A New Attitude

Breakthrough this morning! God always knows what you need. He knew what I needed, and he provided in a big, big way. Again, after hearing it, it may not be something completely new to you, as it is not new to me, but perhaps you'll see it in a different light, as I have.

Lately, I've been struggling. Mightily. If you've read any of my posts on any of my blogs, you know how I feel about worship. Worship is a lifestyle. It is a daily laying down of one's wants and desires to please the one, true God. Your life should be an act of worship before the Lord. However, in today's Amercian-ized, super-sized, mega-mall church, worship has become little more than singing some songs with a cool rock or pop band at weekly gatherings. We even call it "worship music". During the service, music is the "worship time". When, in actuality, giving of your time and resources, hearing the scriptures, praying for one another, and other "events" that take place during a "service", are all worshipful acts. So, music is not the end-all worship time. Here's my struggle:

Music is what I do. It's what Bridge and I do. It's who we are. It's what we believe is to be our tool to reach out to the church and to the lost and hurting. Music is a major thread of our life's garment. We want to make music that enhances a person's personal time of prayer and "worship". We want to create events or gatherings where music, prayer, healing, prophecy, teaching, and the move of the Spirit are regular, normal, and welcomed elements. (Kingdom Crossings - read the definition under the blog title)

Sunday mornings have been tough. We talk about worship being a lifestyle, but we push for more "worship" during the music. "Worship the Lord!" "Close your eyes and worship!" Both Bridge and I have had a hard time with this lately. We have felt like the emphasis is misplaced. It has made it difficult to really get "into it". Now, you'll have to understand that music as worship isn't all that seems out of place. There are other issues at hand here, some of which I have discussed earlier, and some of which we will discuss later. (None of these issues, for clarification, deal with our particular church on a specific level - all of our issues concern the American church as a whole, and therefore do not reflect any displeasure with any one person or persons at our particular church.) This touch of God, however, deals with the music.

I run the sound for our particular church. This morning, I was asked to lead in prayer before the praise team started rehearsing. I prayed for things that I have heard before, and know, but God had me take special note afterward of what I had prayed. I prayed for the music to become an extension of our life. I prayed that our lifestyle would reflect our attitude toward our God, and that this music would be an extension of that. After the prayer, I wrote this down:

We want our music to be an extension of our heart - an extension and expression

It was like God was saying, "Live a life of worship, and let your music become an extension of your life, and an expression of your heart. Let your life reflect your attitude toward me and my attitude toward you. Then, let your music reflect that."

I sang and expressed my heart with a lot more vigor this morning than I have in a long time. I didn't feel like I was "worshiping", but I was simply expressing what was in my heart for the Lord. It made singing the songs a lot easier. Maybe you already do that. Maybe you don't. Maybe you should. If you have trouble "worshiping" on Sunday mornings or Saturday nights, then try looking at it as an extension of your life and an expression of your heart. Don't let the semantics get in your way like I did. I won't anymore. I have a new attitude.

Soli Deo Gloria