One of the my favorite songs we sing on Sunday mornings goes “He is worthy of it all! He is worthy of it all!” It’s a beautiful song that expresses reasons behind our praise and worship!
Have you wondered? Why do we worship God? Why do we come together to sing, to share in communion, to pray, and to listen to God’s word?
We do it because of 1 John 4:19 | “We love because He first loved us.”
God is love! God is loving not sometimes, but all the time.
The prophet Zephaniah says, "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will REJOICE over you with singing." 3:17 [emphasis added]
Yes, He rejoices over you! Some translations say, "He will dance with shouts of joy for you" [Jerusalem Bible]
What an amazing picture of our God! He creates opportunities for us to experience His love through the Holy Spirit. Right now, as you read this, He wants you to know that He is near, and is telling you that all your needs are found in Him.
In light of such an all consuming love for you and me, we start to understand that worship is simply the most appropriate response to His nearness to us! God is not interested in religious performances, sitting in a service listening to talks and singing songs out of duty all the while cold and distant from the heart of Jesus. He wants us to respond to His glory, His majesty, His beauty, His sovereignty -- His all consuming love for you and me!
The only appropriate response to such a God is worship! We recognize his love, care, kindness and goodness! We gather and tell Him that with our songs, words, and actions! We exalt God by getting past our own emotions and doing what the Bible says is good and right - giving thanks to the Lord!
Pray right now: “I want to honor You, Jesus. You never change though my feelings often do. Help me to rise above my emotions to praise you! Thank you! I exalt you! In Your name. Amen!”
Friends, when we praise God because of who He is and what He has done, our emotions and thoughts line up with what is true. And as we line up with Him, we begin to sense and become aware of God’s presence and His nearness! We realize that He is indeed enthroned in our worship!
So today, tell your negative emotions to take a backseat while you give God glory! Do what the psalmist did when he was down and his emotions were scattered. He started to talk to his soul and began to command it to “hope in God!” So right now, declare praises to God. Command your soul to come near Him! In doing so, you will actually break the stronghold that a dark mood can have on you, setting you free to see your life as God does! Blessings.
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