Monday, February 4, 2013

I Breathe You In: Worship Blog 1

 "The presence of the Living God    
  satisfies the depths of my heart                                             
And all of me changed when you came                                            
  I'm made free by Your glory and grace                                                        
  I breathe You in,God                                              
cause you are thick all around me."
Worship? What is it? Around the church, people will instantly associate worship with music. I feel like I’m pretty accurate in saying that most people on a worship team are lovers of music.  But if you look up the definition of worship, you will find that the word music is nowhere to be found. One definition that I really liked was “adoring reverence or regard”

            Music is just one way to worship God. One of many. If you notice, you will see that at most churches there is no “Music Team,” but a worship team. As a worship leader myself, I have come to realize that my job isn’t just to sing or play music that sounds good. It’s not just to be a musical guide for the church body to follow along to, to make sure the music builds, and drops to create this atmosphere of intensity.

I recently heard, “Worship should be a lifestyle, not just something we do once a week.” When you first hear this you think, okay so I should be living a good lifestyle. Be a good citizen, do good deeds, try not to sin, read the bible, pray. And YES, those are all great things, but we’re missing out. We are just scraping the surface. We have so much yet to tap into. People often will say during a worship set, “Gods presence is here right now.” I don’t really like that expression. Our God is omnipotent. Our God is everywhere. God’s presence is with us every single moment of every single day. We just don’t always tap into our potential to feel it, to see it. When we worship God, when we really grasp the amazingness of our God, we feel like we are instantly surrounded by his presence. When really, we are just instantly feeling it, but it’s been there all along. When we really understand who He is, we are touched by something supernatural, something that transforms us inside and out, something that we shouldn’t ever be able to come back from.

            A lifestyle is defined, as “the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level, etc., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group.” All of those attributes are what make up our personality. It’s what makes us who we are. Our morals, our attitudes stem from the condition of our heart. Worship needs to be who we ARE, not just what we do. Why is worship important besides the obvious fact of showing gratitude to our maker, the being who sacrificed his son to save our lives?

            In Isaiah 43:7, when God speaks of mankind he says, “whom I created for my glory.” We were literally CREATED to worship him.  It’s the reason we were put on this earth, the reason that God breathed us into existence.  Being on a worship team is a HUGE responsibility, and an even bigger honor. We aren’t just a part of it because we are musically gifted.  We are NOT the music team. We are the WORSHIP team. We are the group in charge of leading our church body to do, what they were BORN to do.  When we worship we aren’t just praising God, because of how awesome he is (although that would definitely be enough), we are praising God because it’s our PURPOSE in life.  We need to breathe God in, the way we breathe oxygen. Except God is more important. Because what is the point of existing, if not doing what we were created to do. What is the sun if it doesn’t shine?

            So here is my challenge, all you worshippers. Stop wandering. Stop looking for purpose. You know what is it. Your purpose, your priority is to worship God. How do you worship God? Singing? Playing Music? Listening to music? Orchestrating behind the scenes on the tech team? Serving others? Teaching? Writing? Do you worship him in prayer? Do you worship him by reading his word? What makes you tap into his supernatural presence? What makes you able to reach your hand out and feel him surrounding you? DO it! Tap into his presence and stay tapped into it everywhere you go. When you go work, take comfort in the palpable presence and power of the Holy Spirit pressing against your chest, making you fall more and more in love every second that goes on. 

            Jenn Johnson said, to imagine God as a physical being. Picture him as a white dove. What if that white dove was sitting on your shoulder 24/7.  You knew it was Jesus, and he was comforting you, speaking to you, loving you throughout the day. How would our actions be affected? How much more confident would we feel?  How moved with our hearts be? Guess what?!  God IS there 24/7. He IS a physical being. He isn’t sitting on our shoulder but he is all around us, everywhere we turn. Comforting, loving, speaking to us throughout the day. Breathe him in.  
            

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