Teach Me To Worship You

'Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship' Romans 12:1
 

'Teach Me To Worship You' was composed by Quek Li Huan, a Singaporean and the Music Minister at St John’s - St Margaret’s Anglican Church. A comment in the Blog - Voyages of the Pilgrim read, 'This song never fails to encourage me. I pray that you too will come to know the joy of coming before God in simple worship. No complicated chords, no mind-blowing revelations. Just the simplicity of wanting to walk deeper into His arms.' 

Teach me to worship You

Teach me to adore You
I want to love You with my whole being

To learn to praise Your name
Each day to do the same
Teach me O Lord the way
To worship You

I want to worship You
I want to adore You
I want to love You with my whole being

To forsake my sinful ways
To look upon Your face
And understand Your grace
O Lord my God

What does it mean to love God with your whole being? This song clearly defines worship which is the act of ascribing ultimate value in God in a way that it synergises and engages your whole person, your whole being. It involves our mind, our emotion and our will, our entire being, our everything.

There is another song in the Bible that describes worship as involving our entire being, Psalms 95

• Our Emotions. 'Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song' Psalms 95:1-2

• Our Minds. 'Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock of His care.' Psalms 95:6-7

• Our Wills. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness.' Psalms 95:7b-8 

There are two expressions or forms of worship, the corporate and the personal acts of worship.

The Corporate Worship is usually exhibited in congregational worship in which worshippers praise God with singing and prayer usually following a ritual or liturgy in a church, hall or at home. Liturgy is a set of words, music and actions (usually in structured format), used in religious ceremonies. These church worship expressions help to reassure and strengthen our faiths in God , deepen our bonds with each other and provide us with a sense of purpose and mission. The writer to the Hebrews advocates and encourages such meetings where we vocalise our worship and praise God together

'Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that openly profess His name.' Hebrews 13:15 

This regular congregational worship should then result in communal sharing and ministry to one another within and without the church, thereby pleasing God.

'And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.' Hebrews 13:16  

The corporate worship service should be centred on the Holy Trinity. We worship the God the Father who calls us to be His people by sending His Son, Jesus Christ as our redeemer and giving us the Holy Spirit as our counsellor.  

The second form, Personal Worship, is usually done individually and privately. Personal worship is to spend time with God on a regular basis. It involves the Holy Scriptures and Prayer. Henri Nouwen wrote (Ref 1), 'The word of God should lead us first of all to contemplation and meditation. Instead of taking the words apart, we should bring them together in our innermost being;...  we should be willing to let them penetrate into the hidden corners of the heart. Secondly we need quiet time in the presence of God, this is when we pray, sometimes silently.' Henri Nouwen wrote, 'Being silent in the presence of our God belongs to the core of all prayer. In the beginning we often hear our own unruly inner noises more loudly than God's voice. But surely, very slowly, we discover that the silent time makes us quiet and deepens our awareness of ourselves and God.

The Christian who can worship God with such wholeheartedness, is a Christian who has a right understanding of God's nature and right value of God's worth. This is what is meant by worshipping God with all of our being. 

John Piper surmised (Ref 2), "The inner essence of worship is to know God truly and then respond from the heart to that knowledge by valuing God, treasuring God, prizing God, enjoying God, being satisfied with God above all earthly things. And then that deep, restful, joyful satisfaction in God overflows in demonstrable acts of praise from the lips and demonstrable acts of love in serving others for the sake of Christ."

It is often useful to begin worship with an Invocation prayer. The Invocation is a prayer for the blessing of God. The liturgy of the traditional Methodist worship service starts with an invocation hymn. This hymn, attributed to Charles Wesley, 'Come Thou Almighty King' helps  invoke in each one of us an awareness of the presence of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Come, Thou Almighty King, help us Thy name to sing.

Help us to praise:

Father!  All glorious, O’er all victorious

Come and Reign over us, Ancient of Days.

Come, Thou Incarnate Word, gird on Thy mighty sword

Our prayers attend!

Come and Thy people bless and give Thy word success

Spirit of holiness, on us descend.

Come Holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear

In this glad hour!

Thou, who almighty art, now rule in ev’ry heart

And ne’er from us depart, Spirit of Pow’r.

To Thee, great One in Three, eternal praises be

Hence ever more:

Thy sov’reign majesty may we in glory see

And to eternity, love and adore.

