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Monday, July 18, 2005
Worship-- the natural extension of praise
God is seeking worshippers. If you want to live in the glory realm, you must be a worshipper.
True worship comes from the heart, in love and adoration unto the Lord. We enter His gates with singing, and we enter His courts with praise. Praise is the entering in. But in the past, we often don't know what to do next. We either did nothing or we changed the order of the service.
We make an effort to come into His presence. But, once we arrive, we just look around and say, "That was nice. Bye now. We'll see You next time." Why have we come? Is it not to worship the King in all of His glory, in all His majesty.
A heart can meet with God anywhere one wants to meet with Him, and at any time. You can meet Him on an airplane. you can meet Him at school, sitting at your desk.
Most of us spend very little of this quality time in the presence of God. Yes, we pray for needs, we ask God to bless His servants. But, when it comes to Him and Him alone, we just don't have the time.
The Lord will have a people that worship Him. What are we to do throughout the endless age of eternity? We are to praise and worship and adore Him.
Worship is you shut away with God. In the middle of the busiest street in town, in the midst of the greatest activity of the day you find little moments to be alone with the Lord. Thank God there can be many moments throughout the day in which it is you and the Lord. Even though many things are happening around you, you close yourself in with Him. This is true worship-- many others are there, but you don't know they're there. You are alone with the Lord.
I was ministering though England and I was teaching in a church one night on praise and worship. We experienced a glorious presence of God. The pastor said to me afterwards, "Only one thing worries me, Sister Ruth. How do we reproduce it?
I think every pastor has experienced that same feeling many times. Every song leader has experience that feeling. "We were successful tonight. That song was anointed. The glory came! Can we do it again the next time?" Because a particular song was anointed in the service last night, the song leader tries the same song the next time, and it falls flat. God allows this to happen to show us that the glory is not in a song. The glory is in His presence. The glory IS His presence. When a pastor has a particularly blessed service, he will often try to do it exactly the same way again. And it doesn't work.
Now, God is teaching us the secrets of His pattern for worship. If we flow in His pattern, no matter what song we sing, it will bring the glory.
One of the first secrets of worship is how it differs from praise. When I praise the Lord, I will praise. But you do not will to worship. The spirit of worship must come into a meeting and must come upon you. Don't worry about complicated words of songs. Let the congregation praise and worship and adore in simplicity and one can be lost in worship. As you sing simpler songs, the spirit of worship comes.
When you worship, you don't need to say great thigns. You're just enjoying the Lord's presence. The ministry of praise increases the anointing in the service. It increases the anointing in the individual. But, the ministry of worship brings the glory. Praise brings the anointing to worship and worship brings that anointing. Just as we praise until the worship comes, so if we want the glory, we worship until it comes.
In praise, we notice that it was much easier for us to use a phrase that had a verb in it: "The Lord heals, the Lord saves, He comforts, He cares." But in worship, we are focusing on the person of God, who He is, not what He does.
When we first met Him, He hadn't done anything for us that we were aware of, but we saw He was wonderful. "Oh, I love Him with all my heart," new converts say. After we are saved a while, we think about Him in a different way: "He saved me. When I needed Him to pay my bills, He gave me money. He healed me hen I was sick." But, what about Him as a person?
Our praise is verb-oriented. We forget Who He is. If we fell in love with Him, not knowing Him, shouldn't knowing Him bring a greater relationship of love and worship?
It is worship that brings forth the glory, and God's ultimate desire is that the glory of the Lord "cover the earth as the waters cover the sea."
Worshipping the King-- Majesty
When we begin worshipping, some of the first visions we have are of the feet of the Lord. Vision often begins at His feet. When we see His feet, we worship at His feet, we wash His feet with our tears, we pour out perfumed ointment upon His feet. We worship at His throne. We begin to know Him in His kingly position.
God wants to teach us the simplicity of worshipping Him. He is willing to teach us by His Spirit how to be worshippers. He is willing to let His Spirit move upon us to enlarge us more and more so that what we offer Him is acceptable in His sight.
