interview coming up in the next week
Plan meals for the family and make sure you have the groceries required
Clean the house when you know company will be coming
Lay out clothes the night before a big day so you are not rushed the next morning

Some of us go to the extremes...

Our notes for the meeting are compiled from days of internet searches and variations of revised lists!
Our family meal planning is done a month at a time and no variations are allowed!

...and some of us take the 'minimalist' approach to our prepping...

Our notes for the meeting are jotted down on the back of an envelop the night before!
Our meals are planned a few hours before dinner, but we did get to the grocery store earlier in the week so we had things to choose from!

I could go on and on with little things we do to be prepared in life, but that isn't the point of my post today. It's actually the foundation of an Ah Ha moment I had in church yesterday. Our pastor was speaking about superficial praise and at one point challenged us to consider Monday - Saturday our time to prepare for worship and praise on Sunday.

That's when I jotted down this question:

"How would my daily life change

if I viewed Monday - Saturday

as time to prepare for Sunday?"

I began thinking about how dedicated I am to preparing myself for other things in life.

Easter Sunday is coming and I've been working with the family on the dinner menu for weeks. I've also given thought on more than one occasion to clothing and even discussed it with my daughter.
I have an interview on Wednesday and a lot of time has been dedicated to making sure I am ready to have an intelligent conversation about the company and what I bring to the table.
When I have been asked to sing a solo for Sunday services, I will spend days and weeks practicing the song.

Then I compared those examples to how I approach the day set aside to worship God.

Hmmmmm.... do I prepare for it or just come to it? Does it matter?

Our pastor delivered his message from John 12 verses 12-26, but it was verse 16 that shouted to me...YES ~ preparation matters!

John 12:16

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

Jesus had to reveal the glory of His plans to the disciples so they could understand what was happening and how it glorified God.

I too need God to reveal to me His glory every single day. Left on my own, my view becomes self centered, prideful, critical, bitter or full of self pity. And how does God reveal His glory to me? When I take time to read His word, meditate on His thoughts and listen to His voice.

Yes, preparation matters. Without it, I walk blindly into a room full of people, words and music but no realization of what it's all about. Sure, I have the 'big picture'...this is God's day, this is something I'm supposed to do on my check list of things 'good Christians' do...but I am not prepared with a spirit of worship.

And what is a 'spirit of worship'? I love this verse from John...

John 4: 23-24

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

So much to dig into in this verse alone:

"true worshipers"...implying there are false worshipers or maybe even pretend worshipers
worship in Spirit and in truth...
God SEEKS these kind of worshipers...

I'm excited about exploring all of these bulleted thoughts in the coming weeks as part of my 'prepping' for Sundays! But being the 'extreme' prepper that I am, my knee jerk response to this ah ha moment about prepping for Sunday is 'where is the list of steps'?

If I'm preparing for a meeting, I have a list of things that must be done and in what order they must be accomplished so that I am prepared.

If I'm preparing a meal plan for my family, I have a list of recipes and groceries needed to be sure my plans are successful.

I praise God that He provides a clear path to follow in prepping for Praise and Worship. Scripture is full of His very clear instructions:

Psalm 15
Micah 6:6-8
Psalm 95:1-7
Psalm 100:4
Psalm 96
1 Peter 2:9
and so many more...

I look forward to spending time with God on all of these and more as He reveals more of Himself to me, but I found this word from Matthew has the inspiration for 'the list' I need for now: ~

Matthew 15:7-9

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules."

We can go through the motions of worship but it will be meaningless unless our hearts are right with Him. That's where the preparations steps begin.

A Suggested 'List' for Preparing our Hearts.

Daily quieting of our hearts in prayer and meditation
Daily asking God to reveal the truths we need to see about our hearts.
Daily responding to the truths God reveals with repentance when needed and petitions for help as needed.
Daily asking God to reveal to our hearts more of His glory...asking Him to give us eyes to see His glory even when times are hard, disappointing, confusing or heartbreaking.
Daily offerings of heartfelt praise.

For those that are like me, thinking "this is a lot like the daily quiet times I do already...so there's nothing new here for me"... I'd like to close by going back to the question I mentioned earlier...the one I jotted down during the pastor's message.

"How would my daily life change

if I viewed Monday - Saturday

as time to prepare for Sunday?"

Only exchange

'daily life'

with

'my quiet time'

"How would my quiet time change

if I viewed Monday - Saturday

as time to prepare for Sunday?"

This gave me reason to pause and see my daily quiet time in a new way...

daily time with God in His word and in prayer is more than just learning and asking...it's preparing me to be an offering of praise and worship to my creator.
it changes my focus from filling myself with knowledge to opening myself to the filling of His Spirit.
it's a private act of worship, preparing me for the corporate act of worship

I keep typing and deleting the thoughts that are spilling out of my heart with this change in perspective...thoughts that I need to set aside and build on another day.

However, one overwhelming thought occurred to me

and I'll close with it today.

"How will my time in church on Sunday change

as I use Monday - Saturday

as time to prepare for Sunday?"
{CLICK HERE to tweet this}

Will you pray with me...

Oh Lord God, how my heart beats today with joy and great anticipation of being more prepared to worship You. I confess that too often church is where I go because I said I would, or because I don't want to let a person down. I confess that too many times my thoughts at church turn to who I need to pray for to be moved by Your word that day instead of making it all about how I can worship and praise You in that moment. Forgive me Lord for losing sight of why You called us to come together in the first place. We were created to worship You and our corporate times of worship are all about You Lord. Your word tells us that You SEEK those who come to worship You in spirit and in truth. I commit my days to surrendering my heart to be a true worshiper, that You may find me to be pleasing in Your sight Oh Lord. Thank You Lord for revealing to me more of what I need to let go of so I can be filled with more of what You have for me. I worship You in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our recipe today is for Worship
The ingredients are from James 4:23-24
The directions are to use Mon. - Sat. to prepare for Sunday.

{CLICK HERE for a printable version of today's recipe for the soul. Make notes on it of how God is speaking to you today, and carry it with you to feed your soul as needed.}

Other conversations held at His table that may feed your soul today...
Heart Felt Praise and Worship
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty

I'd love to have you at the table each time I pull up a chair.
If you don't already, won't you join us?

Subscribe to Feeding a Hungry Soul by Email

Just click the link above, submit your email address and then

be sure to click the 'verify' link when the email is sent to your inbox.

After that, I'll be saving you a chair at the table!

God Bless and Keep You,

For more time at His table, try visiting these blogs

where I like to link up in fellowship with other followers of Christ.

A word of encouragement? A note to say 'hey'?
Just click comments below...it makes my day!