Good morning. Celebrate! Celebrate your Savior and celebrate your God who loves you so much that He sent that part of Himself He called His Son to die so that you may live with Him forever. This is a day set aside for worship, so use it well and celebrate!
It was many years ago now, but back when the Promise Keepers movement was in full swing, a group of seven fellow preachers joined me in a long van ride to Atlanta to take part in a Promise Keepers rally especially designed for preachers. It was well worth the drive! Over twelve thousand preachers from all over the country joined together in worship for three and a half days, and it was extraordinary.
In the middle of that great event, one that gave me many fine memories, there was a single moment that stands out to me. It was a moment of worship that left me in tears.
I don’t know the name of the soloist, but he sang with what is often described as “a rich baritone.” The song he shared was a hymn I had heard many times and sung often. It was that great old hymn “How great Thou Art.”
As I mentioned, I had sung that hymn too many times to count or remember, but perhaps I had never “felt” the words like I did in that moment of worship. I was enjoying the song, appreciating the singer’s fine voice, silently singing with him, and then the words hit me like a truck. “And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; that on the cross MY BURDEN gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away MY SIN. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great THOU art!”
How could an old hymn that was so familiar suddenly carry such a personal message for me? I think that the difference was in the depth of worship. For that moment, in a city far away, surrounded by 12,000+ preachers, listening to a voice I had never heard before sing, God came down. God pierced my heart. He did so because I was open to delighting in Him
What I can tell you about such a moment is that it is awesome.
1 Peter 1:8-9 tells us: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
In that moment in Atlanta, I did not see my Father God, but I felt Him. And yes, it filled me with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
That is, for me at least, the best definition I can think of for worship that for a moment at least, becomes personal.
Personal worship begins with an attitude of the heart, an attitude we see reflected in the words of King David in the first four verses of Psalm 63:
63 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
The thought for the day is to embrace an extraordinary challenge. That challenge is to unleash your soul and to truly join with God in personal worship. It is awesome, and it is exceedingly possible, because God is willing and waiting.
Vern