Still Water Moments Worship: The Answer for Everything!
Psalm 99: 3 Let them praise your great and awesome name— He is holy.
Worship is vital to having an authentic relationship with the Lord. We are told and encouraged to do it in various scriptures and many people in the bible are an inspiration to us because of their exuberance in showing devotion to the Lord. It is truly one way we take delight in Him, and this pleases Him and draws Him closer to us as He inhabits the praises of His people, (Psalm 22:3). God, being the graceful and good God that He is, blesses us in many ways through our worship, such as being in His presence. Another way He blesses us is by elevating our prayers. Dr. Dharius Daniels of Change Church explained that he worships before going into prayer during his devotional time. He explained that the worship reminds him of who God is and what He is capable of. This causes him to go into prayer with faith and hope that his prayers will be answered. I dare extend this idea by suggesting we create a “worship sandwich” and worship after prayer as well, thanking God in advance for what He is going to do in response to our requests!
Hopefully for you, worship is not just relegated to church and private devotional time. You can worship at any time, through any emotion. Worship when you’re happy because you’re acknowledging what He’s done. Worship when you’re sad because He is nigh to the brokenhearted, (Psalm 34:18). Worship Him when you’re angry as He’ll help you calm down and minister to you about how to assuage it. I’m not saying it’s easy to break forth in song when you’re enraged, (by the way, there’s many ways to worship and we’ll discuss this in a forthcoming devotion), but I am encouraging you to acknowledge Him somehow as we are told in Psalm 34:1-3 KJV, “I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” No matter the emotion we’re feeling at the time, we’re reminded of who He is when we worship and that encourages our spirit man and fosters hope.
Deuteronomy 31:6 tells us the Lord will never leave us nor forsake us. Thus, He is there through every emotion, so we don’t have to “get right” and make sure we’re in a positive mood before we approach Him. He is pleased because when we approach Him in every situation, through every emotion we feel, we’re expressing our dependence on Him. While we worship because of Who He is and we long to be in His sweet presence, the beauty of it is He wants to be with us too.
Reflection: Is there an emotion you experience that makes you feel too ashamed to approach the Lord? If so, make an attempt to approach Him the next time you feel it, you have nothing to lose and something precious to gain!
