Worship Interrupted

What is interrupting your worship?

Yesterday during Thursday night service something amazing happened. For almost the entire year I’ve been burdened by numerous things, nothing uncommon, the usual cares of life that everyone has been a victim of. Lately it has been the attempt to launch this clothing company that has plagued my mind and has caused me to loose sleep (amazing how I allow something so trivial to do this). Particularly it has been all the issues I’ve been having with the development if our official website. As the service began we all just began to worship; in the beginning it was a struggle because my thoughts were on this website (and not entirely on Christ). Prior to the service I was reviewing the site and I discovered some glitches with the online store. Initially it really upset me because I had plans to launch Prafetic this weekend. As the worship continued I had to fight through my thoughts; in the spirit it felt like I was trying to swim against the tide, or like I was trying to climb out of quick sand…. But after a while, after fighting for about fifteen minutes I broke through and I began to worship Christ; my mind was off everything else and solely on Him. Soon the presence of the Lord was so heavy in the place I had no choice but to fall to my knees in reverence and continue to worship my Savior…. and that is when the Lord began to speak to my heart. He began to simply talk with me about how my worship has been interrupted. Not necessarily during this service alone but in general, my life. One minute I find myself walking by faith with all focus & power; with an attitude that nothing can stop me in Christ, nothing can steal my joy and my peace… The next minute, literally two or three hours later I’m worrying about something; I’m asking God why is this happened? It is no coincidence that I asked my wife to pray that I would have consistency with my faith, with my trust in God to do everything that His Word says that He will do. So the Lord began to speak to me about how things were interrupting my worship towards Him. He began to say, “ If there is nothing to hard for Me, why are you worrying (Matt 18:14)? If nothing is impossible for me why are you worrying (Matt 19:26)? If the earth is Mine and everything in it, why do you worry (Psalm 24:1)? If I have promised to supply all of your needs why are you worrying (Phil 4:19)? If I have said you can move mountains, that you can have everything that you have spoken (Mark 11:23-24), that I will direct your path if you simply trust Me with all of your heart and lean not to your own understand (Prov 3:5-6)…. If I have promised that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for you (Prov 13:22), If I have promised my peace (John 14:27), my joy unspeakable (Psalm 16:11), my rest (Matt 11:28), why are you burdened?.... If I have said to you that righteous are never forsaken (Psalm 37:25), what is the problem? If I have said all things will work together for you good (Rom 8:28), why are you worrying about this website? Do you believe me? So much of my time has been spent (wasted) worrying and not believing.

After the service the Spirit of the Lord continued to talk with me about how my worship is being interrupted. He began to tell me how before the fall nothing interrupted Adams worship towards God; there was constant communication, immediate obedience. After the fall it was interrupted and his worship was never the same, never as consistent as it was ordained to be. Through out His thirty-three years on earth nothing interrupted Jesus’ worship towards His Father; He didn’t allow anything to get in the way. God began to say to me that there is enough in His Word to keep me motivated, to keep me trusting, to keep me from wavering, to keep me from becoming burdened, to keep me forever loving Him and remaining focused on Him. Passages like, ‘I have loved thee with an ever lasting love, with loving kindness have I drawn thee (Jer 31:3).” Passages like, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered..blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (Romans 4:7)”… Oh, passages like, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10)”… These passages and all the others are our sources, our endless wells of joy and happiness, ammunition we use to fight the demonic spirit of worry; but are we in His Word like we should be? And if we are in His Word like we should be do we believe His Word? I am learning that believing is more than saying, “I believe!” Actions, conduct, attitude, disposition accompany belief. If God said He has supplied all my needs I can be happy and joyful even though the bill is still outstanding and I have no money in my bank account simply because He said He would supply my needs. In my own life I can honestly say for the most part it has been the opposite. I say over and over again I believe but if you look at my face.. at my attitude, you wouldn’t believe I trust God. If I actually had the money in my hand you would see a different me. I say I believe God but I don’t act like I believe God. We don’t have to every worry again for the remainder of our life. Can you even wrap your mind around living a life where you never worry about anything, despite what happens? So many things interrupt our worship, but there is something about ‘worry’ that I believe hurts and offends God. It is so easy to worry and so hard to simply believe at times. People have worried themselves to the point of death. Jesus made a statement that I absolutely love and I believe He meant it to be a little humorous. He said, “Who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life (Matt 6:37)?” In other words, who by worrying can change anything. Worrying does not move God, faith moves God. He said without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). He said by faith all things are possible. And it’s a fight. Paul says, “Fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim 6:12)”. Jesus comforted Peter and said, “I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not (Luke 22:32)”.

When we get to heaven nothing is going to interrupt our worship and I believe even on earth Christ has the power to bring us to the place where nothing interrupts our worship; because when your worship is interrupted you are liable to offend and sin against your Savior. Faith is so valuable. God desires all of you… young person, adult, all of you… not just a part of you. He desires and deserves our full and undivided attention.

What is interrupting your worship?