Lionel

Ref 1: Henri Nouwen. Reaching Out - The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. Chapter 8, The Prayer of the Heart. Image Books Doubleday, 1986

Ref 2: John Piper What is Worship? April 2016 Desiring God Interviews

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-worship

Praying In The Spirit

'Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.' Romans 8:26-27

Prayer is communication with God, a communion with the Almighty. As we all know communication can be verbal or non-verbal and that is the same for prayer.

Christian Meditation is often referred to as the prayer of the heart. In meditation we are to sit and keep our body still, then the mind should stay silent and be focused on God. Father John Main, who inspired the World Community of Christian Meditation, would say that we are to set our mind on the Kingdom of God. To help focus the mind, the WCCM recommend repeating silently a mantra, 'Maranatha' which is Aramaic and means 'Come Lord.' At some time in the meditation, though not always, our spirits would soar as the Holy Spirit leads us to a prayer without words. St Paul described such praying as 'praying with my spirit.'

This kind of praying could be distinguished from our usual praying with words, praising God with our adoration, making our confession, offering our thanksgivings and presenting our supplications or petitions (ACTS). We are taught to pray like this when we first become Christians. We could pray vocally or pray silently. A fellow Christian meditator, Andre Croquet use the term, devotional prayer. St Paul described this as 'praying with my mind.'

I would normally spent some time in meditative prayer followed by devotional prayer in the mornings and evenings. Putting the two together, one following another, is a recent spiritual experience for me. I hope to make this a habit from now on. 

Both are important to the growth and spiritual experience of Christians. Whether devotional prayer or meditation prayer, the Holy Spirit comes close and guide us to pray. As St Paul put it, 

'What am I do do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit but I will sing with my mind also.' 1 Corinthians 14:15

 

There is also another term describing prayer, often used in the Bible; 'Praying in the Spirit.' In the Greek the term 'pray in the spirit' generally has two slightly different meanings. It can mean praying with the help of or by means of the Spirit. Or it can also mean praying in connection to or in the sphere of the Spirit. J Oswald Sanders said, 'It is clear that praying in the Spirit means much more than praying by the Spirit's help, although it is included. We pray by means of and in dependence on the Spirit's help but the Spirit is in the atmosphere in which the believer lives. Our prayers will then be, in substance, the same as the intercession of the Spirit within us.' (Ref 1) 

'And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.' Ephesians 6:18

'But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.' Jude 1:20

John Piper said, 'Praying in the Spirit means our prayers are moved and guided by the Holy Spirit. That is, we are prompted to pray by the Holy Spirit; He's awakening it and moving it. And the things that we pray for are being shaped and determined by the Spirit. So, it's His power that carries the prayer, and it's His leading that guides, the prayer.' (Ref 2)

J Oswald Sanders quoted Andrew Murray, 'Just as wonderful and real is the divine work of God on the throne graciously hearing, and by His mighty power answering prayer. Just as divine as is the work of the Son, interceding and securing and transmitting the answer from above, is the work of the Holy Spirit in us in the prayer that awaits and obtains the answer. The intercession within is as divine as the intercession above.

Weakness and inadequacy in the art of prayer are not surprising to God. He never intended that prayer should be left to our own unaided faculties. So He gave the Holy Spirit to instruct, inspire, and illumine our hearts and minds. Unaided by Him, we would be likely to pray for things not only contrary to God’s will but injurious to ourselves.' (Ref 1)

We all do struggle with praying as noted by Andrew Murray. Don Moen also experienced the distance from God as he struggled to find the inspiration to write songs. He said that in that struggle, God led him to write this song 'I will Sing, I will Pray'

Lord you seem so far away

A million miles or more

It feels today

And though I haven't lost my faith

I must confess right now

That it's hard for me to pray

But I don't know what to say

And I don't know where to start

But as you give the grace

With all that's in my heart

I will sing

I will praise

Even in my darkest time

Through the sorrow and the pain

I will sing

I will praise

Lift my hands to honor you

Because your word is true

I will sing

Lord is hard for me to see

All the thought and plans you have for me

But I will put my trust in you

Knowing that you died to set me free (oh thank God you died)

But I don't know what to say (what to say)

And I don't know where to start (where to start)

But as you give the grace

With all that's in my heart

I will sing

I will praise

Even in my darkest time

Through the sorrow and the pain

I will sing

I will praise

Lift my hands to honor you

Because your word is true (say it again)

The Puritans put it very simply, 'Pray until you pray.' This means get on with it, keep on the habit and routine of praying. Do not hurry. Take our time. Just put prayer to practice. Somewhere, somehow, the Holy Spirit will come to meet us and prayer will soon gets hold of us. 

