Worship

So, the title of my blog is "A Worshipful Heart in a Warring World." What is worship? I've been on a worship team in church since I was 14. However, it wasn't until fairly recently I developed a personal understanding of what worship is. Worship is the response we give to the revelation that we are loved by God. There is a three step process that I have found helpful to continually come to this revelation.

1. You have to come face to face with the cross.
--We live in a dying world. We are eternally separated from God and essentially life. God is God, He can't stop being God. He can't stop being pure. We are human. We can't magically become God. We can't stop being evil. There has to be a bridge. Something has to happen to fix this separation. Praise be to God something did happen. In His great love for us, God sent His ONLY son to die for our sins. It is one thing to have John 3:16 memorized, but another thing to grasp its meaning. Jesus Christ is the bridge between us and God, between death and life, between darkness and light. He is the answer. He brings us into eternal fellowship and family with God. If we understand that and believe that we have eternal life. Eternal life doesn't start in heaven. It begins once we accept the truth of the cross. John 17:3.

2. You have to realize that you are loved.
--You can't live by who the world says you are. You can't even live by who you say you are. You have to live by who God says you are. Who does God say you are?

1. More than a conqueror. Romans 8:37
2. Co-heir with Christ. Romans 8:17
3. Fearfully and Wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
4. Eternally loved. Romans 8:35-39
5. Strong in Him. Philippians 4:13.
6. Rich. 2 Corinthians 9:8-11
7. Free. Romans 8:2

It is so easy to be weighed down by the past and even by the sin we commit today. It is easy to assume, "There is no way God can forgive me for this. I can't even forgive myself. I might as well just forget about anything I might have had because I can't get away from this." In these moments, it is CRITICAL to remember who we are. We are loved with an eternal love that will never die. Paul prayed that we could at least grasp a little bit how loved we are while still understanding we will never truly understand it. Ephesians 3:16-18 talks about how great God's love is (stay tuned because I will do a further study on this passage). It is hard for us to understand true forgiveness because we can't truly forgive without God's help. So, with that, understand that it is not our job to necessarily understand why God forgives us, but the fact that He does. One day I was at the King's Park International Church prayer meeting and I asked God why He made me. He said because He loves me. Then I asked Him why does He love me. He said because He made me. There is no escaping it.

3. CELEBRATE!! You are loved!!
--My specific reaction to the revelation that I'm loved is singing. I love to worship God through song. I don't mean Sunday morning I get on stage and sing and that's the extent of my worship. No. Recently, God gave me the desire and grace to learn how to play the guitar (Psalm 37:4-->I will do a study on this later also). There hasn't been a day where I don't pick up that guitar and worship my God. Not to brag to people that I can play an instrument, but because I can't help but to do this in response to His love. Even beyond music, I can't help but to love others because of God's love. I can't help but to try to forgive others. I can't help but to live a lifestyle pleasing to God. I can't help but to want to go where He wants me to go. I can't help but to even have moments where I shout and scream because I feel the weight of God's love for me.

We were eternally separated from God and life until Jesus came down to bridge the gap. He loves us even when we can't love ourselves in our own power. How are you going to react to that?