Are You Prepared For Worship?
Good Morning Friends,
We have a call to worship and a prelude for people to get ready for our church service but it is hardly what I think the Biblical priests had in mind when they were getting ready to come into God’s presence. Maybe the quality of the corporate experience on Sunday mornings is really more about the quality of our collective character than the quality of the music, buildings and preaching. If our relationship with God is not intact then all the religious ritual is just for show. The Levites, the worship leaders of the Temple must have prepared in a much more serious way than we today. All the great characters in the Bible worshipped. But they too must have known that as with prayer, worship begins in our hearts and religious activities, simply because they are religious, does not make them acceptable to a holy God. External things are fine to enhance worship but true worship is from within. Are You Prepared For Worship?
Scripture: he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.
Malachi 3:3 (NRSV)
Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it. Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Exodus 20:1-12 (NRSV)
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8a (NRSV)
the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,
Revelation 4:10 (NRSV)
Message: You cannot give and experience great worship corporately on Sunday morning without having individually worshiped Him through the week.
Maybe we need a little more reverential fear of God. Maybe our culture has become overtly and inappropriately familiar with the Almighty. But we should not diminish God in worship. Before we meet with God we need to prepare. The Bible has a lot of scripture about preparing for battle and events such as the return of Jesus. A lot of the preparing is really cleaning when you think about it all. At the heart of the matter I think Jesus wants us to prepare for just how wonderful and mighty a response He can breathe into our lives. We are to be refined for a purpose in the process of preparing until worship becomes a continual way of life to life.
We need to take personal responsibility to arrive ready and prepared to worship God. We need to become intentional about developing an intimate relationship with God and that begins with our commitment to worship him outside of Sunday morning. God has great opportunities awaiting you. Do not limit the relationship. Know that the relationship with God in worship is more than a couple commandments.
Pray we not blame others for the quality of our worship experience. Pray we refine our hearts to ensure an encounter with God that pleases God. Pray we make room in our hearts for Christ’s blessings by cleaning and rearranging our lives. Pray we be prepared for Christ’s return every time we worship. Pray we prepare for the power and the presence of Jesus. Pray we prepare for Christ coming to be God with us. Pray we prepare spiritually for worship. Pray we are prepared mentally for worship. Pray we are prepared physically. Pray we give our best to God. Pray we realize that our highest priority as Christians is to give glory to God. Pray we realize we were created for worship. Pray we understand that worship is something we are to do now and forever.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 