A Heart of Worship

I've been thinking we need to camp out right here where we are for a bit. Allowing God to change your heart to one of joy and peace and strength and dignity is a big deal. It takes time, and just doesn't happen in a week for most people. I believe we need to focus on this part first and foremost. I truly believe that until our heart is changed, and softened, and full of His joy, it's going to be very difficult to manage any of the other things. So with that said, God's laid something very important on my heart this morning to share with you.

How do you get to the point of allowing God to fill your heart with joy, and love, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, and all of the fruit that reveals the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within your life? If you're completely new to all of this, and aren't familiar with the fruit of the Spirit, it comes from Galatians, and I challenge you to memorize it:

Galatians 5:22-23 NLT

²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Pretty tall order, huh? Trust me, I know! If you have known me for any length of time (as many of you have), you know that even just a year ago I did NOT display most of this fruit. It has been through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in my life that HE has changed my heart. And He's not done. I still struggle with many of these. but I have developed most of them where very few of them existed. But again, it has not been through MY doing. It has come with time and allowing the Spirit to mold me. I am a forever work in progress. If you would like to know more about my journey to this point, I am more than willing to share it.  Something we, as a whole, tend to mis-quote or discuss on this topic is that we pluralize this, saying the fruits of the Spirit. But if you read the Word, it is NOT plural. It is singular. It is ONE FRUIT. You must exhibit it ALL, not just some. If the Holy Spirit is on the throne of your life, then you will produce all of these qualities. Just like an apple has several qualities, such as sweet, crunchy, moist, etc, your fruit should have all of the qualities described in the above scripture. I watched a video over the weekend, and the guy said something so profound that has stuck with me. He asked the audience, when God reaches out and tastes your fruit, does He say "Ummmm, that's good stuff!" or does He spit it out and throw it away? What does YOUR fruit taste like to your Creator?

So, how do you get this fruit? How do you reach that point that God likes what He tastes? The Lord has laid upon my heart to discuss having a heart of worship this morning. I woke up with a song of worship in my heart, and after my hubby went to work (after a belly full of the most delicious omelet he's ever eaten!) I put my favorite worship song on YouTube. It's a new song from a young group called Anthem Lights. The name of the song is "Can't Get Over You". The very first step in truly allowing God, the Holy Spirit, to rule on the throne of your life, is to develop a heart of worship. When your heart sings and praises God, then you are ushering Him into it, and inviting Him to change it. What do you listen to each morning as you're getting dressed, cooking breakfast, etc.? Do you throw on the local country station? Or even just a standard contemporary Christian station? Try putting on some good, heartfelt worship music. I recommend ANYTHING by Chris Tomlin, but there are OODLES of options out there. I'm going to post a few videos for you at the end of this post. 

Spending time, EVERY DAY, in worship is as vital to your walk with the Lord as praying and reading your Bible. Dictionary.com defines worship in multiple ways, but this is one of my favorites: "to feel an adoring reverence or regard". That's what God wants from us, He wants our adoration. Why? Because He adores us. He created us to be in a relationship with Him. Adam and Eve walked and talked FACE TO FACE in the garden with God. Until sin came into the picture, and sin cannot be in the presence of The Most Holy One. BUT, through His sacrifice on the cross, we are able to have that type of relationship with Him again. Not a PHYSICAL face to face, but you can be in a Spiritual face to face relationship with God. When you're THAT CLOSE to His face, you don't see the other things that are distracting you. The best way to begin that relationship is by kissing His cheek :) ADORE Him. Consider this imagery: You're 5 years old, and your Daddy absolutely hung the moon. You adore Him. He is your hero. You walk up to Him, climb up in His lap, and plant a big kiss on His cheek. What does He do? He takes your face in His hands, gives you a "nosey", and looks at you with adoring eyes. He tells you He loves you, and that you're the prettiest little girl in all the world.You're His princess. His angel. Daddy's little girl. See the picture I'm drawing for you? Why should your relationship with your Heavenly Daddy be any different?

So, my challenge to you this week, is let's worship our Savior. Spend time every morning in intent worship. Put on your favorite worship music, or just sing to your heart's tune. But make it real, and make it count. Don't skip this, please. It's so important. I promise you that when you begin to worship God, I mean TRULY worship Him, your heart will begin to change. You will feel peace that you did not know existed. It's indescribable. There's a reason the Psalmists tell us OVER AND OVER AND OVER "praise the LORD"! Just do a quick search for "praise in Scriptures" or "worship in scriptures". You'll be overwhelmed at what you find.  In order to find that joy, and peace, and dignity of Proverbs 31:25, you must first learn to worship your Creator. Don't make it an obligatory thing. It needs to be pure, uncensored, LOVE from your heart to His. Jason Gray says it best in his song "More Like Falling In Love":

So, today, go fall in love with your Savior ;) Go love Him! Right now! Then come back and tell me what it does to your heart ;) It can't be about you, and what it can do for you. It's gotta be about HIM.

Here are a few of my personal favorite worship songs to get you started. I will also post these on my Facebook page. Feel free to share your own favorites there!