Just as prayer time we say, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." We are oriented to petitions and requests. There is a realm in God so great that, even though you may have come with a dozen petitions and requests, after worship, when He asks, "Was there something you wanted to say to Me?" You reply, "No, Lord." No questions, no requests, no petitions. Everything has been satisfied.
In His presence the things that seem big to us become so insignificant. We wonder why we let the devil fight us over that thing, make it so important, and magnify it so much. When we are in God's presence, the things we think are so insignificant become big. He shows us His true concerns. He lets us know, "China is not at the bottom of My list, I want it to be at the top of your list."
There is greater change that comes about through worship than through any other means. If you want to be changed, worship is the key. When you are worshipping, you look into His face. And you are changed from glory to glory. We become like that which we worship. We become like Him, whom we worship.
I can sit down and read every book on holiness, and I might develop some concept. But I can worship a minute and feel His holiness and know what it is.
Every service needs both praise and worship. We praise until the spirit of worship comes and then we worship until the glory comes. Praise brings an increase of the anointing. But worship brings the majesty of God into the midst of the people. Praise is usually more exuberant, more wordy. Worship has that hush, is less wordy, sometimes even without words. Sometimes in total silence we pour out our hearts to the Lord.
Psalms 24 says, "And the King of Glory shall come in." After you have lifted up the everlasting doors, the King of Glory comes in.
We know Him as Saviour. We know Him as Healer. We know Him as Provider, Jehovah Jireh. We know Him in other capacities. Now, it is time to know Him as King of Glory.
Every experience in God has one purpose, and that purpose is to know Him.
The King is awesome. Serving the King, however, is not something to be feared. I don't understand why we think the will of God always have to be something difficult. Many Christians are confused on this point that if something is hard, they think it must be the will of God.
Serving the King is a joy. I have been so blessed. The will of God has been delightsome. It has been pleasurable. When you go as a ambassador for the King of Kings, life's circumstances matter not.
The King of Glory deserves a chosen generation. He deserves that "you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." [1 Pet 2:9]
Worship the King.
Worshipping the Beloved-- Intimacy
In the early days of my developing a relationship to the Lord in worship, I frequently saw His feet as I bowed before Him. That seemed to be the extent of my faith in worship; but, as my faith increased, He didn't leave me there at His feet. Little by little the relationship grew until I stood in His presence and saw Him face to face.
We begin to know Him as King. That in itself is glorious. But He wants to take us further. He wants us to know Him, not only as King, but as Heavenly Bridegroom. He wants us to know Him as the Beloved, the Lover of our souls and He whom our souls love.
When we worship, we pour out our hearts to Him. We pour out our love to Him. The deep recesses of our hearts are moved by Him. God wants every one of your senses to be alive unto Him. He wants you to be thrilled with the sound of His voice. He wants you to be thrilled with the touch of His hand. He wants you to be thrilled at the sight of His countenance. He wants you to be deeply moved as He comes near.
When the breath of the Holy Ghost blows across you, there should be an immediate response on your part. "I love You, Lord. I worship You. I adore You." Let your mouth become the pen of a ready writer. Pour out your soul to Him.
You may feel that everyone else can worship better than you. Everyone else seems to be more eloquent, so articulate, while you struggle with your inhibitions. That's not true. Your worship is distinctive, it is YOU. It touches the heart of God. He longs to hear your words of love, the expression of your heart, the groanings of your spirit. Even if it comes forth in very simple utterances, even in sighs, don't compare yourself with others. God desires your worship.
Your husband married you because he loved you. It wasn't because there were not millions of other women. His heart was drawn to you. In like manner, God's heart is drawn to us individually as if there were no one else in the world. You may say, "He has all those other Christians that love Him." But, He's not satisfied unless you are pouring out your love to Him. You can't expect some sister in the choir to do your worshipping for you. You must do it yourself. He is waiting for you.
Cry out in His presence, not from pain but from ecstasy. He wants us to know the ecstasies of this intimate relationship with Him. Worship and adore Him. Bow down before Him. The Father seeks worshippers.
