Creating a worship environment

“Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God. “ - Eugene Peterson

Excellent read by Pastor Brain Houston, I chance upon this morning! It's too good not to share.

Out of the 10 good points that he shared, here's some that really spoke to me.

3) Worship focuses on who God is.

Hebrews 4:16 (NIV) says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence…”
If worship was about us, I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t be able to approach worship with confidence! Don’t make worship about your worthiness or about what is wrong with you; but instead, focus on what is right with Him. It’s easy to approach the throne in worship when you are focusing on the character of God. He IS good, He IS kind, He IS worthy of all our praise!

“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness”. 1 Chronicles 16:29 (NIV).

There is such temptation to write songs about our feelings, our seasons, and the ups and downs of this life. And, in many respects, there is a place for these songs. Yet, what I know is that songs that speak to God’s unchanging nature, His holiness and the ‘glory due to his name’ are songs that seem to shift the atmosphere, and cause our hearts to focus on who HE is, despite our circumstances and once again allow us to take the focus off ourselves and onto Jesus. Worship is about Him and only Him.

4) Worship is a heart issue.

I love the thought of the Psalmist in Psalm 45 (NKJV) “My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.”

Worship is an overflow of what is going on in our heart. The correlation between what is on our lips and what is in our hearts runs all throughout scripture. What is on our tongues is so critical and if we truly understand worship in our hearts, it will flow from our mouth with great passion and ease.

6) Worship charges the atmosphere of your life.

Have you ever walked into a service where there is praise and worship and you can just sense the presence of God? There is something tangible in the atmosphere of a room where people are worshipping in song. And the same way that worship can do that to a room, I believe it can do it to your life.

Psalm 16:7 (AMP) says, “I will bless the Lord, Who has given me counsel; yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.”

If we have a worshipping heart, even though naturally speaking we might not have direction, our heart can guide us with wisdom to the courts of our God. In Psalm 142 David is speaking from a desperate place. I believe we can all have ‘night seasons’; seasons when we are in great need of God. Listen here as David changes the very atmosphere of his life by praising God:

“Listen to my cry,
for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison,
that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will surround me
because of your goodness to me.”

‘The righteous shall surround me… ‘ The scripture paints a picture of being surrounded by praising, worshipping people. It is in that environment of worship that David’s soul was brought out of the ‘prison’ he was in. One of the best things you can do when you are in a stressful, hurtful, or desperate situation is WORSHIP!

(All the above taken from Pastor's Brian blog)

Enough said.

For all 10 points, here's the link. Trust me. It's worth the 7 mins of your time to read this.

Be blessed!