Why I Worship

What Is Worship, Why Do We Worship, How to Worship

This Made My Week…

by Leave a Comment

This morning, I had a meeting that had a profound impact on my week… maybe even on my life!

I met a man who told me of a painful life. He told me of things that happened in his childhood. He told me how his father passed away when he was 12 years old and the dramatic impact that had on his life.

He told me of things that happened to him as an adult which had made him want to take his own life.

He shared with me that he had grown up in a very traditional, non-charismatic, denominational church , but that God had begun several years ago to lead him on a journey that would take him into the deeper things of The Spirit. He said that he had become frustrated and disheartened because he felt that, for some reason or another, he was not worthy or that he did not deserve what God was offering him.

His next statement to me was the one that caused my eyes to well with tears of amazement at where he is in his life and almost shame at where I find myself most days. This is what he said:                                                                                               

“I’m afraid of missing the purpose and destiny God has for me.”

Wait! I forgot to tell you… This man is sixty four years old! Yes! You read it correctly! 64! I was completely amazed and humbled in the same moment. Here sat a man who, because of the events of his personal journey in life, no one would argue with or blame for saying “I just want to live out the rest of my life with my family and enjoy myself” but, with tears in his eyes, he was sitting in front of me crying out to God to not let his life be wasted.

I thought to myself as he was sharing, “This man came here for help today, but I’m the one getting the help.”

I wonder how many of us look at our lives and think “I can’t wait until the time when I can retire and do what I want to do.” I know that, at times, I have had those thoughts.

God’s destiny and purpose for our lives do not come with a “best if used by” date. They are for a lifetime.

Maybe you’ve thought, at some time, “I’m too old for that to happen for me” or “I guess my time has passed” or maybe you’ve given up on that dream that God placed in your heart many years ago. Perhaps the fear of failure or the pain of disappointment has caused you to stop short of fulfilling the purpose for which God created you.

Can I encourage you today?

God has not been surprised by anything that has happened in your life. If He knows the end from the beginning, then His plan cannot be so fragile that it could be made null by some event that comes along to distract us.

No mater what age you find yourself at, God has a plan for your life and your best days are still ahead!

So…. Let’s get busy!!!

When we’re not, He is.

by Leave a Comment

I was scheduled to share a worship time this morning with our interns here at The Cathedral and, I must say, I was not prepared.

Last night, I had some things happen that really made me angry and I had not handled it well. I woke up this morning and was still dealing with it (is it ok if I admit that I’m not always holy?). I thought to myself, “I am in no place to share with these young people about being intimate with God in worship!”

As I got myself ready for work and made a somewhat feeble attempt to prepare for the task I was about to take on, Kari Jobe’s song; “You Are for Me,” began to play over and over  in my mind and heart. I don’t normally listen to Kari, but this song was really heavy in my spirit. I thought “What is the deal, here?” I could not get it to stop! Then it hit me… here are the lyrics:

So faithful. So constant. So loving and so true. So powerful in all You do.
You fill me. You see me. You know my ev’ry move. You love for me to sing to You.

I know that You are for me. I know that You are for me
I know that You will never forsake me in my weakness.
And I know that You have come now, even if to write upon my heart to remind me who you are.

So patient. So gracious. So merciful and true. So wonderful in all You do.
You fill me. You see me. You know my ev’ry move. And You love for me to sing to you Lord.

God was saying to me “Even when you’re not faithful, I am. Even when you haven’t been consistent, I am.”

Jesus told the woman at the well “The time is coming, and now is, when those who worship me will worship me in spirit and in truth.”

My worship is not dependent on how I have performed or whether I have performed to what I think are God’s expectations of me. My worship is not dependent upon who I am. My worship is not dependent upon what I need for God to do in my life.

If I worship God in spirit and in truth, then I come to Him acknowledging that:

  1. He knows everything about me and still chooses… no, LONGS to commune and have fellowship with me.
  2. When He looks at me, He sees me as a completed work in Christ, therefore I cannot disappoint Him or perform below His expectations of me.
  3. When I come to Him in worship I already have everything I need in Christ. All of my healing is provided. All of the provision to accomplish my purpose is already done. Therefore I worship from a well of satisfaction that He has and is everything I need.

In those times when you feel you have “messed up” too badly, or have not been good enough to come into God’s presence in real worship, remember, in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit, realized they were naked, and covered themselves… but God still came, just like He always had, to walk with them in the cool of the day. He knew their sin… but still came.

He knows you… but still comes saying “I’m here. I am for you. I love you.”

“Father help me today to understand that my worship is not dependent on anything I can do or have done, but it is solely dependent on who You are and what You have done. You have purchased my healing. You have called me Your son. You have promised not to leave me nor forsake me. You have assured me that at the time when I find myself weak, Your strength will be proven perfect. Thank You for revealing yourself to me and helping me to understand the depth of Your love for me. AMEN.”

“I Hope”

by Leave a Comment

One of my all time favorite movies is the 1994 drama The Shawshank Redemption. It’s a story about two men who become close friends while serving time in Shawshank Prison. I don’t have time here to give details of the movie, so I’ll trust that either you’ve seen it or perhaps you will take time soon to give it a look.

The movie ends with these words from Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (played by Morgan Freeman):

“I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as beautiful as it has been in my dreams. I hope…”

In a world where we are touched daily by crime, poverty, hatred, corruption, divorce, and all sorts of darkness running rampant and seemingly without any control or remedy, how do we remain people of light? How do we retain our distinction as “Salt and Light” to this world? How do we keep a smile on our faces when, all around us, there is so much pain and hurt?

The answer is simple… it’s HOPE!

Hope is the thing that distinguishes us as believers from those who do not know the Lord as Savior.

Ephesians 2:12-13 says: Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 says: But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

Hope is what brings us to have faith for something different. Hebrews 11:1 says: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We are not talking about “blind faith” or “wishful thinking,” but a firm assurance about things that are not seen and still in the future. Jesus said “I have come that they might have life and that more abundantly.” Jesus never talked about hope, but in living the life He lived He proved to us that we could live a life of victory just as he did. Hebrews 4:15 says: For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

In Psalm 42:5 David says: Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.

Our life as believers should not be spent dwelling on the things that are wrong in our world, rather we should be the ones offering comfort and assurance to those around us who are in need. We should be the carriers of a hope that causes people to believe there is something out there that is better than what they are experiencing.

Are you a vessel of hope to YOUR world?