worship

Tomorrow is MOPS and our craft is a snowflake/star type of ornament.  I'm excited about this craft because it is where my heart is now.  I just finished printing up the verse for it, Matthew 2:2 "We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."  At this season it is so important to remember that we are called to worship.  Worship our King.  Bow my heart in worship before the great King of the Universe.  I'm excited to share for a brief moment about worship as we introduce this craft.
 
Worship.  David worshipped.  He was a man after God's own heart.  He worshiped at the expected times, when God had showed His faithfulness and when a victory had been won.  He also worshiped when his life was falling apart and he was in the deapths of dispair.  It seems so much more difficult to worship during those difficult times.  It is so much more difficult to praise the God of creation when you are struggling emotionally, spiritually, physically, relationally or finiancially and yet it is what we are called to do. 

John 4:23-24 "For the time is coming and has now come, when the true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

It isn't always easy to worship the Lord.  Often times for me it is a conscious effort.  Actually I love to worship more than any other part of my walk with God but I sometimes, recently often, have to consciously immerse myself in worship in order to worship the Lord.  Does that make sense?  This has been a VERY rough year for me in many ways.  I don't exactly feel like worshiping the Lord when I am struggling.  Yet when I surround myself with worship, worship comes freely and quickly from my heart and from my mouth.  I daily have a choice, either I will be overtaken by my circumstances and emotions and will allow them to wedge between me and my Savior or I will come before Him, broken though I may be, and worship and adore Him. 

Our God alone is worthy of my praise and adoration.  He alone is holy.  He alone deserves my utmost attention.  He alone captures my heart.  He alone brings healing to my hurts.  And because He is worthy, and because He is holy, and because He is soveriegn, I will choose daily to praise Him.  On the days when it is more difficult than others, I put on worshipful music and allow the music to usher me into His presence.  It is hard to see the waves threaten to drown you when you stare into the eyes of the One who can calm the storm.  Trusting in His grace and mercy when the waves around you threaten to drown you, reaching out to Him when it seems impossible,  focusing on Him instead of the storms of life is one of our greatest acts of worship.  So today think about this, what are your focusing your attention on?  The thing that captures your heart is what you worship;  is it Jesus or is it you?  My prayer is that my heart will continually be captured by Jesus, that He is the one I will worship.  I know how easy it is to look at the storm around me but I can choose to focus on the One who calms the storm and choose to worship Him instead of me.