The Best Preparation For Worship: Worship

(Continuing the thoughts begun last week on Sunday worship being a culmination and celebration of what God has done in and through our lives during the week.)

How can we make gathered Sunday worship a place to celebrate, rather than a place to get “filled-up”? How can we become more vibrant Believers who worship out of personal fullness, instead of people who are desperately seeking to get our "Sunday fix"?

I believe that gathered Sunday worship should be a culmination of our personal worship throughout the week. Here is what I personally do each week:

Daily Time Alone With God: This is worship time (for Him), not bible study time (for me). I begin my day using God’s Word to worship, praise and pray, and to give all off my attention to Him, not to me (my needs, my wants, my troubles). Instead of asking of our Daily Time Alone With God "What can I get out of it?" we should be asking "How can I give to the Lord?"

Listening To Worship Music: What better way to spend my driving time, running and workout time, manual work time (mowing, etc.), and “down” time than worshipping the Lord musically. These times have become valuable opportunities to focus on God's greatness, rather than listening to a popular song. This draws my heart consistently to God and who He is. Music that doesn’t exalt Him pretty much stays off my playlist.

Sabbath Preparation: We can learn from much the Hebrew people. On their sabbath day, they worship from sundown to sundown. Their rituals are designed to maximize their worship experience. Years ago our family adopted a Simplify Saturday Evening lifestyle, where we use Saturday evenings to prepare for Sunday worship: Minimal social commitments (we have learned to say "no" to invitations), a relaxed/stress-free atmosphere at home, practical Sunday preparation (choosing of clothes, locating Bibles, etc.), and early to bed (well-rested worshippers worship well).

Worshipping To Prepare For Worship: My Sunday mornings begin with worship (just like the other days of my week). I don’t wait until I enter the Worship Center to begin to worship, but I worship in preparation for worship, and on the way to worship. Yes, there are practical things to do that day, but my focus is on the Lord.

These simple practices have worked well for me in making gathered Sunday worship a culmination rather than a "filling-up" place. And if you notice, they all involve my attention on Him, rather than my attention on me. What can you do during the week in your personal worship to prepare for gathered Sunday worship? Lead Well!

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Corporate Worship: Fill-up Or Pour-out?

A lot has been said about gathered corporate worship being a culmination and celebration of what God has done in and through Believer’s lives during the week. I believe every pastor and worship leader’s heart desire is for gathered worship times to be vibrant and spirited, full of heartfelt praise and intimate worship.

For many Believers, gathered corporate worship is a place to get “filled-up” rather than a place to celebrate. We come empty, rather than overflowing. We are looking to receive, rather than looking to give. (I even worked with a worship ministry member in the past who called gathered corporate worship her therapy, because she spent her days between Sundays empty and lifeless.)

Have you ever felt this way? Do you find yourself entering a worship center with other Believers hoping for a touch from God, instead of entering abounding with praise?

Too often we find ourselves struggling during the week. The pressures of life, the weight of parenting, the stresses of the workplace, the burden of difficult relationships all contribute to emptying us of life rather than making us full of life. We feel loss, failure, insignificance, and defeat.

We cry out to God, but many times we feel like He isn’t listening. We “try to do better”, but find that our efforts are not enough. We pour out our hearts to a close friend (or with everybody on Facebook), but many times they turn it around and make it about their own struggles, rather than offering us significant solutions.

What can we do to change this? How can we live lives to the fullest, so that we can hardly wait for gathered corporate worship? (Not so we can be filled, but so we can let out the praise to God that is building inside of us.)

I will be spending the next few weeks in this space sharing biblical and practical solutions to help us become more vibrant Believers who worship out of personal fullness, instead of people who are desperately seeking to get our "Sunday fix". Watch this Blog for more. Until then… Lead Well!

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Check Your Time

As we move forward in this new year, God’s Word has a great encouragement for us. Ephesians 5:15-16 says: Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

There is a lot of great encouragement in these short words. In them, we are reminded to be careful, be wise, be diligent, and be aware.

•   Be careful: We must take ownership of our lives. We must know every step we take, every word we speak, every action we do, and every thought we have. Any of these without care or restraint is a huge waste of precious resources.

•   Be wise: We must be responsible for our own wisdom. Gone are the days of juvenile mistakes and foolishness. We must evaluate every step, word, action, and thought and make sure it is exercised with wisdom.

•   Be diligent: We must be constantly and consistently pursuing God's vision and calling on our lives. When we step, speak, act, and think, we must live out our purpose, rather than simply go along with everyone else.

•   Be aware: We must question everyone and their motives and calling. Everyone else, unless they are fully committed to God’s Word and His Presence, will be prone lead us into futility.

Our lives are too precious to God for us to simply be driven along by the influences around us. He desires for us to have purpose, and to live that purpose out with every step, every word, every action, and every thought we have.

Do we realize that time is limited? We only have so much time on this earth. We only have so much opportunity before a door or window will close. We must seize every moment and every opportunity.

As we move forward then in this new year, may I challenge all of us to ask ourselves: Am I being careful, wise, diligent, and aware, or am I allowing myself to drift along haphazardly? Lead Well!

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Finding Real Joy in 2017

Where do you find your joy? From your circumstances? Your family? Your job? Your bank balance? Your church? Your vacation? Maybe from your ministry?

All of those things have the potential to become “un-joyful” and let us down: Circumstances change. Families disappoint. Jobs become tedious. Bank balances drop. Churches don’t do things the way we want. Vacations end. Ministries become stale.

Let's take a step back. If we're honest, we allow our consumer-driven culture to influence us in the ways we seek joy. We look to possessions, conveniences, latest & greatest gadgets, wi-fi speed, food, favorite team win-loss record, and a host of other "things" our culture tells we need to have to supply our joy.

But let's even take another step back and see how our "me first" culture influences us in our quest for real and lasting joy. We are looking to fulfill our happiness, our joy, our needs. We want it for us, and we want it for us now.

Where can we find true, full, and overwhelming joy? In the Presence of God. Consider Psalm 16:11: You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Notice that the Psalmist isn’t referring to a quick prayer of desperation when things don’t go our way. Rather, he says You make known to me the path of life. Finding Joy in God’s Presence is a continual pursuit on the path of life. It’s not a quick-fix bandaid when things don't go our way.

Notice also that the Psalmist points us to God’s right hand as a place to abide, rather than a place to find quick fixes. Instead of looking to see what is in God’s hand for us, we need to climb into His hand and rest.

The fullness of joy is only found in the Presence of God. We can't over-explain this truth. We can't make it what it is not. We can only accept that true joy is only found in the Presence of God.

And that true joy, found in the Presence of God, isn't there for the fulfillment of our needs and desires. Rather, it is a benefit of continually walking in God's Presence. We should seek to consistently walk in God's Presence simply because that's what we were created to do. LeadWell!

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