I believe that Christ’s church worships Him better together on Sundays when we are all cultivating individual hearts of worship every day. I can only control myself, so, realizing my status as a member of His church, I make an effort to worship Him for who He is in everything I do, say, and am. This morning was no different. For too many Sunday mornings are rushed – after sleeping in late, we finally manage to get ourselves out the door and into the church, without ever pausing to consider whom we’re about to meet with.
This morning, I rose early to prepare my own heart. I read His Word, and then put together an active worship playlist for a two-hour run. I’ve always felt that running is an act of worship; I thank God for the body He gave me to use. And early in the morning, when all is quiet and still, it creates an atmosphere tailor-made to hear the Lord. After all, if worship is a response, we have to have something that we’re responding to.
After breakfast (and a shower!) I was ready for worship in the presence of the Lord’s saints. During the opening music, I kept seeing myself at the foot of the cross, offering my heart to Jesus my Savior. As one of the elders prayed, I found myself pleading alongside him, asking for the presence of the Holy Spirit to overwhelm this place. The Word was so alive during the sermon; it sounds strange, but I could see it working among the body. Always, always the cross was at the forefront of my mind.
When the service was over, one of the worship leaders came over to me and shook my hand, saying, “It’s great to see you today. I love worshiping with you. I always keep looking over at you, because I can see you right there – at the foot of the cross, giving your all to Christ. And it takes me there”
We were all made to worship our Maker, our Savior, and our Counselor. And He made the church to be His own. We are designed to love the Lord, and He speaks through us to lead one another closer to His beauty and holiness. In heaven, when we meet our Lord face to face, the bonds of eternal worship will unite us. The Bride will be joined in holy union with her Beloved Savior, praising His name forever and ever. And we can only prepare ourselves by keeping the cross at the very center of our worship.
Let our body be pleasing to You, Lord. Hear our praises as we come together, joined by the awesome power of Your name, and the blood of Christ our Savior, shed at the cross, where our worship is made whole.
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; tremble before and reverently fear Him, all the earth. Psalm 96:9
His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church), [That is might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. Ephesians 4:12-13
Let us rejoice and shout for joy [exulting and triumphant]! Let us celebrate and ascribe to Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb [at last] has come, and His bride has prepared herself. Revelation 19:7
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