Is My Worship "Genuine"?
The term “Genuine Worship” is what I used to describe this week’s discipline, and for some that may come off as an insult. I am not implying that anyone’s worship is not genuine, I am simply saying we can be disciplined in the way that we worship genuinely. For most people the busyness of day to day can be a tedious activity that takes up the bulk of your day. Believe it or not as a pastor I also have to be intentional about my time with God…. Or I just won’t have any. So if it's true for me than I know that it must be true for you as well. The best way to ensure that your worship is as genuine as possible is by being intentional about it.
Why Is This Important?
Our God is so incredibly intentional in everything that he does, most of the time we walk right past His intentionality and we don’t even see it until after the fact. It's at that point we will look back and say what a wonderful God we have…. Imagine if you had been able to see it exactly when it happened. How much more genuine would your worship be! That scenario is what most of us do all week, then we come into a worship service and see Him in full display and we say wow what a wonderful God we have. That moment is happening AFTER what he did to get you to that point. So let’s intentionally and genuinely worship Him this week.
What we are working on is “Holy Expectancy” which leads to “Holy Obedience”
How Do I Walk This Out?
1) Margin- Simply put, you need to create space for God to fit into your day to day activity. When you determine where in your day to create this space (my personal time is at 5:30-6:30 sitting with Rocky in the living room), then you need to be with God and look forward to being all together again. Think about the previous Sunday, the music, the message, the people. Then think about how much you will enjoy that the following week. Doing this all week will make your Sunday experience all the more genuine.
2) Look at One Aspect of Worship- There are a lot of moving parts on Sunday morning. Intentionally pray about and meditate on each day this week JUST ONE part of our service. Why do we do this? What about this is special to me? Why would Jesus ask believers to do this every week? If you did this every week, by the end of the month you would have totally consumed the Sunday Worship experience and I believe you would enjoy it more!
3) Arrive Early- If you had time on Sunday to enjoy the entire experience…. I believe you would enjoy it even more than you already do. Be early and just enjoy being there. Lift your head up and enjoy being where you are. In order to do this well you must also take intentional steps to ensure that this is possible, go to bed early, wake up early. Remember that the goal is to enjoy this…… rushing is not enjoying so SLOW DOWN.
4) Come Expecting God- We say that we know that where 2 or 3 are gathered in Jesus name God is there. Do you expect to see Him? Feel Him? Hear Him? Look forward to that reality. Pray for that reality. And as you walk through the doors on Sunday…. Live that reality.
5) Apply One Thing- If we come in with a Holy Expectancy than we must leave in a Holy Obedience. As you walk through each day this week… ask yourself and ask God, what exactly do I need to hear and do for His kingdom? Pray that God would soften your heart to receive whatever that truth is.
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