Praise – our response.

Worship is God’s Presence and Glory.

As we come into the presence of the LORD and experience glory, we can’t help but experience reaction. 
The Bible gives testament to many who responded to God’s presence and glory with praise.  Moses and Abraham fell to their faces. Some bowed down. Some trembled in fear. Some prayed. Some danced. Some sang. Some ‘raised their hands in the tabernacle.’ Some played the harp and lyre. Some said, ‘I believe.’
Their hearts gave a response of praise.
Our hearts respond to the LORD‘s presence and glory as well.
The response is Praise.

 Praise.

An act of expressing admiration; laudation; acclamation; devotion; extolment; exaltation; tribute; thanksgiving.

 “Blessed are those who dwell in thy house, ever singing thy praise!”(Psalm 84:4)

Through the response of praise good things happen.  We discover joy; find a desire to seek and know our LORD more intimately; we are reminded of who HE is and what He has done for us; we are joined together with one another.

 My prayer for you is to find the many blessings God has for you as you respond in praise. 

 

Exodus 15:2 - The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
Psalm 106:47- Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to Thy holy name and glory in Thy praise
1 Chronicles 16:9 - Sing to him, sing praises to Him, tell of all His wonderful works!
Psalm 7:17 - I will give to the Lord the thanks due to His righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
Psalm 9:2 - I will be glad and exult in Thee, I will sing praise to Thy name, O Most High.
Psalm 35:18 - Then I will thank Thee in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise Thee.
Psalm 47:6 - Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
Psalm 71:22 - I will also praise Thee with the harp for Thy faithfulness, O my God;
Psalm 84:4 - Blessed are those who dwell in Thy house, ever singing Thy praise!
Psalm 96:4 - For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
Psalm 106:1 - Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures for ever!
Psalm 107:32 - Let them extol Him in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the assembly
Psalm 145:3 - Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
Psalm 149:1- Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise in the assembly of the faithful!
Psalm 149:9 - This is glory for all His faithful ones. Praise the Lord!

Glory in Worship

To worship is to experience God’s Glory.
Glory.
Resplendent beauty; magnificence; majesty; greatness; grandeur.

God’s Glory is more than a great, awesome, magnificent, majestic, resplendent, radiant experience.  There are many verses in the Bible referring to the glory of the LORD filling the tabernacle and actually appearing or seen (Exodus 40:34-35, 2 Chronicles 5:14, 2 Chronicles 7:1; 1 Kings 8:11, Leviticus 9:6, Leviticus 9:23, Numbers 14:10, Numbers 14, 21-22; Numbers 16:19, Numbers 16: 42, Numbers 20:6).

God’s Glory is a great, awesome, magnificent, majestic, resplendent, radiant presence.
We see it. We know it. It fills us. It changes us.

When we worship we are in His Glory and we glorify Him.

Glorify.
Exalt, honor, laud, magnify, celebrate, sing the praises of.

To worship is to have the Glory of God, that radiance, dwell among us and in us.  We become glorified and the only response we can have is to glorify.

It is my prayer that worship will grant you His Glory and that you glorify!

Exodus 16:7- and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord.

Psalm 97:6 - The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.
Psalm 113:4 - The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens!
Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
2 Peter 1:3 - His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
2 Corinthians 3:18 - And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Isaiah 35:2 - They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.
1 Peter 4:14 -  the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

Presence… worship’s invitation and blessing.

Presence.

The state of being with; in company of; proximity; residing with; existing at this time.

Worship extends to us the most wonderful invitation and opportunity one could ever imagine…

“Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker….Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise….Come into His presence with singing….Let enter His dwelling place and worship at His footstool.” (Psalms 92, 95, 100, 132)

When you truly worship, you enter the presence of God.

Worship isn’t just singing praise songs, saying prayers and listening to a speaker on life application or instruction of God’s Word.
Worship is meeting God; focusing on Him; kneeling before Him; knowing God is HERE.
Worship is His PRESENCE. 
Moses and Abram fell to their faces as they found themselves in the presence of the LORD.  When Moses came down from the presence of the LORD on Mt. Sinai “his face shone bright” from God’s radiance and glory. 
As we enter God’s PRESENCE through worship how can we not be affected?
“In Your presence there is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11).

Presence.

Now I often consciously enter His Presence as I worship.  I sometimes find tears flowing.  His Presence is overwhelming…  maybe this is fullness of joy to the point of overflowing. I experience worship this way because I was forever affected by a moment in a worship experience involving over 50,000 people in a park during a Christian based ministry CityFest my family and I attended in Portland.  It wasn’t the musicians, the speaker or the number of people participating that changed my heart.  It was a specific moment… a moment of being in worship… cleared mind and open heart… focused on THE ONE WORTHY… standing with my family hands raised.  A moment I truly entered HIS Presence.  A moment I stood in His dwelling place.  A moment I felt an awareness that our daughter stood with us…. A very emotional awareness because she had physically left this world years earlier.  Emotion and joy overwhelmed my heart because for me to know she was there I was truly in God’s Presence. His PRESENCE transcends beyond time and separation.