Pray until you pray.

Lionel

Ref 1: J Oswald Sanders Praying in the Spirit 2004https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/praying-in-the-spirit/

Ref 2: John Piper, How do we pray in the Spirit? 2021 

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-do-we-pray-in-the-spirit

Crisis, Calamities and Challenges

 

'For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.' Psalm 103:14   

The book of Job is a study of crisis, calamities and challenges. It also lays out a simple message, life is difficult and not the airy-fairy success stories that the modern multi-media like to spin for us. 

Furthermore, life can be unfair, What can we say to someone who at the pinnacle of life is struck down by severe cancer? Or how can we console parents who have just delivered a child with multiple congenital defects?

There is really no answer we can provide that will satisfy nor comfort the anguished soul suffering such calamities. The biblical Job suffered untold miseries and his struggle to find some sanity to all that he experienced have been used by Christians to try to survive unexpected and unsought crisis. Many a Christian will cling on to the lessons in this Bible book to withstand the challenges of an unfair hand.  

Job was a man, loved by God for his uprightness and envied by Satan. God was proud of Job, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him, he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job 1:8. In order to prove God wrong and thinking that Job's faith would buckle under pressure, Satan asked God's permission to inflict extreme suffering and misfortune on Job. And God allowed it.

Throughout the ordeal, Job searched for answers including listening to opinions of four friends and his wife. They blamed Job or blamed God for this predicament. There are no easy answers.

The apostle Peter was also acquainted with suffering. He wrote, "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed." 1 Peter 4:12-13 

Gradually Job understood although he could not fully explain his misfortunes fully. Timothy Keller surmised (Ref 1), "Suffering can refine us rather than destroy us because God himself walks with us in the fire? But how do we actually walk with God in such times? How do we orient ourselves toward him so that suffering changes us for the better rather than for the worse? Keller too left some questions unanswered. 

John Piper observed that suffering cannot be explained by the simple principle of retributive justice, where each person gets what he deserves: suffering for the evil and prosperity for the good. Often in life, it is the righteous who suffer and the wicked who prosper. But suffering is not dispensed willy-nilly among the people of God. It is apportioned to us as individually designed so that our faith might be refined, our holiness might be enlarged, our soul might be saved, and our God might be glorified.

Throughout Job's ordeal, God was ever present although Job may not even have realised this because for a long time, God was silent. Yet, in the end Job's fortunes were restored twice over. Despite crisis, calamities and challenges Job did not blame God. The Job Suite by Michael Card explained: 

Blameless and upright, a fearer of God

A man truly righteous, no pious façade

One about whom God was accustomed to boast

And so one whom Satan desired the most

One day the accuser came breathing out lies

"It's Your holy handouts, his faithfulness buys"

In one desperate day his possessions were lost

His children all killed in one raw holocaust

His children all killed in one raw holocaust

And yet through it all

Through the tears and pain

He worshiped his God

Found no reason to blame

Once more the Deceiver denounced and decried

"It's skin for skin, and hide for hide,

Strike down his flesh and he'll surely deny

And confess that his praying has all been a lie."

"Very well, take him, " the Holy One sighed

But you must spare his life, my son shall not die

So Job was afflicted with terrible sores

Sat down in the ashes to wait for the Lord

Sat down in the ashes to wait for the Lord

And yet through it all

Through the tears and pain

He worshiped his God

Found no reason to blame

Rev (Dr) Leonard Wee, Registrar Trinity Theological College of Singapore wrote a Lent meditation (Ref 2), "In the midst of life's challenges, it is sometimes easy to forget that we have a God who loves us deeply, and whose mercy and compassion would never fail. When situations become discouraging, we wonder if the Lord is going to withhold His mercy. Yet it is also in life's most difficult challenges that we often experience the lovingkindness of God." 

Lionel

Ref 1: Timothy Keller. Walking with God through Pain and suffering. Hodder and Stoughton 2013

Ref 2: The Bible Society of Singapore. From Fear to Faith, Daily Devotions for Lent 2021. Sower Publishers, 2021.