Day 13 of the 40 Days of Purpose

“Worship That Pleases God”

God is pleased when our worship is: Accurate, Authentic, Thoughtful and Practical.

Two things that really stood out to me in this chapter were a statement about the motivation of music in worship and a story that illustrated the statement. Although the two are not directly connected in the book, they grabbed me as being connected to each other and connected to me.

The statement: “Today many equate being emotionally moved by music as being moved by the Spirit.” And the story is of how Matt Redman came to write the song, “Heart of Worship.”

Matt Redman, a worship leader in England, tells how his pastor taught his church the real meaning of worship. To show that worship is more than music, he banned all singing in their services for a period of time while they learned to worship in other ways. By the end of that time, Matt had written the classic song “Heart of Worship”:

I’ll bring You more than a song,
because the song itself is not what You’ve required.
You search much deeper within
than the way things appear.
You’re looking into my heart.

It is not really about the emotion of the songs we sing that counts, what counts is what God finds when he looks into my heart!

As a preacher I spend a great deal of time in concern for what happens in our worship services. I fear I spend more time preparing my sermons than preparing my heart. I fear I spend more time preparing the “order of worship” than ordering my life to align with God’s heart.

I’m coming back to the heart of worship,
And its all about You,
All about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing
I’ve made it,
When it’s all about You,
All about You, Jesus.

David