Prayer: Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for all the blessings that you have bestowed upon me. I thank you for your amazing love, and for being my strong tower, and helping me to live for Jesus my saviour. Please speak to me today and help me to give you the worship you are worthy off. Please, in your mercy. hear my prayer for the glory of Jesus. And as I come before your throne of grace and mercy, I confess and acknowledge I have sinned against you, in thought and deed, I ask to forgive me and, in your grace, purify my heart, cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And in your great love, lead me and help me to walk in the paths of righteousness, so that I may bring glory to you the one triune God. I now receive your forgiveness and mercy in the name of my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Scripture Reading for Prayer and Praise: Isaiah 25:1 

"LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” 

Worship Song Sung or Said: I Give You All the Honour (Carl Tuttle) 

https://youtu.be/T24JAUI-Wps?list=RDT24JAUI-Wps

I give You all the honour, and praise that’s due Your name.
For You are the King of Glory, the creator of all things.

And I worship You, I give my life to You, I fall down on my knees.

Yes, I worship You, I give my life to You, I fall down on my knees. 

As Your spirit moves upon me now, you meet my deepest need.
And I lift my hands up to Your throne, your mercy I’ve received.

And I worship You, I give my life to You, I fall down on my knees.

Yes, I worship You, I give my life to You, I fall down on my knees. 

You have broken chains that bound me, You have set this captive free.
I will lift my voice to praise Your name, for all eternity.

And I worship You, I give my life to You, I fall down on my knees.

Yes, I worship You, I give my life to You, I fall down on my knees. I worship You.

Gods Word for Today: Psalm 96:9 

"Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.”

Devotional/Study: 

Yesterday we looked at Psalm 63 and read how David sought and longed for God. In my own life I want to be in that spiritual place where my heart yearns for the Living God, I want to be in that place where I would love just to get a glimpse of the holiness and glory of God. I have and am discovering that worshipping God in songs of praise and giving Him thanks in the good times, and bad takes us into a place where you begin to have a glimpse of the holiness and greatness of God.

What I find amazing is, when we have a glimpse of God holiness, we see something of the glory and majesty of God and a sense of His presence and power. Sung worship can take us into a glorious place. And in response to Gods holiness, all we can do, is bow down and say the words from Revelation 4:8 "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” 

A. W. Tozer said, “Worship is the missing jewel in the Christian Church.” 

One of the most important things we can give God is our sung worship. When we worship, we are declaring the greatness of God and saying with our lips and posture, God alone is worthy of our devotion, praise, and worship. 

The Psalmists reminds us in Psalm 96:9 "Worship the Lord in the splendour of his, holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.” And Psalm 29:2 says, "Give unto the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” It seems to me sung worship is one of the ways God draws and gives us a glimpse of the beauty and splendour of His holiness, and majesty. This glimpse releases feelings of adoration and thanksgiving.  Our worship is our response to who He is and all that He has done in our lives.

One of the questions we need to ask ourselves, are we truly worshipping God when we sing?  A number of years ago, God revealed to me that when I was singing in church, I wasn’t really worshipping, my lips said the words, but my heart was elsewhere.         

So, I said to God, I wasn’t going to sing any more until my heart was worshipping Him.         I made the decision, I would only sing if all of my heart and emotions were connecting with God, I didn’t want to go through the motions as I worshipped God. 

Since than there have been times when through sung worship, I feel connected with God. It’s in those times I feel joyful and able to sing with praise in my heart. However, to this day there are times where my lips move, but my heart is far away, most of those times I just read the words and find just reading the words help me to worship quietly in my heart. 

I believe if we really worshipped God from deep within our hearts we would surely be on our knees, lost in wonder and lost in praise. It’s when we truly worship God, I believe we will get a glimpse of who He truly is. When we worship, we are in a place of adoration. When we worship, we glorify, honour, praise, exalt God and give him the honour that’s due to His name. I believe worshipping and praising God helps us to focuses on Him and takes our eyes of ourselves and creates a desire to love Him and go deeper.  

God has promised that as we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us and deepen the bond of love between us and Him. 

Pause for Prayer: let us take some time now to pray and ask God to help us to worship with a true heart so that we may know Him more and know what’s in His heart. 

We want to be in that place in our lives where we can say with the Psalmist, "I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” Psalm: 146:2. When we get caught up in the wonder of worship in songs of praise and realise all that Jesus has done in our lives, we can cry out those words from a beautiful song. “I’m Lost in wonder, I’m lost in love, I’m lost in praise forevermore, Because of Jesus’ unfailing love I am forgiven, I am restored.” (Martyn Layzell). The wonderful thing about worshipping God with joy in our hearts, it will build us up spiritually and keep us strong from crumbling under the pressures of life and will strengthen us inwardly. We read in Nehemiah 8:10 "for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 

That’s really interesting, when we are filled with the joy of the Lord, we experience strength in our inner being. I know in my own life when I am full of the joy of the Lord, I feel much more alive in myself and bolder. It’s in that place of worship God reveals His holiness and glory because we are worshipping in the splendour of His majesty. 

I long to be in that place where I can worship in spirit and truth and worship as described by John who was given a vision of our future.” Revelation 5:13 "I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever.” I believe when we begin to get a glimpse of who God is, we are able to sing these wonderful words from the song I Worship You, Almighty God. “I worship You, Almighty God, there is none like you. I worship you, oh Prince of Peace, that is what I long to do. I give you praise, for you are my righteousness. I worship You, Almighty God; there is none like you.” (Sondra Corbett Wood’s)

I think it’s important to say we don’t worship God just to get a good feeling. We worship God because He is worthy to be praised and worshipped and because he is the one triune God Father Son and Holy Spirit. The Psalmist reminds us in Psalm 96:4 "For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.” The Bible reminds us that when we come to that place of worship, we should come with a thankful heart, we read in Psalm 100:4 "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” 

When we worship God with thanksgiving, He opens the windows of heaven and gives us a glimpse of His glory and the splendour of His majesty and somehow your heart is lifted and whatever difficulty you are going through you can say with David in Psalm 40:2-3 "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”  He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him.”

The last thing I want to say about worship is that in worship, God does something in our lives and speaks to us. I was really struck by what a senior pastor named Adam Hamilton wrote about his experience of worship. He said this It was in worship that I first began to understand who Jesus is and what he asks of us. It was in worship that I felt God calling me to be pastor. It was in worship that I discovered a deep conviction about missions and acts of mercy and justice. It was in worship that I felt God calling me to start a new congregation. Of course, I feel God leading me in private times of prayer, in small groups, in reading scripture, in taking walks and in a thousand other ways. 

As I read this, it challenged me to think more about how I approach God in sung worship. In church services we are told to turn to a hymn number or look at the screen and of we go. There doesn’t seem to be any preparation of our hearts to approach the throne of grace. While writing this devotion I feel God has spoken to me that I need to prepare my heart before I worship so that I can meet with him, give him the worship He is worthy off and hear His voice. What about you, what is God saying to you about your sung worship? 

Personal Prayers: