8-20-23 The Worth-ship of Jesus

The Worth-ship of Jesus :: By Harriet Cook Published on: October 29, 2022 by Admin10 Category:General Articles “Worthy of my Song”℗ was a beautiful part of our Sunday worship service this week. May I share some thoughts? Those who know me know that I love to worship Jesus! I grew up in a Christian home and gave my heart to Him at age 5. My life is, and has been, blessed but not without: much physical pain, cancer in our pregnant adult daughter birthing our 1½ lb granddaughter (both survived), unemployed seasons, financial challenges, long seasons of waiting on the Lord, backslidden loved ones, unanswered prayers… Sunday mornings, you will see me on the front row worshiping with my whole heart. But I didn’t arrive at the building carrying that level of intimacy. Sometimes my heart needs a worship “jumpstart.” Arriving at church, my heart and mind are still under the blankets where my 68-year-old body wants to be. However, worship is a choice; MY choice! It has nothing to do with how I feel. Worship has everything to do with Who He is and His worth-ship! My sound tech husband arrives at 8:30 am to prepare for worship practice at 9. My present assignment from the Lord is to pray during the worship team practice. How? By interceding over the service; over the seats for the needs of the people; calling for the outpouring of Holy Spirit upon our worship team, pastor, and congregation. But most important is praising, worshiping, declaring His names (for they describe Who He is—Jehovah Jirah, Rapha, etc.), and exalting Him through His characteristics (gracious, merciful, kind, loving, etc.)! “Worthy of my Song” has one verse grieving over someone in a hospital bed, which may not apply to me at this time, but when I arrive early every Sunday morning, the lyrics that DO apply to me are: “I’m gonna sing ’til my heart starts changing Oh, I’m gonna worship ’til I mean every word.” I begin by choosing to declare verbally who I know God to be and telling Him my love. You don’t think “I love you” to your spouse (I hope not!); you speak your devotion. I continue praying and worshiping with my will. As I express what I know to be true about Him, the flatness I feel begins to line up with the reality of Him—and the attitude of my heart changes as Holy Spirit helps me worship! Then with fullness, I can declare His majesty as I worship Him throughout the church building. As I join in their song and exercise my prayer language, my sense of His pleasure grows, and my worship ascends higher. Soon it is time to greet people and start the service. As our leader calls us into worship, I can enter in without warming up because my heart has already been prepared to worship Jesus with my brothers and sisters. If pre-service prayerful preparation calls to your heart, find out if anyone in your church has this ministry. If no one does, be bold and begin on your own! Your pastor will be thrilled! Pre-service prayer isn’t a gab session among those arriving early. We are laying out the red carpet for our King to receive the best we can offer Him. Can this be done in the car on the way to church? Yes, of course. In experience, though, this kind of spiritual exercise thrives when partnering with others. Either way, it is a deliberate choice, not “Oh, I’m here, I might as well…” But Harriet, you don’t know what I’m facing right now! No, I don’t. But I’ve experienced pain somewhere in my body pretty much daily for the last 36 years while waiting on a promise of healing. With months of back agony in 2021, four ER visits, ambulance ride, and hospitalization, I was begging the Lord to “Either heal me or kill me, I don’t care which.” And I had to choose to worship instead of being tempted to give up completely. It was often pretty tough; I can’t even pretend that I was always successful while I was learning. What a gracious Father we have! We all have issues to overcome. But as the song states, He’s still worthy of my song, your song, our song. Church family, whatever you are facing right now, you don’t have to remember the lyrics of a beautiful new but wordy song! Lift your voice even if all you can start with is “Jesus Loves Me.” Sing this until your heart begins to soften and break as the truth of these words come through. This song is so simple and has no distraction of trying to remember the words to the next verse. Did you know that one of the easiest songs with which to worship Jesus is usually relegated only to Christmas? Any season of the year, or your life, you can raise the chorus of “O Come All Ye Faithful” because it is pure worship! “Oh, come let us adore Him, Oh, come let us adore Him, Oh, come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!” Press in with: “For He alone is worthy!” Personalize with: “For You alone are worthy!” Lift private or corporate worship with: “I’ll/We’ll give You all the glory!” Worship is essential even when, and especially when, your heart is bleeding buckets. Our daughter and her 27-week gestation baby girl were in perilous condition several times. When I couldn’t stand and sing without fear of uncontrollable sobbing during worship services, I would stand with hands raised. When my heart and hands were too heavy to hold up, I would simply stand. Standing was not just my best offering of worship at that time; it was also my stance in defiance of our enemy who was pushing me to crumple into a pile of weeping hopelessness. As you press in to deliberately minister to the Lord before service, you will find that corporate worship is then deeper, more meaningful. You will sense His presence more acutely as He, in turn, responds to your worship! He is worthy of everyone’s song, for we have been redeemed. Have a great week becoming more aware of His presence. — Harriet Cook has walked with Jesus for 63 years and, with her husband Rick, serves the Lord in various capacities in their Foursquare Church in St. Petersburg, FL. — “Worthy of My Song” ℗ Chandler Moore, Maverick City Music, and Phil Wickham https://www.google.com/search?q=lyrics+worthy+of+my+song&oq=lyrics+worthy+of+my+song&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l7.16504j0j7&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8