It's been way too long since I've posted here. This year has been much busier than I would have preferred. But, I'm posting now. I trust you will find this next piece to be helpful in deepening your worship.
Individual Worship Time
I am concerned that far too many Christians expect the Holy Spirit to speak to them only through their pastor and that they don’t have a relationship with God where they allow Him to speak directly to them. They either don’t know how, or they have been led to believe that is how the system works. Many go from church to church, or conference to conference to get a “word from the Lord”, when if they would just stop and spend time alone with the Father—loving Him, thanking Him, adoring Him—they would receive their own revelation of His divine glory and they would indeed receive a word from the Lord. Thus, I believe it is vital for every believer to have some type of regular time set aside for worshiping God. This is over and above what we would typically refer to as our “devotional time.” Simply put, regardless of what we call it, we need this time alone with God for the purpose of Him hearing from us and us hearing from Him. However, I question how often most believers spend time just worshiping the Father along with their traditional time of reading and prayer. I believe we can live in His presence every moment of every day—driving in the car, washing dishes, or sitting our desk at work – with a perpetual attitude of worship. God has allowed us to do that through the death of Christ and by the Holy Spirit. His presence in our lives is not confined to just our devotional time. However, we still must dedicate time alone for the specific purpose of entering the holy place and spending time in His presence in worship. It is vital to our spiritual lives to get away from distraction to have a time of intimacy with the Father.
This opportunity alone with God is when the real work in us begins. This is the time when the deep spiritual cleansing and purifying that we really need can be accomplished. Many Christians only worship when they are in a corporate worship setting, one or two days of the week. This is not enough for our spiritual well-being! Just as the corporate body of Christ needs to gather regularly to be healthy, each of us needs to gather daily with the Father individually for our personal spiritual health. We would not eat only on one or two days of the week and expect that we will be in good physical health. God can, and will deal with us in a corporate worship gathering as we’ll see later. But those deep areas of our lives, the ones we don’t want to deal with, especially not publicly, require a personal meeting with God. Without setting aside this personal time for entering the holy of holies, I believe we are not receiving the full benefit of the presence of God as He intended for us to take part.
If worship is not a regular part of your time alone with God, I would encourage you to begin immediately. Whatever your customary format is, I recommend you begin with worship. If you are not really an experienced worshiper, use a familiar song or several songs to help you enter into praise and worship. This may be helpful in creating a habit of private worship time. If you are more experienced, just begin to express worship straight from your heart without the aid of a particular song. Start with your own song of praise or thanksgiving and then move to a song of worship and adoration of the Father. Be spontaneous! Give Him praise for His excellent greatness. Thank Him for His blessings on your family, on your job, and for healing and provision. Then begin to worship and adore Him for who He is—the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Creator and Ruler of all things, the Bright and Morning Star.
As you move into worship such as this, that is the time to begin listening for the voice of the Spirit. So often we spend so much time asking God for whatever we need. But the scripture says He knows what we need before we even ask. Since this is true, I would submit to you that once you have entered into worship and communion with God, He will speak to your need without you having asked first. You see, you have called His attention with your praise and worship. He bends low to hear you honoring Him, talking about Him and glorifying His Son. Now you can “take care of business” in your life. The Holy Spirit of God will speak to you!
“But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you” (John 14:26 Amplified).
Do you need to be comforted? Do you need counsel? What about help? Maybe you need intercession made on your behalf. Or, you might need an advocate in a situation where you are being accused by the enemy. What about strength? We all need Strength! You may just need a standby when everything is against you. We are supposed to imitate Christ. So if the Holy Spirit is reminding us of the teachings and ways of Jesus, we will know how to imitate Him.
As the Holy Spirit is now speaking to you and leading you in this personal, set aside time, you will also find Him leading you to scripture. He will reveal scriptures to you in ways you did not previously comprehend. Verses you’ve struggled to understand will be made plain and come alive. Follow the chain of events I have laid out here. You see, we started with worship—enthroning God above all other things. In our worship, we allowed the Holy Spirit to speak and minister to us. Then He led us to pray for all kinds of things and to scriptures to reveal His word to us. What changed? Much less work is involved. Whereas before, we might sit and struggle with what to read and what to pray, the Spirit of God just led us from our worship into prayer and reading the word. How many of us have put forth such great effort with our devotions to keep from being bored, unmotivated, or even falling asleep? How difficult is it to just glorify and adore the One we love? He never intended for us to have to work so hard to get to know Him. Our expressions of affection, our honor toward Him, and our exaltation of Him are the beginning of a deeper knowledge and intimacy with Him.
