Tuning Out and Tuning In
I once asked a good friend of mine, "How do you know when you have entered into the presence of God? What was the process you use to be with the Lord and sense His presence?" I had been struggling with taking a step closer to the Lord in my own worship and wanted to get another opinion of one I trusted and knew as a true worshiper.
I believe that many people struggle with this very thing. We come to church and sing our songs of praise and worship. We pray and listen to the spoken word hoping to sense the presence of the Holy Spirit. We come to church week after week desiring to experience God in a new and fresh way. We desire to further the intimacy of the relationship with the One who created us. I know when I first accepted Christ in my life that His presence and spirit were very real to me. When I prayed I knew He was there. When I worshiped I knew He was there. With the passing of time I lacked the knowledge and mentoring to further that relationship. I knew that I wanted to feel the Lord's presence all the time and to bask in the sun of His spirit and presence. I believe that what we experience as new Christians is only a taste of what God wants for us as believers...what He desires for us as His children. Why would God create us to have fellowship with Him and then leave us high and dry? Why would He send His only Son to die for us and not want to spend time with us and know us?
My friend responded: "When I come to corporate worship, I have already spent the past week in personal worship to the Lord. Worship to me is not a weekly event but a part of my daily activity. There are times when I find it difficult to worship. There are times when it feels like my offering of praise is going no where. And, that's not a bad thing. You see, worship is not about what I get, it's not about me or a "feel good" experience. Worship is all about God. It requires that I die to self and tune out the things of the world in order to sense God's presence. When I tune out everything and tune in to Him, it is an awesome thing. Our God is a jealous God. When we come to Him in worship He wants our all. He doesn't want us singing while thinking of the ball game that's playing after church. I believe that the reason many do not experience true worship is because they haven't learned to tune out everything and tune into the only thing that matters".
How true it is. Those of us who are married know that when we asked our wives to marry us, we didn't have another thought on our minds. When I asked my wife to marry me, it was all I could think of and she knew that she was the focus of that moment. She knew that she was all that consumed my heart and mind. How much more does God deserve that type of focus!
Tune out the things of the world and try tuning in to God and see if your worship grows. Think about nothing else than the words you sing and how you can give them as an offering to Him. Make Him first and you will come away with a new sense of His presence in your life. You will actually grow to look forward to that corporate time of worship. Make your worship a part of your daily life and God will draw close to you. Tune out and tune in to the One who saved you, who loves you, and who desires close intimate fellowship with you.
Used by churches all over the world to help teach worship, the Experiencing Worship study can help your worship team too.
Your team will learn why we worship and gain a better understanding of how to worship.
One user said..."Your 5 week study course has made a tremendous impact on my life in the study of worship... I would like to express my thanks for a well written study course that leads into a higher realm of praise and worship."
This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.