Worship Brings the Blessing
Deut. 11:13 through Deut. 11:14 (NIV)
13So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—14then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil.
In this article I want to spend a little time talking about the blessings of worship. But in order to understand the blessings that come from worship, we must first understand true worship. Over the last decade the term "worship" has become a household word in the church and in Christian homes, but not in the sense that God intended.
We can go to the store and buy a "worship cd", churches are hiring "worship pastors", bands are holding "worship concerts". These are all wonderful, but if worship is nothing more than singing a few songs, we have completely missed the boat.
The passage above from Deuteronomy chapter 11 is a description of worship. The first step of worship is to obey the commands of the Lord. Even this word "obey" goes deeper than what we realize. The Hebrew word for obey means to listen intently. I like to think of it as becoming a sponge. When we come to God, our first act of the day should be to say, "God, here I am. I am a sponge. Tell me everything that you desire to tell me, so that I can carry out your will. Open up your word to me, so that I can obey in every area of my life." You see, it goes deeper than mere obedience. My kids obey me, but sometimes they are not happy about it. They obey sometimes because I have threatened a punishment if they don't. God wants us to come to him with an open heart and open mind to say, "God plant your word in me, and I will joyfully carry it out."
The next step is to love the Lord and to serve him with all your heart and soul. This means in everything live for the Lord. In all your thoughts, live for the Lord. In all your actions, live for the Lord. In all your emotions, live for the Lord. Every second of every day, our lives should be committed to Him and to His ways.
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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.