You want me to do what.....?

The most fundamental element of worship begins and ends with obedience. If there is one thing the Lord wants from us it is for us to obey Him. So many times, we come into a church building or a concert hall and sing songs about Him and even to Him without ever really being obedient to Him. We spend time listening to pastors preach the Word……we sometimes nod and say the occasional “Amen!” But do we really apply it to our lives?

We all get ourselves into situations where we are faced with a trying decision. On the one hand, we can choose what we know is the right thing to do (although, chances are, it’s going to be a bit of a struggle) or we can choose an alternate path that seems to be the easiest solution (but, for some reason, doesn’t really feel right). All the while, somewhere in the back of our minds, that spark of Truth comes out and hits us like a ton of bricks. We can see the right thing to do but still we choose the alternate path that inevitably leads to our destruction. It happens every single day. There are millions of people going through this very situation as we speak.

See, we can play church all we want to. We can show up on Sunday mornings expecting to possibly encounter God on some level......but don’t…..and when we don’t it’s because we aren’t being obedient to Him. There are also times we come into a worship service not having any expectations of anything at all but end up truly experiencing Him in a way we've never done before.......just to eventually leave the service (or bible study or what have you) and feel that fire slowly start to dwindle. We all know what generally happens next, right? We inevitably revert back to our "old selves" and live lives in direct opposition and disobedience.

Honestly, I see it all the time. I see it with adults. I see it with youth. I see it in lay leaders. I even see it with staff members at times. I've experienced it myself at times. But, in all honesty, one thing we have to understand whole-heartedly is that being Christian DOES NOT mean things are peachy 24/7. That’s hardly ever the case! It's a fairly well-known fact that we, as believers, have occasional seasons of drought and despair where we cannot sense the Holy Spirit in our lives. The droughts I speak of are the "peaks and valleys" we’ve all heard about a hundred times from the pews our whole lives. Therefore, it should be no surprise whatsoever to figure out that being a Christian (especially in this day and age) is difficult. It’s difficult at any age, young or old.

But the most important thing to remember is that when we are in this valley……when we are at our lowest…… that is the most critical time to put into practice the single-most fundamental element of praise and worship – obedience! It's easy to say we are obedient - but do our lives reflect that? I mean.....honestly? When the Lord tells us to get on our faces and worship – then we need to get on our faces and worship. When the Lord is asking us to sing – we need to sing praises to Him at the top of our lungs. If God says dance – we, first and foremost need to consider ourselves blessed, and then we need to dance in joyful victory because of the triumph in our future. When we feel the need to pray – we absolutely must pray and pray fervently to our Heavenly Father, our Creator, and our best Friend, declaring in the Name of Jesus the power and authority we have been given to overcome the wiles of “old red legs!” That is worship! That is power! Use it....and be used by it......that's obedience at its finest!

Thoughts?

Manifest Blessings,
-Moad!