DAILY DEVOTION No. 24

                                      THE HEART OF A WORSHIPPER  (Pt 1)

The heart of worship is surrender to God. True worship is to bring pleasure to God and happens when you give yourself completely to God. Offering ourselves to God is what worship is all about.

The Following Are Characteristics Essential To Having A Heart Of Worship:

1. Worshipping Must Be Like The Air We Breath

Worship should take place in our lives when we rise in the morning until we go to sleep at night. It should be given to God when we are alone, when we are with family and friends, when we are out in the market place and when we meet corporately with other believers. We have so much to remind of us His goodness and love – so much to thank Him for and to draw us to a place of adoring response. Our worship must not be something we do once a week when we meet together corporately of a Sunday, but it must become a way of life, a lifestyle. It must be built around a love and yearning to be in His presence. It is fellowshipping with Him each day and being conscious of His nearness.

We are to be passionate lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Passion precedes God’s presence. When passion arises in our hearts for God and hunger for Him fuels our praise, God will say, “I will dwell in the midst of them.” God wants us to treasure Him and constantly keep our hearts and our minds focused on Him and the things of His kingdom. Within the heart of a worshipper is a desire to live, and move and have his being in Christ. There is a constant desire for more of God.

2. The Lord Must Have Priority In Our Lives

The person with a worshipping heart loves being in the presence of God. They recognize that it is in His presence that they find fullness of joy and His almighty strength. They will put aside other things just to be with Him because the more they are with the Lord the more they desire Him. The difficulties and demands of ministry often leave those involved in worship ministry with little or no extra time for personal worship and the care of their own souls. Are you too busy to worship? Our busyness is often the result of allowing others to dictate our agendas.

We can also be occupied so much with the externals of our lives - our homes, business, sport - things to satisfy our Outer man, that we neglect the most important thing, our love relationship with the Lord. We must ask the question of ourselves, how is the state of our heart? What do we see, what do we listen to, what is on our mind and who do we our spend time with? Have we allowed other things to take the place of the Lord in our lives?

There can be the problem sometimes where, as we develop in our worship and add music and singing, we can start to worship “worship” instead of the One we are worshipping. We can get so caught up with the experience and the satisfaction it brings to our soul, that we start to worship the experience and not God. Like the golden calf in Exodus 32, this is forming a god of our own making. It is not about the method of worship or any particular style of worship but must always be about the One we worship.

We can often think that an idol is something made of wood or stone or a similar material, however, what truly defines an idol is the place it occupies in our lives. Any person, thing or desire that consumes much of our thoughts and time, is an idol. You and I can allow things to creep into our lives and take the place in our hearts that rightfully belongs to God – things that can easily become idols. It may be our family members or friends, it may be the desire to make money and be successful, or it may be our house or the possessions we own. We must guard against anything that will take up too much of our time and our thoughts – anything that will squeeze out the Lord in our lives.

Jeremiah 2:11-13 talks about God’s people exchanging Him, the Fountain of Living Water, for broken cisterns, things that will never satisfy the longing of the heart. Let us constantly guard and cherish our relationship with him.

Challenge