Worship

Submitted by David Miller

Every day is a battle, and with battles, falling down is all too common. It is easy to give up and quit. But that doesn’t take us anywhere. Rather, we remain in that fallen state with nothing to goals look forward to. But if we have this idea of longevity embedded within us, how we react when we fall plays out differently. Our relationship with Christ allows us to have something to look forward to. His plan is always bigger and better than we are right now, and that encourages us to do whatever it takes to stand up and keep pressing on because our future that we envision is like a treasure for us. However, getting up after a fall is often easier said than done. We may be dealing with a broken heart, a crazy challenging situation, a scary moment. All of these sound freaky in our heads, and giving up feels right at that point. After all, it is easier sometimes to give up rather than get up. Then you remember that there is something bigger and more awesome waiting for you on the other side. A promise that God made you that’s just priceless:

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:8-10 (NIV)
So how do we get up when we fall down?

Worship

Worship does not constitute just the singing and raising our hands at Church. Worship becomes true for us the moment we open ourselves to the Lord altogether, real and raw. No masks and no disguises. The real us. The flawed and broken us. The ugly and damaged us. When we lay all of ourselves open to the Lord and invite Him into our lives, asking Him to take over all of us, that’s when true worship happens. When we do this, the junk that we’ve been struggling with breaks loose and in that now empty space within us, God takes over and occupies it, filling it with all of Him. The psalmist tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people. He is enthroned in our hearts when we worship Him.

Yes, we fall down. Yet despite our fall, our worship allows us to admit wholly that we aren’t able to do this on our own; that we are in need of Jesus to ensure that we make it through. And when He comes in, everything changes. Our fall doesn’t become our defeat. Rather, we are able to stand back up through Him and pursue what we have been called to go after, a life reflective of Him.


Scripture to Claim:

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14 (KJV)