Thanks to Patti Black for providing this encouragement for The Worship Community today.
Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Exod. 6:5
(Jesus said) “… a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship Him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.” John 4:23-24
Imagine a child who loves crayons and markers squealing with delight at opening the birthday present from his parents: an art set with an exquisite palette of paints, oil pastels and colored pencils. It is a perfectly astounding surprise, something for which he had never even dreamed of asking . . .
Picture a teenage girl who has finally convinced her parents to let her attend her first school dance. It is a chance to wear the special outfit she designed and sewed herself. Later, she returns home distraught from the snubs and taunts of the girls who could afford to dress in the height of fashion with the latest designer labels. Amid her distress, comes a glimmer of relief and delight at the discovery that her mother has waited up, anticipating the need for a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and a comforting embrace . . .
Likewise, the miracle of worship is not that we express our praises to God, whether wholeheartedly or half-heartedly, but that HE was already there long before us, with His own passionate expectancy and anticipation, hoping to embrace us, wanting to delight us with His generous gifts, just waiting for our complete surrender!!!
* Photo by Geri-Jean Blanchard