Prayer and Worship Are a Privilege
Each Sunday, we have the opportunity to experience corporate worship and prayer. At church last Friday, we had a time specifically dedicated to this at Prayer & Worship Night. It was a special time where the Spirit of God moved mightily. As James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." Well Friday was truly a time to draw near and experience His presence. In His presence, the sanctuary became holy ground.
I think too often we live life without a sense of awe and wonder toward God. We want Him to be so relatable we bring Him down to our level. We want Him to do this and fix that in our own daily lives. On Friday night, I think there was a sense of God's holiness and transcendence. It was almost like other things just melted away. It began with a time of repentance, reflection, and surrender which included observing communion. This was essential to put us in a place of true worship. Today, we often judge worship based on the quality of the music, message or surroundings. While those things are important, genuine worship originates in our hearts and connects us - heart to heart - with the One True God.
In his devotional, Henry Blackaby talks about how the Levites were the worship leaders of their day. Their task was to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people. But in Malachi 3:3, the Lord says that before they could worship He would need to refine them and purify them like silver. Just because the Levites were religious leaders did not mean their activities would automatically be pleasing to the Lord. Prayer, repentance, and aligning our hearts to God is critical to worship. If we are not seeking to get our hearts right with Him, our worship will be void of His presence; and regardless of what we offer, will not be pleasing to Him.
God is holy and awesome! On Friday, we experienced a taste of this. In the end, we received an outpouring of His Spirit. In the future, as we come together to pray and worship, let us allow God to refine our hearts, remove the impurities, draw near to Him, and He will draw near to us.
Pastor Darren
