Thanksgiving in Worship

Circumstances of life can be hard. No matter how hard we work, no matter the time, talent, or treasure we put into anything, there is no telling what can happen in the future. Even the richest people in the world can look at what they don’t have rather than what has already been given. God brings us the most difficult times to refocus us and make us sure to rely on Him. But there is always something to be thankful for.

Whether we have a job, family, friends, the church, or our daily sustenance of food, clothing, and shelter, it all pales in comparison to the love our God has for us when He sent His Son to this world and die so that we might live with Him forever in heaven. Our thanksgiving automatically bleeds into our worship and praise to God. When we start to recognize all of the blessings God provides for us on a day-to-day basis, we can bring that recognition all the way to the foot of the cross. Let us praise God as He wants to be praised and remember the perfect blessing He has given us: eternal life.

Time with God

Sundays have been so awesome since we started this praise and worship study. We are actively, as a worship team, open to Him, willing and receptive to how He would see us be used in worship. I don't know; maybe it's just me, but I am certainly sensing God taking us someplace during worship times. I praise Him so much for allowing us to see who He is...I welcome His presence, and my focus has certainly been moved to see Him enthroned in our praises.

I know with the busy-ness of life, we can forget to spend time with God. I always spend time everyday in prayer and I consider my lifestyle an act of worship to God but oftentimes my bible study time can be dry and unproductive. I can find myself sometimes drifting and losing my focus and forget to dig deeper in the reading. The team study, though, keeps me accountable. I want to make sure I am focused as I am reading and learn how God wants to be worshiped because others can tell when someone's not pulling their weight. Group accountability can be a very good thing.

I think God wants those up front to worship in real ways. 2 Timothy says that He gives us a spirit of power, the same as all believers, to worship Him with our whole hearts. The ways in which we worship (standing, singing, lifting hands, shouting, clapping, etc.) are acts of submission. Paul says in Corinthians 4 that he was a fool for Christ...what does that look like today?

If we spend time with God everyday, we can become very comfortable in heartfelt worship. As long as we recognize Him as Lord over our lives, raising hands and exuberance in worship can become a very natural thing. It's important to God.

Worship to God?

Our worship team small group has been both uplifting and enjoyable. It has been uplifting in the fact that we have over ten people just from the worship teams themselves caring about wanting to grow more in their worship and know more about what worship is. It has been enjoyable because people have been so willing to share their hearts, desires and struggles, in just the little time we've been together already. God is certainly moving in our hearts in the time we've been together.

Anyway, I pose this question...what is God's purpose for worship? Why do we do it? Why not just come in on Sunday morning to hear a great message? It's obvious that worship means so much to God...it is more than a warm up for the preaching. In fact, based on what is in scripture, it is much more important to God than receiving a message. Just recognizing the passivity in receiving a message versus the activity in praising God should make us aware of the importance of praise in our devotional and corporate worship times. Now trust me...I am not minimizing the value of discipleship in any way. But I am seeing, based on the scriptures, that God cares more about our corporate reaction and glorification of Him than the corporate activity of receiving a message.

It is my prayer that people in the congregations and the masses in the world would share with God all their feelings, emotions, and expressions of love unashamedly on Sunday mornings; that we might let loose our exuberance and passion for God before the congregation without reservation. Worship is not for us to warm up for the preaching...it is for Him to be magnified.

Settling Yourself in Restless Times

You know, oftentimes when our weeks become long and hard with work, family obligations, or special priorities, our lives can feel so bogged down. We can easily slip into this mode of "what now?"

I remember when I was working on my undergrad and taking on 15 credits that semester (for those of you who don't know, music courses are often .5, 1.0, and 2.0 credits...at least at MSU, so I would often be in classes 25-30 hrs./week), I was also leading worship services and had about 12 hours of private music students to teach. Having my fiance at the time, also, I wanted to be able to spend time with her but due to my obligations, I rarely saw her.

I started to become bitter. Although my work at the church and the private lessons were blessings from God and things that I would regularly enjoy, I often loathed the fact that I needed to take my valuable time away from things I wanted to do and concentrate on things that were starting to take their toll on my attitude and mentality. I started to think about things I would rather be doing.

If you are reading this and are at that place where the things you once loved just are not making you feel special anymore, there's a verse that may help you:

Psalm 42:5-6 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

See, Korahites (the auther of this Psalm) was reminding himself of the blessings God has provided for the Hebrew people. What I needed to do was recognize that these things that bothered me really are not a hindrance; I needed to remember what they were really...blessings.

