When peace, like a river, attendeth my way
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul.
So there you sit in the midst of a mess. Your bills are all past due. Your aging body is aching and sore. Your precious baby is infirm. Your marriage is a mess. Your job is about to make you stroke out. Your elderly mother is sick. You're lonely and sick of being alone. Your womb aches to be filled. You have PROBLEMS! No one is denying you have problems. With a grumpy look on your face (and firmly in your heart too), you reach out and turn on some praise music. The words start to flow over you:
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate
and hath shed His own blood for my soul.
All of a sudden the bills, aches, illness start to fade away as that last line echoes in your soul: hath shed His own blood for my soul! You see his bloody body hanging on the cross and realize that His gift, His sacrifice is worthy of concentrating on. Your attention is drawn away from the ick all around you and you start to focus on Him.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It starts to dawn on you that YOUR SIN was nailed to the cross. YOUR SIN. You don't have to bear it anymore. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! As that sinks in, the stress, worry and fear start to fully break away. Gratefulness and thankfulness are revealed.
And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul.
Hope! Hope! Hope infuses your soul! There is HOPE! One day in the not too distant future, the trump shall resound! But until then, it is well with my soul.
Worship IS a very powerful thing. Just yesterday I text my dear friend Ros asking for prayer. "PRAY!" I told her, "We need prayer!" She replied in her wise way (wonder if she ever gets tired of reminding me of it), "Praise Him. It opens the doors to the Miraculous!" At the bare minimum, even if praise doesn't usher in the exact miracle you were hoping for, it adjusts your attitude and does a miracle there.
Real quick in closing..... here's a couple of quick Jami ideas for getting more worship (and power) into your life:
1. Let your house resound with worship! Why not have worship be the background music in your house? Is there anything more worthy? Spongebob? Eric Clapton? Cable news? There's nothing wrong with any of these things. BUT oh the power if as you walk around your house all day, your mind is called to worship instead of your attention being caught by Spongebob getting hooked on a fishing line. Would the whole climate of your house change if you caught your self singing along, "Lord reign in me" instead of "Layla... you've got me on my knees?" Don't you think it would make a difference if your were dwelling on the thought of kneeling at the throne of God instead of the latest plunge of the stock market?
2. Let your car resound with worship! I'm not in the car all that often. I like being a hermit/shut-in. But when I am in the car (especially if I'm stressed) I turn it to K-Love (our CD player doesn't work so well and CD's do NOT last long around Kastners). Why not use that time in the car to worship? Let your mind be drawn to Him.
3. Workout to worship music. I've been trying to get my butt back into shape, and I have been more successful because I've been viewing my workout time as some quiet time with God too. I pop in my ear buds and away I walk with praise music resounding in my ears.
4. Make worship a part of your quiet time. Plan to sing at least one worship song as a part of your daily quiet time. OR... maybe take one day per week and have your entire quiet time be worshiping God.
5. Family worship. Last year we were SO good at this. We have drifted away from it, and keep trying to get back to it. Once a week, we have a family worship service. Just us... (well in the past it sometimes included a friend or family member). We don't have a lot of musical talent, so we just turn on a worship CD. We sometimes use a power point with lyrics, but that's not really required. Sometimes we'd take communion as a family. But no matter what we PRAISE! We'd sing and dance and PRAISE OUR GOD!
Try to think of worship like water.... everyone could use a little more of it in their life. Have a great Worship Wednesday!
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