Fall in love with Jesus so much that you will be careful when you say His name. Always say it with love and fullness of expression. Sometimes the greatest worship is just whispering, "Jesus", just saying His name and letting the fragrance of His name fill our soul. I have been in meetings in which God's fragrance has suddenly filled an auditorium. He has walked among us as we said His name. It seemed that somebody had open the most expensive perfume and poured it out.
When you and I worship, we are unstopping our bottle of perfume and pouring it out. Let's not be in any way skimpy, just giving Him a dab or two. Let's be lavish. Let's be generous. Let's let love flow out of the depth of our being. Let's worship Him with words of love.
God will teach us how to worship. He will anoint us unto worship. He will create worship within us. He will touch the depth of our being and allow us be those who truly worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
God wants you to have that ability to speak words of love to Him. I'm sure that most of us have not spoken to Him as tenderly as He would like. Reading Song of Songs will help you. It will enlarge your ability to worship and adore him. It will give you an ability to tell the Lord how much you love Him. There is a purpose in all of this. He wants you to look upon His face. He wants you to see His eyes. He wants you to see His cheek. He wants you to know Him in ways you have known Him until now. God wants to awaken your heart to love and adoration. He wants to awaken in you the ability to worship Him.
We must be able to go home from the House of the Lord and know that at some point in the service we have poured out our hearts in love and adoration and worship before Him. If we make up our minds that we'll never go the House of the Lord without pouring out the depth of our spirit to Him in worship, He'll be pleased. He delights in a people who delight in Him--not just in what He does for us-- but in who He is.
Worship is an attitude of the heart in which the heart bows down before God. No one else is present. There are no thoughts in your mind other than God. You haven't come with a petition. You haven't come because you need healing. You haven't come because of some other need. You have come because you love Him so much and feel the need to express that love. Worship is a time of love. He pours out His love on us, and we pour out our love on Him.
The waiting bride of the Song of Songs does not say, "I love Him because He has healed me, saved me, delivered me, guided me." She says. This is my Beloved. This is my friend."
The Lord wants us to know Him so intimately that we can present Him to others and can describe Him--from personal experience, from having seen Him, from having heard His voice, from having felt His touch.
Some of the most beautiful expressions of love have come from young believers. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings" we have heard God perfecting praise. Their love for the Lord is so fresh it is contagious. God wants each of us to love Him so much that it becomes contagioius--that others will want to love Him the same way. Your love of Jesus must be so contagious that others will say, "I want to love God like that person. I want a new relationship. I want to be able to describe Him as the Lover of my soul. I don't want to be inhibited in my expressions of love for the Lord. If we can talk freely about everything else, God wants us to have the ability to speak intimately about Him.
God is bringing in a new day of glory in which we are going to be able to pour out our love continually unto Him without hesitation, without any embarrassment at all. Our description of Him must be, "His mouth is most sweet. He is altogether lovely." In the Song of Songs, He calls us into the fields. He says, "There will I give you my love." He calls us away so that we can hear His voice, that voice "as the sound of many waters."
Fall in love with Him. Worship Him. The more you worship Him, the more intimately you will know Him. The more intimately you know Him, the more you will want to know Him. If you really want to know the Lord, there is no room for indifference. There can be no greater thrill in all the world than hearing His voice. If we turn a deaf ear to His voice, if we suppress the hearing of His voice, if we don't appreciate His voice and would rather hear something else, He will go somewhere else and speak to someone else. But, if we love the sound of His voice, He will talk to us regularly.
Have you ever called someone to say, "I miss the sound of your voice?" Have you ever gotten in the presence of the Lord and said to Him, "Let me hear Your voice; I am not asking You to tell me I am good; or something I would like to hear, or tell me something to do; I just want to hear Your voice?" You should do it. He is waiting to hear it. Don't be afraid fo intimacy. In the Song of Songs the relationship goes from King to Shepherd to Lover of her soul to Beloved. Get to know Him in all of these ways.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Eveline pops at |11:30 PM|
Captivate my heart, dear Jesus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Worship-- the natural extension of praise
God is seeking worshippers. If you want to live in the glory realm, you must be a worshipper.