Now, maybe you're stuck in a job you don't like but God has you there anyway. Find small ways to contribute to His kingdom; witness to a coworker, run an errand for someone...do something nice you may not normally do. Then, and only then, can you start to enjoy being in the place God has you serving right now.

I've become much better about time management now. I'm not driving myself crazy with work needed to be done. I've slowed down because I realized my lifestyle was not a healthy one. I now spend time with Cayla and Grace much more and my work is what it should've been in the first place: a joy.

God bless!

Thoughts on Praise and Worship

I put up a sign on the side of my church office (which is conveniently located about 12 feet from the main entrance of the auditorium) that contained a John Piper quote. It may be seen as controversial but I'm just trying to stir the hearts and minds of the worshipers. The quote said: "Missions exists because worship doesn't." (BTW: I'm NOT just talking about music here)

I don't know if people even looked at it before walking by. In fact, no one said boo about it until I showed one of our awesome servants in the worship ministry, Terrence, the quote. Once I directed his attention towards it, he turned his head and squinted his eyes in a look of disbelief. "What?," he said. Right next to that bold statement I had placed a small summary of some of John Piper's thoughts written in Let the Nations be Glad! - The Supremacy of God in Missions.

I told Terrence to read on a bit as he was eager to disagree.Now, I took the quote out of its context which certainly is a dangerous place to go (we all know how that can get) in order to attract attention but we can look at that statement in varying ways: one, we don't worship and, therefore, we must evangelize in order to compensate; two, evangelism is not as important as worship; or three, if we worshiped, we wouldn't have to evangelize.

The truth is that Piper was explaining that worship IS most important; it is our heartfelt praise and thanksgiving to God. Our communication and realization of who God is, His awesome being and perfect work, should be brought into focus and we are to be worshipers first. Piper goes on to say that missions begins and ends with worship. This is true. We go out because of the inspiration and realization of who God is through our worship. The end result of our spreading the gospel is simply more people recognizing God for who He is, and worshiping Him, as well.

See, Terrence wasn't wrong. His feeling was that Jesus called us to evangelize due to the Great Commission. That is of utmost importance to our ministry. In fact, if we didn't, we would be disobeying God. But, it is through inspired and reverent worship that we recognize how good God is, and how worthy He is to be proclaimed and testified to the rest of the world, whether at home or abroad.

SWBC Worship Small Group #1

Tonight was great...we're going through Bob Sorge's book, Exploring Worship, as a team small group. Since we just handed out the books tonight, we haven't begun reading. This night was special, though, because we could share our thoughts on our worshipping experience and how we worship in our personal and corporate times.

Before our discussion, we watched the first module of his video series. The focus and idea behind the talk was the fact that worship and all facets of worship (praise, petition, supplication, etc.) go under the umbrella of prayer. It's like one of those "duh" moments, you know. I knew it all along but tonight was the first time I was brought to light about that fact.

Think about it though...if you and I came to a worship service and actually anticipated that it would be actual prayer time, how much different would your worship be? What might we do differently? How might we alter the way we worship?

In all my worship experience, I have never really seen it for what it is; intimate, true, and heartfelt communication with God. As a worship leader, I often think about how I might lead a congregation to the throne of God. But I think when I talked it over with him, Paul Koonce (tbc's Min. of Music) said it best (I'm paraphrasing a bit here): "Worship first, lead second." It is surely true. Going to the throne of God is most important. We can't lead the congregation there without going on first. It is surely true.

Prayer is the aspect of communication with God. When we see it for what it is, all other parameters come in to focus.

Simple Thoughts

I've been a bit of a Mr. Mom as of recently what with my leaving my school teaching job and my wife picking up more hours as a pediatric nurse. It just feels a bit off. Not a big deal, and I do love spending time with my daughter, but I just feel like I'm not doing my husband and fatherly "role" very well.

But I know God is in everything.

I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:1 - There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

While I do not believe this will be the "norm," I know that God has ordained it this way for a reason. Right now, I can see the impact of being closer to Cayla and learning some valuable parenting lessons in the process- patience, unconditional love, how to listen and infer.

They certainly are valuable, aren't they?

I know that God is right there with me. And, you know what, He's had to do that same thing with me. He never had to learn anything, of course, but He's definitely had to have been a dad to me. I think right now He's using this time to help me see what He's had to do. As I grow it seems like I, just like Cayla, can be so needy. But, instead of wanting that duck over there like she does, I want that car or that house over there.


Hmmm...maybe I can use this time to humble myself, repent, and recognize my blessings rather than just keep asking for stuff.