A Life of Worship

“Worship is actually a gift from God to us, more than one of ours to Him.” —Jack Hayford (Manifest Presence)

We heard a young man’s beautiful testimony Saturday evening about his hunger for an encounter with the Holy Spirit—a burning passion, a heart crying out for “more, Lord, more . . .” His words describe my same yearning. We have just finished an entire weekend full of praise, worship, and prayer, and yet I’m so desperately hungry for more . . .

Stormie Omartian says in The Prayer That Changes Everything that

“our greatest blessing comes when we take the focus off of ourselves and put it entirely on God in worship and praise. Isn’t it just like our wonderful Lord to make something that is all about Him be the thing that blesses us the most when we do it?”

I’m a high school math teacher (although some don’t think that statistics is really math). This year as winter approached I was assigned bus duty at school. I was supposed to go out in the freezing cold, in the dark, and be sure that every bus arrived before school started. So, I had to go count buses? And, if a bus didn’t get there, wouldn’t the bus driver call someone and tell them so? Why did I have to do this task?

My first assigned day came and I bundled all up, got a big ol’ blanket, and made myself comfy sitting on the concrete sidewalk as I started counting buses. Then the Lord said to me: “Pray for these buses—full of my little lambs.” He gave me an amazing opportunity for three mornings to pray for nearly every student who went into Lake Braddock—each bus, each student who walked up from the parking lot. I was blessed every day as I did that bus duty—as I waved and prayed and oh, yes, as I counted every bus. I started thinking that maybe I should volunteer to do it every day for the rest of the year . . .

That same yearning for His blessing . . .

Omartian continues in her book:

“God intends worship to restore us, fill us, motivate us, bless us, and fulfill us in ways we never dreamed possible. There are certain blessings that He wants to give us that will only come into our lives as we worship Him.”

I have always thought that worship only meant singing love songs to God. I see now, that it really means loving Him while doing everything.