Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Good morning, all. Again, our apologies for the gaps at times. I was finishing this devotional yesterday in a hotel room where we brought our children for a short vacation that we had postponed for my grandmothers' funeral when we discovered that our 6-year-old nonverbal son had escaped the room due to our tragic negligence to lock the top bolt on the door. The door was not visible from where we were relaxing, and the children's bunkbeds were inside a cute enclosure--which was where we thought he was. He was mercifully found playing in the game room at the water park hotel, but needless to say we didn't do much else for that morning!! It is always a joy to meet with you here, and for my readers who walk out the parenting of a child with autism, may I just say, I am praying for you (and for all of you!) . Love and blessings!!

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Reflections on Celebration of Discipline—The Discipline of Worship, Part 6 of 8: Avenues into Worship

Scripture:
Galatians 5:1
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:16
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Hebrews 13:15
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

1 Peter 2:5, 9
…you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…..But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Psalm 96:1
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.

Psalm 13:6
I will sing to the LORD,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me

Excerpt:
What we must see is that the real question in worship is not, “What will meet my need?” The real question is, “What kind of worship does God call for?” It is clear that God calls for wholehearted worship.

Often our “reserved temperament” is little more than fear of what others will think of us, or perhaps unwillingness to humble ourselves before God and others. Of course people have different temperaments, but that must never keep us from worshiping with our whole being. Having said this, I must hasten to add that the physical response to worship is never to be manipulated in any way. We are to give each other freedom to respond to the moving of God upon the heart.

(Foster, Richard J.. Celebration of Discipline: The Path To Spiritual Growth (p. 169, 170). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.)

Devotional:
As we delve into the last aspects of worship outlined in Celebration of Discipline, we now enter in to what Pastor Foster refers to as the “Avenues of Worship.” These are important pieces of preparing ourselves for worship.

The first avenue is to walk by the Spirit, which is characterized by the choice to silence and still all inner human activities. As we worship God, we must relinquish the desire to “make” the experience happen by the working of our flesh. Instead, when we focus on inward stillness and practice following the lead of the Spirit, we will find ourselves worshiping “in spirit and in truth.”

Praise is the second avenue. This is our living sacrifice, the sacrifice of the New Covenant with God. This acknowledges our emotions as an integral and valuable part of worshiping God.

The one that might feel obvious is singing. However, friends, I hold the belief that singing has been under attack by the enemy for decades. How many people sing—actually sing—anymore? Most often, we sit intimidated by the excellent singers in the front of a worship service or entertained by the ones on the radio, when our singing is such a precious sacrifice and blessing to Him. I am a singer, and over the years my heart has broken when as soon as I sing in front of another I become highly unlikely to ever hear them sing again. Over the years, God has caused me to intercede over and over again for the people in my congregations that He will turn this tide of the absent voices in the pews. I am deeply passionate about encouraging the Body of Christ to choose to sing, if for no other reason than it blesses our God. I also believe that singing has a forceful effect on the spirit realm, on our hearts and minds, and contributes to the changing of our circumstances. There is a powerful connection to God in singing. I pray that today your heart will be as ignited as mine with a desire to sing in worship to God, every day!

The final avenue discussed is involving our bodies in worship. This should not be legalistic nor hype, but the posture of worship should flow genuinely. That stated, if we find that we never take the postures of worship outlined in the Bible: raising hands to the Lord, kneeling before Him, laying prostrate, clapping our hands, shouting aloud in victory, or dancing before Him, we are truly missing an essential element of connecting with Him. This again should not be something we feel we “must” do, or even need to do in a public setting if we do not want to draw attention to ourselves. However, let me encourage you that the times that I have bowed before the Lord in my private worship time or the moments of raised hands in my car have always been deep moments of intimacy and the atmosphere has shifted each time. I am a fairly demonstrative person, and I raise my hands as I feel led even in the fairly conservative church we now attend. This really isn’t comfortable for most, but I do often feel worship could be so much deeper for us all with these simple acts of physical surrender. I mean no judgment, and again I recognize that it is crucial not to push this on people causing the pendulum to swing toward legalism. Again, though, I do encourage my readers to seek the Lord in how we all might go deeper in worship with the demonstration of our bodies.

It is so good to share this time of reflection on the discipline of worship with you. God bless you today as you consider new ways to bless His heart in worship!

Prayer:

Thanksgiving:
Father, I love You and thank You for this time with You today. I bless You and honor You. (Take time to apply some of the avenues outlined above, and connect with God’s heart in worship.)

Confession:
I lift my heart to You today for examination and confession. (Take time to surrender your heart to the Lord. There is no shame and no condemnation here, only intimacy and freedom as we bring our hearts to the Throne for mercy and forgiveness.)

Supplication:
I lift my needs to You, my gracious Lord, and ask for Your intervention in the trials and challenges of my life. (Take time to journal your needs, challenges, struggles, desires, dreams, and requests. Take time to note or “star” answered prayers, victories, or progress.)

Intercession:
I lift my family to You today. I thank You that the office of intercessor is by far more important than any advice I can give them. Teach me how to lean on You and bring my concerns for my children and my spouse to You. Touch our home and each person in it today. Infuse each of us with the fresh wind of Your Spirit. Overcome us with health and healing. Breathe over us, Holy Spirit, on the garden of our souls and cultivate love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self control and faith. (Take time to journal prayer requests for each child, and if applicable your spouse. Make note of progress, victories, praises, and answers.)

Thanksgiving and Consecration:
I thank You for Your love and Your goodness. I bless You for this time in Your beautiful presence today. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen!

Blessing and Benediction:
The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face to shine upon you
And be gracious unto you
The Lord lift up His countenance on you
And give you peace.

Amen!