“Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is, and what He has done; expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.”
-Louie Giglio
Over the years my understanding and experience of worship has expanded and adapted through different seasons and experiences in my life. I have begun to learn that worship is a stature of my heart and a way of life, not just a period of time spent singing, praying and going to church. Church is a place of worship, but our reverence and adoration of God is not limited to a building because we are the church. We are more than a service on Sundays, Christmas, and Easter. We are a living, breathing sanctuary, and each of the breaths we take is a testimony to the goodness and glory of our God.
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“There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God,
with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.”
Psalms 86:8-13
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This past month the Lord lead me deeper into what living with my heart in a state of worship can look like. Originally, the idea of worshiping and praying without ceasing seemed far from a feasible and attainable state of being. I mean how do you do anything without ceasing? That sounds exhausting and unappealing, especially something that holds so much weight. Always and forever in every moment worshipping God? I don’t know about you, but much of my life I wouldn’t say bring glory to God. I am selfish, impatient, prideful, and too reliant on myself. So, how does an imperfect person live with a heart of worship?
Well, I am not sure I know the answer to that, but I believe I witnessed it last month in Côte d’Ivoire and have gotten glimpses of it this month in Ghana. Our host and the villagers worshipped with their whole heart, mind, body, and soul continuously. From early mornings spent praying, afternoons dancing, evenings in countless services, and every daily task in between turning into song, their lives outpoured in worship. Their very lives were worship.
One evening in particular I saw the wonder in their worship and the true stature of worship in their lives. We were at a night service in a neighboring village that was well off the beaten path. The service started at 7 and while the villagers were lost in song and dance praising God and his goodness, the power from the generator went out. Now, instead of packing up and heading home after waiting multiple hours to get the power back on and waiting to try again another day, the singing and dancing continued. When the power finally came back on it was almost 11pm, but they stayed to hear what the Lord had to say to them. As I shared the Lord with them the light above me blew up, but still, everyone sat in the dark and listened. After the message there was supposed to be a movie with a gospel message and we all thought there was no way they would still show the movie that late at night. Oh how wrong we were. We were there until 2:30am, because they just wanted more of Jesus in any way they could get him, and nothing was going to get between their heart and Jesus, and that is some of the most beautiful worship I have experienced. The night didn’t end there, we got in the back of a flatbed truck and headed back to our village. 50 people snuggled in close, bouncing down a two track road in the woods of Africa under the light of the moon. That is when it happened. Voices rose and in the wee hours of the morning everyone broke out into song, singing and drumming as we bounced our way back home. The joy reflected by the moon in the eyes and smiles of every man, woman, and child on that truck was like nothing I had seen before. I could see, hear, and feel that they meant every single word they were singing. Jesus changed their lives so deeply that their lives looked different, they existed and experienced the world from a lens of God’s goodness, and because they chose to see the world through that lens, they couldn’t help but worship in everything they did. From transportation, walking, waiting, sitting, standing, working, you name it, there was a song in their hearts and on their lips. It was a privilege to witness and to be invited into.
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“The joy that Jesus offers his disciples is His own joy, which flows from His intimate communion with the one who sent Him. It is a joy that does not separate happy days from sad days, successfulmoments frommoments of failure, experiences of honor from experiences of dishonor, passion from resurrection. This joy is a divine gift that does not leave us during times of illness,poverty, oppression, or persecution.” -Henri J.M. Nouwen
This means that the joy that Jesus offers ME and YOU, his disciples, is His own joy. Joy in it’s purest from, not watered down by ignorance, avoidance, and forced optimism, just joy from Jesus. He walked through life with His eyes wide open to the reality of the brokenness of our world, but was not defeated by it because His hope was anchored in Heaven, in His Good Good Father. Jesus’ life was a declaration of joy that can encompass every moment of life from the highest highs to the lowest lows and I have seen a divine glimpse of that unfaltering joy here in Africa in the lives and hearts of some exceptional people. It is a joy that is continously overflowing into the world and drawing people into the depth of genuine, pure joy and celebration.
I hope and pray that my heart, our hearts, would be filled and overflowing with that joy. That we would be so amazed, in awe, and floored by Jesus, His character, sacrifice, and love, that our entire beings would be worshipping God with every single breath and step that we take. I hope to live out His heart in every thing we do, everything we see, and every place we go.
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Lord, bring me into the heart of worship, into Your heart, so that Your joy will saturate and overflow from my very being. Show me the true joy of You that brings liberation from the weight of the world, an anchor of hope, and overwhelming peace. Amen.
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Since I have been internet free for awhile, I haven’t met my next fundraising deadline at the end of the month of $13,000. Although that is very soon, I have confidence that the Lord will provide. So, for the first time or once again, I would like to invite you into this adventure of international ministry with me and Jesus through prayer, word of mouth, or financial partnership! Thank you!
