May 28, 2004

[shooraijin]

In Rev. Doc's absence, I will be posting his devotionals (written before he left for his trip) for him from 17-28 May. -- S.

Worship

I Chronicles 16:29 "...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."

Sometimes our attention span is pretty low. Or perhaps we didn't get enough sleep the night before. Maybe there are a number of worldly cares upon our hearts and minds that we are allowing to consume every waking moment. A movement here, a distraction there. It can often be difficult as we go into God's house to truly worship Him.

Deeply immersed in meditation during a church service, Italian poet Dante Alighieri failed to kneel at the appropriate moment. His enemies hurried to the bishop and demanded that Dante be punished for his sacrilege. Dante defended himself by saying, "If those who accuse me had had their eyes and minds on God, as I had, they too would have failed to notice events around them, and they most certainly would not have noticed what I was doing."

In worship, all our thoughts should be upon God. Our devotion to Him and His Love for us warrants that we give to our Father a few moments of undivided attention.

Prayer: Ask God to help you to focus totally upon Him and allow His Holy Spirit to speak to your heart as you worship individually and corporately.

"Worship is the quickening of the conscience by the holiness of God, feeding the mind with the truth of God, purging the imagination by the beauty of God, opening the heart to the love of God, and devoting the will to the purpose of God." ~William Temple