True worship comes from the heart, in love and adoration unto the Lord. We enter His gates with singing, and we enter His courts with praise. Praise is the entering in. But in the past, we often don't know what to do next. We either did nothing or we changed the order of the service.
We make an effort to come into His presence. But, once we arrive, we just look around and say, "That was nice. Bye now. We'll see You next time." Why have we come? Is it not to worship the King in all of His glory, in all His majesty.
A heart can meet with God anywhere one wants to meet with Him, and at any time. You can meet Him on an airplane. you can meet Him at school, sitting at your desk.
Most of us spend very little of this quality time in the presence of God. Yes, we pray for needs, we ask God to bless His servants. But, when it comes to Him and Him alone, we just don't have the time.
The Lord will have a people that worship Him. What are we to do throughout the endless age of eternity? We are to praise and worship and adore Him.
Worship is you shut away with God. In the middle of the busiest street in town, in the midst of the greatest activity of the day you find little moments to be alone with the Lord. Thank God there can be many moments throughout the day in which it is you and the Lord. Even though many things are happening around you, you close yourself in with Him. This is true worship-- many others are there, but you don't know they're there. You are alone with the Lord.
I was ministering though England and I was teaching in a church one night on praise and worship. We experienced a glorious presence of God. The pastor said to me afterwards, "Only one thing worries me, Sister Ruth. How do we reproduce it?
I think every pastor has experienced that same feeling many times. Every song leader has experience that feeling. "We were successful tonight. That song was anointed. The glory came! Can we do it again the next time?" Because a particular song was anointed in the service last night, the song leader tries the same song the next time, and it falls flat. God allows this to happen to show us that the glory is not in a song. The glory is in His presence. The glory IS His presence. When a pastor has a particularly blessed service, he will often try to do it exactly the same way again. And it doesn't work.
Now, God is teaching us the secrets of His pattern for worship. If we flow in His pattern, no matter what song we sing, it will bring the glory.
One of the first secrets of worship is how it differs from praise. When I praise the Lord, I will praise. But you do not will to worship. The spirit of worship must come into a meeting and must come upon you. Don't worry about complicated words of songs. Let the congregation praise and worship and adore in simplicity and one can be lost in worship. As you sing simpler songs, the spirit of worship comes.
When you worship, you don't need to say great thigns. You're just enjoying the Lord's presence. The ministry of praise increases the anointing in the service. It increases the anointing in the individual. But, the ministry of worship brings the glory. Praise brings the anointing to worship and worship brings that anointing. Just as we praise until the worship comes, so if we want the glory, we worship until it comes.
In praise, we notice that it was much easier for us to use a phrase that had a verb in it: "The Lord heals, the Lord saves, He comforts, He cares." But in worship, we are focusing on the person of God, who He is, not what He does.
When we first met Him, He hadn't done anything for us that we were aware of, but we saw He was wonderful. "Oh, I love Him with all my heart," new converts say. After we are saved a while, we think about Him in a different way: "He saved me. When I needed Him to pay my bills, He gave me money. He healed me hen I was sick." But, what about Him as a person?
Our praise is verb-oriented. We forget Who He is. If we fell in love with Him, not knowing Him, shouldn't knowing Him bring a greater relationship of love and worship?
It is worship that brings forth the glory, and God's ultimate desire is that the glory of the Lord "cover the earth as the waters cover the sea."
Worshipping the King-- Majesty
When we begin worshipping, some of the first visions we have are of the feet of the Lord. Vision often begins at His feet. When we see His feet, we worship at His feet, we wash His feet with our tears, we pour out perfumed ointment upon His feet. We worship at His throne. We begin to know Him in His kingly position.
God wants to teach us the simplicity of worshipping Him. He is willing to teach us by His Spirit how to be worshippers. He is willing to let His Spirit move upon us to enlarge us more and more so that what we offer Him is acceptable in His sight.
