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| An Undone Worshipper |
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With my husband leading the worship team at our church, I've been helping him with song selection and with the devotions the group goes through each week. I feel so honored to be included in this time for several reasons:
1. My husband works long hours and we have 2 kids under two -- needless to say, we're both exhausted at night. We don't really get a chance to talk, just the two of us, about 'non-kid' stuff very often. I look forward to our talks, even if we don't always see things eye to eye.
2. I am learning and being convicted in the same way that the worship team is, something that I desperately long for to improve my relationship with my Savior.
This week's devotion was about being an 'undone' worshipper (allowing God to undo all the things in your life that keep you from truly worshipping Him) and the main texts come from Isaiah 6 and Psalm 139.
6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 6:2 Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 6:4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. 6:6 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 6:7 and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.
139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts; 139:24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
I like the way that these texts tie into one another. Isaiah believes that his end is near because he cannot survive in the presence of God the way he is. He believes that God's perfection and his own imperfection would lead to his death. This leads right into Psalm 139 because we are all unclean and we need to be willing to be 'searched' so that our sinfulness can be removed. We'll never be perfect or sinless, but it's a continual process to be more like Christ. It's only when we allow ourselves to be 'ruined' to be made clean, that we can do His work.
It's interesting just how many times I've only gone through the motions of worship. I sing the songs and clap at the right times, but my heart isn't in it. Doesn't God deserve so much more than that from me? He died on the cross for my sins, and I know that if I were the only living person, He still would have chosen to die so that I could be saved. That's how much he loves me! That's how much he loves you too. And yet, I still let things get in the way of my being in His presence. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to let anything get in the way of my worshipping God. I'm not perfect, so I know that I won't always succeed, but I pray that I always keep this idea in the back of my mind, so that I'm mindful of my actions and how they affect my relationship with God.
I'm tying this into worship as in singing, only because that's what my husband was focusing on for his Bible study, but how true is this for all aspects of our life? We don't just worship with singing; we worship through prayer and our actions, etc. All I know is that I have to be willing to allow God to search my heart for sin and uncleanliness, and get rid of it in whatever manner He chooses, so that I can truly be an 'undone' worshipper.
Thank goodness for a forgiving God!
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Chris |
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April 04, 2008 at 4:04pm |
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Heather, you are so right. T hank you for voicing it so beautifully.
One thought that helps me put everything in perspective: No matter what our status, married or unmarried, young or old. a new believer or a church leader, when we consider ourselves compared to God, we are so undeserving, so dirty, so utterly lost that there is no way we would ever become as righteous as we know we need to be to be useful for God's purposes.
That is the miracle we call the cross. It is not our ability to shake off our sin, it's God's ability to take sin away from us. All we need to do is to focus on learning everything about God that we can and experiencing his presence in everything we do. The more we let him fill us the more that sin can not reside in us. Here is a truth - God and sin can not co-exist in the same place, or person. But it's not God that can't go where sin is, it's sin that flees from God's presence. |
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Heidi |
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April 08, 2008 at 1:02pm |
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| Heather your message is so inspirational! Thank you for the important reminder! |
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