Continued from last week … Please check it out.
Jim says that after 15 years or so of being a pastor, he finally learned that he can start a sermon one week and finish the next. It’s OK to take some time to talk about things thoroughly instead of rushing through them.
Have you ever been bored with God? You may not want to admit it, and that’s OK. Sometimes, if we get more “religious,” we get less into our relationship with God. When that happens, we get burnt out and bored.
Worship helps keep us “young” in our relationship with The Lord. Experiencing the presence of God is delightful and helps keep our faith childlike. Receiving the Love of God during worship helps keep our faith strong.
When Jim returned from the “Signs and Wonders” Conference he talked about last week, he was filled with God’s Spirit. As he took the red eye back to Michigan from California, he prayed and cried as God ministered to him. He prayed about what he should preach about the next morning. God told him, “Give them My Heart.” As Jim stood in front of his congregation, God’s love was poured out upon the people in his church. They were blessed in a way they had never been blessed before. God’s Spirit fell on the people and they were touched in a way they had never been touched before.
Definitions of worship:
- Passion for God that leads to compassion for people. It helps us to love the unlovable – to touch them with God’s love.
- Giving God the supreme place in our hearts and making Him the supreme delight of our life.
“When God is most glorified man is most satisfied.” “When man is most satisfied God is most glorified.” –John Piper
“Thou art my loveliness, my life, my light, You are Beauty alone to me.” –George Herbert
The connection between worship and compassion
Worship is the starting point of a life of compassion because it provides the highest and best motive, anointing, and outcome for any act of compassion or kindness.
The most powerful and sustaining motivation for loving people is a personal love and passion for Jesus Christ.
- If we give to get our giving will lack transforming power and we will end up discouraged and disillusioned.
- Worship without compassion leads to empty ritualism, compassion without worship leads to burnout. But, worship (especially corporate worship) with compassion leads to maximum impact.
“Worship is the fuel for our mission’s flame.” –Matt Redmond
A heart of worship makes the ordinary into the extraordinary; it brings God’s anointing and the greatest possible eternal outcome to any opportunity of service. It is when compassion is given as an act of worship that it is most likely to produce a response of worship in those who are given to.
Psalm 22:3
Matthew 5:16
Steps to receiving a worship breakthrough in our lives:
- Remember and return to Jesus to give a radical response of gratitude for His salvation and forgiveness in your life. Worship isn’t about showing our devotion to God; it is about rediscovering and being amazed by His devotion to us. He who is forgiven much loves much.
- Come, open and unashamed to disclose the contents of your heart honestly to God in worship. Intimacy with God comes when we reveal the deepest parts of our hearts to God. Why do we raise our hands in worship? It’s so we can show with our body language we are open – our hearts are open – to God’s Healing Spirit.intimacy = in-to-me He sees!Psalm 62:6
- Worship breakthroughs come as we make a fresh surrender of ourselves and break free from the grip of the idols in our lives. Before every breakthrough is a fresh surrender. Why do we raise our hands in worship? To show utter surrender to The Lord. Give your whole heart to God every day in a fresh surrender.1 John 2:15Genesis 22:5John 12:27
- Worship breakthroughs come as we take worship outside of the box and see every person and circumstance as a worship opportunity. There’s a very successful basketball coach at a Christian school nearby who tells his players that playing basketball is a time of worship unto The Lord. Sound funny? Maybe it’s a little unorthodox, but his teams are very successful – and made up of kids who are passionate for The Lord.
“The depth of our worship cannot be measured by how well we speak, sing, or play an instrument, but can only be measured by the degree in which we in our weakness have yielded ourselves in brokenness to God.” –Scott Brener
Matthew 25:40
Worship Assignment: Intentionally seek to turn up the worship temperature of your heart. Open up your heart, look for opportunities every day to reach up to God and out to others. Look for God’s presence each day.
Worship Plan: List at least 3 things you will do this week to accomplish this assignment. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