Just as prayer time we say, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." We are oriented to petitions and requests. There is a realm in God so great that, even though you may have come with a dozen petitions and requests, after worship, when He asks, "Was there something you wanted to say to Me?" You reply, "No, Lord." No questions, no requests, no petitions. Everything has been satisfied.
In His presence the things that seem big to us become so insignificant. We wonder why we let the devil fight us over that thing, make it so important, and magnify it so much. When we are in God's presence, the things we think are so insignificant become big. He shows us His true concerns. He lets us know, "China is not at the bottom of My list, I want it to be at the top of your list."
There is greater change that comes about through worship than through any other means. If you want to be changed, worship is the key. When you are worshipping, you look into His face. And you are changed from glory to glory. We become like that which we worship. We become like Him, whom we worship.
I can sit down and read every book on holiness, and I might develop some concept. But I can worship a minute and feel His holiness and know what it is.
Every service needs both praise and worship. We praise until the spirit of worship comes and then we worship until the glory comes. Praise brings an increase of the anointing. But worship brings the majesty of God into the midst of the people. Praise is usually more exuberant, more wordy. Worship has that hush, is less wordy, sometimes even without words. Sometimes in total silence we pour out our hearts to the Lord.
Psalms 24 says, "And the King of Glory shall come in." After you have lifted up the everlasting doors, the King of Glory comes in.
We know Him as Saviour. We know Him as Healer. We know Him as Provider, Jehovah Jireh. We know Him in other capacities. Now, it is time to know Him as King of Glory.
Every experience in God has one purpose, and that purpose is to know Him.
The King is awesome. Serving the King, however, is not something to be feared. I don't understand why we think the will of God always have to be something difficult. Many Christians are confused on this point that if something is hard, they think it must be the will of God.
Serving the King is a joy. I have been so blessed. The will of God has been delightsome. It has been pleasurable. When you go as a ambassador for the King of Kings, life's circumstances matter not.
The King of Glory deserves a chosen generation. He deserves that "you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." [1 Pet 2:9]
Worship the King.
Worshipping the Beloved-- Intimacy
In the early days of my developing a relationship to the Lord in worship, I frequently saw His feet as I bowed before Him. That seemed to be the extent of my faith in worship; but, as my faith increased, He didn't leave me there at His feet. Little by little the relationship grew until I stood in His presence and saw Him face to face.
We begin to know Him as King. That in itself is glorious. But He wants to take us further. He wants us to know Him, not only as King, but as Heavenly Bridegroom. He wants us to know Him as the Beloved, the Lover of our souls and He whom our souls love.
When we worship, we pour out our hearts to Him. We pour out our love to Him. The deep recesses of our hearts are moved by Him. God wants every one of your senses to be alive unto Him. He wants you to be thrilled with the sound of His voice. He wants you to be thrilled with the touch of His hand. He wants you to be thrilled at the sight of His countenance. He wants you to be deeply moved as He comes near.
When the breath of the Holy Ghost blows across you, there should be an immediate response on your part. "I love You, Lord. I worship You. I adore You." Let your mouth become the pen of a ready writer. Pour out your soul to Him.
You may feel that everyone else can worship better than you. Everyone else seems to be more eloquent, so articulate, while you struggle with your inhibitions. That's not true. Your worship is distinctive, it is YOU. It touches the heart of God. He longs to hear your words of love, the expression of your heart, the groanings of your spirit. Even if it comes forth in very simple utterances, even in sighs, don't compare yourself with others. God desires your worship.
Your husband married you because he loved you. It wasn't because there were not millions of other women. His heart was drawn to you. In like manner, God's heart is drawn to us individually as if there were no one else in the world. You may say, "He has all those other Christians that love Him." But, He's not satisfied unless you are pouring out your love to Him. You can't expect some sister in the choir to do your worshipping for you. You must do it yourself. He is waiting for you.
Cry out in His presence, not from pain but from ecstasy. He wants us to know the ecstasies of this intimate relationship with Him. Worship and adore Him. Bow down before Him. The Father seeks worshippers.
