Worship can serve many functions in the life of the Christian; however, one of the main purposes it should accomplish is magnify and exalt God.  Magnify means to make large, bring into focus, and showcase, and exalt involves lifting up above all else in priority and assigned value.  Therefore, worship should stir our hearts and re-orientate our lives and thinking to make God larger and of greater priority in our lives.  It should help bring who God is into greater focus, highlighting the details of His awesome nature and perfect holiness and helping us make Him supreme in our estimation of value and worth.

​In light of the past week and the events that have transpired, God has put a song on my heart that I feel compelled to share.  This whole year has been a unique one for our country.  We’ve experienced pressure from every side:  economic, social, racial, political, and spiritual.  So many things have felt like they’re spinning out of control.  However, our God is still in control and we need to remember that.  

​As we close out the month of July, I would like to give you a gentle call to worship.  Sometimes life gets so busy and overwhelming that we forget how much God has given us, done for us, and won for us and so we forget to just stop and worship.  Worship Him for who He is, what He’s done, and His great faithfulness.  So today, would you take a moment to quiet your heart and mind and let the words of this song flood your soul and become a song in your heart?

Welcome to another week on “Here I Am to Worship”! I hope you were able to catch the powerful message I shared with you last week from Passion City Church.  Worship is an important part of our Christian walk.  Therefore, understanding and learning how to do it well is vital to walking in the abundant fullness of God’s intended design.  So I hope you were challenged to offer to God an extravagant, unrestrained response to His goodness in your life through worship. 

This week I’m going to share something a little different.  Instead of introducing you to a new song, I want to share with you a powerful message on worship. We are living in crazy times and deep darkness.  And sometimes, it can be difficult to remember the “why” behind our worship.  It can be difficult to remember to worship in the midst of trial.  However, worship is an important part of our Christian walk.  In fact, it is vital and necessary in order for us to walk in the joy and fullness God has intended for us. Therefore, this message from Passion City Church on “Extravagant Worship” is timely and much needed.

​Welcome to a new month!  May is officially a month of new life and new growth.  Trees are blossoming, flowers are blooming, gardens are being planted, and sunshine basks the landscape.  Birds sing their songs of praise to God and fly about looking for food and fun, while butterflies flutter on the gentle breezes.  It’s a time of freshness and new beginnings.  While for many of us this is a different spring than we could ever have imagined, it can be a season of new beginnings for us too.  This month, we will continue to lift our eyes off our situations and circumstances and fix them on our precious Lord and Savior—the One who knows and holds the future, and the One who sees and knows exactly what we’re going through.  

​We are half way through Passion Week.  It has been a different Easter season with so many things canceled and closed.  However, if anything, we have more time and space to remember, ponder, and reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice.  We are just two short days away from observing Good Friday and all that took place on that day over two thousand years ago.  Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday, when different churches remember the Lord’s last supper with His disciples, the final instructions He gave them, and then His struggle in the garden of Gethsemane where He fully submitted His will to the Father’s.  

​April 1st.  April Fool’s Day.  But today is no joke.  Today is the beginning of the month leading to Easter.  Today in the midst of the panic that has gripped our world, we’re going to forget the crazy, forget the stress, forget the unknowns, and choose to worship and remember all that this season represents for us as believers in the Risen Lord.  So take a moment to find a quiet space and reflect on all that Jesus has done for you and what your response to that gift will be.

​Right now it feels like our world is unraveling.  Broad orders and changes to our everyday lives are taking place within 24 hour periods, and life seems to be on hold in many ways.  But in the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the uncertainty and fear, we can know one thing is certain:  God doesn’t change.  His faithfulness remains and will continue in the midst of this storm.  And if we walk with Him, we know that the best is yet to come.

​I first heard today’s song feature on a live stream of the 2020 Passion Conference this past January.  It was powerful to watch a stadium full of 65,000 young people declare with one voice that there is nothing that our God can’t do.  May we have the faith to believe what we sing!