Day 13: Worship That Pleases God

Recently a preacher friend of mine said to me that he felt like his congregation was really struggling in worship, at the time I commented saying that maybe they were just worshiping in their own way which was different from what he was hoping for. I thought my response was pretty good until he looked at me and said, "Worshiping God and paying your respects at a funeral should never look the same!" Wow! Okay, so maybe he was right, perhaps his congregation was genuinely struggling with worship! However, I believe that there is a huge difference between us being contemplative or demonstrative in church versus genuinely worshiping God! In order for us to genuinely worship God we have to be willing to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength and because rarely are we accustomed to giving our all to anyone or anything we have to be intentional about sincerely giving all ourselves to God!

The part of today's devotion where I got stuck though was on the idea of having to be willing to sacrifice in worship, because like David we should not give God something that cost us nothing! So, now with that said this is something that I have personally been struggling with for some time now. I have been consciously trying to give God more of myself in worship regardless of where I am or who is around! My confession is that for far to long I have restricted my worship based on where I was and who I was around so much so that I am now just getting free to the point where I can ask God what He desires of me in worship and then be obedient enough to do the things that please God, but every now and then push me beyond my comfort zone! Worship is not about me! This is what I have had to tell myself over the last couple of months, worship is not about the songs I like, sermons that minister to me, my favorite dance rendition, who I am sitting next to, or even who is watching me worship! No, worship is about pleasing God and expressing to God to what extent we are grateful to be in relationship with Him! So, I have let myself off the hook as far as any false expectations that my worship has to look like someone elses, so I may never run around the sanctuary (even though sometimes I feel that, so hey you never know), I may not "shout", I may not always lift my hands, I may not speak in tongues, I may not sing as good as some other people, but I WILL give more to God each time I am in His presence. I will sacrifice more of my body and my comfort! When it is all said in done I want to God to know that I love Him, adore Him, respect Him, am grateful for a relationship with Him, revere Him!

When I was little my mother used to say to me, "Your actions speak so loud I can't hear what you're saying!" And so now my desire is that my actions will line up with my words in such a way that I am always worshiping because I live my life as a willing sacrifice to God! I sacrifice personal comfort and boundaries to worship God in spirit and in truth! What are you willing to sacrifice?

~Min. Shareka aka Swift Turtle