Fall in love with Jesus so much that you will be careful when you say His name. Always say it with love and fullness of expression. Sometimes the greatest worship is just whispering, "Jesus", just saying His name and letting the fragrance of His name fill our soul. I have been in meetings in which God's fragrance has suddenly filled an auditorium. He has walked among us as we said His name. It seemed that somebody had open the most expensive perfume and poured it out.
When you and I worship, we are unstopping our bottle of perfume and pouring it out. Let's not be in any way skimpy, just giving Him a dab or two. Let's be lavish. Let's be generous. Let's let love flow out of the depth of our being. Let's worship Him with words of love.
God will teach us how to worship. He will anoint us unto worship. He will create worship within us. He will touch the depth of our being and allow us be those who truly worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
God wants you to have that ability to speak words of love to Him. I'm sure that most of us have not spoken to Him as tenderly as He would like. Reading Song of Songs will help you. It will enlarge your ability to worship and adore him. It will give you an ability to tell the Lord how much you love Him. There is a purpose in all of this. He wants you to look upon His face. He wants you to see His eyes. He wants you to see His cheek. He wants you to know Him in ways you have known Him until now. God wants to awaken your heart to love and adoration. He wants to awaken in you the ability to worship Him.
We must be able to go home from the House of the Lord and know that at some point in the service we have poured out our hearts in love and adoration and worship before Him. If we make up our minds that we'll never go the House of the Lord without pouring out the depth of our spirit to Him in worship, He'll be pleased. He delights in a people who delight in Him--not just in what He does for us-- but in who He is.
Worship is an attitude of the heart in which the heart bows down before God. No one else is present. There are no thoughts in your mind other than God. You haven't come with a petition. You haven't come because you need healing. You haven't come because of some other need. You have come because you love Him so much and feel the need to express that love. Worship is a time of love. He pours out His love on us, and we pour out our love on Him.
The waiting bride of the Song of Songs does not say, "I love Him because He has healed me, saved me, delivered me, guided me." She says. This is my Beloved. This is my friend."
The Lord wants us to know Him so intimately that we can present Him to others and can describe Him--from personal experience, from having seen Him, from having heard His voice, from having felt His touch.
Some of the most beautiful expressions of love have come from young believers. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings" we have heard God perfecting praise. Their love for the Lord is so fresh it is contagious. God wants each of us to love Him so much that it becomes contagioius--that others will want to love Him the same way. Your love of Jesus must be so contagious that others will say, "I want to love God like that person. I want a new relationship. I want to be able to describe Him as the Lover of my soul. I don't want to be inhibited in my expressions of love for the Lord. If we can talk freely about everything else, God wants us to have the ability to speak intimately about Him.
God is bringing in a new day of glory in which we are going to be able to pour out our love continually unto Him without hesitation, without any embarrassment at all. Our description of Him must be, "His mouth is most sweet. He is altogether lovely." In the Song of Songs, He calls us into the fields. He says, "There will I give you my love." He calls us away so that we can hear His voice, that voice "as the sound of many waters."
Fall in love with Him. Worship Him. The more you worship Him, the more intimately you will know Him. The more intimately you know Him, the more you will want to know Him. If you really want to know the Lord, there is no room for indifference. There can be no greater thrill in all the world than hearing His voice. If we turn a deaf ear to His voice, if we suppress the hearing of His voice, if we don't appreciate His voice and would rather hear something else, He will go somewhere else and speak to someone else. But, if we love the sound of His voice, He will talk to us regularly.
Have you ever called someone to say, "I miss the sound of your voice?" Have you ever gotten in the presence of the Lord and said to Him, "Let me hear Your voice; I am not asking You to tell me I am good; or something I would like to hear, or tell me something to do; I just want to hear Your voice?" You should do it. He is waiting to hear it. Don't be afraid fo intimacy. In the Song of Songs the relationship goes from King to Shepherd to Lover of her soul to Beloved. Get to know Him in all of these ways.
- Glory by Ruth Ward Heflin
[Part 2]
Eveline pops at |11:30 PM|