I briefly mentioned in one of my blogs from Thailand that the Lord has been teaching me about worship. Well, He hasn’t stopped. Actually, worship has been one of the themes of my World Race. At least in terms of the Lord and I.
I think it was the very first week I was in the Philippines that He showed me a simple verse in Psalms.
“But you are Holy; Enthroned in the praises of Israel.� (Psalm 22:3)
That’s the verse that started it, that verse and a Johnathon David Helser song, and ever since that first week on this race, I have been convinced that worshiping is something powerful.
At home I always loved worship. I love to sing and dance for my Lord and I’m blessed by a community of worshipers who will sing and dance right along with me; and I think I knew that worship was a weapon…but I had never known just how powerful this weapon actually is. (And honestly, I probably still don’t know.)
Anyway, the Lord has been teaching me a lot about worship. He’s shown me that He’s enthroned in our praises. He makes His throne in our praises. The implication here is, that when we praise Him we prepare the way for His kingdom to come onto earth. As we praise Him, wherever we are, we make it possible for Him to set up His throne, thus allowing His will be done, whatever that may look like. As Mister Helser puts it, “He comes down as our praises go up.â€� And that’s huge.
This has been kept in the back of my mind for the past four months. I’ve been sitting on it, I taught about it in Malaysia and I have tried to become more intentional about worshiping Him, no matter where I am or what the circumstances may be.
The rice fields in Thailand were a chance for me to really act on what the Lord had been teaching me. No one in this community of rice farmers has a relationship with the Lord, no one there knows who He is and no one is interested in knowing and on top of that, there’s a major language barrier. So what do we do? How do we make an impact in this community for the Lord? How do we tell them about Jesus? How can their hearts be changed?
Through worship.
The Lord showed me the solution is simple. Worship Him. He reminded me that none of what I’m doing, none of my life, is about me; none of the work that I do in His name is about me and that none of what He wants to do in people’s lives hangs on my ability to accomplish it. He reminded me that He is the King, He is the Way, He is the One who can move mountains and change people’s hearts. He reminded me that He can do whatever He wants, whenever and however He wants. So, He told me to worship Him.
And I don’t have a story of anyone in that village coming to the Lord, but I do have some awesome stories of my encounters with Him, and His faithfulness. And I can tell you without a doubt that the Lord is on the move in that community. Worship is a weapon and the enemy cannot stand against it.
Well, my learning about worship didn’t end there. As the Q squad transitioned into Cambodia and the new teams were announced, the Lord started transitioning what He was teaching me.
My hearts desire is to be a woman after God’s own heart. Like David, I want to be undignified in my pursuit of Him and my worship of Him. I had been telling the Lord and my team this, which is where our team name came from (2 Samuel 6); this was my prayer for a good week or so…and then the Lord stepped in.
He stepped in and He turned me upside down. He told me that He has heard my heart, He knows me and He sees me. But, He also told me that my idea of worship is messed up. He showed me how often I make worship something that is about me, about how I’m feeling or what I want to accomplish, or, even worse, He showed me that sometimes I ‘worship’ just to check it off of my list and say that I did.
Ouch.
Not very pretty.
And He, ever so gently, taught me what worship is. He reminded me that it’s all about Him. All the time. That all I need to do to enter into a place of worship, is to gaze on Him. To look Him in the eyes and smile. Worship is not about singing a song, it’s about gazing on our Lord, declaring who He is, proclaiming His greatness.
He also told me that I cannot be a woman after His own heart if I still haven’t handed Him my heart. He showed me that there are still some idols and some hurts that I have yet to yield to Him. He told me that He also wants me to be a woman after His own heart and that He will walk me through the steps if I let Him. He told me that this process, this walk with Him would be my form of worship. My learning to depend entirely on Him and trust Him with every aspect of myself would become my greatest form of worship.
So, that’s where I’m at.
As per my usual, I don’t know what any of this looks like, and I have a long ways to go. But I do know that I’m ready and I’m willing and that He will never give up on me.
Love you all!
Pray for me.
I’m a mess 🙂
But, it’s good.