Christ himself promised us this presence… HIS PRESENCE.  He spoke the promise in Matthew 18:20 saying “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I AM also.”

Every time we worship we accept that wonderful invitation.  We know He has kept His promise.  HE is PRESENT.

 I pray PRESENCE for you as you worship.

Psalm 95:6 - Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

Psalm 92:5 - Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Psalm 100:2 – Come into His presence with singing!
Psalm 132:7 - Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool.
Psalm 140:13 - Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence.
Psalm 89:15 - Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
1 Corinthians 14:25 - as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you”.

Worship...getting to the heart of it

Worship

This word has been spoken to me in several contexts as of late.

“I need to get something out of worship that I’m not finding right now” stated one.
"Please take a moment to respond to the Worship Vision Team questionnaire” the notice read. 
“I don’t need to go to church to worship” stated another.
“Our church has ‘contemporary worship’ and ‘traditional worship’ one proclaimed.
And it seems like each time I’ve turned on the radio as I have traveled I’ve heard the words being sung, “I’m coming back to the heart of worship…”

When something comes at me from different directions within a period of time I’ve learned HE is drawing my attention and it’s time to listen.  So, I’ve been spending some time standing still with “worship”.  Do I need to get to the core of the heart of worship?  What exactly is worship?

From the comments, conversations and observations, it would almost seem that the thought processes of quite a few lead to beliefs that worship is a ‘personal experience’ in that the focus is on “What type of worship suits me?  What do I enjoy? The experience I am looking for.  What do I get out of it? Is this meeting my needs?” 

It would seem that worship is a feel good activity that has become a self focused and self absorbed act - shrunk to be a small piece of our lives.
Isaiah’s words have caution for us, “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules (29:13). 

Worship.

 

Meaning: to render religious reverence; homage; honor; adoration; praise; glorify.

The word itself comes from a form of “worthiness or worth-ship”. 

Truth is...there really is only ONE worthy of reverence, homage, honor, adoration, praise and glory. 

Perhaps as we discuss, consider and stand still with worship, we need to turn our focus from the ‘personal’ act or worship to the PERSON of worship, our LORD.

 I will be continuing to stand still with a few aspects of worship over the next few days.  As I do, it is my prayer  true worship  changes the worshiper – not just finding a heart for worship but a true heart of worship.

 

Nehemiah 9:6 - You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

John 4:24 – God is spirit and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.
Psalm 95: 6 - Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
Hebrews 12:28 - Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

This Journey to the Destination

Our family loves to hike.  We live in a place filled with the wonder and majesty of the Creator and often find ourselves in the Maker’s Presence as we are on the trail.  Usually I’m the caboose.  Yes, I’m the slowest – part of it due now to age and I’ll admit fitness level has a bit to do with it as well.  However, I’ve always stated that it is in large due to the fact that I’m a journey hiker.  A couple of people in our family definitely are destination hikers - conquer the summit; arrive at the viewpoint; reach the goal.  I lag along and call attention to the blossoming wildflower; point out the odd/surprising growth of a tree trying to find sunlight; pause to watch a hawk soar; and find viewpoints along the way (as well as catch my breath!)

I’ve come to appreciate Martin Buber’s (German Jewish Philosopher) statement that “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”
There have been many times we have set off into nature and come away with seeing and experiencing so much more that just our original destination.  As I hike, I am conscious of experiencing the course traveled and find joy in doing it not completing it. And what makes that experience so rich is the people I hike with – friends, my kids, my husband…the Creator.

 In a recent time span, life’s road has held some twists and turns – changing direction from what I had planned.  I admit, I’ve been greatly preoccupied with destinations lately.

Career goals, family goals, personal resolutions, relationship goals, to-do lists objectives, schedules, appointments, deadlines --- all these ‘destinations’ have overshadowed my journey lately.  As I paused on this path to Stand Still, I am reminded that “it’s good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters in the end.”

 I pause to call my own attention to the “wildflowers and viewpoints” of the last few miles of my journey in life.  I’m pointing out to myself the “surprising growth”.  And here are a few of the “secret destinations” I’ve discovered I had experienced:

New friendships
Deepened friendships
Encouragement
Freedom from obligations I’d self-imposed that were not meant for me
Release from burdens I was not supposed to carry
Ordinary moments that were extraordinary
Unconditional acceptance and love
Answered prayer
Many answered prayers
Laughter
Moments – rich and remarkable
Clarity
Openness to new direction

I am reminded that I may not know what my journey holds but I do know Who holds it.  I know that I am never traveling alone.  There is awe and majesty to be had because He has in store for me immeasurably more than I could’ve ever planned.

Are you journeying through life or ‘destinationing’?  If you pause to view – stand still – what ‘secret destinations’ have been yours?  Who has been traveling with you?

 

Matthew 28:20 – “And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.”
Romans 8:38-39 – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ephesians 3:20ff – “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power…to Him be glory.”